Day 60

Friday 31st December 2010: NEW YEAR’S EVE

We woke up late still with no real plans for the day. Franky had been wanting to try his hand at surfing so we made some enquiries at reception and discovered that there were places left on this afternoon’s lesson with Mojo surf so we booked him in. As I have tried my hand at surfing before and know how hard it is I decided to give the humiliation and drowning a miss this time and opted instead for a day at the beach as the sun was finally shining in Byron Bay.

The lesson was at Lennox Heads, about 10km South of Byron so we headed down there in the car. I got myself staked out in the sunshine and Franky donned his blue rash vest and joined his group of surfing novices.

After stretches and a jog down the beach in way of a warm up it was time to explain the basics……

…. And it seemed my husband is a natural – he can stand up no problem…… on the beach!!!!

… when he hit the water it seemed to be a different story……

…. Not really ‘Hang 10’….. more like ‘Hang up’!

At least he kept me amused for the afternoon!

I had made a friend who seemed to be intent on getting sand on every square inch of my beach towel!

 After a couple of hours later he emerged. He was absolutely knackered and had swallowed a gallon of salt water but had actually managed to ride a couple of waves.

Lennox Heads was also home to Lake Ainsworth - which was bigger than Ainsworth!

It seemed it was quite a biblical place too - this sign capturing the Christmas spirit perfectly!!!

We headed back to Byron Bay. First stop was Woollies for some essential groceries, and then the bottle shop to stock up the fridge.

The town, and particularly our hostel was absolutely buzzing with anticipation of the night ahead. Many already had the party well and truly underway in the courtyard.

The worn out surf dude needed a Frank nap before he could contemplate anything else. This hostel really isn’t the place to try and sleep so after an unsuccessful nap attempt a can of red bull had to suffice.

We had planned the ultimate Aussie experience and bought kebabs and steak for the Barbie….. but we couldn’t get it started so we cooked our mountain of food in the kitchen and joined the throng in the courtyard.

We drank here until 11.00pm when we were promptly kicked out onto the streets of Byron Bay and headed with the crowds down to the beach. The official street party had been cancelled this year as the town wanted to clear up it’s ‘Party image’ – good luck with that when 20 000 drunken 18-30 year olds have flooded in.

The beach was full. There were fire spinners, buskers, bands and lots and lots of drunken revellers. We had been warned of the complete ban on alcohol so had taken our ‘soft drinks’ laced with vodka.

As midnight struck a huge cheer went up. Bring on 2011!!!

I’m not sure if it’s tradition but a lot of Aussie boys seemed to see this as the signal to get naked and belly flop in the pools of water left as the tide went out!?! We were stood watching this spectacle when a glass bottle came flying out of the air and landed right on my big toe – OW!

We headed to safety further back up the beach to make some phone calls to our nearest and dearest…..

I caught a sand crab!!!

We had a ride on the fairground.

We meandered back to the hostel where the party was continuing outside and in a number of the rooms despite the best attempts of the security guard who had been drafted in for the night in an attempt to put a stop to such antics. Suffice to say he wasn’t being particularly successful with that!

Finally at 3am we decided to call it a night and fell into bed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!