Spot X to Byron Bay

Spot-X




The Pie place

The past few days have been epic, I don't even really know where to begin. The other day we checked out of our hostel in Sydney at the happy hour of 6:25am and set our sights for a surf camp called Spot X. On the OzExperience bus we have 2 mandatory stops that are included in the package and one of them is the Spot X stop. I wasn't really sure what to expect out of this place but from what the others had told me, it was going to be a really good time. We didn't get there until about 5pm but we stopped at several places along the way including a place called Fredo's Famous Pies where they had, well, famous pies. Not pies like apple and pumpkin pie, but something similar to chicken pot pie. Except these ones were filled with meats like crocodile, kangaroo, emu and camel! So here at this stop I tried my first "pie." I wasn't quite balsy enough to try the exotic ones so I opted out for some thai chicken one. Pretty good!

Taking a bite out of my first pie!

Since Spot X is kind of in the middle of nowhere, there are no bars in the area. So on the way our bus driver, Thunder (yes his name is Thunder), stopped at a liquor store so we could stock up on some goon (boxed wine-always keepin it classy). Me and some other girls bought 2 boxes to share, uh oh. After a long day of driving we finally arrived at Spot X where we showered off and had some dinner then got ready to become acquainted with all the others. We were informed that our surf lesson was going to be at 8am the following morning so we thought it would be wise to avoid partying too hard. That plan didn't last too long once the goon was flowing!



People getting acquainted

Everyone was having a great time and we made a bon fire on the beach. We sat around telling stories and meeting people from all over the world. I managed to even meet a few fellow Americans. A couple guys who work for Amazon but decided to take off on vacation and another guy from LA who was there for work. I guess he is in the film industry and works for a place that makes promotional travel videos and they were going to do one in Sydney. He got there a week earlier so he could travel around a little bit and see all that Australia has to offer! Once it got dark outside the night sky was AMAZING. Seriously, I have never seen something like this before. You looked up and could see all the constalations, and it just looked like stardust sweeping across the sky. I was literally in awe-so beautiful.

Thunder let us stop and take pictures
at one of the most eastern points of Australia.
Jordan and I posing by some important rock.

In the morning I managed to roll out of bed around 7 in time for breakfast before our surf lesson. Everyone was looking a little rough, but nothing a little morning surf couldn't cure. Our instructor was this guy named John who had leathery skin from years worth of sun exposure and several missing teeth. I was a little skeptical of him at first but turns out he is the MAN! John has been surfing for like 40-something odd years and was ranked number 2 in the world. Pretty awesome. Who knew I was going to be standing infront of a surfing god?



After our morning surf sesh we showered off and got some lunch then hit the road again, this time onto Byron Bay. The original plan was to find jobs in Byron Bay and live there for a month and a half or so but turns out they don't want to hire backpackers, understandably. Bummer. So we have been looking online at tons of places that need farm help (fruit picking is huge here) and apparently there's a couple places we could work right near Surfers Paradise, which is our next stop. We called them up and they said they should have some work for us. Guess we'll see! So in the meantime we've booked a weeks accomodation at this place called Backpackers Inn. This place is really chill. It's $24 per night and it has a pool and this lawn right outside that is sprinkled with hammocks and hippies lounging around. The beach is literally a 30 second walk away and it's white sand beaches. We went for a walk on it the other day and it feels like you are walking on hot snow. The sand is so fine that it makes this crunch sound when you walk on it, it reminded me of the crunchy feel when you walk on snow.

The next day was Australia Day! It's pretty much just another excuse for people to party, but it is a national holiday! I met up with a few of the others at the beach and there were tons of aboriginal people doing some crazy interpretive dancing. It was really fun to watch though. The rest of the day was spent chilling at pubs listening to live bands play and me and the other American guy from LA taught everyone how to play flip cup. They loved it.

Welp, there you have it. My last week or so here. Hopefully everything continues to go smoothly and I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on my travels.



Cheers