Still not far from Ballina but this is by choice this time. I'm staying at a lovely little lodge with shared accommodation, like an apartment with roommates, but
it has its own huge living area, kitchen and bath, pool, bbq, close to
beach, in Lennox Heads. Lovely area. Wind came up today after a mushy surf at Lennox, so I just went
rambling down the coast, looking for somewhere shady to eat my lunch, had some coffee on the beach and gawked at the kite surfers (sorry, folks, this sport just does NOT look like fun), turned around and saw a
lake. People were swimming in it but the water was dark red, sort of like you see at the shallow end of a creek that dumps into the sea like at La Push, only the water has been sitting there and looks all rusted. Turns out
the color is from leaching from the tea trees :). I stayed there a couple hours
and just soaked in the near bath-temp water, and after that decided to
stay on here two nights. The lake is like your own free spa, and your skin comes out soft and smooth. Only $25/night here!!!! I booked a tour
tomorrow to swim with turtles.

This morning as I was walking down to the surf, I noticed large yucca like plants, walking barefoot on grassy trails down to the unforgiving boulders that line the surf, birds were singing, butterflies dangling in the air, and bugs were chattering. A friendly local struck up some conversation and we talked about the different surfing spots in the area. I asked about where to stay in Byron Bay and he said anywhere but! Well tomorrow I will explore there a bit after my snorkle tour, but for now Lennox Heads is just fine. It can also be hard to get a bed there this time of year.

Last night on the news I think I saw Mike Stewart in some bodyboarding competition. The national news! The only time surfing makes the national news in the states is when there is rioting in huntington beach after the OP Pro (think back to the 80s folks) when the idiot drunks from san bernardino infested the beaches, got too drunk, and started fighting at the bikini competition. What the heck does a bikini contest have to do with riding a wave anyway? Just the whole almost-naked beach scene I guess.

I read in the paper here that there was a sewage spill and it killed a ton of fish that the birds started eating so they died as well. Between the earthquake somewhere near here, the sewage spill, and the racially motivated rioting in Crunella, I feel right at home.

Sorry no photos this time, perhaps tomorrow. I'm on a Windows 2000 machine, and no one who works at the internet cafes or the public libraries knows the difference. They say "look they're all the same". I say no, look at the big green start button menu. People at Microsoft, take notice, no one in Australia knows the difference between XP and 2000. The reason I need XP is because it has a driver for my card reader and a photo program that will resize my images. I'm going with the largest format available, with my 1gig card, shouldn't be an issue.

Need to sign off here and get a bed for christmas night... til later!