East of Everything

Today's title comes from a television drama that was playing in Australia when we first visited in 2008. It was a show that featured Byron Bay as its setting and was the first time I had ever heard of this place. Since that time I have read guide books about this town and done some internet snooping, and I have come to the conclusion they are all accurate. This place is a very special town where people know they have a good thing going and worry constantly about preserving it that way. After taking my hike around the entire cape today, I got a pretty dramatic view of what is at stake here. I started my hike about nine thirty direct from this lodge and proceeded to the Lighthouse trail by passing through a residential neighborhood. It was a long walk in and of itself, so I'm especially glad I was able to make the entire loop beyond. I made it to the Lighthouse where there is a little outdoor coffee cafe at the base. There I was almost robbed of a cookie by a swift flying magpie, much to the amusement of an old German guy who was sitting a few feet away. We ended up having a very nice chat as a result. When you get past the lighthouse there is a bend in the walkway that announces you are at the easternmost point of the Australian continent, but when you look down there is another footpath a few hundred feet below that seems to jut even further out to sea. I walked out to the very end and got a view of unspoiled coastline as far as I could see to the north and south. I even had the privledge of seeing two whales come to the surface in the sea beyond. Perhaps the outcrop the footpath is on points more to the northeast, making the other sign literally true, but when you stand here you really are at the end, if not the easternmost, point of the continent. East of everything.