January 1, 2009: Up in Smoke

We awoke to another bright, sunny day in Australia. After a nice breakfast with Sue and Greg, we exchanged some contact information and some gifts and then Sarah and I were back on the road. Our next destination was a reputed hippie town called Nimbin.

As Sarah so poignantly put it, “This town is trapped in the 1970’s hippie movement.” Everything in Nimbin revolved around marijuana. The stores, the signs, the people…everything. It was quite comical to see Sarah politely decline a lady who asked, “Would you like to buy some weed?” We stopped into the Rainbow Café to eat some lunch. As we were eating, we noticed one old man pull out a gallon sized zip-lock baggie which was about half full of weed. He casually made himself a fat joint and began smoking away!

It was kind of funny, but the whole scene got old pretty quickly. After perusing a few stores and snapping some photos, we were back on the road. And, in case you’re wondering, no...we did not partake in any of the town’s favorite pastime!

Our next stop was Byron Bay. Byron is one of the most famous beach areas in Australia with a reputation of partying and good times, along with surfing and sand. We walked around town and checked out the scene a little. The beach was nice, but it was very windy and crowded that day, so we didn’t much feel like doing the “beach thing” at the time. Instead, we went up the rode to a famous lighthouse. There, we took in some breathtaking views and captured some great photos.

After lots of walking, the seats in our rental car were somewhat inviting. We were now destined to Surfers Paradise! Farewell Bryon Bay!

Pulling in to Surfers Paradise felt a lot like pulling into Miami Beach. High rise hotels lined the coast and bright, flashing lights were everywhere. Surfers Paradise is one of the most famous beach cities in the country. It was quite different from the peaceful, secluded areas we had become accustomed to thus far in Australia. At the same time, it was very exciting and had an energetic feel to it.

We found our hotel, which we had booked through Priceline only days earlier, and hauled our bags through the Marriott parking garage to the elevators and finally into our room. We were so impressed with the Marriott in Sydney that we had very high expectations for this hotel. Though the Surfers Paradise Marriott was nice enough, it wasn’t anything extremely fancy. Compared to Sydney, it was a little disappointing. But, we were thankful we had a hotel at all during such a busy holiday time!

As we walked around the boardwalk along the beach, we quickly realized that Surfers Paradise is the go to spot for spring break style revelry. Although it had its elements of exhilaration, we became conscious of the fact that we must be getting older, because we much preferred the quieter, more secluded beach areas. All the same, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and tried to stay energetic despite the looming drowsiness from a long day.

We sat down to a pizza dinner on an outdoor patio at a little Italian restaurant. The place was moderately busy, but I felt that it was no excuse for the horrible service we received there! After ordering, we waited every bit of 30 minutes before we were ever even brought water! And we only got that because Sarah asked another waiter for it as he walked by. We waited at least another 45 minutes before our food arrived. The food was good and the company was great (Sarah), but this was the worst experience in so far as hospitality goes, that we had experienced in Australia. Regardless, we managed to enjoy ourselves and the nice summer night.

With full stomachs, we were ready for bed. In no time flat, we were back to our hotel, upstairs, showered, and in bed. It’s amazing how nice an ordinary bed can feel after a full day of tromping around in the sun!