Praised for its alternative and laid-back reputation

Byron Bay is a seaside resort on the north coast of the Australian state of New South Wales with around 9000 inhabitants. It is named after John Byron, a British captain and circumnavigator of the 18th century.

The city has an alternative reputation in Australia, as many dropouts and artists have settled here. Because of that and its proximity to Nimbin, a place to try out all sorts of drugs, it is a popular destination for backpackers. Moreover, Byron Bay is famed worldwide for its surfing beaches, scuba diving and whale watching,

Luxury hostel with jacuzzi

The atmosphere in Byron Bay is even more relaxed than in the other east coast cities. There are hippie-style hostels and shops where smoking grass is considered a good habit. My hostel, the WakeUp! Byron Bay is highly praised on the internet. The price is with 33 AU$ pretty steep! In return the hostel offers a lot of events such as yoga courses or bike rental. Moreover, for the first time ever my hostel room was equipped with a jacuzzi that everybody in the room could use. As the room could also be locked, it was obviously an excellent place for young ones to have quick sex.

All that is nice after some time but I prefered to spend less money. Moreover, the hostel was completely overcrowded. There was barely space to get something into the refrigerators and the kitchen was too full sometimes, as everybody was cooking. So 3 days later I changed to another hostel, the YHA, which was also more central than the others. Even though the atmosphere and the luxury here couldn't compete with the previous one, it was comfortable and quiet and had fast internet and a better kitchen.

Trip to the lighthouse to see the sunrise

I joined a trip from the WakeUp! hostel to do a sunrise hike to the lighthouse. Early in the morning a shuttle took us there and afterwards we had to wait quite a while until the sun appeared before the horizon. In my opinion it was not really worthwhile to get up so early for that. I enjoyed the hike more than the sunrise itself. You better enjoy some of the magnificent sunsets.

Too old for Byron Bay

Byron Bay did not please me very much. I was here in late fall, so the weather was already pretty cool, especially at night. So I couldn't join some of the cool outside events which take place here in summer. Anyway, I'm probably too old for Byron Bay. If you are over 20 years old, tha you are already kind of old here becuse most of the others here were not older than 20. Many people come here to practice yoga, surf, smoke marijuana or try new drugs. Or all together. I tried neither of those. I used to chill on the beach with my book. And I witnessed a lot of surfers in perfect body shape as well as very attractive women. Byron Bay is like Bali nowadays a place to be for people who are in their prime and love to show which a relaxed live they have.