Byronic young man

Another year, another birthday – this time in the hippy paradise that is Byron Bay. Yes, I’m back in Byron after a gap of almost six months and nothing much has changed other than it is a lot less busy. In fact it’s pretty damn near perfect at the moment. The sun is shining and there’s a nice, dry heat going on. Dolphins have been playing near the shore as well as a humpback whale the other night. Again I’m staying at the Arts Factory, but this time with less slumming as I’m staying in one of the tents on the island enclosure – nice comfy bed and good duvet which is quite useful on the chilly nights.

Aside from my usual pie eating antics (yes Louise – I have been eating too many as usual, although Patrick has been putting in some late breaking French competition for the title to make up for his current losing streak in draughts, hee hee) I went out to Julian Rocks yesterday for two stunning dives. Go check out the picture of the grey nurse shark that scared the sh*t out of me as we came round the corner onto it and our guide threw himself back out the way. He admitted later he wasn’t initially sure what type of shark it was and being that it was over ten foot long he got out of the way quickly. Very cool to just float there and watch this majestic creature swim by. Grey nurse sharks are hugely protected at the moment and are the species used most in films to get that realistic “oh my god a shark!” look. Believe me, it works.

Tonight I head back down to Sydney and then onto chilly Melbourne. Yep, although the sunshine lifestyle is very tempting indeed the big city is calling me home…