The beauty of Byron Bay
Enjoy yoga, surfing or a ride on world’s first solar train
— We paddled out for more than 3o minutes, eyes collectively scanning the water’s surface in the hopes of seeing something. Anything.
We were searching along the shoreline by Cape Byron, the easternmost point of land on the mainland of Australia, our kayaks coasting along the surface of the shimmering blue water. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a soft shout.
“Over there!” pointed our guide from Cape Byron Kayaks.
A small pod of dolphins surfaced, spouting water through their blowholes, their sleek bodies arching before they disappeared back underwater.
The immediate waters off the small New South Wales town of Byron Bay, which is located approximately two hours south of Queensland’s capital city of Brisbane, are home to more than 300 resident dolphins.
The pods are primarily made up of offshore bottlenose and Indo Pacific humpback dolphins, and they join a motley crew of other marine mammals, including sea turtles and migrating Humpback whales, that call the area home.
Whale watching is at it’s best between the months of June to November, as the giant cetaceans travel past the town on their annual migration. The odds of spotting a dolphin during a kayaking expedition in Byron Bay are so good, the tour operators often offer a refund in the event there is no sightings.
We saw them many more times while kayaking. As we paddled back to shore, there wasn’t a face among the kayaking crew that didn’t feature a sunny (if a little sunburnt) smile.
While Byron Bay is best known for its laid back, hippy history (a vibe that lingers on today) and its healthy surf culture, it has become a hot spot for everything from outdoor adventures and unique fashion boutiques, to fresh farmer’s markets.
And for good reason. A quick, twoday sojourn to Byron Bay can see a visitor go from an early morning seaside yoga session at Elements of Byron resort, to a surfing lesson with Lets Go Surfing on The Wreck (the main beach in the town), then a lunch stop on the outdoor patio at Three Blue Ducks at The Farm to refuel on locally sourced ingredients, followed by a picturesque horseback ride on the beach with Zephyr Horses in the early evening.
Fashion fans, or just those who are looking for a brief respite from the warm Australian sunshine, should bookmark a few hours to stroll along the busy Lawson and Jonson streets.
Here you’ll find boutiques and unique Australian clothing labels such as Thrills, Auguste, Spell and Rowie.
For families travelling with young children, a ride on the world’s first solar train, which officially launched last year, is a great way to get from North Beach to the central Byron Beach platform.
Riding the sleek red train is like being transported back in time thanks to the antique interior, while the solar-power technology ensures the locomotive is all about looking forward into the future.
The element of appreciating the past while embracing the future is one that seems to resonate with this welcoming seaside town.
The writer was a guest of Travel Australia. No one from Travel Australia read or approved of this article before publication.