Assignments due and Adventures in Byron Bay!

Week 5 at Uni was a busy week when it came to assignments. I handed in two papers, as well as study for a biomechanics test that was coming up the next week. With all that stress, I basically forgot to go an exercise, which I found to be a bad idea because it just made me even more stressed. With no food in the fridge as well, I went back to eating the dried noodles which made me feel like a freshman again. Moral of that week, try to start everything as early as possible and don’t take your daily workout routine out of the equation.  

On a fun note before my weekend in Byron Bay, on Thursday, the crew and I went to the sunshine plaza to celebrate Louise's birthday! August seems to be the month of birthdays for everyone. We went to a popular chain called Grill'd to get some gourmet burgers then went to Coles to pick up some extra things. Afterwards, a few of us went to Louise's place to hang out and eat watermelon. yes this is how we all hang out. We even had a little fight over the watermelon. Eventually everyone ha to go back and get assignments done. 

Friday I jumped onto a bus with a few friends and headed to Byron Bay, a town about five hours away from USC. This trip I went through WOW Card, which helps Uni students receive discounts at local areas and discounts on trips. Before arriving, we had to pick people we wanted to room with at our accommodation location. I ended up rooming with seven people two of which I already knew. My roommates were Alyssa and Cara plus five guys who we basically just met on the bus ride over. Around 6:30, the bus arrived at the Holiday Village Backpackers hostel, which was located a few blocks from the main beach. Since we arrived early and dinner was not for a while,my roommates and I settled in then we made a quick trip to the bottle shop then Wolly’s. For dinner, we got a free meal and drink at a bar called Cheeky Moneys which was located right across from our hostel. This bar/club is very famous location in Byron Bay to party. It is known for changing from a bar into a club within a few hours. There was a fun theme going on called paint party. The waitresses/ bartenders would cover the guests in neon paint and everyone by the end of the night was glowing. One free drink, a free meal, happy hour prices and glowing paint. What more can a Uni student ask for??!! Needless to say, it was an eventful night for all of us.

The next morning I woke up with one of my roommates to try and find this guy who was known for drawing pictures in the sand at the main beach in Byron. Sadly when we made it to the beach, there was no sign of the man but there was a beautiful sunrise to greet us. After walking back to the hostel and going back to bed, we all woke up and got ready for our hike to the light house from our hostel. We hiked to one of the beaches, and even to the most east point of Australia. Eventually we made it to the light house where were got snacks and rested. Sadly because of my terrible hangover, it was a hard hike for me and after puking over the side of the rails, I drove back to the hostel with some of the students doing the extra activities because walking back down would have been a bad idea. While everyone went to the beach and had lunch, I laid in bed all day as well as trying to hydrate from the night before. Dinner time, there was a BBQ at the hostel as well as a trip to another bar for free drinks which I decided to stay in because I wanted to be better for my extra activity the next day.

Sunday morning, Cara, Alyssa, Flo and I woke up early to be driven to Skydiving Byron Bay. This location is the highest skydiving location in Australia and one of the best places to skydive. Now before you call me

crazy, the reason I chose this activity over kayaking with dolphins and snorkeling is because it was something different and I have always wanted to cross skydiving off my bucket list. Since this trip had that window of opportunity, I thought “why not?”  I also had an awesome group of friends who wanted to give it a shot as well, which made it even more fun! After signing our lives away, and got a brief introduction about how to position ourselves for diving out of the plane and landing on the ground, Alyssa, Cara, Flo, Jillian and I jumped on a small plane with the people taking us and flew 14,000ft into the air. We were over the clouds when they opened the plane door. I watched everyone jump out one at a time until it was my turn with the guy I was strapped to. I put my feet under the plane, held my head on my partner’s shoulder and we fell out. The free fall lasted about a minute but felt like 10 seconds. During that time I was freaking out but also thinking to myself “I’m falling out of the sky!” Once we made it through the clouds, my partner let out the parashoot and I saw the beautiful view of the coast line and ground. We were flying around for a while until we landed safely on the ground where I felt a rush of adrenaline as I ran around cheering. I was able to get video and pictures of my experience and I can honestly say that after all that, I am going to be bored for the rest of my life. Roller coasters will be so boring now! When we all returned to the room, we grabbed lunch, got dressed for surfing, rented surfboards and headed to the beach! The waves were dumping very quickly so it was hard not to nose dive. Eventually Jillian, Josefine and I decided to go back to the hostel and grab food before going shopping in the hippy town of Byron Bay. Once we returned to the hostel, we jumped on the bus to drive back to Uni.

Courtesy of ADVENTURE DUDES AUSTRALIA 

Needless to say, I had an amazing weekend in Byron Bay! It drained all the energy out of me but it will be another weekend here in Australia I will never forget. I met more awesome international students and more people who love doing the crazy things I like to do. Thank you to the Adventure Dudes Australia guides for making this weekend more memorable. If anyone wants to find some fun tours to do in Australia, check out their facebook page! I promise you will have an amazing time with them! Two fun weekends in a row and now back to a long week of papers and studying.