The Road That Leads To Byron Bay
Emily-Layne Kapetanovic
It seemed as if the mysterious Byron Bay was merely a distant place in the forefront of my imagination. I’d seen photos and heard stories but never experienced the supposed cleansing from a town that sits so far up the New South Wales border that it is practically in Queensland. In my mind, Byron was a sparkly new adventure which featured the likes of palm trees, crystal clear surf, a vibrant music scene and plenty of hippy-esk rainbow art. Boy, did Byron meet and surpass my expectations.
A track to set the mood:
As on any getaway, you pray that the weather holds out. Despite the few rainy days we got, the sun seemed to always peep through the clouds in the afternoons allowing us enough time to run down to the beach and fit in a quick dip. Buskers lined the shore at Apex park on the 9th of January to raise money for the bushfires. This resonated with me as our drive up to Byron saw us enter the aftermath of fires which had wiped an entire landscape bare of any greenery. It also saw us drive blind out of Victoria with a maximum visibility of about 5m due to smoke travelling across the state.
Exploring the Crystal Coastline
Its hard to look at the beaches in Byron and not feel an overwhelming urge to just strip down and dive straight in. The morning these pictures were taken, I had to restrain myself as the water was the prize at the end of what felt like an unending set of steps up to the Byron Bay light house. Taking the scenic route for the first half, we skimmed the beaches off of the main strip, climbing rocks to meet our next shoreline. But when the route seemingly ended, it was time to tackle the dirt track. On our way down we stopped at Little Wategos beach and jungle gymed our way over rock pools and tides, the water so clear you could see every grain of sand.
A little bit of in land adventuring
A short 15 minute drive (or a very long walk) inland is a quaint little town called Tintenbar; home to Killen Falls. A series of small creeks and rivers lead us to the falls themselves which was surrounded by cool rock walls, etched with the names of past comings and goings. The pond surrounding the falls was something out of Disney’s Fantasia. Lilypads, of all shades of green, floated on the water defining the areas of untouched paradise.
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and so did our Byron trip. I’m not sure if it was the gut wrenching 18 hour drive home that awaited us or the mere atmosphere of the place that made me want to stay. It seems almost unreal that places this beautiful exist among our shorelines, especially when your everyday is battling the suburban sprawl that is Melbourne. This trip highlighted how important it was for me (as a Sagittarius) to keep exploring and learning what else there is in this wide and intensely beautiful country, but also in this world.