I just wrote this entire post and WordPress deleted it UGH. So here goes again…

Today marks one month that I’ve since I arrived in Australia. I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by.

Since leaving Sydney, I flew up to Lennox Head in the Byron area to stay with my friend Kate, who I met last year in Scotland. Lennox Head is a really laid back version of Byron Bay, read: no tourists. We spotted whales a couple different times, once just from the road – they were so close! This is peak whale watching season since the whales are migrating back down the coast after giving birth in the warmer northern waters. Unfortunately I have no pictures. Other than that we mostly went in the ocean and the tea tree lake (so good for your hair 😝).

Random giant prawn in Lennox Head

Me & Kate in Lennox

I’ve been spending the past week in Byron Bay. Before coming here I didn’t realize how much of a party town it is. There’s exactly 3 bars that backpackers go to in rotation every night. I love my hostel it’s really chill and about 1 min walk to the ocean. The mantra here is surf, party, sleep, repeat. The tourism is focused around surfing, whale watching, kayaking & snorkeling.

I rented a board from the hostel for two days and went surfing. Besides that it’s been lots of romantic beach walking, climbing to the lighthouse and seeing the most easterly point in Australia. Yesterday I went kayaking and we saw humpback whales – a mama and it’s calf. They were really close it was amazing. One of the guides was aboriginal, so he told us about his culture and taught us a song out on the water. On the way back in, my kayak totally wrecked. I blame it on the German guy I was kayaking with who was supposed to be in charge of steering. Our boat turned sideways and the wave crashed on top of us, trapping me under the kayak. Luckily I had a helmet and somehow managed to not swallow a gallon of water. I came up laughing, much to the relief of the guides.

Fire show at our hostel

you can kind of see the whale!

Me with the German culprit

Me & my friend Lydia from my hostel at the most easterly point in Australia

Byron Bay

Tomorrow I head back to Lennox Head before going up to Brisbane on Monday to au pair for the next 5-6 months. I met a family through Kate who has a 15 month old daughter and I’ll be looking after her 2-3 days a week. I’ll probably get another job to save up money for traveling around afterwards.

Cheers to 11 months ahead of me in oz!