Byron Bay – another place I’d love to live!

I’m going back to the now familiar gripe about how much most caravan parks add on for kids. I rang a number of places and the price of a night’s accommodation went up by $16 to $20 a night when I mentioned the kids (except for the one we’re staying in, which charges no more for children). This is a lot of money when the kids do little more than have a shower if they can’t avoid it and use the toilet.
At the moment we’re staying in a town called Mullumbimby at the local rugby league club. The club is situated by the river and is a very popular spot to camp, with over 20 lots of people staying here last night.  There is lots of room for the kids to run around. The great thing about Mullumbimby is that it is close to lots of places, and so today we went to explore Byron Bay.



We have heard lots about how lovely Byron Bay is and today we saw for ourselves just how true these stories are. The town is like a combination of Margaret River and Bridgetown, but lots lots bigger. There is a combination of people “seeking an alternative lifestyle” together with the wealthier tourist combined with everyday families like us. And it works!
Byron Bay was very busy today. I’m guessing that being a Sunday, part of school holidays in New South Wales and Queensland and the weekend of the international ‘Grommet Fest’ junior surfing competition added to the busy-ness.


My friend Ella had recommended a trip up to the lighthouse, but when we tried this morning it was jam packed with people and we couldn’t find a carpark anywhere near. We spent most of the day in town and then went out to the lighthouse at sunset. As the photos show, I think this was meant to be. It was simply beautiful!
Early on we found a bead shop which Harry, Max and I rummaged through to find Harry some more beads for making necklaces. He has made quite a few now – his fine motor skills he has for threading are excellent.

When we were in Sydney we didn’t make it to a big Yum Cha restaurant which we were keen to let the boys experience. We found this shop on Byron Bay’s main street, and while it didn’t have the bustle of Yum Cha trolleys, it gave Max and Harry a taste of how yummy the food can be. 


And another opportunity to use chopsticks! After a couple of tries, they did really well! Harry has found a taste for Jasmine tea too. They look a bit grim in the photos but I think they were just concentrating hard!


The shop was a little incongruous where it was full of amazing Asian food and homewares but run by a European (Dutch??) mother and daughter team.






As mentioned in my ‘Half Time Reflections’ it is important for us to find a playground everyday to maintain family harmony, and here was this neat one on the main street. I think many towns could learn from this – we usually find playgrounds tucked out a long way from any shops. This playground meant the boys could have a quick fix and we could resume browsing the main street quickly. I was so impressed with Max and Harry as they carefully examine lots of things in shops, like gemstones, kitchen knives (!!) and beads, yet are so gentle with them. It’s great to be able to go into shops, especially fragile ones, and not have to worry about what the kids are doing. Being seven and almost nine also helps here.

for Nikki

One delicious shop we found made home made icecream and it looked even better than the one we talked about at Coffs Harbour so we indulged. Max got through a triple scoop ‘Banana Cinnamon’ ‘White Chocolate’ and ‘Caramel’ combination. (“Thanks Grandpa for the icecream money” from a very full up Max).

  

I said to Trevor that I would love it if he were to get a job here, but we both agreed that we would not be able to afford for me to be anywhere near Byron Bay as almost every shop I went into or every cafe or restaurant we passed by, I wanted to go into and stimulate the local economy (which I think is doing very nicely thank you without my added help!).


We loved climbing up to the lighthouse and got to stand at the eastern most point of Australia.

Another glorious day in our beautiful country!!