byron day 4 - final

Read:
'Byron Day 1' here.
'Byron Day 2' here.
'Byron Day 3' here.

The alarm was set for 4am. Snoozed once, twice, thrice... many more times... and we finally woke at 5.30am. Arrggghhhh!!!!! Too late!!!!! After a crazy 7.462 minutes of fighting to wash up in the toilet, we both sprinted out the motel room towards the Cape Byron walking track.

Our hopes of witnessing the sun peeking over the horizon and shining its first light over Australia were shattered due to our incurable laziness and lack of discipline.

Nonetheless, after about 25 minutes of huffing and puffing uphill along the shortcut just discovered, we saw the full blazing glory resting on the ocean. It was good enough for us.


The risen sun.


Approaching Cape Byron Lighthouse.


The morning rays flooding through the windows of the lighthouse keepers' quarters.


The final stretch to the lighthouse.


Left: At the lighthouse.
Right: We took a break at the most easterly point of the Australian Mainland.

Natalie brought along this little toy for us to take kaleidoscopic pictures. So we hung around the most easterly point for quite a while snapping away the entire time.


Nat with her new toy.


So many lighthouses!


Will the real slim Jackie please stand up?


A frowny Nat: "Can we please set off for breaky now? I'm famished."

We had our last meal (breakfast) at a cafe with a view - Byron Beach Cafe perfectly positioned on Clarkes Beach with an ocean frontage before checking out of the motel. The breaky wrap - parmesan, parsley omelette, avocado, rocket, bacon, tomato relish in flat bread - Nat had was disappointing and overpriced at $17.60. The avocados were too green and hard, and I believe we could have made this wrap easily for less than half the price. On the other hand, I was most satisfied with my fried eggs with chargrilled chorizo sausage and housemade smoked baked beans on Turkish toast plus a side of sauteed mushrooms. The serving was humongous for a $15.55 plate of oily goodness (add $4.15 for the extra side). I couldn't eat the entire day afterwards until dinner time. They serve wonderful coffee too!


Last shot while leaving the motel. Yes it was Australia Day.

While we lazed around on a grass patch enjoying a chai latte waiting for our airport shuttle, we decided to go for one final adventure at the very last minute - tarot and psychic readings! Both Nat and I have never explored such spiritual divinations and agreed that Byron has got to be the place to do it.

A quick phone call confirmed our appointments with Elizabeth Mussalati who is apparently a third generation fully qualified holistic health practitioner. We left the place in giggles and with mixed emotions. I'm not entirely sure it's something I would like to experience again.

There was a little drama at Ballina Airport as we were boarding the plane bound for Sydney. Due to weight issues, the Captain announced a need to offload at least 60kg of weight. The gung-ho us very proudly volunteered to sacrifice our baggage so that we may all have a safe passage home. And there ended our brief stint at Byron Bay that consisted more of doing nothing than anything else which was precisely the kind of holiday we both were after. I felt totally rested.

byron day 3

Read:
'Byron Day 1' here.
'Byron Day 2' here.

Day 3 was an equally lazy day. Our valiant attempt to wake at four in the morning to trek to Cape Byron to catch the first light of day at Australia's easternmost point failed miserably. Instead, we lazed in bed til slightly after noon, then had some refreshing salad and a cuppa for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon just beaching.


There were very few interesting characters on the beach for us to spy at that day except for this boy who didn't seem to be able to keep still.


Same boy who started doing crunches after a few rolls in the sand.

An interesting observation we made was that wherever we went in Byron, as long as we exhibited an intention to cross the road, all the vehicles will stop to allow you to cross at your own leisurely pace regardless of whether there were any designated pedestrian crossings. We (a Singaporean and a Sydneysider) having come from big busy cities where we were used to getting honked at for crossing half a step too slowly at a junction with a blinking green man were stunned by such pedestrian-friendly treatment.

We also saw a lot of fully restored classic 50's to 70's VW Kombis driven by topless beach dudes chauffeuring their handsome surfboards round the small beach town. So obssessed are the locals with the Kombis that they even try to paint every structure in town to resemble one, such as can be seen below.


One of the countless substations we saw that was painted into a VW van. They all had 'RUSSELL' on the plates.


We had to pass through this park everyday to get from motel to beach and return. Nice place for a BBQ eh?


Left: The beginning of the walking track towards Cape Byron and the most easterly point. With only one more morning left of the trip, we made a solemn promise to each other to get up in the dark the next day.
Right: Graffiti and vandalism can be seen everywhere.

Thanks to Natalie's iPhone that kept us in touch with what was going on in the world outside of Byron, we found out just minutes before the match started that Federer was playing Hewitt at the Australian Open that very evening. A mad dash to the most popular pub at Beach Hotel followed where we managed to secure two very comfy cushioned chairs among the Hewitt fans - Australian pride at play here.

We had an early night right after the disappointing match - we expected more of a fight from Hewitt although we could have betted our last dollar on Federer for a win - in preparation for the long trek to first light in the morning.

byron day 2

Read 'Byron Day 1' here.

Natalie and I slept in on Sunday morning. By the time we dragged our lazy selves out of bed, showered and got changed, the sun was directly overhead and we were starving. We decided on brunch at a funky looking cafe where we saw many gorgeous people hanging out at the day before, hoping to get some eye candy. We spent an hour there and found everything about the place disappointing - nil eye candy, nil service, bad coffee (the chai latte I had was scaldingly hot and way way way too sweet), burnt pancakes - except for the very pretty ceiling fans we couldn't stop looking at.


We were secreting coveting one of these pretty black swirling things - the only saving grace of the cafe that was so lacking in every other aspect that we didn't bother taking any note on what it was called.

It was to be a seriously stressful day of doing absolutely nothing. We took a whole stack of magazines, books and newspapers to the Beer Garden at Beach Hotel overlooking Main Beach and hovered around for a long while on bar stools in the sun waiting for the more comfy chairs with back and arm rests in the shade to become available. The moment we secured one of these corners, we stayed glued to the semi-reclined deck chairs for four hours studying every single article in the mags and dissecting every piece of news in the papers while occasionally sipping our cappuccino and chai latte.

In the evening, we took a long long long long walk on the Cape Byron Walking Track on an impulse. 7km of just walking in near complete silence as we tuned our senses to Mother Nature while weaving through the dense coastal rainforest.


We were glad no suspicious creepy-crawlies got in our way during the trek.

As we approached Cape Byron Lighthouse, the sun did its steady descent behind us, threatening to disappear into the ocean any time. Several times, we stopped and turned to gasp at the glorious colours before trudging on in the opposite direction, determined to get to the most easterly point on the Australian mainland to recce the spot for our grand wake-at-4am-to-catch-the-magnificent-sunrise plan the next day.


Natalie catching her breath before going up yet another flight of steps along the track. It is also possible that she could be waiting for the slowcoach me to catch up with her.


A one-minute stop to catch our breaths became a five-minute long gasp at the colours created by the setting sun.



Everything was shrouded in hues of pink for a brief moment. Beautiful.


The sun is setting just behind the coastal cliff on the left, hence the golden rays surrounding it.

We had enough of bashing through the woods on our way to the eastermost point and took the beach route back to Main Beach instead. Same stunning views, different perspectives.


The light was gone in a fleeting moment of seconds. Beauty is shortlived.


I had wanted to capture the boy skipping his way down those steps, but that proved to be mission impossible without a tripod in such near zero light conditions.

We were two ravenous souls after the walk. Dinner was a repeat of the previous night: a bottle of wine and seafood paella for two in the oversized couches on the verandah at the Balcony Bar and Restaurant - just because we can. We made friends with two young ladies from the UK who sat next to us and had a rather nice girlie session of munching, drinking and yakking.

byron day 1

I know I'm majorly behind with my updates. While everyone is blogging about his/her Lunar New Year loot and feasts, I shall attempt to do some catching up, starting with my Byron Bay getaway over the Australia Day long weekend 23rd to 26th January.

Beautiful Natalie and I took the first Rex flight out of Sydney on the Saturday morning. 1 hour and 40 minutes later, we landed at our destination. I couldn't help but gawk at the greenery that greeted us during the descent; it was lush green rainforests for as far as our eyes could see, evidence that we were dropping into subtropical Ballina.

As we stepped into the humble regional terminal, we saw our names written in super big font on a whiteboard behind a friendly looking man at the Xcede Airport Transfers counter. I had earlier booked us two discounted bus tickets at their website for the half hour road journey from Ballina Airport to Byron Bay. We were the only passengers that morning and had the luxurious bus all to ourselves. Cool.

We were early for check-in. So we spent the next hour filling our stomachs at the first cafe that caught our fancy before we went hunting for a good massage place to undo all those knots from excessive hours of slumping over the work lappy.

Osho's House is a healing centre located a short walk from the main street in Byron Bay that offers a whole lot of massage therapy options: deep tissue, lymphatic drainage, hot stones, remedial and sports therapy, foot reflexology, Aura-Soma chakra (whatever the hell that is), and the conventional neck, shoulders, back or full body massage.


Left: Entering Osho's House for our much anticipated full body massage.
Right: Free flow of green tea for everyone.

We left Osho's House with two thoughts: 1) Wow! The massage was gooooood. Maybe we should come back again before we leave. 2) The tarot and psychic readings sound like fun. We've got to try them.

We then checked ourselves into Bay Beach Motel which is a stroll away from Main Beach in the heart of Byron Bay and is close to everything! We could walk to everywhere we wanted in minutes. Awesome.


Bay Beach Motel main driveway. The 'No Vacancy' sign was lit throughout the period we were there. Glad we booked way in advance.


Behind these frosted panels lies the shallowest pool I've ever seen; the water comes up to somewhere between my ankles and knees.

Time to get some sun. It was a no-brainer decision between the motel pool and the beach. At first we feared for the worst, expecting to see Main Beach dotted with crowds of beachgoers like ants swarming in onto a drop of candy due to the holidays. It was a pleasant surprise for us when the row of coconut and palm trees gave way to a large expanse of white silky soft sand that was more than half empty. We could set up our sun-baking camp anywhere and have a 10-metre radius invisible boundary line defining our personal space. Definitely not possible anywhere in the whole of Singapore or at the popular beachs in Sydney.


Left: The motel pool with the mid-calf water depth.
Right: My only companion at our makeshift sun-baking camp on Main Beach.

I found two roasted (possibly from the sun) almonds on the beach and orchestrated their reunion. It was a joyous event of two halves of an almond heart reuniting under the glorious sun. Okay, I ran out of things to amuse myself with while my baking companion snoozed in the midst of our endeavours to get some colour on our pasty skins.


Awwww.... how lovely!


I tried to build a nest for the almond lovers too.

Once we were satisfied with the slight pink glow on our faces, arms, legs and bodies, we retired back to the motel for a long pampering shower and dressed up for dinner. I packed a grand total of three outfits - two skirts, a pair of jeans, three tops, a pair of flip flops and a pair of dress sandals for the weekend while Natalie took her entire wardrobe of 3,678 dresses and 319 pairs of shoes. As a result I put up a small fashion show for her in the room in order for her to pick a presentable dinner dress for me that is more befitting for a classy dinner date out.

Dinner was at the Balcony Bar and Restaurant. We got a table on the verandah and settled into the oversized couches to enjoy our bottle of Riesling and Seafood Paella for two before concluding the night with two Espresso Martinis. I can get used to life in Byron Bay.

masterpieces from paris

Vincent van Gogh - Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles 1889

Masterpieces from Paris is a collaboration between the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, one of the great museums of 19th-century art, and the National Gallery of Australia. This exhibition runs from 4 December 2009 to 5 April 2010 in Canberra and features 112 of some of the best-known works of modern art from post-impressionists such as van Gogh, Gauguin and Cézanne.

This is the first time an exhibition of such calibre and magnitude is happening in Australia; these famous masterpieces rarely leave the Musée d’Orsay what more in such numbers for a single event. If you're in OZ-land during this period, you definitely should consider making a trip to Canberra. Otherwise, you'll have to travel all the way to Paris for such an experience if you miss this.

Unfortunately for me, I'll be away for a month and only back in mid March. I hope I get the opportunity to do a weekend stint down south before the event ends.

Read more about it here.