Grafton to Byron Bay

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Before heading for the coast we drove downtown to photograph some of Grafton’s heritage buildings – the Post Office (c.1877), the Court House (c.1877) and Sheriff’s Office (c.1862), the Commercial Bank of Sydney (c.1890s) and the Clock Tower (c.1909).

Leaving Grafton behind us we drove over the Grafton Bridge and onto the Big River Road heading for Yamba. There were kookaburras galore at the start of our journey. We saw four in as many minutes just out of Grafton perched once again on the electricity lines. Before lunchtime we had spotted a total of eight kookaburras. It is great to see that they are thriving up here.

We arrived in Yamba and found our way to the lighthouse. The Yamba Light/Clarence River Lighthouse is an active lighthouse located on Pilot Hill in Wooli Park. There has been a lighthouse at Yamba for over 100 years. The current lighthouse was built in 1955 to replace the original lighthouse that served the area from 1880. Just up the hill from the existing lighthouse we found a replica of the old lighthouse. The building is the home of the local radio station. As we made our way back down the hill to the truck a couple of other tourists alerted us to the whale activity offshore. Oh, yes, definitely lots of water spouts and splashes out in the ocean once we started looking.

We could tell how far north we have travelled when we noted that the predominant agriculture around Yamba is fields of sugar cane and macadamia plantations. There were some young trees planted beside the road that we wondered what they might be. Then there were plantations of more mature trees and still we wondered what they might be. My guess was macadamias and I was soon proved correct when we came to a shed that had ‘Macadamias’ emblazoned upon it.

There is no coastal road heading north from Yamba so we had to drive back out to the Pacific Highway. When we arrived in Woodbury we grabbed some lunch from the Wurlitzer Bakery as we were not sure what we would find to eat after that. We ate our salad rolls beside the Richmond River keenly watched by the bin chickens (ibis) who wanted a handout of human food. Being larger than seagulls it was a relief that they were not as noisy or aggressive as seagulls.

We drove back out to the coast to Evans Head where we drove up to the Razorback Lookout for a panoramic view over the mouth of the Evans River. We thought there was another lighthouse in Evans Head but … we couldn’t find it. As I am writing this I have Googled ‘Is there a lighthouse in Evans Head?’ Well, there is, but it is really ugly. The pictures on the internet suggest that it was built only to be functional with no consideration given to its aesthetic. So glad we didn’t waste any more time looking for it.

We drove the coastal road from Evans Head to Ballina where we HAD to call into the local Bunnings store to view the Big Prawn! Definitely the biggest crustacean that we have seen since the Big Lobster in Kingston, South Australia. After using the conveniences at Bunnings we drove out to the Richmond River Lighthouse. Like a number of other lighthouses (e.g. Tacking Point visited on our 2019 road trip) along the northern coast of NSW, Richmond River Lighthouse was designed by Colonial architect James Barnett and constructed in 1879/80, although there had been a temporary light at the site since 1866. While we were in the car park below the lighthouse we did a little bit more whale watching even going so far as to break out the binoculars from the glove box.

Continuing up the coast we pulled in at the Pat Morton Lookout at Lennox Head where the car park was full of surfers and whale watchers. We decided to head up the stairs to the higher viewpoint only to be sorely disappointed when we found it barricaded off. The path continued so we thought we would walk a bit further to see if there was another viewing point further along. Yes, there was BUT … also barricaded with ugly temporary fencing. As we headed back to the car a local told us that the viewpoints have been barricaded for months.

We arrived in Byron Bay just before 4.00pm and checked into our motel. After unloading most of our gear we drove out to the lighthouse. We headed out at that time because it suited us to fit in the obligatory visit to Australia’s easternmost point this afternoon, completely overlooking the fact that Cape Byron would be a magnet for sunset watchers. Groan, the car parking was ridiculous, but Bernie’s car parking fairy looked after him and we managed to arrive at a spot just as it was being vacated so Bernie could put the truck in. Phew.

We walked out Little Wategos Track and took all the necessary photos including selfies with the Pacific Ocean behind us and with the Cape Byron Lighthouse behind us. Cape Byron Lighthouse is an active heritage-listed lighthouse, designed by Charles Harding and Cecil W. Darley and built between 1899 and 1901.

Back at the lighthouse we waited along with all the other tourist for sunset at 4.56pm. It has been quite a bit cloudier today than it has been the last few days. Perhaps because we are now on the coast? Anyhoo, the sunset was a bit disappointing so we took a couple of shots anyway and then headed back to the car. As we were about to jump back into the car we looked west and the sky was red, really red. Damn it, we better go back up the hill and try a couple more shots now that the setting sun is reflecting so dramatically off the clouds!

We were all set to have pizza for dinner tonight. The pizza restaurant’s website said that it was open tonight but, when we walked down there, it was not! Oh well, let’s have Mexican instead. We headed across to Miss Margarita which was really busy and managed to secure a table for two. Despite out tastebuds anticipating pizza we enjoyed our chicken quesadilla (Tracey) and pulled pork burrito (Bernie). Even better, we spotted the gelato shop across the street when we left and found that we still had room for gelato for dessert. My single scoop of espresso gelato was delish and Bernie enjoyed his pistachio/lemon combo.



Steps: 13,605 (9.55kms)

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