A rude awakening... in Byron Bay

Cock a doodle doo. That’s the sound cockerels make in English. It’s something that has always amused my Spanish friends, because in Spanish a cockerel apparently makes a kikirikí sound. I don’t know which one is a truer representation of the sound this funny-looking bird makes, but I can unfortunately confirm that when you wake up at 6am to not just one, but six screeching cockerels, it’s not amusing. In fact, it makes you want to kill birds. And I like birds.

It all started when we left Fraser Island and Rainbow Beach. We had a set itinerary- albeit a rather rushed one - that would take us to Sydney just in time to return the campervan. It was far from ideal, but the plan was to spend a night in our carefully chosen “highlights” of the east coast of Australia and arrive in the unofficial capital having learned that driving 2500km in 10 days is not the best of ideas.

We got to our next stop: the bohemian chic town of Byron Bay, still on schedule, and spent the day soaking in the almost European atmosphere. Byron Bay is one of those places that is so cool and trendy that it makes you feel cool and trendy for being in such a cool and trendy place. Unlike the majority of the cities we have visited in Australia, Byron Bay isn’t asleep at 9pm. Instead, the sound of electric didgeridoos and saxophones fills Jonson Street, as small crowds form around talented street musicians. Young locals and tourists alike spill onto the street outside hip coffee-shops cum cocktail bars despite it being a Tuesday night. Peeling yourself away from this town is comparable to mental torture.

Nevertheless, we managed to do it and even gave ourselves a small head start for the next place on our itinerary by heading further south. We parked up (legally) in a motorway rest area and despite the roaring of speeding trucks, we fell asleep pleased in the knowledge that we had made enough progress to deserve a ‘lie-in’ the next day. Cue aforementioned Cockerels… hands tucked into their pockets as they arrogantly strut past the van at the crack of dawn for no good reason.

Slightly cranky from the cockerel fiasco, we got to Scott’s Head later that day and found a place to stay. This sleepy coastal town, recommended to us by a real Aussie, has a cute, white sandy beach, a couple of shops and is definitely not on the tourist trail. Just being there made us feel extremely smug, as if we were the first ever backpackers in the history of travelling, ever, to have discovered this hidden gem.

So of course, after we had finished patting ourselves on the back, we were ready to go to the beach, but first wanted to check we definitely had the campervan for another two days as planned. Why check? It’s a long story (I’ll explain in person) but we were supposed to get an extra day in the campervan because of a promotion, and were counting on it, but hadn’t yet received confirmation. We phoned the rental company… and then it all went wrong.

To cut a long story short, the campervan needed to be back in Sydney - some 6 hours away - for the very next morning, thanks to the peak of a public holiday (they’re nothing but an inconvenience when you’re already on holiday). If our ridiculous 10 day itinerary was already a case of biting off more than we could chew, doing it with a day less was the equivalent of us slowly choking to death. Panic started to set in as daylight started to disappear.

We left Scott’s Head still wearing our dry swimsuits and feeling more than just a bit sorry for ourselves. Goodbye beach, hello motorway - again. I think a lot of people don’t realise this, and I don’t think I did before I left Spain to go backpacking, but even when you’re travelling around the world, there are days when you wish you hadn’t bothered getting out of bed.

Guess what I found out in Byron Bay?

1. The “tuk tuk tuk” sound a cockerel makes is an announcement that he has found food. The hens don’t pay any attention if they already know there is food around.

2. Cape Byron, which is 3km north east of Byron Bay is the easternmost point of mainland Australia.

3. The state of New South Wales, where Byron Bay, Scott’s Head and Sydney can be found, is the oldest and most populous state in Australia.