Gully and Elise's Travel Blog: Happy Valentine's Day!

We had some advice for a great little place to celebrate Valentine’s Day from our good friend Sox. All-you-can-eat lunch buffet at Pizza Hut for $12!!!!! Unlimited pizza, pasta, salad AND dessert!!!! Bring on the romance. Nothing can bring two people closer than sharing 10 pieces of pizza, 4 plates of pasta, 3 trips to the salad bar, 2 jello cubes, 1 piece of chocolate cake and 2 bowls of ice cream. Then we staggered home and napped all afternoon. Love was in the air. Sox actually recommended this place for the good value and great ocean views, but I guess he never brought a lady there so he never realized how romantic it was.

But let’s back up a bit. What I really want to talk about is Byron Bay. Ever heard of it? If you know Australia at all, I’m sure you have. It is one of THE places to be on the east coast. So, naturally, I wanted to have nothing to do with it. But, we ended up in this area for a few days, and to my surprise, I found that I loved it. It was a bit of a shock because it was really the first time in Australia that we’ve encountered masses of backpackers, and there were definitely masses. And lots of hippie culture and over-priced sushi. Thanks, but we prefer to stick to our 85-cent ramen noodle packages. This is a lie – I totally got sucked into the sushi train gimmick. Snatching up plates of sushi as they whiz by on a train track as you sit at the restaurant counter sounds like great fun, which it is, but after a while the same sushi starts circling back around to you and it gets boring. Maybe this is a metaphor for life?

I digress again. Back to the Bay. The town is really laid-back and has a great vibe, but unfortunately is also very touristy. The bay itself is pretty, and is full of people surfing, kayaking, swimming and doing all sorts of water stuff. I can see now why it is so famous, and I definitely could have spent more time here. But the Gold Coast is calling…

-E