Today was a gloriously sunny day so I decided to go out for lunch.  I wanted to try out the place Alice and I had stopped at previously.  So after showering and slapping on the suntan lotion I walked up the road to the Byron Beach Cafe.  To start with I ordered an apple, beetroot and cellery juice.

  
I am not sure why but I seem to not want alcohol – perhaps my body is still recovering from all those leaving parties and celebrations over the Christmas holidays!  Anyway, this drink was deliciously crisp and cool and I enjoyed it.  I chose snapper to eat as a main.

  
This was also gorgeous and I decided to have dessert too – coconut custard with lemon curd, melon and praline.

  
This was very tasty too.  As you can see the portions weren’t huge but they were filling.  While I was there I wrote the postcards and looked at the view.  You can hear the surf on the beach too.

After this wonderfully relaxing lunch I decided to walk further round the coast and go down onto the beach.  First, I walked right along the beach until I came to some rocks.  I thought I had taken photos here but they are not on the camera so who knows what happened.  I then walked the whole way back down the beach paddling in the surf at the water’s edge.  In some places the beach is very flat and the water going back into the sea made some very pretty patterns.

  It had gone a bit cloudy at this point so I am not sure the picture does the patterns justice. 
When I got off the beach I posted all the postcards which probably won’t go until Monday now!  I also needed a toilet and was directed to a block of beach toilets.  Well, it was a bizarre experience – the toilets in Byron speak to you and tell you when to close the door etc and you get musak played to you.  At least it was clean!  

After this I felt the need for an ice cream – I had a cone with strawberry and vanilla scoops.  I have honestly never seen an ice cream so big – sorry no photo as I had to eat it quickly as it was melting!  And it was a bit difficult to take a photo with one hand!

With a tummy full of ice cream I found a quiet bench to sit on for a bit to watch the view and read a bit of my book.

  
It was a pleasant way to end the afternoon!

In this Australian adventure I am learning to do more things on my own. I am vascilating between loneliness and solitude summed up perfectly in today’s quote. “Language…..has created the word ‘loneliness’ to express the pain of being alone.  And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to express the glory of being alone.” Paul Tillich. All I can say is it is a strange seesaw!