Thinking Allowed: Warning in the Morning

When Avi and Rona kindly offered to watch the girls for a few days, we got really excited about all the possibilities of things one could do without children, and we booked a lovely holiday in New Caledonia. A few weeks ago, while we were busily plotting all the places we would snorkel, we found out that, due to Zika virus, New Caledonia was highly discouraged for women in a certain state. We also learned that pretty much all the countries in this part of the world were on the same no-fly list. So with our tails between our legs, and a bit less enthusiasm, we quickly came up with a Plan B. And here we are: the B is for Byron Bay.

And really it's pretty nice here! When we tried to think of what might excite us as much as snorkeling on a tropical, French-owned island, we decided that thing would probably be: waking up at 3 AM to climb a mountain at sunrise. I'm sure most people would have come to the same conclusion. And, having woken up at 3 this morning and slogged up Mt. Warning with a headlamp, I can say that it was probably better. It was such a nice change to be waking ourselves up in the middle of the night instead of being woken up by other people. It was also really great to have done a 10-km climb up the highest mountain in the area, and eaten breakfast - twice - all by 7:30 AM. And to have had the privilege of being the first people in Australia to see the sun come up today

Byron Bay has also been pretty generous in the animal realm. Literally every single time we go down to the beach, we see dolphins cavorting and whales breaching. Either we are the luckiest people in the world, or the bay is teeming with cute water-dwelling mammals. Jakob did a rough-ocean snorkel near Julian Rocks, featuring face-to-face encounters with sea turtles, a New Zealand fur seal who splashed into the water to swim around with him, some wrassies and lesser sharks, and a few lungfuls of briny sea water.

The town of Byron Bay is trying to find its identity. There's a dominant backpacker scene, with lots of dreadlocks, bare feet, and nose studs - the beach parking lot is an obstacle course of skateboarders, surfers, and guys strumming guitars by their campervans. But it's hard to be mellow in a crowd of tourists. Town is choked with cars looking for parking, and there's not enough room to meditate on the beach. We tucked ourselves into the quieter corners: crosswords in a café, beer tasting at Stone & Wood Brewery, strolling down Tallow Beach.

New Caledonia will have to wait. Meanwhile, the white sand beaches, a mountaintop sunrise, and deepwater creatures of our first day at Byron Bay have left us both tuckered out and excited to see what tomorrow has in store.