Byron Bay is well known in the “backpacker” scene and everyone we ran into prior to arriving in Australia said it was one of the funnest places they hit up down under. Situated a couple hours away from Brisbane and an hour or so from the famous Gold Coast/Surfer’s Paradise, this little place is an alternative to the glitz and glam of the other popular coastal areas – but not for long. The place has something for everyone and is set on one of the longest golden sand beaches I have ever visited, did I mention the swell around the area is also perfect for surfing?
Heading out to the surf
The place is quite high on the tourist radar and there are a tonne of people coming here to party their asses off and hook up with a member of the opposite sex for some steamy hostel dorm room action (quite difficult from a LOUD conversation I overheard on the beach). If you are single, wanna get wasted and attempt to get laid – this is the place to be in Aus.
Obviously, I came for different reasons, and after surfing in Raglan I wanted to spend a couple more days on the beach trying to catch some waves and spend a little time lounging on the beach – a vacation away from our travels per se.
SURFING AT BYRON BAY
Like any surf town, there is an abundance of surf/skate shops in the city that are more than willing to give you a lesson and rent you some equipment. I had initially planned to get a board for 2 days, but it was storming for 3 of the 4 days we allotted to stay in Byron. In the end, I picked up a board from a local shop for 24 hours for under $30.00 Australian, a way better deal than Raglan. As soon as the sun was out, we hit up the beach and I was anxious to try a shorter board than I had in Raglan.
The waves at the time were pretty big, so I started on some of the smaller waves after the initial break, there was NO way I was going to attempt to hit up the 7 to 9 foot waves right off the get go. Now I am no stranger to board sports – 15 years snowboarding, 13 skateboarding – but surfing is HARD! Even after sporadically doing it a few times it still doesn’t get any easier…Anyways, the waves at Byron may not be the best place to learn, a girl we were talking to broke her arm there and I could definitely see how.
Getting ready to hit the waves...
TURN IT UP A NOTCH…
After riding some of the smaller swells, getting some video of my attempts, I figured I was ready to hit up the moving wall of water beyond my current domain. For the first few attempts, I watched as locals shredded the waves with ease, carving in and out of the swell as it slowly approached the shore. Seeing other people do it gave me a bit of confidence and i decided to go for the next wave in the set. As it approached, the top began to curl behind me and I paddled like mad to keep up – no dice, it passed below me and I knew I wasn’t working hard enough. Eight similar attempts go by and I still haven’t caught one of the big waves.
Although frustrated, I knew i had to catch at least one before we left for Brisbane in the evening. All the futile paddling had worn me out, so I took a little breather on the sea and enjoyed my surroundings – no wonder surfing becomes such an addicting lifestyle! The environment at Byron is Beautiful, the water is a magnificent translucent blue colour and is warmer than a swimming pool – top if off with the golden sand and the forested hills and you are laughing.
I knew I only had a few more attempts to get a bigger wave, so I paddled into position and craned my neck behind me so I could see the upcoming waves. One on the horizon looked perfect, and I was determined to catch it. As it came closer I paddled and thrashed my arms harder than before and felt the wave pick up the board beneath me and I quickly hop up and begin riding the wave. In a split second I was so hyped be up and couldn’t believe I pulled it off – until half a millisecond later i am being tumbled in the violent surf like a ragdoll with no control over what the hell is happening. A moment like that chin checks you to how powerful nature really is, and although bruised and battered, I was so stoked that I got up for what was likely one second.
In the end it was an awesome experience spending time surfing at Byron and although a little more advanced than my skills I still had an absolute riot! The town is incredibly laid back with a lot going on and the beach speaks for itself. O yeah – did I mention Byron is one of the most eastern points of Australia and one of the first places on the continent to see the sun rise – a definite must if you are there, the sun rises over a mountain peak and makes for some great viewing, just be prepared to wake up at 5 in the morning.
5:30AM Sunrise...
It’s hard to say where Byron is going to end up in the next 10 years – the increasing popularity and the amazing setting likely means it will become a bustling tourist zone akin to Surfer’s Paradise and the like. All I can say is I am happy we got there before it breaks out as a top hot spot in the southern hemisphere.
To check out some of our pics from Byron Bay, Click Here.
Killer buddy.. Theres 10 foot winter swells on the island right now but we need 5 mill wetsuits.. lol .. Glad to hear someone else is catching the bug. I’m heading to pukekohe in a couple weeks. Not far from raglan how was the waves over there? Did you ride piha? If you make it to vietnam they have some world class waves aswell.. Keep safe man !!
Hey Jackie and Jarrett,
We have been checking in with your blog for the past little bit. Nice work – so far sounds like you are in the midst of an amazing adventure! We are headed out on our own rtw mid-June. Anyways, it was awesome to read a post about Byron. I was there “way back” in 96-97…and then again in 99-00, working at the Holiday Village. I thought it was absolute paradise….good to hear that it hasn’t totally been overrun with tourism, as I would have definitely thought that to be the case by now. Anyways, safe travels!!!
The surf was great, honestly a little too intense at this stage in my career but SUCH a sick time! I will definitely be hittin’ up the west coast when i get home and we will have to hit some of the cold ass waves we have in good old CANADA!
Raglan was great, there are so many awesome surf beaches there, didnt ride piha…i think the other post has some info on it.
Have a sick time in NZ murray, it is such a wicked place, let me know if you have any questions or anything bout or travels there…
Later pal
Skott
thanks for checking out the blog! Always cool to hear from our readers!
Byron is a beautiful place and you can really tell it is teetering on the brink of a massive commercial expansion, kinda hard to avoid it since is the IDEAL setting for tourism.
Doing a RTW are you? We are having a sick time on ours, where are you planning on going? How long? Let us know…maybe we will cross paths.
Hyped you like the site, keep coming back!
Well i’m actually moving there. I;m just waiting on paperwork. My cousin julie lives pukekohe so shes sponsoring me to move. I think I wanna go to either reglan , henderson, or north shore. I dunno if you would of noticed at all but how do you think it is accomodation wise? I know the west coast has the best surfing so my plan is to buy a wagon or suv and live in that till i find a house/job. Soo any insight would be rad !!
Shawna and I leave Canada heading south for Guatemala mid-June….from there we head east, Panama – Europe. We hope to definitely spend a decent amount of time in Africa and India, before then getting down to SE Asia, Oz, Vanuatu, and South America….so how about we meet for beers in Spain in November ??
Murray,
Living out of your car is a totally feasible option, we did it for 20 days straight on the south island and we had 2 peeps living out of a wagon haha! not sure if you saw it yet but i did a quick article on it:
http://www.worldlycouple.com/blog/713/planning/freedom-camping-in-new-zealand/
If you are gonna be around Raglan, you gotta go to this spot called TeToTo Gorge and Camp there. Just a shoddy gravel road out to a gravel parking lot but it was one of the best views I saw in NZ.
Jackie fired together a post about the costs too – give it a peak as well:
http://www.worldlycouple.com/blog/719/planning/new-zealand-overall-costs-of-backpacking/
Raglan has a very cool vibe, with three surf beaches within a 5 minute drive its hard to beat! Too bad you werent there a little earlier, we coulda hit up some waves.
Lemme know if you have any other ?’s, keep me posted to how you are diggin NZ living
Skott
Beers in Spain in November…check! Honestly, that is when we were planning to do our mediterranean portion of the trip, so keep us posted about the trip.
Are you guys going to do a blog or anything?
oh yeah, we’ll be bloggin’. Just putting the final touches to it right now…hopefully launched within the next 3-4 wks…don’t you worry, it will be well “advertised”
Happy Weekend!