Byron Bay for the Day!

On Friday we went to Byron Bay (a beach town an hour north of Lismore) , which was absolutely stunning. It was full of energy and young vibes from all the college aged kids just wanting to enjoy the perfect beach day. We had an hour long briefing by a local surfer who informed the international kids about the dangers of Australian waters. We went over rip tides, how to avoid them, how to survive them and we listened to a few stories from people caught in them. I didn’t realized HOW serious they really are, and am so glad we had a thorough session on what to do if that happens.  A few people (including me) were very interested in the whole sharks in the water question. It was the most unusual answer in response. The man just said, “Well ya know dolphins aren’t always that friendly and if ya see ‘em they may not be swimmin’ alone, ey?” Another lifeguard at the beach just told us to watch out for bait fish swimming around us and birds circling around us because that means bigger things are lurking around also. It was such a hot day, with that intense southern hemisphere sun just blazing down on the sand making it unbearably hot to walk on. Of course, I placed my towel day…well, more like tossed it down with my beach bag, and ran to the waves. They were the kind of waves every adventure-seeking person LOVES. They became really tall very quickly and were endlessly rolling in. I forgot how much I loved the salt water buoyancy and getting a good work out in from swimming and diving through the tall waves. Surfers surrounded us as we happily struggled with the strong under current and crashing waves. It just makes it better when it’s not necessarily relaxing. As much as it hurt, the salt water sting in my eyes just meant I was back in the ocean on the coast of Australia. It felt incredible.

After a few hours we were about to head in and the lifeguards signaled the swimmers to come in because….yes, there were bait fish, birds flying above, and an awfully large fish in company. I have such a curiosity for sharks and just being close to one, but not enough that I stayed in the water. I really like my limbs and although they aren’t known to kill people, shark attacks aren’t uncommon along that coastline area. How incredible though!

After a fun-filled day of hot sun, beautiful and strong waves, beach volleyball and lots of drinking water, we headed back to the bus. Of course, I had to get a picture of all the international people along for the ride, so I asked our SCU leader to help me get everyone to form so we can have a picture. He looked at me like I was crazy because there were SO many of us, and then he said that he loves that I was so excited so he helped make it happen. Seeing as I can’t whistle, I just went to every person and asked to huddle around for a picture. I gave the leader my camera, and all of sudden 12 more cameras were in his hands because everyone else wanted a picture. Many smiles later, we got all the pictures taken and people were loving the group photo moment. Fun, fun, fun day.