Day 12 / Day 7: Belle-ina

Our hostel had a pool so we had a swim first thing in the morning. It was glorious! Then we went to the Sunday markets just down the road. It was a very typical small town feel marketplace although Coffs Harbour isn’t actually that small. There was that typical local band with aged and experienced musos that you could tell have lived here their whole lives - the type who musically don’t know much about what’s going on but can play what they know (in this case country and blues) extremely well with great feel and solidarity.

We saw a dog with a mullet.
Kate and Cherri soaking up the UV at Ballina
Ballina was our next stop and here I had my first awesome beach swim in Australia. Again, the sun was blazing, great beach but there weren’t too many people there and that made me suspicious. We went for a swim and this time there was nothing wrong. The water was warm and clean and the waves were catchable and challenging. There was even some shade for me to lie and listen to Bon Iver and pretend to sunbathe. Flip, I’m so gutted I’m not going to see him play in Wellington. I should’ve bought tickets to his Melbourne show but I didn’t think of that at the time I declined the Wellington ones. Guts as. His latest album is a masterpiece.
Zoning out to Bon and airing my armpits and being sunsmart
Alice - camera trickery to make her look topless











To our surprise, Ballina was only a short distance away from Byron Bay, which was our next destination. We looked around for hostels but all the places were quite pricey because it’s a very popular tourist destination. We diverted our attention to cheap motels and we found one on special for just $99 and it had a double bed, single bed and a couch – ideal.
We knew it’d probably cost more if we said there were four of us so Kate and I pretended to be a couple and booked a room. I had to lie =(. I felt terrible about it because the guy was so nice.
After everything was sorted out we snuck Cherri and Alice into our room and again had a quiet night (becoming quite common as we’re all so tired from travelling constantly). Alice and Kate took the double bed, Cherri took the single and I took the couch. I’m really good at sleeping on couches. 
Viewpoint of one of the beaches at Byron Bay and the surfers
Peak: Swim at Ballina
Pit: I didn’t really enjoy the markets too much. Tried my best not to be a buzz kill for the girls but not sure if I did a good job.

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