Day 4 - Coffs Harbor to Byron Bay

The early morning started with me realizing Hari forgot to close my window all the way so I woke up with a wet arm and wet sleeping bag, joy!  The rain is just pounding down on the car and Hari continues to sleep even when it is bright outside.  My need to pee is strong but I am too polite to wake up Hari and know he will be awake soon anyway.  Hopefully it doesn’t continue like this all day long, tonight we will go to Byron Bay and spend the night there.

After Hari woke up we lost the car keys… I stood outside in the cover of the trunk as he tore apart the car trying to find them.  We did find them thankfully and we headed to the public bathrooms to brush our teeth.

The rain was so heavy by the time I ran across the street my clothes were wet.  We ran across the road back to the car and ordered a hot chocolate from the lady outside in her stand.  The hot chocolate we ordered was delicious and came with a large pink marshmallow and sprinkled chocolate.

Our first stop was to the mechanic to fix our headlights.  When I got out of the car Hari told me there was Wi-Fi… I immediately asked for the code and used my time wisely.  I sent Devi multiple snapchats wishing her a happy birthday but when I went to Facebook to talk to her I found out we weren’t friends.  I had to add my own sister on Facebook.  My blogger for some reason wouldn’t load anything so I was disappointed that no one would be able to read things for another few days.

After talking to the very kind mechanics, we were directed to the Big Banana.  We researched everything we could do when we got there, which is actually a giant banana.  We decided on the Coffs creek walk that led past the botanical gardens.

The walk began at the dolphin aquarium.  I took my shoes off as soon as we got onto the boardwalk along the mangroves.  It was lightly raining and everything was perfectly still, except for the rain that fell.  The only thing that wasn’t calming was when Hari continuously joked about pushing me in the water and then grabbing me at the last moment to save me.  By the end of the mangrove walk I beat him with my sandals, showed him not to mess with me again.

Time for a walk-a-bout.

So much rain

Crazy crow and statue.

Besties!

45 minutes of walking brought us to the beautiful botanical gardens.  We walked through China, South Africa, a rainforest and endangered species of plants.  The smells that came from the flowers were a sent I could have smelled forever.

Visited China

And the rainforest.

And the rain begins again!

We were a bit lost and it was partly my fault.  Wasn’t long before I got our walk back on track and headed in the right direction.  We passed a field that had ducklings in it and Hari joked about stealing them and bringing them on our trip; I was tempted to say yes.

What we thought was a whole walk around the mangrove river turned out to be only half and the rest was walked along the road… for an hour.  The walk wasn’t all boring even when the rain picked back up again and got me soaked; I refused to put my jacket on.  Hari hurt his ankle again and I could do nothing but laugh at him when he continued to.  Hari also taught me how to say food, how are you, and I am good in Hindi.  He quizzed me later on and we ended up having to repeat my lesson because I forgot.

An hour-long walk later we finally made it to the car where we feasted on our leftover Thai food.  It surprisingly tasted really good.

When our bellies were somewhat full we headed to a chocolate factory… it was more like a sad building with overly priced candy in it.  We had fun tasting the free samples but left after that.

We headed to Woolworths for a quick chip and dip stop and then headed back on the road to the Occasional Parrot Winery.  My job on the way there was to feed Hari the chips and dip, a simple enough task.  However, at one of the stop lights Hari grabbed the water below his feet and lifted his foot of the brake.  I was too busy getting the last of the dip out of the container to notice that we had just bumped the car in front of us.  Everything was fine and the drivers ahead didn’t care but Hari blamed it all on me, he calls me trouble because he has never been in any accident before; I hardly call this an accident.

The Occasional Parrot Winery ended up being a warehouse that couldn’t be accessed.  I was once again blamed for bad directions and choosing the wrong places to see.  Next stop is an actual winery.

Raleigh winery is in the country situated perfectly by a river.  We tasted 2 whites, 2 reds, a rosé, a white and red port and three different creamed wines.  My favorite out of all of them was the coconut cream wine; oh my god is it good!  It tastes just like a milkshake but with alcohol in it, they lady says it is better than Baileys and I believe her.

So pretty.

So many grapes.

Drink up!

They were all so good!

Lovely lady serving us.

Off to Byrons Bay we go!  Hari and I like to blast Bollywood music while eating Tim Tam’s; a chocolate biscuit covered in chocolate.  At one point we were stuck behind a police truck that was doing 80 in a 100 zone.  I dared Hari to overtake him and after a minutes thought we were speeding past them.  We laughed when all the other cars behind us started to do the same thing, we high-fived each other and continued on our journey.

My new favourite song!

We are currently resting in a warm grass field with a warm breeze brushing against my right side while Hari gets some sleep before we continue our 3-hour drive.  He always sleeps and I always type.

Sleepy Hari

Oh god...

The moment we drove into Byron Bay I fell in love instantly!  There are so many young, hippie people walking around; I know why my mom says it is her favorite place.

We had to drive around a bit to figure where we were going to camp; usually we do it next to a bathroom with showers, this time there were none.  The showers were all outdoor and bathrooms were in the center of town, not good.

After picking a suitable sleeping spot we put on clothes that were somewhat nice and headed into town to find food.

I was craving Mexican food and there just happened to be one on the corner of the street.  We got two huge burritos and took them to the beach to eat.  I was so happy to eat such a big burrito and even more to be on the beach in lovely weather, couldn’t have asked for a better dinner.

When dinner was done we headed back to the car to begin our nightly routine.  I was in need of a shower but they were all open in the middle of everything; a skinny dip in the ocean was going to have to do.  The beach was dark with few people on it, perfect for a naked swim.  I picked a spot, stripped down and ran into the water.  it felt so insanely good, the water was cold at first but turned into a refreshing dip within a matter of seconds.  When I felt clean enough I headed out of the water to find my clothes.  The only problem was, I had forgotten where they were.  I strolled up and down the beach completely naked trying to find my clothes; I did this about three times until I actually found them.  The relief I felt when I found them was way to great, I had actually considered asking someone on the beach for help; not sure how well that would have gone down. 

I was so sweaty from running up and down the beach that I went for another swim; this time I didn’t lose my clothes.  I headed back up to the car just in time to drink the brandy crème wine with Tim Toms.  Holy goodness did the combination taste good!  Hari turns into such a child when we starts drinking it is the funniest thing ever; he doesn’t even need that much either.  We listened to music and when the time came to go to bed we had no problem with that. 

Tomorrow we head for Gold Coast!