Slowly this morning, definitely an hour later, because yesterday we crossed the New South Wales border, and they do have Daylight Savings Time here. We had breakfast while the half-meter-long lizards stare at us, the kookaburra bird waits on the edge of the veranda until dinner is done, and the ibis scurries around looking for something tasty. The cabin is nicely elevated, like many houses here. That way, the rustling stays under the floorboards, and the critters are less likely to come inside!
This afternoon we're going for a walk to the Byron Bay lighthouse. We're not staying in Byron Bay, though, but in a holiday park outside town, on the other side of the swamp.
Since parking is a real pain in Byron, we first walk into town. It's a bit of a long way, though, and it'll easily add a few kilometers. Maybe we should take the car after all? You can also drive to the lighthouse.
Along the swamp, over the beach, to the hills, it looks just like Dora.
Here too, the beach is quite devastated by the hurricane earlier. There's a lot of surfing going on, or at least, trying to do it. It's like skiing before the chairlift: swimming all the way out to sea for maybe 10 seconds on the board. If you're good and there are big waves, you can do it longer, maybe 30.
Then we arrive at the hills where the lighthouse stands. Up the hill, down the hill, down to the beach, and up again. Until we round the cape and arrive at the easternmost point of Australia. There we saw an Australian water dragon (a large lizard, 75 cm) and a major skink (a small lizard, 30 cm).
Off to the lighthouse. And see if they still have tea. No way, everything's closed after 3 p.m. It's hard to get used to that.
Well, that's set! We'll see if we can get back before dark.
On the way to the lighthouse, we saw another large snake in the parking lot. A python about two meters long. Not venomous, but a nasty little biter. It was moving slowly toward the road, which is obviously not healthy for it. A brave Australian woman pulled it back into the bushes by its tail, so it could continue there. That's how we do it here!
Just in the nick of time, we see another whale, this time without a doubt, all three! Admittedly, if you weren't there, the photo has a strong Nessie feel... I'm a believer!
