Byron Bay Blues

Byron Bay has been absolutely chaotic, in both good and bad ways!

We went to a blues festival and also had a bit of the blues, but managed to shake them loose.

Going back to Sydney, it was time to board another night bus. I knew a few things about what was potentially coming up at that point. 

People have told me that Byron is their favourite place of East Coast Australia, so there were high expectations. I’d also learnt of a blues festival happening over the weekend, hence why accommodation was so hard to come by. I knew my hostel wasn’t going to be the best, having also found out I’d seen it before, in the Inbetweeners 2 film. 

I met a lad while boarding the bus, and we got talking about the festival happening in Byron. Paolo Nutini was headlining and it turned out he was a huge fan. I’d never seen Paolo before, but he’s always been on my list. As ever, I was easily persuaded to go, and when we arrived in Byron, it was straight off to the Byron Bay Bluesfest. 

We had a great time at the festival, where I pulled out my usual tactics of sneaking in alcohol. It was time for goon! Cheap and cheerful, and surprisingly easy to sneak in. The goon was a staple of Byron life after I almost had a heart attack after paying £10.92 for a pint. 

The next day I came to the sudden realisation of how awful the hostel I was staying at was. I’d bought some food and popped it in the fridge the day before, but came back to see it all ruined with whatever liquid was dripping through the fridges. I actually gagged a bit. After that, I stopped using the kitchen because I just couldn’t handle it. There’s also animals in the kitchen. 

On top of this, the door to my dorm decided not to open most of the time due to a faulty fire catch. They didn’t seem too bothered about this potential death trap. A good job there was no fire in our room as we would have burned to death. The hostel was full of Bluesfest goers too, with one in my room. I won’t repeat what he said, but I had the pleasure of having a conversation with the most vile person I’ve ever spoken to. All in all, the hostel lived up to its reputation as in the Inbetweeners 2. 

The rest of the days were spent doing the only thing you can do in Byron during the day, go to the beach. I’m not the biggest beach person, ironic given I grew up in Prestatyn, so I find just lying around getting sand everywhere isn’t the funnest thing to do. But it did provide some nice views anyway. 

The evening was where things come to life in Byron. There’s bars everywhere, all playing live music, with random buskers and DJs dotted around the streets and on the beach. The nightlife really makes up for it, and I had three fantastic nights here. 

For the very final activity, I went surfing. I’m not really fond of surfing, I can do it and can stand up, but I find it more of a chore than actually enjoying it. Anyway, I’m in Byron Bay in Australia, so I thought I had to do it. I was slightly apprehensive due to the nasty animals in the ocean, but what’s the likelihood of anything bad happening?! Turns out it was 100%. When we started surfing, a girl in the group was stung by a stingray. Turns out this is quite serious, she couldn’t walk and had to be taken to hospital. I was told afterwards that she would need to stay there for a few days but would be fine. Proof that Australia is dangerous kids! Anyway, back to surfing, it’s still s**t. 

So Byron was fantastic and also dull and awful. It’s absolutely going to be one of those places that I’ll remember from this trip, and it was totally worth the visit. 

On to Surfer’s Paradise in the Gold Coast. I will not be undertaking any surfing however. 

P.S. I’ve been informed that Dylan has become a big brother over the weekend. Please meet Bruce the Brontosaurus. Bruce is based in England but hopefully the two will meet in Turkey in August.