Taking it easy this morning. At the brunch outside, the animals gathered again, ready for some crumbs.
First, morning roll call, to see what's out there on the street. We now know they're called Water Dragons, or Australian Water Dragons. (See if I can upload this video; I've already compressed it by a factor of 5.)
Then it's off to the table. An ibis, a kookaburra, and a rather cheeky lizard quickly gather. These lizards can, by the way, stay underwater for an hour in an emergency, I've read. But they prefer to sit in the sun and warm up. Or it scurries beneath you, or jumps onto the chair next to you. That's no quiet eating. They mainly eat insects, by the way, and aren't dangerous. Of course, they do have sharp claws and teeth that they use when necessary.
We had a dominant character because he immediately started a fight with the neighboring lizard, bit him, and wouldn't let go. That fight went on for half an hour.
In the afternoon, we'll visit the town of Byron Bay. Once a hippie village, now mostly standard commercial shopping. Not yet chained to the chains like in the Netherlands, you'll still see many organic and esoteric shops, Aboriginal souvenirs like boomerangs, clapsticks, and didgeridoos, and surf and bikini shops. And yes, there are also plenty of young people walking around in bikinis or bare-chested. "No shirt, no shoes, no service" doesn't apply here. And lots of fat bikes and scooters zipping between pedestrians (there are hardly any bike lanes here in Australia).
And ice cream parlors, with interesting ice cream varieties.
That evening, I secured a place to sleep for the next day in Port McQuairy (spelling?). And also a place in Sydney through Airbnb.
Dramatic Airbnb signup process, requiring a passport, a photo in a specific format, responding to texts, emails, etc. It took almost an hour to book. Great, those Californian clubs profiting from Australian bookers. They also assume the internet works well. Maybe they haven't considered that Airbnb guests are on the go, where the internet isn't always perfect (cough)...