Dallon's Blog: Byron Bay

There are lots of different kinds of people in the world. I don't claim to know much about most of them, but I do think that I've got hippies figured out. Here's what I figure...It probably began in the sixties. Some prominent person (at least thought to be prominent by some lesser person or persons) came across some bad times in his life. This individual probably lost his job, or gambled away all his money, or had a series of failed investments. In any case, things got really bad for this fellow. Suddenly he found himself homeless and penniless. Though he managed to hold onto some important personal belongings. The most valuable being that old VW bus he used to drive in high school. The circumstance was such that he came to sleeping in that van. Soon he began to get stinky and dirty, not having a home to clean up in. His hair got ratty and his clothes got stained. Another personal item he still possessed though was his old paint kit. Quickly he learned that he could cover up all the dirt stains on his shirt by painting them. His hair got so ratty it began to clump together in dready locks. He was so bored and lonely that he started beating on a hollow log he found by the river he was sleeping next to, and for hours on end he would play the same beat over and over again. One day, in a lonely heartbroken fit, he broke into his ex-girlfriend's house (she dumped him when the van began growing mold) and though he didn't find her, he found her mother's medicinal marijuana. Thinking it was her fathers pipe smoke, he took some. That night his senseless drumming, painted t-shirts, homemade clothes, and thick layer of dirt all seemed like groovy artful masterpieces and suddenly he felt good about himself for creating such wonderful things of art, his own lack of ambition, drive, or motivation being his crown jewel. Wanting to share his brilliance he made some friends with the other homeless people under the overpass who found this fellow captivating and spiritually content. At least that is, after he shared some of his herbal enlightenment. A movement was thus begun...and Byron Bay will never be the same again!

Ok, maybe this huge oracle on the origins of hippie-ism are a bit overboard to describe this place. But...ok it's not. Byron Bay is awesome! Except...for all the hippies. Really though, there are a lot of interesting people there. I finally got on a surfboard at Byron Bay. That was pretty cool. It's actually a rad little town. Reminded be a little bit of Maui. It's much more tropical than the rest of Australia (so far), which I like. I went scuba diving as well, in what I can only describe as something of both a warm water and cold water environment. Pretty cool though. For the chance to actually take a warm shower in the great indoors we stayed at a hostel. Still slept in the vans, but had access to the restrooms and some electricity to charge all our dead devices. That was nice. We stayed there for two nights. Andy crashed the van and also managed to lose a wetsuit, but we managed to escape the second hand high and tedious hours, and hours, and hours of drum beating...otherwise unscathed.