Byron Bay, New South Wales
It's not the first time we've visited Byron Bay (in fact it's the third), but I've got such good material from this trip that I've decided to put it all together.
Timing? A special birthday to celebrate and special visitors to meet for the first time. And of course an opportunity to visit our older son. But first a bit about location.
Byron Bay is in New South Wales, just south of the Queensland border. From Melbourne it's a two hour flight to the Gold Coast Airport and a 45 minute drive south from the airport to Byron Bay. Driving from Melbourne to Byron Bay would take about 18 hours (1700 km). We haven't done that yet. (Or ever, maybe.)
An interesting fact: Byron Bay is the easternmost point of the Australian mainland. These photos are from our previous trip there.
The region is very lush, very green, very picturesque. Historically the region was a major agricultural centre — beef and dairy farming, sugar, fruit, avocados, macadamia nuts — but today Byron is famous as a tourism hub. It has beautiful beaches, excellent surfing and the Cape Byron Marine Park where you can scuba and snorkel. It also has a population of famous people (the Hemsworth brothers, Jacob Elordi, Matt Damon, Zac Efron all own property here, and the list goes on). Permanent population is about 10,000 people but it explodes with visitors in the summer months.
Anyhoo, it's very much winter now but I did get in a beach walk in my raincoat and umbrella. If you look carefully in the last photo, you can see the Byron Bay Lighthouse from this angle.
There's lots going on in lots of small towns nearby. The Tweed Regional Gallery is in Murwillumbah, about an hour's drive north-west of Byron. The gallery is situated on a hill overlooking the Tweed River, the border between NSW and Queensland.
It's a marvellous regional gallery that has a lovely cafe on the balcony. It also has an interesting permanent collection and innovative exhibitions (there was a fascinating ceramics exhibition while we were there) but of great note is the Margaret Olley Art Centre. (Margaret Olley is one of the pre-eminent Australian still life and interior painters.) Her portrait by Ben Quilty that won the Archibald Prize in 2011 was in the gallery, as well as her triple-portrait by Gabrielle Bergstrom, an Archibald finalist.
But most fascinating are the contents of her house, which she bequeathed to the gallery and which have been recreated in the centre. Some of her most famous paintings are of her house's interior. Must have been a nightmare to dust!
Margaret Olley painted multiple canvases at once, moving around each painting as the light changed in the house. When she died, there were multiple unfinished paintings that form the basis of this particular exhibition. I recommend a visit if you're in the area before early September.
Still in the Byron Bay hinterland, onwards from Murwillumbah to Montecollum near Mullumbimby. These names are a delight. Here we are at Crystal Castle, home to 'the largest and most beautiful crystals in the world' according to the publicity blurb. Another lovely cafe in another lovely location. There certainly are many large crystal geodes, and while we weren't wearing long flowy white dresses, we did look pretty good among those stones.
Of course there is a lot of crystal stuff for sale ...
... but there is also the more woo-woo stuff associated with crystals, including the opportunity to have one's aura photographed. I couldn't pass up that opportunity. The (very) young woman who interpreted my aura told me all sorts of positive things about myself. At the end of her lovely speech, I asked why there was nothing negative in my aura. Well, she admitted, to my huge disappointment, she hadn't been trained yet to interpret the shadow side.
Oh, and during the interpretation, I was invited to choose a crystal, unseen, from a mixed bucket. I like clear quartz. The universe is telling me that 'I am clear and focused'. I'll take that.
Auras aside, there is a Tibetan Buddhist temple, Buddhist practices and a range of activities that one can join. We attended the crystal singing bowl meditation in the Peace Bowl ...
... and then we wandered down to the Kalachakra World Peace Stupa,which is 'very important to Byron Bay, the whole of Australia and for world peace', according to the 78-page glossy magazine that is part of the admission fee.
The gardens are gorgeous and despite the rain, we had a splendid walk along the rainforest trail. The Damanhur Spiral 'invites us to enter deeper into ourselves' and is connected in some way with a community in northern Italy. One rule is: never go backwards in the same spiral. Another rule: never cross between one path and the one alongside it. (These rules mean that a walk to the centre takes a very, very long time. I'm afraid I had to break a rule to get out of the spiral. Fortunately this had no effect on my aura. Or did it?)
We didn't have time to walk in the sacred labyrinth or attempt the reflexology walk, but perhaps next time. It's good fun, nicely maintained and worth a visit or two.
Birthday celebrations included a distillery tour at Husk Farm Distillery in North Tumbulgum (!). Husk makes gin (the famous, Margot Robbie-loving Ink Gin) as well as rum, supported by all the sugar-cane fields in this area.
Lunch on another day at Three Blue Ducks, a farm and restaurant. The original Three Blue Ducks was founded in Sydney by a group of chefs and surfers, so Byron Bay is a natural site for another venue. To those of you who are Masterchef enthusiasts, one of the owners is Andy Allen, one of the judges.
So a most interesting and fun and family-filled few days. A bit rainy but we never let weather affect our adventures (even when a Caribbean hurricane changes our itinerary entirely, but that's another story).
Next: Thailand in August!
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