As far as nightlife, Byron was pretty good. I jammed at the onsite Buddha Bar with a band reminiscent of Medeski, Martin, & Wood, but by the time I stumbled across them, and then stumbled back with the horn, their set was essentially done (it was only 9pm.... sounds like a Cat Empire show). Touched base with the bassist, Tone Broker (for real?), and may get in touch with him when I return to Byron, as he plays with a bunch of different combos in the area, as well as DJ stuff. Still smarting from the whole Magnetic Island rebuff, so I'm not holding my breath....

A place called The Rails (an old railway station, get it?) had live music every night, usually of the solo acoustic nature. One night though, caught a band called Stipsky, who played a fusion of Latin American and Roma folk music mixed with a lot of groove. Tenor, violin/acoutic gtr, clarinet/flute/didj (this guy was AWESOME, and a bit of a character too - I see him all over the place in his orange flappy shirt and crazy grin), trumpet (pretty good ensemble player, had to whip off some crazy Middle Eastern riffs), bass and drums. I bought a CD, though I think it was recorded before the band added the groove, so pretty traditional. Still good stuff, a nice alternative to the Gypsy Kings.

The Beach Hotel offered a couple of different nights of really good bands, each with full horn sections. One was playing modern funk and ska (I think they're called Watussi), while the other was led by a guy who looked like Tom Waits but played like Jimi Hendrix. All walks of life shimmied on the large dancefloor, and both nights I was whacked in the face by a flailing Edith Bunker lookalike (younger, though dressed to suit). While all the hack "sitting in" stuff I've been doing, I really miss being part of a tight musical unit. Food for thought.

The Great Northern is an old hotel, and has several good rooms which serve as the Bay venue for the hipper touring acts. There was supposedly a wicked reggae band there one night, but I didn't feel like paying the 20 bucks, and when they wouldn't let me bring my knapsack in, that sealed the deal. Oh well, went to a different room and shot pool, then gave the Beach Hotel my business.

My last night in Byron, I tried playing a talent night, accompanied by some dread dude. We tried playing a bit of blues, but things just didn't sit right. Ah well.

The next day was the 19th of September, and I was off to Brisbane, to connect with my flight to Proserpine Airport. From there, I would shuttle to Airlie Beach for the night, and the next morning commence the almost cliched Whitsunday's trip (I think it is the one stop every traveller to Oz tries to make if they can - sorta like the Fraser Island excursion, which I'd made up my mind to skip out of convenience).