If you're into surfing, then Byron Bay is the place to be. It's 150km south of Brisbane and the town sits in-between miles and miles of wide, sandy beaches with fantastic waves.The town itself is small but has an amazing presence in Australia. It's been the most expensive place we've stayed and almost every kind of accommodation was booked at the weekend as Aussies from North and South flock into
the town. The music scene is strong with live music most evenings, and there is a huge music festival here over the Easter weekend with an amazing the band-list – Jack Johnson, Crowded House, Rodger Hodgson (from Supertramp) and 10CC to name a few. The drawing power of Byron Bay seems bigger than the place itself.Most of the people here are youngsters (remember, I am 42 so a “youngster” could be anybody under 30...) plus a few grungy dread-locked nutters who look like they came for a weekend years ago and never left. One guy on a street with a huge long beard holds a sign saying “Jokes, three for $1”. Youth Hostels, Backpacker places and cute handicraft and souvenir shops are the main basis of the centre of town.
We are not into surfing and decided simply to enjoy the beach life here.
We have moments where we feel we should do more of the things on offer – skydiving, micro-lighting, etc – but feel like just being here and soaking up the atmosphere is enough for us. Weather has been scorchingly hot and our walk to the Lighthouse around the Byron peninsula yesterday left us dripping with sweat. But it was worth it as we walked through a coastal rainforest and passed Australia's most Easterly point, as well as being 
rewarded with a stunning view from the lighthouse itself. We finished off the walk by paddling for a mile along the coast.The sun is incredibly strong when it
shines, although we are told that New Zealand can even be stronger. Nicki noticed in one small town two skin-cancer clinics, so it's obviously an issue here, and we have been very careful to be plastered in sun cream.Today the rain has come down for the first time in a week, so we've wandered round the town, read books in our cabin and I've gone back over a few pics. These are some signs we've seen along the way. The first is a standard icon of Australia – sadly we've seen two kangaroos by the roadside that have been hit by cars, a horrifying thought.
We love the informality of the Australians, and this message to give more thought to the environment gets the message across pretty directly...
And finally, this billboard has been quite a common sight along the roadside since Sydney – now that's informal!
