Brunswick Heads to Byron Bay
16 km (97 km) | 4 hr
It is not now, nor has it ever been, a crime to live before you die ~Jane Wagner
It’s 7 km or so from Billinudgel back to the coast. I prefer to be walking on or near the beaches whenever possible, so I decided to take advantage of the early morning NSW TrainLink rail bus. I left the Billinudgel Hotel in the pre-dawn darkness and jumped on a wonderfully luxurious coach. A super friendly bus driver and a wonderful crew of locals heading to the train at Casino made for a convivial start to the day.
In Brunswick Heads, I took the footbridge across the inlet and was then blessed with a glorious view of the sweeping stretch of sand curving gently toward Byron. With about 11 kms to Belongil Creek and then a few more to Walgan / Cape Byron it was a pretty relaxed day’s walk. Simpsons Creek in the north and Belongil Swamp in the south make for a watery barrier behind the beach, with most of the beach forming part of the Tyagarah Nature Reserve.
Tyagarah, like Wooyung, is a splendidly isolated beach. I love the work of my fellow beachcombers who have lovingly prepared driftwood sculptures (that can double as wild camping shelters) as well as perfectly placed logs for a weary walker to rest and reflect. There has been a lot of effort in the area to provide protected habitats for a wide range of shorebirds, and it seems to me that these have been pretty successful. As ever, on the songline of the sea eagle, white-bellied sea eagles swooped past me regularly going about their business.
Whales remained my companions, although at this time of year generally swimming north. Despite being the middle of winter, the days were warm, and the walking invited many swims. Surfing dolphins are commonplace all along these beaches, and I stopped many times simply to enjoy their company. They seemed completely unperturbed by my presence, and I experienced the supreme bliss of being in the middle of a long stretch of beach with such magnificent creatures for company. Simply perfect! Being Australia, I have to add a safety warning though - all of these long, long beaches have powerful and dangerous rips and cross-currents and swimming, particularly when on your own, is a high-risk activity even for very strong swimmers.
It was a wonderful feeling to see Walgan / Cape Byron grow ever nearer at my leisurely meandering pace. Two days earlier, it had been a speck in the distance and now I was only a short distance away. I waded across Belongil Creek and past the old wreck lying in the surf near the seawall. Fortunately, my sister, brother-in-law and some of their friends had some room in their holiday house in Byron Bay for me to spend a couple of nights. I met up with them and took the short stroll up magnificent Walgan / Cape Byron. We were rewarded with its absolute A-list view as well as the spectacle of a large pod of dolphins hunting and herding a vast school of Australian salmon into bait balls. The dolphins seemed to take turns to swim through the bait ball, smashing into the salmon and picking off fish as they went – my gentle companions turned ferocious hunters!
Like many Australians I had always assumed that Byron Bay obtained its name from the poet, so was fascinated to learn that it was actually named in 1770 by Cook, who found safe anchorage here. Cook named Cape Byron after a fellow sailor, Vice Admiral 'Foul-Weather Jack' Byron, who had circumnavigated the world and was the grandfather of the poet Lord Byron.