A Whale of a Good Time

Byron Bay is perhaps the coolest place I have ever been, and bear in mind I have been to Black Rock City. OK, Black Rock City IS cooler, but it only exists for a few days a year while Byron is a permanent encampment of liberal minded folks who have decided to work very hard to keep their funk going. Nothing illustrates that better than the speaker we saw this morning at one of the first events of the writer's festival. David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia, gave a stirring talk at the Beach Hotel this morning to inspire people and, of course, to promote his new book, The Coal Truth.

Ritter described his own personal epiphany of the growing threat of global warming, and he encouraged people to not lose hope even though some environmental damage is irreversible. What made this totally cool was the audience of Byron Bayers, an obviously liberal crowd of both young and old. Of course a community like this attracts a rougher element of dreadlocked homeless, but you can see among the other residents a real kinship to the spirit of the sixties (as I remember it, anyway).

After the talk we got a few supplies (wine and Cooper's Ale) and returned to our cottage, and then called for a taxi to go up to the Cape Byron lighthouse. I have hiked up to the place before, but Jayne had never seen the stunning vistas from the summit so we decided to ride up, and then walk down. While at the lighthouse we looked out at the Pacific and were treated first to the sight of dolphin pods swimming happily below and then, breathtakingly, we saw the whales. Dozens of these magnificent creatures were swimming out in distances from one to two miles. Fortunately, we had purchased a pair of binoculars yesterday and could see them slapping their tails and blowing their spouts quite clearly. It was an incredible experience, I can assure you. We then walked down from the lighthouse to visit the easternmost point of the Australian continent and follow the trail down to the beach that would lead us home. What a beautiful experience.

We bought tickets to see Thomas Keneally tomorrow night at the Byron Theatre, and while he and some other writers present their talks rock musician Tim Rogers will provide music.

Rogers was one of the chaps who headlined the Beatles White Album concert we saw in Sydney last week, so you see we have come full circle. A literary festival, a whale encounter, and an Aussie rock musician; how can you top that?