Raining in Byron Bay
I’m in Byron Bay. I hired a car yesterday in Brisbane and drove down here with my friend Danniella, who i hadn’t seen since May last year. We’ve been seeing a lot of each other recently – we seem to manage to catch up about once a year! 
Danniella’s an old sea dog. She’s been working on the water for a few years now. She’s just finished a stint on a dredger somewhere in Western Australia. She’s at sea a lot, and when she’s not she gets around all over Australia, so it’s quite hard to catch up with her. Plus, of course, i’m all over the place all the time, myself.
Anyway, we came to Byron yesterday and it’s been raining the whole time we’ve been here so far – and it looks like continuing for a while.
I went to the TAFE college, where i was studying arboriculture before i went to Afghanistan last year, to try and see the course teacher and arrange to do the assessments for the last two modules i’ve got to get to complete the certificate 3. But he wasn’t there, of course! So i phoned him and he said i can do it next Monday. Which means i’ll have to come back down here next week too. I could hang onto the car and stay here till then, but i’m not sure i want to pay the extra $180 rental for it – plus have to find places to stay.
So that didn’t work out. And nor did my plans to spend lots of time on the beach – sunbathing and swimming in crocodile-free waters! But it’s still nice to be here. I’ve been missing this area a lot recently. Maybe when i come back from England next year i’ll come and live back around here again. The only problem is finding decent work. But i guess there’s plenty of tree work…
Last night we got a room in the Belongil Beach House – a backpackers just outside town, right next to Belongil beach. It’s a bit of a weird place – kinda dingy and damp in this weather, because there are too many trees in the garden, stopping light and air from getting in. This is a damp sort of rainforest area, and it seems like a good idea not to have too much foliage around buildings. It’s good for shade, of course, but not good for dampness and light. Anyway, lots of places around here are like that and i guess plenty of people like it.
I’m not sure what i’m going to do today. I’ve got to go back to TAFE and enrol for the course, so i can do the assessments etc. And i want to talk to the course teacher about what the assessment will involve, so i’m prepared. I’ll have to climb a tree, using spikes, and cut it down from the top, bit by bit, lowering the pieces to the ground. I haven’t had much climbing practice recently, so i hope it’s not a really hard one!
After that i’ll probably go to Lismore and visit the people i used to work with at the community legal centre there.
I think i better start thinking about booking my flight back to Darwin in a couple of weeks or so, and my flights from there to England at the end of the month. I always leave these things till the last moment, so i’ve got the flexibility to change my plans at any time, but it can get a bit nerve wracking not having things booked!
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