Tag Archives: Cape Byron Lighthouse

Whale watching in Byron Bay

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I can’t believe this day. It was too good! I’m really glad mom got to experience this during her limited time in Australia. We will probably have another good whale watching one day, but it definitely will be hard to top getting mugged by seven whales and seeing countless of breaches. While the sun was out the full time, without scorching us. One of the best days ever I would dare say.

As we had such an amazing time exactly a year ago, there was no question about it, we wanted to go with Blue Bay Whale Watching Byron Bay again. Small boat with only 10 passengers at a time, nice crew, whale spotters from high ground telling where the action is, very mindful of the whales, and they seem to attract good passengers. Highly recommend!

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Mikael’s 30th in Byron Bay

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A few weekends ago, on 2nd November, Mikael turned 30! In the spring, when it’s warm and light outside. That is so strange! My own normal spring birthday will now be in the fall. Land of upside-downs.

He was welcomed into his 30’s with two night’s spent in Byron Bay and some rain, but all in all by a very cosy weekend down south.

After the most incredible visit to Coombabah, we packed our car and drove down to another timezone. It is so weird that you right now travel one hour into the past, just across the border to New South Wales just south of Gold Coast.

The weekend was all about camping and just soaking in the Byronshire atmosphere with mother in law while celebrating Mikael’s 30 years on this planet as well as our first year as engaged.

His birthday started at The Farm in Byron Bay. Super busy even if it was raining a lot! Really good breakfast and cute place with animals.

We then drove up to the lighthouse and were so lucky the weather was not optimal, there were pretty much no people and we managed to get a parking spot. As with the whale season being over, there were no whales. But the views were still incredible! Up there, we took a fika break and Elise and I had a very funny encounter with a magpie friend. He was walking on the rail, right next to where we were sitting, Elise was filming it and it was cheeky enough to keep walking and then hide behind a pole, just for it to pop its head out around it as she just stopped filming. It was hilarious!

This time, the most eastern point of Australia was accessible and we have now stood on one of four corners of this continent.

This poor guy had the biggest tick I have ever seen right under his eye. Also, these water dragons are everywhere now when it’s getting warmer outside.

Birthday dinner!

Byron Bay 3/4; Byron Community Market

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One night of planned camping spontaneously turned into two nights because we were too spontaneous and didn’t look up availability for the whale watching we wanted to do. All good though, we got a really good weekend out of it down in Byron Bay. It can be divided into four parts and there will be an equal amount of posts because one will be way too long:

  1. Brunswick Heads Market
  2. Killen Falls
  3. BYRON COMMUNITY MARKET
  4. Whale Watching

After sleeping like babies for almost 10 hours, because while camping in the middle of winter, there is nothing to do after the sun sets and it gets dark, so you go to bed, we woke up and were ready for the new day!

We headed straight to our next camping spot after check out and hoped they had early check in. They did. Which meant we had somewhere to park our car in central Byron Bay on the first Sunday of the month for the Byron Community Market. We went straight out to the market, which was even bigger then the one in Brunswick. But very similar, many stalls were at both markets, there were lots of food stalls and live music. We bought a few things, like dragon coasters, a natural loofah, and some keychains to our car key and Mikael’s home key.

But I think the best part of the market was Mikael’s celebrity spotting. None other than Jeff Ling from Parkway Drive. He was so starstruck but managed to humbly ask for a picture and tell him how much he influenced him personally to start playing the guitar but also how much of an inspiration Parkway Drive was to his own band Reborn as Phoenix. He was such a down to earth guy, super kind and seemed to appreciate Mikael’s praise. We were told that the concert in Brisbane will be special, so we have something to look forward to on 18 September.

After the market, we walked along the beach to Cape Byron Lighthouse for a rematch with the sunset. We caught it along with so many whales and dolphins. It was a magical evening.

Out there between the boats was a whale earlier in the evening splashing with his flippers. Like a lot! Just above the trees to the left is a small small dot. That’s a dolphin.

Byron Bay

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We left Queensland today, and not just for a short while on foot, but actually going down south for a bit with an Uber. 45 minutes south of here lies Byron Bay, home to Australia mainland’s most eastern point. And also hometown to Parkway Drive.

We got up at sunrise, took an uber with an amazing driver all the way down to Byron Bay. First thing we notice, the wind. Holy schmoly! I think it was windy back in Kirra as well, but I doubt it was as windy. This was ridiculous! And with the clear skies and lots of sun, I just knew we would be dead by the time we came home. Which was true.

We started by walking around in central Byron Bay, just to get the feel of it. Had breakfast at The Hum, close to the beach. We then started walking toward the lighthouse. Our initial plan was to watch the sunset from up there, but we got too tired and were on our way home when the sun set.

On our way up there, we stopped all the time, looking at the beautiful nature. There were signs telling us there were wild Koalas in the roadside trees. But we never saw any… We stopped at The Pass, a pretty cool rock formation and Fisherman’s Lookout where I saw some whales through my new binoculars, but due to the wind, they were shaking so much it was hard to see. Tons of kitesurfers! Some jumped extremely high. Lunch/fika at The Pass Cafe where they had saffron buns and really good smoothies.

When we neared the Cape Bay Lighthouse, we noticed a lot of people standing by the rails overlooking the ocean. Of course, the ocean is beautiful. But we quickly learned that there were so many whales out there! Like countless of them. Breaching and breathing everywhere. There were two swimming so close to the shore that we could see their shadows under the surface and follow them exactly where they went. It was magical! I saw it all through my binoculars and could count the humps on their backs. MAGICAL! Mikael managed to film them.

We had a second fika up at the cafe by the lighthouse to gather some strength before trying to get back home. Which turned out to be harder than we thought. No Uber wanted to drive all the way up to Coolangatta, across the border. So we had to get a normal taxi, for three times as much. Not fun. But oh well. We came home and had the sweetest taxi driver and his son drive us back to Kirra.

All in all, Byron Bay was small, cosy, but windy. And the best part were all the whales! Don’t really see what all the hype is about though if I’m being completely honest.

Sunrise in Kirra. Downtown Byron was tiny. Reminded me a lot of SLO, CA (San Luis Obispo) which was nice. Julian Rocks, a pretty cool diving spot that I wish to dive soon. On our way to the lighthouse. Lunch/fika at The Pass Cafe. They had saffron buns! The Pass. So many kitesurfers. I actually managed to get a picture of a whale. Our second kookaburra.