Minyon Falls

Click on this picture to enlarge-- that's me at the bottom of the fall. WOO!
Ben spinning some fire the other night.

There's Tara and myself being rocked by the water.


Waterfalls from last week when Tara was visiting... these pictures are from the jungle leading down to Minyon Falls and the falls themselves. It was a 4km walk that took us about 90 min. Well worth the time though. I would put standing under the falls in my top 5 Australia moments. Enjoy!

Nimbin town

Bo's-- where I work.






VW museum
the offical christmas tree of byron. This is right infront of where I work-- wooo


So, yesterday was a great journey into the hippie town of Nimbin, about 45 minutes into the hills past Cape Byron. WOW. Basically, Nimbin is known for having tons of weed and big ol' hippies. Weed is legal there, and boy does it show. Here are some pictures, and maybe some videos too. At one point in the tour, we picked up a Hippie who had planted over 40 acres of trees over 35 years on his property. Incredible. It was grass at the start. The only pictures I have from that are of a japanese pond on the properity. It feels like a jungle though-- really cool.

Pictures from the week

that blur is me jumping from a monster high cliff.
thats my head
me on the bottom.
weeee!


Lake pictures are from a tea tree lake that I think I wrote about before. All natural red water, dyed with tea leaves that surround the shore. The natural oils feel SO good on your skin and in your hair. None of us showered for 2 days. Ew, and ahhh and the same time.

UPDATE: TARA IS COMING TO BYRON BAY ON MONDAY! WOOOOHOOO! I am so excited. Also, I would like to congratulate Nick Duke on moving to Dubai. That's huge man, nice one.

Everyone needs to check out Jack, my nephew too. What a cute little guy! I miss him. http://walshfamily3.blogspot.com/

Stop Peeing On My Arm

after thanksgiving dinner, victory! Also, my new cycling jersey my mom mailed to me
Toasting our PB&J's before dinner. Haha... what an appetizer.
Thats a funny picture of Dan. He lives next flap to me.
That's corn from thanksgiving.


Rain constantly. UGH. The weather in Byron is starting to drive me crazy. Each week, we probably have 4 rainy days and 3 sunny days. It’s awesome for work, because it means that we are really slow (outdoor café).—but on days off it is horrible and depressing. Lots of time is spent just sitting around in tents playing/listening to music and making wacky art. Today my friend Taka from Japan drew a crazy octopus robot pac man battle scene on the inside of my tent. Taka and another Japanese guy named Satoru tell me that my tent has the “spirit of Japan.” I think that is a complement about the décor – ha.
I’ve become pretty obsessive about making sure that I cycle at least five times a week… which sucks in the rain. I ride for about 2 hours a day, which usually works out to be about 30 miles. The salty air is taking a toll on some of my new shiny components (breaks, cables, bolts) and making it rust a bit. Makes me sad. I’ve made pretty good friends with a local guy who is a professional cyclist. He’s toured something like 13 countries and Australia all the way around 4 times. Kind of my cycling idol. We are going to start going out on some basic rides around the valleys pretty soon. I think it will be awesome to be pushed and critiqued by him.
The other night I was sitting under a tree with a few friends and this warm liquid started running down my arm. I got a little weirded out and looked up—only to see an opossum on a branch about 10 feet above my head. On a branch above my head taking a big ol’ pee all over my arm. GROSS. I ran to the sink and washed, but the smell was like…. Butter, pee and garlic eggs all together. ::::flash forward to the following night:::: Riding my bike back from work is usually a fast smooth ride along the beach and just to my tent. I was flying down the road with no lights on my bike and you know what ran out in front of my bike, yup you guessed it: an opossum. That opossum had a death wish for sure as he ran right under the wheels and got squished. I don’t know that he died, but – well he didn’t move too much after the initial impact. So, he can get added to the list……..tally of animals killed in AUS: kangaroo (1), opossum (1) spiders (3834) mosquito’s (987).

I’ve gotten nearly 80 gigs of music and movies from other travelers here at Arts Factory. Its so incredible to have all new music around you all the time. I can’t even keep up with all the music I’ve collected on my iPod. I also have like 60 movies on there.

For Thanksgiving, my buddy Dan from NJ and myself made a feast for about 12 people at the hostel. Mashed regular pots, sweet pots, green beans, rolls, apple pie, stuffing, apple pie – and lots of wine. I’ll post a couple pics for ya. Dan has a giant mustache.
I have been thinking a lot about going to Tasmania in late January for this festival called Rainbow Gathering. It’s a couple weeks long, with a giant communal living lifestyle and monster huge vegetarian group dinners. I want to see some music and enjoy myself for a while with the hippies, then maybe take a week or two to cycle around Taz to see what it has to offer.

I’ve only been getting about 15 hours of work a week at the café I work in, so saving money has been pretty difficult. I am definitely keeping my head above water with money, but constantly breaking even kinda sucks. I lost my sunglasses and my rain jacket already. Ok, I need to take a nap. Bye bye.