CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

March 9, 2023 — It’s always a bit of a weird day when you have to get up and pack to be out of a hostel by ten a.m. but your bus doesn’t leave to head to your next destination until midday or later.

I woke up in the morning and gathered my stuff together, had breakfast, and checked out of my room. I left my things in the reception area while I packed up my food and then went back and got them. With everything strapped on me, I walked down to the bus station in Port Macquarie. It was about fifteen minutes away and I needed to be at the bus stop at least twenty minutes ahead of when the bus was due to arrive.

It wouldn’t have been such a long wait if I had read the bus times on my ticket right: I thought the bus was supposed to arrive at noon, meaning I needed to be at the station by 11:40am. By the time I got to the bus station, it was only around 10:30am. Still, that wasn’t too long of a wait. A little over an hour. But the bus was actually due to arrive at 12:45pm, which meant I was over two hours early. So I sat at the bus stop and read a book and enjoyed some crackers and Brie while I waited. And waited. And waited. Because although the bus was supposed to show up at 12:45, it didn’t actually roll up until almost 1:30.

Finally on the bus, I chatted a little bit with the girl next to me and then tucked in my earbuds and listened to music while I read my book. We made a stop a couple hours later in Coffs Harbour, where most of us disembarked and had a little break and stretch. I bought myself a bag of M&Ms.

Back on the bus, we drove a few minutes down the road and made the actual stop in Coffs Harbour, dropping off a couple people and picking up a couple more.

One of the really cool things I noticed as we were driving along was that the highway we were on had a bike lane. A bike lane! On a highway where the speed limits are 100km/h to 110km/h. So neat.

Our next stop came a few hours later in Yamba, and from there it was only about another hour or so to Byron Bay! We finally rolled in around 7:00pm, which worked perfectly, actually, because the shuttle bus from Wake Up! Byron Bay, where I was staying, left town for the hostel at 7:15pm. I waited for it to arrive with a few other people who had gotten off the bus and had the same idea.

Instead of a 25-minute walk, we arrived at the hostel in five minutes and got checked in. I was really happy to find that I’d been put in an 8–bed dorm (I booked a 10-bed) and that the room had a gorgeous ensuite with a tub/shower! We love having the option to take baths. It was also awesome to walk into the room and feel the air conditioning since Port Macquarie was not air conditioned.

I simply had to pop across the street from the hostel to see the ocean (even though it was dark and I didn’t really see much of anything) because we were literally across the road from it. Although it was too dark to see much of anything, I was able to see the lighthouse working, shining its light around and around as it beamed out to sea and into town and back again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lighthouse while it was operating, so that was super cool. Afterward, I showered and didn’t really do much of anything for dinner, instead just calling home and then curling up into bed for the night.

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