Lost in Byron Bay

It's not unusual for Australian towns to identify themselves by their main commercial crop. So given that the roads in and out of Coffs Harbour are lined with banana trees it was unsurprising to find that the town is known as 'Banana Town' and even has a mini-amusement park called the Big Banana. When the acres of banana trees either side of the road became acres of sugar cane we knew we had entered Sugartown. Next stop Byron Bay.

Byron Bay has a reputation for being a bit of a chill out town. However my stress level peaked on arrival when I discovered my 'unresponsive' I-phone. This is not just an I-phone anymore. This is how we find our way around, how we find places to stay, how we stay in touch. The only thing it doesn't do is make my coffee but it tells me where I can find someone who will. So discovering that my precious iPhone was now of precious little use was, to put it mildly, a bit of a bummer. So there I was in Byron Bay, both geographically and psychologically lost and back to being dependant on public phones, maps and our own intuition. We stayed lost for a while.

The next morning dawned bright and beautiful and after a long walk and a bit of a paddle on Byron Bay, the world seemed manageable again. Later that night we cruised into Surfers Paradise and on arriving into what seemed like a mini Las Vegas we thought we had gone astray again. Such a contrast from the laid-back, chilled out vibe of the previous towns, Surfers Paradise feels like a huge city, but it's not. In fact, it doesn't even have an Apple Store. We had to go to Robina, twice, to find an Apple Store, and Robina isn't even on the map!

Before leaving Surfers Paradise to locate an Apple Store, we took a long walk on a long sandy beach in glorious sunshine against a horizon of blue skies and incongruous skyscrapers. Thankfully, I didn't require that assistance of the beach lifeguards  but Craig at the Apple Genius Bar certainly saved my online life later and I now have a fully functioning iPhone again. Thanks Craig.