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Published: June 29th 2014
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I looked out the window as I was eating breakfast and there were heaps of Ibis wandering around on the grass opposite us. Some were sitting on poles and others were climbing on the brick stage area. They don’t seem at all perturbed by all the campers around.
After breakfast we went into Byron Bay to and looked around. It was a lovely sunny day but the wind was a bit strong and chilly, still it was a vast improvement on the mountains of the last few days.
Being the start of the NSW School Holidays the place was packed and there was no parking to be found anywhere. We finally discovered some rough ground near the railway station hotel. The Information Centre, nearby, told us that if we went to Cape Byron Lighthouse we should be able to see whales that are migrating North at present and pass along this coastline on their way. We decided to check out the beach and town first and get some lunch then go up - despite the $7 parking they would want.
Most of the shops were typical tourist traps and reminded me of being in Surfers Paradise,
Byron Bay
I enjoyed paddling in the sea and looking at the lovely scenery. One wave came a bit high and wet my pants, despite me rolling them up. only smaller. I did find one Art Gallery where photographer John Derrey was showing and selling his amazing photos of the area. One really striking one showed a full moon behind the Cape Byron Lighthouse lamp and another that caught our eyed was one large and a few small lightning strikes onto the water near the lighthouse, which appeared very bright. The text with it said that John had used a 10 minute time lapse camera on a tripod so the lighthouse had had 47 rotations in that time and made it seem over-exposed. Both pictures were incredible and it was so nice to read the story of how he took the shots – so much better than Photoshopping! I bought both these images as cards but I have no intention of sending them to anyone, I’m keeping them myself. John also said that he has a website with images and their stories.
The beach was beautiful with firm golden sand and just a little swell on the waves, much to the disgust of the surfers who were waiting for some good ones. They were the only ones in the water, there were no swimmers. I couldn’t resist
Marvell Street, Byron
This power pole had lovely bright lizards crawling up a tree trunk with faces hiddenwhere in it. Defintieky my favourite. a paddle so I rolled up my pants and walked towards the water, except it kept moving away from me. Finally a larger wave sent water over my feet, and it was really cold. Now I know why there were no swimmers! Even the wetsuit clad surfers were coming out of the sea regularly, looking frozen. Mind you, my feet got used to it after a bit and it felt lovely. We could see the remains of “The Wreck”, which is now a well known surfing spot, just past the point of the bay but didn’t go over.
Instead, we walked up to the promenade and looked at the menu of the beachside cafe, which was enticing despite its name – “Fish Heads”. The take away area was crowded but we placed our order and sat down to a chilly wait for 20 minutes. Once it arrived we went to a seat around a tree at the edge of the beach in the sun and enjoyed eating and watching the activity around us, as well as the views. Barry’s fish and chips were hot and tender and my chicken fillet burger with avocado and aioli was really delicious.
Broken Head Beach, Byron Bay
Lots of hopeful surfers wait at the bluff for a big wave. Once we’d finished, we walked back to the ute and set off up the hill to the lighthouse. The traffic was getting heavier and heavier and when we got to the car park at the lighthouse we were waved on – to go up to the next one. We passed into the $7 area, prepared to pay, but were waved away again. We realised that all the cars we’d passed coming down as we went up had not seen what they wanted and left but, like us, never got to see anything or even leave their car. It was a steady stream of vehicles, some trying to go around the circle again, and there was only a very few car parks spaces. Ros and Arthur told us later that they had tried twice during the day, equally unsuccessfully. We definitely picked the wrong time to come to Byron Bay!
With only about an hour and a half to sunset, it was too late for any long drives so we just went along the coast to Broken Head Beach. We had some prawns I’d bought at the cafe so we found a bank to sit on in
A Brush Turkey
He was wandering around the bushes next to the Broken Head Beach. He found a piece of paper while scratching in the dirt. Not very tasty - I hope he has more luck later.
. the dunes facing the water and I started peeling. The prawns tasted wonderful and were definitely enhanced by the view we had. There were a lot more surfers on this beach, although they still seemed to be sitting around far more than they were surfing a big wave.
On the way back to the ute, I heard a scratching in the bush near me and there was a Brush Turkey, trying to open some crumpled paper. I hope he’s able to find some real food.
We stopped off at the supermarket to get a few supplies and bumped into Ros and Arthur. They’d been to the Minyon Falls but there was only a trickle of water flowing so we don’t need to stay another night to see it. We arranged to meet again at 7.30pm and headed home for dinner and a much needed shower, after all that paddling in the sea!
We spent the evening gossiping and sharing photos again and enjoyed a drink and some of the Date Loaf I bought from the stall. We called it a night at around 10pm – we’ve got to be up as Barry wants to move on to Kingscliff tomorrow.
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