Hippy-ville....

So, it turns out Byron Bay is the hippy Capitol of Australia. From hippy-political graffiti and artwork to a guy giving out leaflets on how to be happy, this place is full of em. Not my hostel though. Luckily my hostel doesn't allow hippies, just people that don't speak English or like to communicate to other people that aren't part of their group. This was making my first day here wry hard.
Luckily whilst loitering around the reception waiting for something to happen, I stumbled across Damien, a scaffolder from Maidstone. He too wasn't overly enjoying the hospitality and facilities of the hostel, and we decided to go in search of other English people - at the pub, obviously. We ended up staying out all night, ending up on 'Cheeky Monkeys', a bar/restaurant/club aimed at backpackers. Was quite a good night really, lots of entertainment and drink...actually got so drunk we ended up getting a tattoo by a guy we met, dwayne. I got some lyrics across my waist. Not as painful as I thought tbh.The next day I had a surf lesson. This wasnt too bad, the instructors we nice enough and knew their stuff, having won some national awards, but they were quite pedantic and insisted on push us into waves, instead of trying to let us progress our teaching and catch our own. Again I was only 1 of 3 Englishmen on the course, with 15 other nationalities, everyone of whom insisted on staying directly in front of me every wave I caught, causing me to have to jump off to avoid killing them, which after the 10th time I was starting to consider.
That night, Damien and I went to the Byron Bay Brewery where there was an open mic night. I didn't get up as their were too many people, but we stayed and watched, and tbh the standard on average was exactly that a few acts did stand out though - a 13 year old called Squib -I kid you not- who did 2 of his own songs before being given the only Encore of the night with John Mayer with that song Alli can play (I forget the name). Squib was unreal, his songs were awesome and his guitar playing amazing, his voice...a bit Bieber-ish, but whn it breaks should be good. After Squib, a duo got up, one playing guitar and the other rapping - they were really good, especially the rapper!
Also, Cockatoo Paul blew me away. He played the Guitar, digeridoo, tambourine and sang all at the same time - awesome.
Today with Damien gone, I wandered Round the Coast walk, which was 2km long....after you walk 1km to get there....let's just say I've lost fitness over here....
The walk itself was beautiful (though would have been better if it wasn't overcast) and along the walk I saw Turtles and Dolphins! Not bad for free! The walk culminated in the 'Famous' Byron Bay lighthouse, which was cool.
Not sure what I'm up to tonight, might go watch some music, there's loads around. Tomorrow evening I leave for Sydney! First stop (after Nicky's house to drop off my stuff)? Zombie Marxh!!