We recently took a little school holiday adventure to Byron Bay. With a suitable bike rack attached to our caravan, we packed the Tribe Evamos Longtail, to make the most of the Northern Rivers mild winter weather and spend as much time out and about on bikes as possible.
Our location of choice was Reflections Holiday Parks Clarke’s Beach. Highly recommended both for it’s leafy outlook and amazing location, situated on the beach between the iconic locations of downtown Byron Bay and The Pass. It’s the perfect place to spend a week whether you’ve got a caravan, a tent, or book a cabin.
Northern Rivers Rail Trail
One of our first visits was the brand new Northern Rivers Rail Trail. Opened in March 2023, it currently runs for about 30km through the Northern Rivers hinterland between Crabbes Creek (~20 mins from downtown Byron) to Murwillumbah. When fully complete it will span a whopping 130km from downtown Byron all the way to Casino.
For a family day out, a ride on the Rail Trail is tough to beat. Consisting of graded gravel and paved sections, the trail has only very moderate climbs. Weaving through the hinterland, over bridges and through tunnels, it is an experience to remember.
Our ride started at Crabbes Creek. After riding through the tunnels including a huge tunnel with glow worms and microbats, we arrived at our half way destination, the Hosanna Farmstay.
Hosanna is a picturesque farm conveniently located right on the trail, offering live music, a kids play area, tasty food and a huge waterslide (summer only!). It is an easy place to kill a couple of hours. Plus, they offer feeding of the farm animals… chickens, goats, alpacas, the kids loved it!
After lunch and some play at Hosanna, we set back to Crabbes Creek for the mostly downhill ride home. Over 30km ridden for the day, the Evamos ate up the trail and everyone had a blast! The Murwillumbah section of the trail will need to wait for our next trip!
https://youtu.be/hWt4jLuh_ww
Exploring Byron
The rest of the week involved chilling out around town and at the beach. Byron’s cycleway network has improved significantly over the last couple of years, with trails now out to Suffolk Park and all the way along Ewingsdale road past the hip industrial area.
Having bikes with us made getting around so much easier. The traffic around downtown Byron can be notoriously horrendous, and parking downtown is all paid/timed. Quick trips into town on the Evamos to pickup groceries, go watch some live music at the park or grab a Gelato (Frankies Gelato highly recommended!) are so easy.
An iconic stretch of pathway, used by us multiple times a day from The Pass to downtown.
The brand new skate park in town is one of the biggest and best in Australia!
Cruise the streets and spot some beautiful murals.
This mural was a favourite of the kids, just off Jonson St.
Is there a more iconic place in Australia for its sunset?
Before it became home to Chris Hemsworth and the “Byron Baes”, Byron had an appeal to lovers of the outdoors. With Cape Byron being Australia’s most Easterly point, the Bay, North of the Cape, in winter can be calm and mesmerising. None more so then at sunset when locals and tourists flock to the beach to soak it up.
We made the most of the numerous vantage points, getting to these by bike and pulling up for the best seat in the house!
Million dollar view from the caravan park.
Locals love a good drum circle at sunset at Wreck beach.
The Pass, rated by us as the best place in Australia!
Cape Byron Lighthouse in its glory
No trip to Byron is complete without a trip to the Cape Byron Lighthouse. A gruelling walk, we thought it might be a bit much on young kids, so we took the Evamos, cranked the electric assist, and pedalled up the hill. The Evamos got up there easily and it was fun passing all the walkers with pedal (and a bit of motor) power!
So fun to explore Byron by bike
Would of our trip to Byron have been awesome without the Tribe Evamos? Of course! But did having bikes make it even better? You bet!
It’s hardly a secret that Byron is a great place to holiday, we were genuinely surprised that more people weren’t getting around on bikes. Hopefully change is in the air. Regardless, we’ll be back next year!
