Byron Bay, the right way

Cambria's cousin Robbie and her husband Paul have a beautiful place up in the hills above Byron Bay. This outer Byron shire has sort of a Haiku/Kula hybrid climate and feel. The town of Byron Bay itself is packed with backpackers and surfer wannabes. Traffic is depressing, and the storefronts are mostly catering to the average 20 year old German. Not somewhere you want to spend a lot of time. But the outskirts are still charming, quiet, and empty. Here is a view of the house from the garden:

Cam and Robbie catching up over some tea on the deck:

Robbie's mother Jenny is Fiona's older sister. You can see the Leigh genes quite clearly:

The view from the deck:

We parked the campervan in the yard above the house. The best part was that we could sleep with our blinds up because we didn't have any fellow campers nearby. So we woke up with the sun:

Robbie and Paul's garden supplied us with some beautiful salad greens and fresh tomatoes:

The deck:

Paul prepping dinner in the kitchen. He is a builder by trade, and he built this house out of beautiful second hand materials:

The open floor plan, high ceilings, and funky lofts made it one of our favorite homes in the world. Such a cool place. Roger Thorson would strongly approve:

Paul is a really good surfer too. He showed us his quiver (no longboards) and took us to his local breaks where he showed he still has it at 60. Here he is cooking steamed fish for dinner:

Robbie's daughter Lilly and her husband Dan came over to visit. They were super cool. They have two cute high energy sons, and Dan has a very successful boutique meat business. It was very comfortable conversation with these guys!

Check the Aussie seat covers. Lots of livestock = leather everywhere. Paul got these 25 years ago and they still look great:

We checked the Byron Bay lighthouse:

Looking back toward the town and the bay, from the lighthouse:

Here is the main surf spot in Byron. It's called "The Pass" and is a righthand point break that can run for 500 yards on a perfect day. This day was not so good. Weak little windswell dribblers were coming through and the rookie backpacker crowd was swarming every wave. The photo below makes it look way better than it was due to the overhead enlargement effect and the fact that there is a little grommet on the wave who happens to be squatting down. In truth the wave was probably 8 inches high:

We stopped by the McTavish surf shop on the outskirts of Byron. This was a real pleasure. Bob McTavish is a legend in Australia, and is still putting out high quality boards. His showroom had us drooling. But nothing was cooler than this George Greenough "spoon" we found. Here is Paul holding it up so you can see it translucent property:

Notice how it is scooped out like a spoon. It almost felt like a lunch tray on steroids. There is no foam on this board... only a fiberglass hull and a big swept back single fun. Greenough uses it as a kneeboard:

We had a blast with Robbie and Paul. They are great people. We hope to see them again soon, in the surf, wherever that may be...