beach – Travel Bug

Byron Bay is a beautiful town up north of New South Wales, about an hour drive from Gold Coast, Queensland.

It’s a relaxing town, with lots of attractions. One of the attraction is Cape Byron, where it is the west most point of mainland Australia. Here at Cape Byron, you will find a beautiful Cape Byron Lighthouse. Make sure you go early, as it can get really packed, and parking near the top of really limited. We went very early trying to watch sun rise, but it was packed when we got there. Managed to find parking spot a little bit further and walk up the hill. It was beautiful.

You can spectacular view from top of the hill (where the lighthouse is) or you can walk down to the coastal area (walk past the lighthouse). It’s a bit of a walk, an easy walk to go down, but can be very tiring when you try to return the same way (up hill all the way). But it’s really beautiful when you get to the bottom, towards the end of the cape.

If you are into sea/beach, you will find plenty of options there, surfing, scuba diving, swimming, or just relaxing on one of the beautiful beaches. If you are lucky, you may find some whales swimming past the area during their annual migration season.

Back to the town centre, plenty of choices for food, shops etc. We parked at a random parking spot in the city centre and walk around the town. It was very early, not too many people. Very relaxing. Picked a café and we had our breakfast there.

For EV users, plenty of charging options again. If you haven’t read my post on Port Macquarie, you can read it here, where I’ve listed a number of chargers that you can use along the way.

Once you’ve past Port Macquarie (assuming you are coming from Sydney), then other charges from Port Macquarie to Byron Bay are:

Macksville – Caltex Macksville (Evie – 450kW)
North Boambee Valley – Coffs Service Centre (Chargefox – 100-350kW)
Coffs Harbour – Coffs Harbour Supercharger (Tesla – 120kW)
Tyndale – Tyndale Roadhouse (Evie – 450kW)
Harwood – Harwood Supercharger (Tesla – 120kW)
Ballina – Ballina Fair Shopping Centre (Chargefox – 50-350kW)
Knockrow – Knockrow Supercharger (Tesla – 120kW)
Ewingsdale – The Farm Byron Bay (NRMA – 50kW)
Byron Bay – Byron Bay Library (EVUp – 50kW)
Byron Bay – Elements of Byron Bay Carpark (Chargefox- 50kW)

There are other destination chargers available in Byron Bay too:

Byron Cove Beach House (3kW)
Byron Stay
Suranadi Beach Houses (11kW)
Beach Hotel Resort (3kW)
Beach Suites Byron Bay (5kW)
Mercato Shopping Centre
Byron Palms Guesthouse (3kW)
Sunseeker Byron Bay
MacTavish Surf (22kW)
Habitat Byron Bay
Byron Resort & Spa (22kW)

Again, plenty of charging options, and do not worry about your range, and enjoy the drive.

Near by, you can try out hot air balloon as well.

Port Macquarie is a town in the mid-north coast of New South Wales. It is approximately 4 hours drive from Sydney.

It is a nice little coastal town. The very first time I went to Port Macquarie was back in 2014. It has all the characteristics of small town. Friendly people, relaxing atmosphere.

As Port Macquarie is located along the NSW East Coast, it has a number of beautiful beaches and vantage points, and if you are lucky, you might spot some whales during migrating season.

There is a Koala sanctuary & hospital that you might want to visit. It gives you some idea of great work that these people have done to help our Koala population after they get insured due to human activities (mostly hit by cars).

There is a nice little lighthouse (Tacking Point Lighthouse) as well. There is also another rainforest reserve, which has a nice boardwalk (Sea Acre Rainforest Centre).

Couple of years back, there was a Koala Sculpture Trail as well, where you get map, to travel around the area and discover some beautifully crafted Koala statues. It gave me the opportunity to travel to some smaller towns outside of Port Macquarie to find some of these sculptures.

For EV users, you’ll find a number of very conveniently located chargers along the way from Sydney.