Byron Bay

Easily one of the healthiest fast foods around, juices are a great way to power up your body with a vast array of vitamins and minerals. Preparing a fresh juice was once a tedious business - a citrus press, 10 oranges and a lot of arm work later and you’d have squeezed enough for a teensy glass.
“Drinking a fresh juice is like having a blood transfusion full of antioxidants, minerals and vitamins,” says Saimaa Khan, naturopath, herbalist and owner of The Last Resort Wellbeing centre in Sydney’s Bondi. “When we juice, the fibre of the fruit or vegetable is taken out, so concentrated nutrients can reach our cells within 20 minutes,” she says. Sarita Merlo is a naturopath and [...]

Light aircraft crash - Byron Bay 22 October 2005 A six wing ultra light aircraft has crashed into a Bryon Bay beach. At about 12.30pm today, witnesses report that they saw a yellow aircraft crash into the water at Tyagarah Beach near Byron beach. Two males were on board the aircraft and have not been found. Westpac Chopper, Brunswick City Rescue, Brunswick Surf Club and Byron Bay Surf Club attended the scene and found debris in the water. Recreational Aircraft Australia are assisting police with the investigation.
NSW Water Police and four police divers will resume their search today for two men missing since their ultralight crashed into the sea north of Byron Bay at the weekend. Police divers yesterday [...]

The death of a female pygmy sperm whale found bleeding from its reproductive organs and wounded by shark bites on a Byron Bay beach this week, was inevitable according to scientists. The whale was still alive when it beached but died shortly after. A scientific examination carried out on the dead whale revealed the mammal was terminally ill even before attracting the attention of sharks. While nothing could be done for this whale, according to James Law from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the whale stranding did highlight the need for greater public awareness about what people should do if they come across a beached whale.
“We heard a number of the public were actually trying to push the animal [...]

BYRON BAY scuba divers are unhappy they may have to pay a government fee for the right to pursue their sport.
Bay dive operators say they will fight a NSW Government proposal to charge scuba divers a fee for the right to dive in State waters. It could cripple the industry, operators warn. The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has released a discussion paper proposing scuba divers be charged fees to dive in NSW as part of the Government’s grey nurse shark recovery program.
In the paper, the DPI acknowledges fishing poses the biggest threat to the protected species, but also claims scuba diving may have potential negative impacts, including disturbance from anchoring, flash photography and repeated visits to the shark’s [...]

Byron Bay to get Indigenous cultural centre: An Aboriginal cultural centre will be built at Byron Bay in northern NSW. State Planning Minister Frank Sartor has approved an amendment to the Byron local environment plan to allow the centre to go ahead. Mr Sartor says it means land use issues on Lighthouse Road will be resolved, allowing the Arakwal Aboriginal Corporation to begin development.
He says it is a landmark for Aboriginal reconciliation because it is the first time such an agreement has been reached without litigation. Mr Sartor says the centre will provide the community and visitors with an opportunity to learn about local Aboriginal heritage and history.

Byron Bay Film Festival in January 2006. The Byron Community and Cultural Centre will present its first Byron Bay Film Festival this coming January. Showcasing local and national filmmakers, the festival will screen for a week, starting Saturday 14 January. By screening in the busy holiday period, the festival will attract a wide audience of visitors and locals.
According to festival organiser, Greg Aitken, the festival’s aim is to express the diversity and individuality of contemporary filmmaking. “We have no preconceived notions about this festival, so we’ve kept the categories as broad as possible. We want to present the widest variety of film styles,” Greg said. While this is the Centre’s first festival, the plan is to offer it in [...]

The local Arakwal people and the wider community are mourning the death this week of custodian, Lorna Kelly. Aunty Lorna, as she was known, died suddenly on Monday at Byron Bay aged 82. Removed from her land at Byron Bay as a young girl, she returned to the town in 2001 and was instrumental, with other Arakwal custodians, in securing the first Indigenous Land Use Agreement in Australia and the establishment of the Arakwal National Park.
Arakwal elder is farewelled 06.10.2005
A large crowd gathered at the Pass on Tuesday for a memorial service for much-loved Arakwal elder Aunty Lorna Kelly who died on Monday of last week. Friends, including Byron Shire mayor Jan Barham, recalled Aunty Lorna’s [...]

THE Howard Government’s industrial relations reforms have been exposed as a farce by one of its own examples detailing how the changes will affect workers, the ACTU said. The government’s WorkChoices booklet sets out the example of “Billy”, an unemployed person seeking a full-time job in a shop. The example says the job is contingent on Billy accepting an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA), which explicitly removes award conditions for public holidays, rest breaks, bonuses, penalty rates and other provisions. ACTU secretary Greg Combet today said the example of Billy showed WorkChoices would mean no choices for Australian workers.
“Billy is a worker whose story is provided by the government as an example of what could happen under their new workplace system,” [...]

Northern Rivers focuses on youth retention. Youth retention has been identified as a key issue in a new social priorities report on the Northern Rivers. The research is a follow-up on a study released in 2002 that identified five key areas of need. The president of the Northern Rivers Social Development Council, Jenny Dowell, says the research shows the need for youth projects to work across all seven council areas.
“The area of youth retention is clearly the major issue - there are lots of wonderful things going on in service delivery for younger people - but it is very much reactive and very much aimed at within a local government area rather than seeing these wonderful solutions that are devised [...]

Stores top cash crop for Harvey. IT was 1970 and Gerry Harvey had found the perfect site for one of his retail outlets in the northwest NSW town of Tamworth.
There was just one small problem. “It had a house on it,” he recalls. “I knocked on the door and a little old lady came out. I said: ‘You can make me a cup of tea if you like and then I want to buy your house’.” Within hours his lawyers had the paperwork finalised. Decisiveness is a hallmark of the man.
When asked what he would be if he weren’t the boss of one of the nation’s major retail chains, his answer is instant: “I’d be a [...]