my last blog entry

after noosa, i made a quick 2 night stop in hippie-ville/byron bay. the first few hours were less than stellar. my roommates were nice, but not friendly. so i was just kinda doing my own thing. i started off to a bar w/ live music and this dude came up to me and asked if i hit his friend. he seemed nice enough and believed me when i laughed at the accusation. then he said, "just keep walking". surrounded by 5 dudes, i took his advice. then this drunk-ass gets in my face and asked why i hit him and why i was all "chinese" with him. reasoning w/ him wasn't working, so i asked his friends to hold him back so i could finally get to the bar. they did that twice, but both times he got away and back in my face. now, do you really want to fight a guy who can hardly stand and are his friends who manage to surround me each time gonna join in? i eventually convinced his friends to hold him back so i could inch closer to the bar. when i got there, he didn't follow me in. phew! sure wasn't expecting that. i wasn't worried about the drunk guy, but i had no idea what all his friends were going to do. i'm fearing the backlash of comments for this story, though.... ("you should have hit him you wimp!!!"...)

but only a couple hours later, things picked up. i met two really cool irish chicks and basically spent the rest of my time in byron w/ them.


we went to the bar until 3am the first night and played some really really bad pool. and check out the mixed signals i got:



despite not going to bed until 3:30am, i was up @ 7am looking to do this mtn biking tour. all booked up. canoe tour? canceled. so i worked a bit and then went for a quick hike to this lighthouse that had an amazing view. so many beaches w/ no one on them:


and seeing the waves basically forced me to fo surfing. you didn't expect me to hold out this WHOLE time i was here? so i went for a little surf session. sure missed my wetsuit! shoulder doesn't feel any worse, so that's good.

now, if you are under 18 or one of my parents, aunts, uncles, this is where you stop reading. seriously. the trip is over. stop reading. mom, i mean it! STOP!!!! grant? no chance. move on buddy. now sammy, if you are reading this, that's amazing. most kids don't read before they are 2. so giddy up if you are.

onwards. (mom, i'm serious! stop reading!) for my last day in hippie-ville, the irish connection & i took a tour named, "jim's alternative tours". (mom, seriously. stop!) basically, this was a "go to a town to buy pot cookies & travel around to strange places and listen to good music" type of tour.


here's us with our cookies. i ended up eating four. 1/2 was supposed to work, but it didn't. but i tell ya, 4 certainly did. (mom, i warned you to stop reading!)


this town (nimbin) basically survives on tourists buying pot & stupid nicknacks. there's even a political party dedicated to making pot legal. and that's their only agenda. of course, if they make it legal, then no one is gonna take this tour. i don't think they thought that far ahead, though. wonder why? also included in this town was a "design room":


i'm not sure why it was closed on this big shopping day, but i think there was something really stellar in it. i'll have to do this tour again....

they also let us tour a free museum. i can't tell you how upset i'd be if i paid for this tour. it was basically like touring a college dorm room decorated by drunk hippies.


then we took a trip to the bus driver's friend's house. he's described as the "biggest dirt bag alive". it was an accurate description. when he started ranting about how how all animals have the same intelligence, i knew we were in trouble. i kept wondering how this could be part of a tour! but then the cookies started kicking in and just about anything was entertaining. pictured is this remote shack where we ate fruits & nuts. it's like the driver expected us to have the munchies or something...



and i have to admit, the drive on the bus was awesome. driving through the forest listening to good music and, umm.... having the influence of a few cookies.


i don't think it's possible for me to write down the bizarre thoughts & feelings i was experiencing. besides, i can't get my mom to stop reading this blog entry and that might freak her out even more. at one point, the driver put on "one of these days" by pink floyd and timed the decent of this one hill perfectly. at the end, he was so happy, he practically jumped out of his seat and said, "YES!!!!" i have to admit, it was pretty cool.
here's a quick video clip:
drugs and bus ride

now i'm sitting at a hostel waiting to catch a bus to the airport and i'm faced with a serious dilemma. see the picture below:


you know where i'm going with this. should i take that dollar or not? i mean, they are going to clear out these notes & stuff eventually. and who's going to use an american dollar here? should i take it and buy myself something nice? decisions..... let's start placing bets on whether or not i take it....

thanks for reading my blog! i hope ya'll enjoyed it! i'm getting on the plane in 3 hours! :(