Tag Archives: Main Beach

Mikael’s 30th in Byron Bay

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A few weekends ago, on 2nd November, Mikael turned 30! In the spring, when it’s warm and light outside. That is so strange! My own normal spring birthday will now be in the fall. Land of upside-downs.

He was welcomed into his 30’s with two night’s spent in Byron Bay and some rain, but all in all by a very cosy weekend down south.

After the most incredible visit to Coombabah, we packed our car and drove down to another timezone. It is so weird that you right now travel one hour into the past, just across the border to New South Wales just south of Gold Coast.

The weekend was all about camping and just soaking in the Byronshire atmosphere with mother in law while celebrating Mikael’s 30 years on this planet as well as our first year as engaged.

His birthday started at The Farm in Byron Bay. Super busy even if it was raining a lot! Really good breakfast and cute place with animals.

We then drove up to the lighthouse and were so lucky the weather was not optimal, there were pretty much no people and we managed to get a parking spot. As with the whale season being over, there were no whales. But the views were still incredible! Up there, we took a fika break and Elise and I had a very funny encounter with a magpie friend. He was walking on the rail, right next to where we were sitting, Elise was filming it and it was cheeky enough to keep walking and then hide behind a pole, just for it to pop its head out around it as she just stopped filming. It was hilarious!

This time, the most eastern point of Australia was accessible and we have now stood on one of four corners of this continent.

This poor guy had the biggest tick I have ever seen right under his eye. Also, these water dragons are everywhere now when it’s getting warmer outside.

Birthday dinner!

Byron Bay

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We left Queensland today, and not just for a short while on foot, but actually going down south for a bit with an Uber. 45 minutes south of here lies Byron Bay, home to Australia mainland’s most eastern point. And also hometown to Parkway Drive.

We got up at sunrise, took an uber with an amazing driver all the way down to Byron Bay. First thing we notice, the wind. Holy schmoly! I think it was windy back in Kirra as well, but I doubt it was as windy. This was ridiculous! And with the clear skies and lots of sun, I just knew we would be dead by the time we came home. Which was true.

We started by walking around in central Byron Bay, just to get the feel of it. Had breakfast at The Hum, close to the beach. We then started walking toward the lighthouse. Our initial plan was to watch the sunset from up there, but we got too tired and were on our way home when the sun set.

On our way up there, we stopped all the time, looking at the beautiful nature. There were signs telling us there were wild Koalas in the roadside trees. But we never saw any… We stopped at The Pass, a pretty cool rock formation and Fisherman’s Lookout where I saw some whales through my new binoculars, but due to the wind, they were shaking so much it was hard to see. Tons of kitesurfers! Some jumped extremely high. Lunch/fika at The Pass Cafe where they had saffron buns and really good smoothies.

When we neared the Cape Bay Lighthouse, we noticed a lot of people standing by the rails overlooking the ocean. Of course, the ocean is beautiful. But we quickly learned that there were so many whales out there! Like countless of them. Breaching and breathing everywhere. There were two swimming so close to the shore that we could see their shadows under the surface and follow them exactly where they went. It was magical! I saw it all through my binoculars and could count the humps on their backs. MAGICAL! Mikael managed to film them.

We had a second fika up at the cafe by the lighthouse to gather some strength before trying to get back home. Which turned out to be harder than we thought. No Uber wanted to drive all the way up to Coolangatta, across the border. So we had to get a normal taxi, for three times as much. Not fun. But oh well. We came home and had the sweetest taxi driver and his son drive us back to Kirra.

All in all, Byron Bay was small, cosy, but windy. And the best part were all the whales! Don’t really see what all the hype is about though if I’m being completely honest.

Sunrise in Kirra. Downtown Byron was tiny. Reminded me a lot of SLO, CA (San Luis Obispo) which was nice. Julian Rocks, a pretty cool diving spot that I wish to dive soon. On our way to the lighthouse. Lunch/fika at The Pass Cafe. They had saffron buns! The Pass. So many kitesurfers. I actually managed to get a picture of a whale. Our second kookaburra.

Today’s adventure: Local tram

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We are still completely knocked out in the mornings. We set the alarm for 8am, but snooze through it and wake up at 10:30. But that’s not too bad. If we spent more time outside, walking and taking in new impressions, than these half days, I think we would be completely dead.

Even if we didn’t get out until like noon, we still managed to see a lot of things. On today’s agenda was to use the public transit here. There are several buses going around here and one tram, G:Link. It was super easy to buy a card at the station (we live by the end station in the south), they leave every ten minutes on average and stops at every stop. They were super clean and the cards were so easy to use. There are machines on every station, so you tap the card before you go on, and then when you get off again. Very convenient.

So we are living in Mermaid Waters and decided to go up to Main Beach and check it out. There is a scenic point called The Pit Gold Coast which didn’t look like it was too far. We gave up after going a third of the way from the tram station.

We live on the orange dot, took the tram all the way to the light green dot and walked to the dark green dot. That’s when we got tired and turned back.

Today’s realization: GOLD COAST IS BIG!

Much bigger than we thought. And it’s long. When we move onto our next place (Coolangatta) in three weeks, we will be one hour south of here, which is already kinda south in GC), even though it looks so close on the map. Insane!

We walked around in the Marina north of Main beach where huge yachts were stationed. We also saw that there are whale watching boats there. Humpback whales are migrating from Antartica now so we might just take one of those tours out one day.

Main Beach.

Southport, where we will stay our last three weeks.On the way back, we actually struggled to find a restaurant to eat at. We jumped off the tram at Surfer’s Paradise, but all the restaurants seemed to be at the stop before: Cavill Avenue. So we went to Broadbeach and had dinner at a bar, The Lukcy Squire, by the shopping mall The Oasis. The Philly Steak Sandwich was actually really good. And even if it was simple, it ended up costing 35 AUD per person with one soda as well. It’s expensive here.