Beautiful Byron

I was dying to get to Byron Bay for the surf and we'd heard the town itself is pretty laid back and cool. On the way though there was a couple of things of note, sort of. We were entering Banana country so sooner or later we were going to see a large banana at the side of the road, obviously. The big banana we saw was outside a restaurant and was in fact the first 'big thing' in Australia. All others were spawned from this wacky start up. We also saw a huge oyster ontop of a car showroom, it couldn't have been more ugly. Oh yes and a big shrimp and a big prawn, the things people do to get the tourists in.
We ventured through a Scottish town on the way to Byron, Maclean. Every lamp post in town had been painted with a different style of tartan representing different Scottish families. This was also the only place in Oz where we saw a Spar shop!? They also have a Scotland day here, all quite surreal but alright. The area around is beautiful. Vast cornfields and a wide river suddenly become tropical forest as the banana growing areas really kick in. The more north in Oz you get the more bananas they grow, so we heard.
We stopped off at a couple of famous surf spots to watch the experienced guys do their stuff as well as take in more amazing looking beaches before arriving at Byron Bay.
First night we were not impressed, our campsite was a bit dull and the town seemed a bit snooty. A lot of people thinking they were uber cool.
The next day we changed sites, rented a surf board and the whole place began to make sense. In Byron there's a kind of hippy thing going on, lots of people walk around bare foot and dreadlocks and not washing seem quite popular. Admittedly the town didn't impress at first the main beach did. We watched the sun go down to the sound of Japanese drummers and the sight of very good surfers negotiating their way around a shipwreck. This could be pretty good.
The main bit of proper information I've got about Byron Bay is that it's got about 4 beaches, one around the corner which almost garuantees surf everyday on one of them. It's point, where the Lighthouse is, is the most easterly point of Australia so if see a map of Oz it's the bit sticking out on the far right half way up.
Upon leaving for the surf the next morning a couple we met in Port Macquarie came onto our site. Pretty cool as the guy, Matt wanted to come out surfing too. We agreed to meet up.
A cracking day in the surf, not too good on the teeth though. For the past 2 or 3 weeks I'd had hit and miss toothache. I think it started in Melbourne when I bit down on some cheap museli from a major Oz supermarket, Coles. There was a really hard bit that I wasn't expecting. Anyway, this came and went for a while and hurt most after and during food so it was becoming a pain. I thought I may have dislodged a tooth and was leaving it to see if it came right.
That night we ate some cracking food at a local pub and watched a bit of live folk music which was really good. My mouth was really hurting at this point though so enjoying the food was becoming difficult.
Our new campsite was more rough and ready but much livelier, and it was right on the main beach so you could walk to the surf. There's the odd rogue around town and very washed up and spaced out dudes too, dancing to shop music in the street and so forth. But apart from the odd wako it was pretty good, but expensive.
That day I went out surfing with Matt and his girlfriend Casey. It was tough going but not too bad. A good laugh either way, until I got back to the van. All of a sudden I got this monster pain in my mouth and head. This is probably the worst pain I've ever had and it wouldn't go away. We'd arranged to go out round town with Matt and Casey that night, along with another couple they'd met, so I didn't want to miss out. But it was time to go to the hospital.
At the hospital they advised us of the best dentist to go to in town the next day. I was thinking I may have to have a tooth pulled out!
I soldiered on that night, the booze definitely helped, and we ended up having a cracking night even if we did spend an insane amount of cash. One club we were in was tiny but still some strange characters were having a real life dance off! It was hilarious. One guy said to me 'this is how we do it you know, this is street.' I just couldn't stop laughing,
The next day I had to get to a dentist, the pain was obscene, and I didn't care about the money. Turns out the dentist was a Brit and a really nice guy. He checked my tooth and took an x-ray, with a finger tip size x-ray pad that showed up instantly on a monitor I could see, aswell as on his pc. The technology was way more advanced than England. He also used a small camera to look in my mouth that showed up on the tv screen. I was well impressed. He cleaned some enamel from my tooth and advised me to give it a few days. But then he asked my if my tooth was still hurting and I said yes. It all came down to me needing root canal. Or root therapy as he called it. He said I could put it off but as I'd soon be in South America this could be a dangerous mistake. I went for it. He drilled the inside of my tooth out and injected my gums about 8 times. This wasn't too bad but I could see on the tv screen the before and after shots. Tooth looking ok, tooth with giant hole in it! It was a bit like Clockwork Orange, I had clamps and rubber thingies shoved in my ever open mouth. Once he filled the tooth in again (he drilled it out to get rid of the nerve ending within which was under pressure causing me severe pain) everything was fine and although it was only temporary he said it might last till I get home. $200 Australian dollars was a small price to pay, and considerably less than England, so I hear, so it wasn't all bad. I couldn't feel my face but it was definitely time to go surfing!
A much better days surf, helped not having brain pain, at another good looking beach. The great thing here is that nothing is built up over two storeys so no high rise blocks exist and a couple of the beaches have nothing but a tree lined backdrop. Pretty lush. The hippy council here have a tight control on shops and things like apartment or holiday home building. They even stopped MacDonalds from opening a store here. That's all well and good, no large coporate companies ruining local business, but when you're on a budget it's a killer. The local shops charge what they like and more often than not it's extortionate. Where's a 7-11 convenience store when I need one!
A BBQ with the two Brit couples that night rounded off a good few days, I think we ended up staying 5 nights and it was really good to go out and have a laugh with some like minded people.
We went out surfing on some rough surf on the longest beach I have ever seen the next day. You could'nt even see the end of it. Unfortunately the rip was unreal and it ended dragging me and Matt way down the beach. We got out of the water and walked back for about 20 minutes just to get to the point were we got in the sea, dangerous stuff if you're not careful.
In the end we loved Byron. It was soo laid back and the options for a great beach were always there. It lived more up to the Austrlian dream than most places we'd seen so far but the amount of money we spent, and the fact we had to get to Brisbane for a Tori Amos concert, meant we had to move on.
Byron also seemed to be Wicked Campervan heaven, if you like that kind of thing. We must've seen 20 or so different vans all sprayed with various images from pictures of The Eagles and Iron Maiden, to The Simpsons and Eminem. At least we didn't stand out like a Jamaican at a Nazi convention here.
All good things must come to an end, although we do agree to meet up with Matt and Casey in Surfers Paradise to see if the name is all that it says it is.