Finally we are heading to the town of Byron Bay!
I had been dreaming of visiting this coastal town for quite some time. It was mostly due to the amazing pictures coming from Instagram, the number of brands I followed from there, and the towns stance on local produce and supporting locals, that I was interested in visiting. Again we were arriving in the school holidays, so it was quite busy.
Our first stop was to the Visitors Center to find out where we could camp. Free camping was not at all permitted anywhere, probably due to the sheer amount of tourism the town experienced at the hands of backpackers. Not to worry, we got a list of 8 places and began calling each of them. The first 5 were of course, fully booked. But the Discovery Park just outside of town had places free, so that’s where we stayed.
At first we only booked on night, mostly because it was pretty $$, but also because the town was so busy.
In our first 24 hours in Byron, we went to the lighthouse, which sat on top of a big hill overlooking the coast in all directions.
It was a breathtaking view, one that was enjoyed by so many people. Tourists, people taking a strole with their kids and others running up the giant hill each day. We were lazy and drove most of the way up, parking close to the lighthouse. We justified this choice because there was no parking at the base of the hill…
Anyway, it was an amazing place to visit, we saw dolphins surrounding surfers and we also got to the most Easterly point of Australia.
After our first night in Byron Bay, we were up early the next day to visit the local Farmers Market that occurred every Thursday, luckily enough for us we were there! Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely love markets, especially farmers markets! Alex is a little less enthusiastic about them, but we got some pretty delicious breakfast and he came around a bit.
We also stocked up on some fresh produce, just a little, given we have limited space, but the bag of passion fruit we got for $5 was the best we have ever had, we only wish we had brought more!
After the markets we decided we wanted to see the stunning beach where we had seen dolphins coasting, where it looked as if there was a protected bay to swim in. We drove around in the area we thought the entrance was and found ourselves in a queue for parking. We waited in the queue for a good 10 minutes until we got close enough to enter and then turn right around.
We drove back to the Discovery caravan park, checked in for another night, parked the car on our spot and then went on foot into town, in the direction of the beach.
After a lovely long walk we made it to Cosy Corner on Tallow Beach. It was blowing a gale but the sand was so fine and the water looked lovely. We understood why the beach was so busy, and even though we did not go for a swim in the end, just because the sand was blowing so much, it was really nice to lie in the sun for that half hour. Definitely worth the walk rather than waiting in our car for a parking space, we got some needed exercise!
After being covered in sand we walked back through town. We stopped in to have a drink at a rooftop bar before making our way back to camp. That evening we enjoyed a delicious farmers market produce meal, but then once the back packers came out and started playing beer pong we retired to our tent. We would have joined them, if only we were not the oldest looking people there….#weareoldnow.
Our last day in Byron was of course eventful as are most days. We woke to notice that one of our tyres had a massive nail through it. Luckily for us it had not started to leak and the tyre looked ok, but we decided it was best to get it sorted right away just in case. We drove into Good Year and they fixed it within the hour and for a really cheap price. We were pretty thankful to have been looked after so quickly, and on a day where they would be closing the office early in preparation for the long weekend. That hour we spent at a café eating delicious cake, not bad.
The rest of our time in Byron was in fact spent driving south of the town and along the Cape of Byron. I somehow got us lost, even though the GPS was on…but it took us past a lookout that we happened to stop in; Lennox Head.
For a while we sat on the bench enjoying the sun, then we walked up the hill to the first bit of lookout. From there we saw whales breaching, a mum and its baby jumping and flapping their fins. We then saw more off in the distance doing the same thing. Our camera’s did not take any pictures that gave this random stop and sighting any justice, but we are so happy to have stopped there.
The whales must just be following us, showing off and making stops like this one a favourite spot and memory on our trip!
anda_ontour 