After four months of winter and work, I was hanging for a break, absolutely dying to get away for a few weeks. Last year I went to Newcastle for a week with my sister and nephew to recuperate after winter, and this year Queensland was on the cards. Originally we were going to fly straight to Brisbane, but what with one thing and another and wanting to leave as soon as possible, we ended up driving via Byron Bay to Queensland.
The drive was lovely, and long. I’ve finally started to get used to the vast distances in Australia, it takes about six to eight
hours to drive from one side of Ireland to the other, but in Australia, well six or eight hours is nothing. It took us two days to drive to Byron Bay, stopping in Bar Beach on the way, where they happened to have a Kombi run that evening. Which is something I’d never seen before, there were just so many VW’s in every colour imaginable.
Byron Bay was lovely, if a bit windy. We walked to the lighthouse on our first day and the view was spectacular. It was so nice to be lying and walking on the beach again and soaking in the sunshine, it was much needed. On our last afternoon there, I booked a time at the local tattoo parlour to have a tattoo. It’s something I’d wanting to do for years but was always too scared to actually go ahead with. Finally, with some morel support – although I was told it felt like a Stanley knife cutting into you – I decided to go for it. On the aforementioned afternoon we rocked up at the tattoo parlour, I was surprisingly relaxed – although while the lady was doing the tattoo I gripped the chair so hard my fingers were cramped by the time she was finished. Once it was all over and done with, the lady proceeded to explain the aftercare and the rest is a bit of a blur as I passed out falling smack bang on the tiled floor. The egg on my forehead that resulted from passing out, was definitely something to write home about, it was bloody huge! By the next day, half the swelling had moved down my face so I now had two puffy black eyes and a somewhat deflated egg on my forehead. A month later and I still have a small lump on my head and the wrinkle lines on my forehead still don’t line up. Other than that, love the tat!
Oh yea, and that all happened the day before I met my boyfriends family!
When we finally arrived in Queensland it was hot. It was throughly enjoyable, relaxing, not working – just a bit of studying – and lovely warm weather. While there I went for a two hour horse ride, in true country style; Western saddle, riding through the cattle and gorgeous sunshine. I hadn’t ridden a horse for maybe 10 years and I loved every minute of it. Not so much after, as my ass was a little bit sore for the next two days and every time I sat down I had to wince.
Following the lovely two week break, I went straight into teaching, but that’s another post for a different day!
Brave It All 