Grafton

Grafton
Grafton is a picturesque town with solid 1800s architecture, cruises on the Clarence, as well as white water rafting and canoeing.
It gets pretty packed (and just plain pretty) late October and early November for the Jacaranda Festival. Fishing, prawning and surfing are popular at Yamba and Evans Head. Inland on the Richmond River, Casino is a typical country town with wide streets and verandahed hotels, and nearby Lismore is the regional centre. Ballina is a fishing town with good family beaches and river cruises. Lennox Head is a charming, seaside village with Seven Mile Beach and a freshwater lake. Surfers head for The Point. (more…)

Tweed Heads

Tweed Heads
Tweed Heads is a wonderland of tourist attractions catering for the needs of everyone.
Within a one hour drive of Tweed Heads are a number of National Parks including Mt Warning, Nightcap and Border Ranges, National Parks, all lying to the west. Each of these parks feature some of the great aspects of Australia’s geological past in its volcanic plugs.
Closer in, a visit to the Minjungbal Aboriginal Museum. The museum gives a great insight into the aboriginal culture of the area from thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans. (more…)

Cape Byron

Cape Byron
Cape Byron is the most easterly point in Australia and the lighthouse attracts a lot of visitors. A pretty well kept secret is that the lighthouse cottages are available for rent at a reasonable price from a real estate agency in town.
They have two bedrooms and are comfortably furnished with a large backyard. The gates to the lighthouse close from dusk to 8am and you are given a key, which gives you a pretty special place for evening drinks and a sunrise at the country’s most easterly point.

Valla Beach

Valla Beach
Valla Beach is lovely and large, with a safe, sheltered, paddling spot for toddlers. Sawtell has some good resorts, wildlife sanctuaries and an Annual Chilli Festival. Valla Beach lies to the north of Nambucca Heads. This small coastal community is a very popular tourist destination with its caravan parks, camping and the Valla Beach Resort.

South West Rocks

South West Rocks
South West Rocks is another lovely beachside spot and the Trial Bay Gaol is a diversion worth turning off the highway to see. It’s not as dramatic as Port Arthur, but it’s historic and well kept. Sitting on the headland, it was used from 1886 to 1903 in a failed attempt to employ long-term prisoners for public works. It was later a German internment camp during World War I.