Mullimbimby Showgrounds

There are not many bush camps along the coast so the next best thing is Showgrounds. Although the Mullimbimby showground was old and a little rundown it offered a lovely view of the surrounding hills and everything was well look after.  We spent a day walking around the town and ended up at the local RSL for dinner.  I am fond of small country town, they just have a friendly feel to them and Mullimbimby was one of those towns.

We made Mullimbimby our base and drove to Byron Bay for the day. In my thirty’s I travelled Europe and one of the friends I made came from Byron Bay. She told me if ever I had the chance I had to visit the town as it was such a unique place. (Sadly I lost contact with that friend a long time ago.)

As we came into the town there were cars parked along the road with for sale signs planted all over them. There would have been about 30 or more. Interesting start to the town and not something I was expecting.

The town was beautiful. I knew that Byron Bay along with Mullumbimby offers an alternative life style and it was really reflective in everything I looked at. There was shop after shop offering organic food and colourful cloths. It seemed if it had colour you could find it in one of the shops. We saw several taro readers sitting, with a spare chair along the shop fronts. Every second person seemed to have dreadlocks and it looked like shoes were optional and by the appearance of some so was bathing.

We walked the town looking at everything. I was in my element. Lunchtime came and did we partake of the organic foods on offer? No. We ended up sitting on the grass along the foreshore for lunch. It was a common idea for a lot of people. I had made some veggie soup for lunch so we sat and ate it watching the waves. Nice.

If the view wasn’t enough entertainment we had the beat of drums to enjoy. There were two drummers with lots of drums. They asked people to come beat their own tune with them. What a fun idea. By the time I had made up my mind to join in there were no drums left. I should have made my move early.

After lunch we drove up the hill to the lighthouse. We had to park at the bottom of the hill and walk up. The view was spectacular. From where we were we could see over the bay. A hang glider flew in front of us. We watched it for a while. Whenever I see one it always looks so amazing that I do think how great it would be to participate but I know there is no way you would every get me to do it.

We watched her land on the beach before heading up to the lighthouse. It was a popular place. Several binnacles had been setup around the lighthouse and there were some tripods as well. The general public can take a tour inside of the lighthouse and climb the tower. The Lighthouse itself hasn’t really changed much since it was built in 1901. When it was built it boasted the most powerful light in Australia with a beam visible for 27 nautical miles (50 km). The light was needed, as Byron Bay had become an important shipping port. By the time the light was switched on there was no fewer than 16 ships that had been wrecked in and around the bay.

We walked down to Easterly Point lookout. At the lookout we stood at the most eastern part of Australia.

It was my idea to continue down to Wategos Beach lookout at the bottom of the hill. Silly me. It was further down than I thought and when I say down I mean down.

The view was incredible. There was enough breeze to give us a taste of the sea and we could hear the waves crashing over the rocks. Amazing. We were pleased we made the effort until we had to make the walk back up the hill. I hadn’t gone far up the steep steps when I noticed a bench seat tucked into a shady nook. I hadn’t seen them when I was making the journey down. Great. I think I took advantage of every single one of those benches on the way back up. Great idea. Stopping did give me the chance to look at some of the wild life. In and around the Cape there are about 60 different types of native birds and animals. Some of them are unique to the area with 15 of them being on the endangered list.

Ok I only saw one bird but it was pretty.