Cumbebin Swamp

Day 9
After an early brekkie we were on the road on our way to Bryon Bay which is a little over 3 hours driving. On our way we took a little detour to go on a hike at Mount Ngungun which is about a 2 mile hike with amazing views at the top. The sun was shining in and out of the clouds and as always, it was humid. Once we got to the top, the view overlooked nothing but green farmland for miles. We stopped for lunch at The Farm at Bryon Bay, and yes, it is actually a farm. The atmosphere and wine were awesome, the food not so much. After walking around the farm we jumped back in the car and drove the last 20 minutes into Bryon Bay, a surfers beach town with a nice laid back vibe. We checked into our hostel, got settled into our room and then went to walk around the town. We went to the liquor store (bottle shop as it is called in Australia) and went to the beach to drink and watch the sunset (which again, was just dark clouds but I did see a little pink trying to peak out). We stopped at a grocery store and picked up chips and snacks and went back to the hostel to sit outside and finish our wine before heading out for the night. Our bar of choice for the night was Cheeky Monkey (through the hostel we got a free drink, but of course we lost our vouchers) the only bar I have ever been to that doesn’t serve shots. Zarli and I bonded in Greece over our love for fireball (it is difficult to find in Europe) and they didn’t have it at Cheeky Monkey so we had Jack Daniels Fire with water, since they wouldn’t sell us shots. It sounds gross but it actually wasn’t that bad.

Day 10
We stayed up way too late last night and got up early to make the most of our day. We grabbed breakfast sandwiches, coffee and water and went to the grass overlooking the ocean to eat. It was high 80s out and the sun was strong so we went swimming in the ocean (Australia’s oceans are unbelievably salty) and laid out on the beach. Since it was so hot and we were somewhat hungover, we decided an hour was long enough. We grabbed some smoothies and walked back to the hostel to relax in the shade for awhile. Zarli has been to Bryon on several occasions and took me to this Mexican restaurant for lunch that she really liked. It was probably one of the best Mexican places I have been to, I got a salad in a fried taco shell and a mojito. Bryon is known for its surfing scene and beach, it’s not really a place with a lot of sights to visit, people go there to relax. One of the things to do other than beaching is to visit the lighthouse, which is the easternmost point of the mainland of Australia. Lighthouses have always had a very special meaning in my life and I always really enjoy seeing them. It had beautiful views and at the lookout point I turned around and there were three different beaches in view, it was an incredible thing to see. We went to the beach again since the sun wasn’t as strong and then went back into town for dinner at the Balcony Bar & Oyster Co, where I got the king crab linguine which was incredible. Instead of going out again, we decided to go to bed early and catch up on our sleep since we were driving back to Zarli’s in the morning. One of the things that we had originally planned to do while in Bryon was skydive but the weather forecast said it was going to rain (ended up being very hot and sunny) so we didn’t want to risk booking and then it getting cancelled.Read more