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!
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