Byron Bay

Coming from Brisbane by bus I arrive in the popular surftown of "Byron Bay" at half past noon. The hostel I want to go to is about 1.5 km walk from the bus stop and it’s hot. Really hot. When I put my stuff down in the dormitory which I just booked into I meet my Dutch roommate and pack my little bag to take a walk through the city.

The village was established around 1870 and was originally called Cavanbah. Captain James Cook would later change this to Cape Byron which name came from the explorer John Byron. It was a very small hamlet for a long time, but by the end of the 1950s Byron bay began to develop into its current form. At that time, surfers from Sydney 'discovered' the warm blue water with good surf quality here in the bay.

In the following years, the attractions around the area became more and more known, which caused a strong increase in tourism. The smelly whaling station and the slaughterhouses were closed. Norco's milk factory, once the largest in Australia, closed its doors too and Byron Bay was “ready” for the influx of tourists.

The first evening in Byron Bay I would go to the Aboriginal Show in the hostel with my Dutch and an American roommate. We would see a show with singing, dancing and an explanation about the Aboriginal culture and background which was very interesting.

With two English ladies we met there (but slept in another place in town) we drank a nightcap in the café at our hostel. In the days that followed, I would go to the beach several times, eat and drink at the girl’s balcony of their hostel and take it very easy. We went out for drinks, sit on the terrace, sat and drank at the pool and relax in the hammock among our hostel.  

On Christmas Day I was invited with a whole group of other people to go for a barbecue on the beach. In Australia it’s very common to have a barbecue on the beach; they have fixed installations which you can use. A girl had brought a fake Christmas tree and it would be one of my most remarkable Christmas dinners with 30 degrees and a Christmas hat on my head. One day we walked with a small group of tourists to the old lighthouse on the old headland in the northeast of the center. It seems to be Australia's most easterly point. The Cape Byron lighthouse was opened in 1901. It contains Australia's most powerful beacon.

After it was built, the tower was inaccessible from the village in the first few years. Now it is part of a large recreational area where you can walk and lie on the beach, but of course you can also surf what a lot of people do.