I rented a car for the day - Byron Bay is full of places to rent from - sadly the only place that had a car left was Hertz at $70 for the day and a far bigger car than I wanted...but still I'm on holiday ! The tourist information centres and infact the hostels all have details of the best places to rent cars - some have discount deals dependant on where you are staying, others supply lots of maps and discounts on petrol.
I set out from Byron for the 10 minute drive to Bangalow, which has pretty craft shops and lots of antique shops. Then it was on to Clunes, Bexhill and a stop at Lismore. Lismore has a good tourist information centre on Ballina Street, where I picked up a map and some leaflets.
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I set out from Byron for the 10 minute drive to Bangalow, which has pretty craft shops and lots of antique shops. Then it was on to Clunes, Bexhill and a stop at Lismore. Lismore has a good tourist information centre on Ballina Street, where I picked up a map and some leaflets. The Wilson River runs through Lismore making it very pretty but it was too busy to stop for long.
After getting a bit lost (not the map's fault just the driver's), I headed out to Woodlawn, Numulgi and Dunoon - all small but pleasant places that I passed straight through, before finding a small road leading to Rocky Creek Dam. Much to my surprise it was almost deserted, with just me and an eldery couple there. There are BBQ facilities, good bathroom facilities and some great walks around and across the dam it's self. The area is very picturesque and peaceful. I ate my picnic here on the picnic tables with cheeky kookaburras who tried to share it !
Back on the road and it's off to Whian Whian State Forest. The road is beautiful with the forest either side - you can't race as not all the road is sealed, but who would want to with scenery like this ? In Nightcap National Park I stopped for a quick hike into the forest - there are lots of signposts and maps as well as water taps at the top of trails.
Back down the road and you come to Minyon Falls which should be 97m high waterfalls, however it was summer and they had dried up. I did come a bit too close to a rather large goanna though and there were lots of other lizards running around. After stopping to help an overheated car it was back to Dunoon for ice cream at what appeared to be the only store in the town.
There is so much to see and do around Byron Bay that I could easily have spent a week here, sadly time was of the essence and a day's touring was all I could fit in.
I'd advise anyone to take some time to explore the local area and visit the local forests and parks, they're very relaxing after the bustle of Byron. Also if you're going to try parking a vehicle back in Byron - you're not likely to manage it - at least not legally - I returned the car early rather than have to worry about it.
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