More from our holidays last month – before I forget…

Returning South to Byron – via the beaches.

We drove back to Byron Bay from Queensland – well, the border at least – via several beach and lookout areas. Stopping first in Kingscliff, a typical purpose-built little holiday town. Next to Cabarita Beach, another pleasant little beach resort which relies almost totally on tourism. One more stop at Hastings Point, a lookout where we saw a whale breaching in the distance. The lookout point overlooks the wild Cudgera Beach and you can just make out the Cape Byron lighthouse in the distance.

One final stop. Just north of Byron Beach is a place called Brunswick Heads. Now this place looks like it warrants further investigation…

Brunswick Heads

The small town of Brunswick Heads is more how I imagined Byron Bay to be. Unpretentious and laid back. Not at all a developed resort town like Byron Bay just to the south. Not that Byron bay is exactly over-developed but you notice the difference here right away. There are plenty of places to get a bite to eat or a drink plus a few little unusual shops. Almost niche markets.

I know vinyl records are making a bit of a comeback but videos? Well, DVDs in this case of course. I really thought that had all disappeared but this was not the only one we saw in this part of the world.

Beach and Town

There are plenty of interesting and quirky old buildings here too. Including one of those great old picture houses. Cinemas to kids today. This one was quirky in the extreme but deliberately so I think. Having been closed due to the lockdown this place needed a little tidying up but still puts on shows – it seems.

The beach is a short walk out of the town and across a river, Simpsons Creek, which itself flows into Brunswick River. The river empties into the sea splitting the shore into two beaches. The main Brunswick beach stretches for miles south all the way to Belongi and Byron. Behind that long beach is – yes you guessed it – a huge nature reserve/rainforest called Tyagarah.

While not as built up for tourists as Byron Bay, Brunswick Heads does have its fair share of B&Bs and Motels. All those that I saw were fully booked up. ‘No Vacany’ signs were everywhere to be seen. I really think people used this kids school winter school holidays to get away, having been deprived of the chance during the previous holidays due to that lockdown. All that is great for the small local businesses in places like Brunswick Heads. Even the caravan park was almost full…