Travel: BYRON BAY, NSW, AUSTRALIA

As much as I loved Noosa, there’s wasn’t always too much going on at the weekends, which is why I took every opportunity to head further afield when I could. One such adventure took me to Byron Bay, about 4 hours drive South of Noosa, and somewhere with a reputation for being a bit cool. 

I arrived on a Friday night, and checked into my home for the next two nights, the Cape Byron YHA. The hostel was perfectly nice – a swimming pool in the centre, a communal area, a really decent kitchen, and pretty standard hostel rooms. I’d opted for a 4-bed female dorm, figuring that it would be the quietest option for the weekend.

Once I’d checked in, I decided to check out the town, and quite frankly, found it a bit intimidating. Byron’s not big by any means, but it was a Friday night and it seemed like everyone was out, crowding buskers on the street and pouring out of bars. Coming from somewhere as sleepy as Noosa, this was a bit of a culture shock for me.

Tired from a long day of driving, I decided it was time to crash and made my way back to the hostel for a not-great, not-bad sleep (never forget eyemask and earplugs, people!) However, waking up early had its perks in that it gave me an option to take a walk down to the beach, which was about 10 minutes walk away from the hostel.

I loved this time – watching all of the early morning risers, dog walkers, and runners using the beach as their own personal playground, and it made me wish sincerely that in the future I’ll have a house of my own close to the beach so I can do this each and every day. I walked back along the roads to town, admiring the houses of the rich and fabulous and feeling only a little jealous.

Our next stop was one of Byron’s more hidden beaches – Tallows Beach and Cosy Corner, called so because it’s tucked behind a headland which does make it seem rather cosy. Again, another pleasant beach walk, complete with clear water flowing in over our toes.

 

Then it was back into town for a wander round (in daylight this time – much less intimidating) to admire the various street art and murals; and for lunch at Main Street Burger Bar. I opted for a BBQ pulled jackfruit burger and cookies & caramel milkshake, which sadly turned out to be more style than substance. Perfect for the ‘gram, but not as tasty as I’d envisioned.

With the afternoon ahead of us, we decided to venture out of town to The Farm, a boujee farm with animals and a pretty nice looking restaurant. This seemed to be a great place to take the kids for the afternoon, to stroll around and admire the wildlife, and then stop for some grub on the way out; or a ridiculously fancy picnic, as it seemed some had brought with them.

And yet, the day was still not over, so we went even further, to Brunswick Heads. This involved a super nice walk along the river and up to the beach, followed by a spectacular sunset where the sun was literally red. Sadly this was a result of bushfires burning a little way away so there was a bit of sadness behind this beauty, but it was a truly incredible sight to look at.

 

Dinner was at the appropriately named Brunswick Pizza & Thai (you’ll never guess what they serve there) for a fresh pad thai before heading to the Brunswick Hotel for an evening of live music in support of raising funds for the rainforest. A profitable day if I do say so myself.

My last morning in Byron started just the way I wanted it to, with another cruise along the beach to get me excited for the day. We then headed up to the Water Tower to check out the views (and more expensive houses) before moseying back down to the beach and along to The Pass, which offers wonderful views up and down the shore, and was the perfect place to just relax and enjoy being where I was.

 

Beyond The Pass, we could walk to Wategos Beach, which seemed to be a favourite for many as it was pretty busy. Byron certainly has no shortage of beaches to peruse, and I’m sure they get even busier come mid-summer.

With all that walking, we’d worked up quite an appetite, so it was about time for lunch, this time for cheesy, gooey Yemeni food at Yaman, right next to the beach. It was rather delicious, but a bit overpriced and even more so as they’d put a weekend charge on it too.

Having pretty much seen all of the Byron highlights by this point, we took the opportunity to just relax beside the beach and enjoy the buskers. Apparently if you’re into music, Byron is the place to start, as you can build up quite a following here, and my time there certainly showed that Byron residents are big into their music.

My last item on my Byron Bucket List was to visit the famous lighthouse, so we hiked our way through the forest up to the lighthouse, just in time to take some photos and watch the sunset. Like the previous night, this sunset was a pretty weird one due to the smoke, with the sun appearing to set behind a band of smoke, rise again, and then set one final time. Trippy. But beautiful.

 

We stayed until it was getting dark and then headed back down via the road and onwards into town to the Railway Friendly Bar, a super cool joint with good food and live music all night. A great place to end my Byron adventures, and how glad I was to have visited. Now, onwards to the next adventure!

I hope you enjoyed today's blog post! I'm doing lots of travelling soon, so make sure to stay tuned to the blog and my Twitter @CiarasCountry to stay in the loop!