Byron Bay - Crystal Cave and Shambhala Gardens / Minyon Falls

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Before heading out for the day we wandered out the back gate of our motel and over to the beach on a cool, but sunny morning. Unfortunately we encountered a bit of garbage in the dunes behind the beach. It looked like someone had been camping there, but the campsite was abandoned and scattered about all over the place. The beach itself looked glorious and was popular with dog walkers and surfers alike. We watched the surfers for a while and then walked back to the motel.

As we drove up into the hinterland Syri told us that we needed to turn right onto Possum Shoot Road. Yup, that‘s the name of the road BUT when Syri said it both of us thought that she was calling it Possum, another word that begins with S and ends in T, Road. So, not just one of us, but both of us were hearing it as another word entirely. Ha, ha.

We spent this morning at the Crystal Castle and Shambhala Gardens situated just 19 kilometres out of Byron Bay. They have the most amazing collection of gigantic geodes set in 10 hectares of gardens and rainforest. We entered via the Water Pourer Pond and Torii Gate before making our way to the Dragon Egg. The ‘egg’ is a 120 million year old geode from Uruguay that is big enough to sit in so it is like sitting in a 10 tonne amethyst cave.

We walked past the Wings To Eternity, three pairs of rare wing-shaped geodes before continuing past the statue of Ganesh to The Crystal Guardians, a pair of five metre tall geodes, the tallest in the world. We wandered past various other sculptures and geodes to The Blessing Buddha and the Bamboo Avenue before heading to the Rainforest Walk and Bush Tucker Track. When the current owners purchased the site in 1986 it had been cleared for grazing and banana growing. Thousands of plants have been planted to recreate the rainforest section of the gardens.

From the end of the Rainforest Walk we made our way past the Buddha’s Bodhi Tree – with a cheeky kookaburra perched atop – to the World Peace Stupa and the Wishing Tree before heading to the Lotus Café for some lunch. After lunch we checked out all the crystal merchandise, but managed to leave without buying anything. There were some items that were tempting, but … we don’t need any more dust collectors no matter how pretty they are!

Next we continued up into the hinterland to Minyon Falls. The National Parks website had led us to believe that we would only be able to view the falls from the overlook. We were checking out the falls from the stonking HUGE overlook platform that the National Parks Service has constructed when a local told us if we drove a short distance to Minyon Grass we would be able to walk down into the gully to the base of the falls. He assured us we could manage it as he had taken a couple of ‘fit’ 70-year-olds down there just recently!!

We drove the car over to Minyon Grass and prepared to set off. A couple of young guys returning to their car assured us it was well worth the effort and it had only taken them about 40 minutes to walk down and back. It was quite a hike and with the path just before the base of the falls damaged we had to clamber over a jumble of BIG rocks to reach the bottom of the falls. Bernie managed it easily clambering over the rocks like a … mountain goat. I almost didn’t make it to the end. Bernie left me behind at a spot that I could not manage on my own. My legs are shorter! And I also have a greater sense of self preservation!!!

Feeling very annoyed and frustrated I eventually found an alternate route just as Bernie returned. So I made him walk (clamber) out to the base of the falls again. I hadn’t hiked for nearly an hour to miss out on the main objective!!! Of course then we had to climb, clamber, bum slide all the way back again to the end of the actual path. Hmmn, it took us longer than the 40 minutes the young guys claimed to have done it in BUT less than the 21/2 – 3 hours that the sign at the top recommended was needed to complete the hike.

We made it back into Byron just in time for the sunset which was quite disappointing tonight. However, on our way back up from the beach we had an American tourist ask us if he was looking at a plant or an animal. Oh, gosh, an echidna we told him. You are very lucky to see an echidna! After only three days in Australia he sees an echidna. I think I’ve only seen half a dozen in my whole life! How lucky can you be?

We stopped in at Woolies for some supplies on our way back to the motel and then decided that we probably should walk into town for dinner because if we sat down in our room we might not be able to get back up again later to venture out for dinner!! Tonight we opted for a Thai meal at Lucy Thai. Even though we were early for dinner the (tiny) restaurant was packed with diners. We were seated in the al fresco section next to a patio heater (thank goodness) at a four person table on the understanding that we might have to share the table if more patrons arrived looking for a meal. OK, no problem. The food was delivered to us super quick and, although not quite up to the standard of our local Thai restaurant, it was pretty good. We managed to fit in gelato again as we walked back ‘home’.



Steps: 16,889 (11.25kms) That’s why we could eat gelato again!!

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