Byron Bay

Since I've got plenty of time crouched here in my (leaky)tent on the side of the road ~16 km south of Coff's Harbour, it's a great opportunity to catch up on the past few days. I wouldn't say they've been completley positive, but genuine experiences at any rate.

Yesterday morning I was a bit slow getting on the road (as usual) but I made it to Byron Bay by around 11am to meet up with Lynette's little brother, Brett. I tried to get a camping spot at his hostel, "The Art Factory", but it was so insanely crowded, so I ended up camping 10 minutes out of town, which turned out to be quite the hassle at 1am...
After a mellow day on the beach (Brett's pretty chill and it was nice to do as little as possible), we walked to the end of the beach and up some stairs built into the rocks. It was pretty cool to see Mount Warning from the coast and to think, "I climed that!"
When I went back to camp for a nap, I met the folks beside me, who were also Canadian! One of the guys was the kiteboarder Brett and I had been admiring all day... Turns out one of the others dated a girl I went to school with in Ponoka! It's a small world after all [insert overused tune here].
The first half of the night was great; Brett and I found some hammocks, and reclined with beer, cheese and crackers. We decided then to head into town (a bad idea in hindsight) to find the other Canadians at a bar called the Cheeky Monkey. After convincing the firl at the door to let us in without cover, we walked in to see one of the Canadian girls topless on stage in a wet t-shirt contest! Now, I'm not condoning this kind of thing... if you're looking for a fun, loud, drunken time, this is the bar to visit. It just seems to me like such a rediculous idea to judge and reward girls with money for appearing as slutty as possible. I'm glad Brett didn't like the atmosphere either and after one drink we left.
I've always pictured Byron Bay as a fun place, but i think it's just really not for me. As much as I love beer and wine, I don't like being drunk and I never have fun in the party scene anymore. I guess I just feel like it's so negative (again, my perspective and I undertand that other's would disagree with me), like the entire atmosphere is dirty. The issue, I suppose, is that when I used to be into that scene, I longed for attention and to be "wanted". That's not so important to me anymore but i still have negative associations with the whole scene. These days i'm more focused on appreciating peace and beauty than being intoxicated and rowdy.

Today was another slow start, but I decided to take the tourist drive through Evan's Head, at which point it started to rain. Since the downpoar showed no signs of letting up, I decided to just drive as far as I could get. I was hoping to camp at South West Rocks tonight but as I was leaving Coff's Harbour the rain became quite heavy and the visibility quite low. So here I am, camped at a rest stop (most likely illegally) with the sound of freight trucks and speeding cars to lull me to sleep.

Noteworthy: At the New Italy rest stop I met a man who was crippled. We talked about my bike and travels for a while, and before we parted he warned me about kangaroos on the road. Apparently, hitting a roo at 100 kms on his bike was what crippled him! Hmm... a good reality check for me!