A full day at Byron Bay (Day 45)

The first time I woke up it was to a knock on the door. I was pretty worried that it might have been the lady running the motel but there was no peephole so that left me with no other option except to actually open the door. I’m pretty sure I could have looked out the window, or avoided answering, but I wasn’t thinking clearly.

Good thing it was Czech (formerly known as Dan) and Maestri (soon to be known as Italy). SJ wasn’t far behind them. Apparently only Chambers and I had been able to get in the room when we got home from the bar and the other guys ventured out to sleep on the beach when the lady running the motel wouldn’t let them in. She even stayed around watching our room like a hawk to make sure they didn’t get in. Or at least I guess that happened. I only had concern for myself.

When they made it inside I gave up the part of the bed I was sleeping on. I had no idea what time it was or how long I had been sleeping but I knew I’d been in a better situation than the beach-sleepers so I took the floor to be nice. Sharing is caring, right?

The next time I woke up, I was freezing cold on the floor without a blanket. I tried to take part of the one Maestri had, because he was the closest person to me, but he was wrapped up in it like he was in a cocoon. It would have been impossible to get in there, especially since I couldn’t even snatch a corner of it to try and warm up with. Eventually I found my sweatshirt on the floor and tried to use it as a blanket. It didn’t really work but it was better than nothing.

I was also awoken by the motel lady. She called the room to speak with me again, after already haven spoken to her in the middle of the night. She told me we had until 11 a.m. to be out and we had to be gone forever. I was agreeable and I even tried to apologize but she wouldn’t accept it. Oh well. I had to deal with her further before we left, to get my reimbursement for the second night, and to sign for the extra charges she was tacking onto our bill for having more than two people in the room. I didn’t really see the point in arguing with her and I am positive it wouldn’t have done me any good, so I just nodded and did everything she told me to do. She was super mad but I couldn’t do anything to change that. We were doing everything she was asking of us; we were leaving, we were paying more money, I tried to apologize, and I was agreeable. It just wasn’t enough for her.

The guys were upset when I told them that we had to pay extra money. They had paid more to sleep on the beach. I can understand why they would not be happy about that.

When we left the motel, we were missing Whitey and Zane. Chambers had talked to Zane at some point throughout the morning but Whitey was nowhere to be seen. When I called him, his phone went straight to voicemail, so I figured it was dead. The guys went and looked for his car and they couldn’t find it. At first I thought his stuff was gone from the room, so we all wondered if he’d just got up and left Byron at some point. But when we got to the point of more thorough cleaning, I found that his bag and all of his belongings were still there. So we had lost Whitey.

It was kind of like The Hangover. We all woke up and one of our friends was missing. Except his mattress wasn’t gone and he wasn’t supposed to be getting married. Okay, it was nothing like The Hangover. We did spend a couple hours trying to figure out where Whitey might be though, contemplating calling local jails or hospitals to see if he’d turned up anywhere. Instead of actually doing that, the rest of us went for breakfast. Zane included. We were only down one man.

When my phone rang and the caller ID told me it was Whitey, we were all pretty ecstatic. I am sure I answered with far too much enthusiasm. It turns out he had just slept in his car, but before doing that, he proceeded to move his car down the street, which is why no one could find him. And somewhere during the night his phone had died, of course. There were seemingly simple explanations for everything.

During breakfast, Chambers convinced the rest of us that it would be a good time to try surfing. We headed to a place to rent surfboards (in Australia, they would say ‘hire’ surfboards) and then we were off to the beach. As I was setting up camp, that being my towel, the guys went down the beach to start the learning. When I went after them to try and join in, I couldn’t find them. I walked up and down the beach and then gave up. So I went back to where Whitey was and laid out in the sun. Well, there wasn’t really that much sun. It was a cloudy day. But I was hungover so it felt a lot brighter and hotter than it actually was. And we all ended up getting sunburned, so it must have been out there somewhere.

At some point I fell asleep and I think Whitey had been gone the entire time, to get food and to charge his phone somewhere. I woke up when he got back and not long after, the rest of the crew returned. And then it was my turn to head into the water and make an attempt at surfing.

I was horrible. I made a few pathetic attempts and it was awful. In the end I think I gave myself a four. But that would be on a scale of one to 37. I learned two things while trying to surf. One, it’s a lot harder than it looks. And two, my bathing suit was not built for it. I only had one wardrobe malfunction, but the best part about that was that Chambers had to notify me. I didn’t even realize it on my own. Good thing I don’t embarrass easily.

It wasn’t long after we returned from sucking at surfing that we decided to leave the beach. On our way back to the cars we saw another hotel and Whitey stopped in to see if they had a room available with two beds. They did, but he had no wallet. So I went back and booked us the room. The people working there probably thought it was weird that we wanted two beds so badly, since they had assumed that Whitey and I were a couple. To each their own I guess. I wasn’t about to correct them and tell them there were actually seven of us. I went to check it out before going back to the guys and the place was as close to perfect as we could have asked for. And by perfect, I mean it had brick walls. There was no way we were going to be disturbing anyone through those.

We all took post-beach showers (separately, for anyone thinking otherwise) and then headed to the lighthouse. It’s a big thing in Byron Bay, and the place did offer wonderful views of the surrounding area. SJ had my camera because his battery was dead, so I am sure there are some pictures on there of everything. I just need to get to posting them.

When we got back we all went to dinner at a bar around the corner. The food was good, there was live music, and everyone was happy. We started making some plans for the evening and I ended up telling the guys that I would be a great wingman for them, and that I would do so later on in the evening. I figured I could come up with some great story, like that I had been left in Byron or that I was stranded or something, and this fantastic group of guys came to my rescue and they’ve been perfect gentlemen, or something like that. Or I could just say that one of them was my brother and I had come along for the ride.

Flash forward: I did not do any of that.

Post-dinner we contemplated either beginning to drink again or having a team nap. I’m not sure if it was on purpose or not, but we all fell asleep. Team nap it was. Once again, I got part of a bed. I’m not sure if the guys were just too afraid to say anything to me or ask me to take up a spot on the floor, but I wasn’t about to bring it up myself. I was fine with having part of a bed to myself.

I think it was around 8 o’clock when we woke up and began drinking again. We wanted to head out to the bars a little earlier since we hadn’t made our way to Byron until midnight the night before. There were more shots of Czech moonshine before leaving of course. I think if I ever even smell that stuff again I might have nightmares. Although I must point out that I wasn’t opposed to it at the time.

We went out and started at the same bar we’d been at the previous night. We were obviously really interested in exploring different parts of Byron. When we got there, there weren’t many people in the bar, but there was a group of girls sitting around. Some of the guys went over to talk to them and when I went to the bar to get a drink, Zane asked if I was going to be their wingman and help them out. I looked at them, thought about it, and said, “Naw, they’re fine,” and walked in the other direction. 

I suck at being a wingman. Sorry fellas.

After turning into a sheer disappointment for my buddies, I went outside and talked to Czech for awhile. He and Chambers played ball together in Europe and now he’s in Australia playing club baseball for Surfer’s Paradise. While we were talking, Italy came outside and we started talking to a couple of guys across the table from us, who happened to be from Norway. It was the beginning of our United Nations pub crawl.

All of us left together to head to another bar after only a little while. Our group now consisted of a Canadian (you’re welcome), two Americans, the Italian Stallion, Czech, only one Australian, two Norwegians and a New Zealander. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

At the second bar we lost SJ. After some drinking and some dancing we were on our way out of the place and we were once again down a man. I went back in to look for him and instead found Czech, who I didn’t realize we were missing (oops) and who was also looking for SJ. Neither of us found him. I went back one more time on my own before we gave up and decided to venture elsewhere. We tried to get in to some fancy place, and by fancy I mean that you couldn’t wear flip flops and shorts, and it cost $10 to get in. That didn’t happen. After stopping for some food at a variety store (classy, I know), we went back to the first bar.

It wasn't long until we discovered that SJ and Dan were both there. We were all together again. They had found each other somewhere along the way, gone to an entirely different place, and then ventured back to Cucamonga’s. I was far too excited to see them and probably mentioned to SJ that I had gone looking for him about a million times. I thought he should know. After some more drinking and dancing I found Whitey sitting at a table on his own. He was ready to leave and I decided I was too, since I had the only key to the room and I figured I could help him out. I went around trying to find everyone else to tell them we were leaving and then we walked back to the hotel. Whitey pulled up a spot on the floor, despite the other options available to him, and I had a spot on a bed once again.

I don’t know how long I was asleep but I woke up when the rest of the guys came back to the room. They also had the Norwegians with them, though I’m not sure they would be happy with me spreading the news that they picked up two guys on our trip to Byron. All of them came back with food, several packages of instant noodles to be precise. I had some of Chambers’ noodles and then more of SJ’s before I’d had enough. Apparently one of the guys from Norway doesn’t know how to add water to a package of noodles though because he definitely burned them in the microwave. The two brothers from Norway left shortly after that but our room smelled like burning for much longer. Someone opened all the windows in our room to try and help, but it didn’t really.

I guess it didn’t bother me much though because I am sure it wasn’t long until I was passed out once more. On a bed. I guess it pays to be a girl.