Byron Bay is a beautiful beach town just two hours south of Brisbane. We kept hearing about how small and laid back it was but, coming from tiny Coolangatta, it was much more happening than we expected! 

Byron has plenty of restaurants, bars, surf stores, grocery and liquor stores. It felt a bit touristy in the center, with more than a few souvenir shops and backpackers, but as a vacation destination for Australians and foreigners alike, that's to be expected. 

We were excited to meet up with old friends Rob and Baz as well as soon-to-be new friends, Rob's lovely girlfriend Leigh and Baz's roommate Jason, a South African who was eager to indulge our stories.

Rob, who lived in Denver for a few years but now lives in Brisbane, rented a house for all of us for the weekend. Since we were the first to get there, we unpacked a bit and then bought beers and snacks, excited to have an entire house to ourselves after weeks in shared hostel rooms. 

Then we checked out the main beach as well as a nearby surfing beach, which had some nice sets rolling in but was also verrry crowded. Mike caught a few before we went back to the house to welcome the rest of the gang. 

We spent the night catching up, swapping stories, playing drinking games, and laughing a lot.  

The rest of the weekend followed suit. We logged more hours at the beach and motivated ourselves to hike 12 km to the Byron Lighthouse. (I put the boot back on for that!) 

Three days quickly came and went. On Monday, we were leaving Byron to spend the last of our days on the east coast of Oz with Rob and Leigh in Brisbane.