So Kate and I have started our honeymoon in the stunning Byron Bay. What a place! It is what I imagine would happen if at the end of the Meredith Music festival, the crowd had decided that instead of going home, one person would open a milk bar, the other grow cherries, and another bake organic sour dough bread.
The only downside to the place is the throngs of beautiful topless German backpackers who make the beaches a bit busy. This is something I will have to live with. Sigh...
I started yesterday with a program of yoga at 8am, followed by a bircher muesli , and then off to a snorkelling adventure to the rocks located 1km off the Byron Bay point. I noticed the chalk board as I borded the rusty 4x4 landcruiser, which stated, "Come and Snorkle with turtles and friendly sharks." Ha, friendly sharks, thats a good one I thought.
After a quick dart out through the surf on the zodiac, filled with professional scuba divers, and four "which way up does my mask go?" snorkelers, we arrived at the rocks.
The captain announced a quick safety speech before we entered. Then pointed out the way we could go to find the 1.5 meter Grey Nurse sharks. "If I ask you, this signal means I'm OK, this signal means pick me up." "Watch out for Wabbies, stingers and rays." He looked at me perched on the edge of the boat, checked over my shoulder for other divers in the water, "Right to go!"
I flailed backwards into the water, with a few questions running through my mind. Why are we diving if there is 1.5 meter sharks in the water? And the next logical question, why would I want to find them? I then thought of his warning, wabbies, stingers and Rays. WHAT IS A WOBBIE! and does watch out mean, be ready to swim away from, dont provoke or dont go near??? These are all good questions I should have asked on the boat.
A quick check around me revealed no immediate man-eating danger. Kate swam up beside me in an all black wet suit. I had luckily donned the wet suit with more colours, and looked a lot more poisonous then the Kate in her "Please eat me, I am an injured seal" suit. I decided to swim with Kate for the remainder of the adventure.....so we could share the experience.
The sea is warm beautiful and full of life around the rocks. Massive snapper cruise by and rays a meter wide flap their wings in slow motion along the light blue sandy bottom. I for a moment thought of duck diving, to get closer and try out my new $44 dollar under water camera, when a voice popped into my head, "Crikey, thats a bad idea!" needless to say I took my kaki shorts off and decided not take close ups of anything big enough to see from 10 meters away.
We swam along the protected side of the rocks, rising and falling with the waves that arrived. Kate popped up and had started to feel very sick from the rocking. We headed back to the boat as we neared departure time, Kate sitting on the left of the boat between an instructor and a buff German guy. The instructor asked if I wanted to sit next to Kate, I declined, it was a short trip back. I started chatting to the scuba diver next to me, completly oblivious to the fact that Kate had lost her bircher muesile breakfast over the side a number of times.
We arrived back, me glad to be "unwobbied" Kate as white as a ghost.
If you come to Byron, it's a must, just watch out for wabbies, stingers and Rays.
Jonathan
