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  • Day 26

    Byron Bay

    August 1, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We briefly stopped at Lismore and Lennox Head on the way in, but shops are pretty much shops anywhere and the same for the beaches. Listening to the radio as we drove, there was an extended piece about the continuing drought in Australia, especially in NSW. It is not necessarily apparent to the traveller unless you are driving through kilometres of country roads, where the plight of farmers is far more obvious.

    We ploughed on to Byron Bay, a town more unlike most of the places we had been so far. It was a buzzing, touristy place that was busy despite the season. It clearly attracts the surfer/hippie/gappie crowd but there was pleasant range of shops, cafes and bars and we were staying at a lovely retreat just out of the centre.

    After checking in, we spent some time wandering the centre before settling on the Fish Monger for dinner - oysters, prawns, calamari and fish, all delivered on a huge bowl of chips. It was fantastic. Couldn't even finish it!

    We went for a brief walk along the sea front which was pretty but far busier than anything we'd been on in all of our time here (although, I suspect, very quiet compared to the summer). The same was true of the lighthouse which has lots of people at it to what the sunset. So instead we popped to Tallow Beach below and east of the lighthouse which was almost deserted.

    Our room was a 4km drive from the centre and on the route was the Byron Bay Brewery, and by the time we got there it was happy hour! We tried some of the beers brewed on site before heading back for the night.
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