Byron Bay articles of interest.

NATURAL LOOKS: The face of the Byron Naturally Campaign, Lisa Mae, during the development of the highly successful tourism promotion. THE 2012 Byron Naturally campaign is shaping up to deliver an even greater impact than last year’s highly successful tourism promotion. The campaign, run by Byron United, is being supported by tourism industry heavyweights including Destination NSW. “In 2012 we will achieve additional exposure via more industry partnerships with airlines and airports,” Utopia Creative principal and campaign creator Adrian Nelson said. “We have developed exciting new components for this year’s campaign including a Smart Phone application that expands the functionality of the website with an integrated, trackable redemption system and extended marketing reach using TV on the web. “We are [...]

(From left) work experience student Denyelle O’Brien, Australian Seabird Rescue North Coast co-ordinator Kath Southwell and Australian Seabird Rescue veterinarian nurseMichelle Hall tend to a sick hawksbill turtle found in the Richmond River more than a week ago. VOLUNTEERS and funds are needed to care for the alarming number of sea turtles washing up on North Coast beaches. It is believed the turtles are becoming ill as a result of the destruction of food sources caused by Cyclone Yasi and the high level of plastic pollution in our oceans. “We have seen nothing like this since we began rescuing sea turtles in 1998,” Australian Seabird Rescue North Coast co-ordinator Kath Southwell said. “We are receiving twice as many stranded turtles [...]

Lismore City SES volunteers (from left) Neil Coulter, Sebastian Enmark and John Ludlow are among those off to the North West Region to assist emergency efforts. LOCAL SES crews will spend the next few days assisting emergency services in Inverell after the North Coast was put on flood watch yesterday. The Northern Rivers was spared major flooding as of last night, however areas in the Northern Tablelands experienced their heaviest rains in years. Glen Innes has had its heaviest rain in more than two years, receiving 90mm, which also breaks a 130-year November record for daily rainfall, according to WeatherZone reports, while Murwillumbah also recorded heavy downpours of more than 100mm. “We have had a crew of nine volunteers go [...]

Winter southerly swells are the likely reason for the erosion on Seven Mile Beach at Lennox Head. YOU’LL barely find space for your beach towel on some parts of Seven Mile Beach right now – and it’s not due to an early influx of tourists. In recent months, the sand on the southern end of Lennox Head’s popular beach has been slowly disappearing. It’s most noticeable close to the town centre, where rocks and crumbling sand cliffs now stand in place of sandy beaches. It may come as a shock if you’re a newcomer, or haven’t been to Lennox for a while, but according to long-time locals it’s just Mother Nature doing her work. Surfer and long time local Max [...]

Sign advertising a possible builders scam in Woy Woy near the Bridge to Koolewong in February. NORTH Coast residents are being warned to be on the look-out for shonky itinerant scammers posing as legitimate tradespeople. NSW Fair Trading has been investigating the travelling con-artists, tracking their movements, gathering intelligence and compiling profiles that paint disturbing pictures of extremely well-organised gangs. Each spring, many of the itinerants travel from the UK and Ireland working up and down the east coast of Australia and travelling in expensive four-wheel drives towing luxury caravans. They are cashed-up, shameless and unscrupulous, said Fair Trading officer Teresa Mullan. “We expect them to be reactivating their scams on the Northern Rivers and we urge the public to [...]

SURF Life Saving is advising rock fishermen and anglers to exercise extreme caution over the weekend with dangerous ocean conditions expected at NSW beaches from Saturday to Monday. Dangerous surf conditions are expected with large waves affecting beaches, rock shelves, cliffs and headlands along the entire NSW coast. The south easterly swell is expected to reach upwards of three metres on exposed south-facing beaches and rock platforms, with swell periods of 10 seconds. Beach wave height is expected to be between 1.8 metres and 2.4 metres. On the North Coast, the swell was expected to peak on Sunday afternoon and remain until Monday afternoon. On the South Coast through to the Hunter, it would peak on Sunday morning, easing into [...]

MEMBERS of the Northern Rivers’ Aboriginal communities will vote on Saturday on the make-up of the North Coast Land Council. The election will be held along with polls for all nine land council regions across NSW, with voters able to choose from 48 nominees. NSW Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Geoff Scott said it was vital Aboriginal people come out to vote this weekend. “NSWALC is a very influential organisation and its purpose is to serve the Aboriginal people of this state,” he said. “Many of those gone before us suffered and sacrificed a hell of a lot so we can enjoy the rights and access to self-determination we have today – it’s time we did our own bit. “That’s [...]

The North Coast could become a renewable energy hot spot. THE North Coast could become one of the state’s renewable energy hot spots under the Federal Government’s huge investment in creating a cleaner energy future for Australia. The $13 billion investment in the renewable energy sector was announced yesterday as part of the carbon tax scheme. It included grants to businesses aspiring to be greener, low-income households and the establishment of a new Biodiversity Fund. The urbanised and overcrowded metropolitan areas in and around Australia’s capital cities are no place for a wind farm, unlike the vacant, greener pastures of the Northern Rivers. “The reason I think the Northern Rivers will do alright is because you can’t put wind farms [...]

Cape Byron lighthouse volunteer Margot Hays spotted her first whale of the season off the Cape yesterday. Thousands more humpbacks are expected to pass by in the next few weeks. RECORD numbers of whales will pass through North Coast waters this year as the humpbacks make their annual migration. Director of the Southern Cross University Whale Research Centre, Professor Peter Harrison, says more than 14,000 are expected to make their way to the northern breeding grounds over the next few months – about 1000 more than last year – and will return with more than 1500 calves. “We’re seeing an increase of more than 10% a year at the moment, and that’s fantastic,” he said. Whales have already been spotted [...]

Minnie Marks (above right) set the Bluesfest busking competition alight and has been touted as “the next big thing” on the local music scene. NORTH Coast singer-songwriter Minnie Marks has been touted as the “next big thing” in the local music scene. The 17-year-old recently won the Byron Bay Busking competition at Bluesfest and $2000 worth of studio time at 301 studios. The offers have been flowing thick and fast to sign Marks to a record deal, but at this stage she’s not having a bar of it. “I’d rather do the indie thing for a while longer – it’s just the cool thing to do,” she said. Having released her first independent album, Mystery Box, two years ago, Marks [...]

Federal Labor’s Justine Elliot has hit out at state MP Don Page and asked to explain what policies he can deliver on health services. ‘With only a week to go until the State election, many locals have raised with me concerns that Don Page and Barry O’Farrell have failed to outline their specific commitments for our local hospitals. ‘I call upon Don Page to detail what funding commitments he has secured for the North Coast. ‘In particular, will he commit funding for the new Ewingsdale hospital? ‘Also, what funding has he secured for Byron and Mullumbimby hospitals? ‘On top of their lack of policies, the biggest threat is that Don Page’s leader Barry O’Farrell will renege on the health agreement [...]

Dire shortage of secure and affordable accommodation for workers. New figures show the cost of Byron rents jumping almost 100 per cent in a decade, making the town increasingly unaffordable for its own part-time and casual workforce. Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $125 in 2002, but is $230 today, while a three-bedroom rental has blown out from $250 to $420 a week. Those exorbitant rents now match or even exceed Sydney’s, yet incomes here are on average only one half to two-thirds of what people earn in the cities. The latest available census data show that for tenants in the Byron area, 75 per cent of households on low and moderate incomes are in ‘housing stress’, which is defined as spending at least one-third of your income on housing costs. This year’s census figures are likely to paint an even [...]

Swamped: A grader begins to clear mud from a section of the Pacific Highway near the Harwood Bridge. THOUSANDS of residents have emerged from isolation as floodwaters receded on the NSW north coast. About 6000 residents in Yamba, Iluka and Maclean cut off by the Clarence River flooding were reached by State Emergency Services (SES) volunteers on Sunday. The SES had been in constant contact with residents, resupplying the area with essential items by air and boat. Just a handful of rural properties remain in isolation, SES Spokesman Dave Webber said on Monday. On Sunday, 650 residents of Boggabilla and Toomelah, near the Queensland border. were allowed to return to their homes after the area was declared safe. The towns [...]

THE WORST highway in the State runs through the region, so it is no surprise the North Coast has the highest crash casualty rate outside Sydney. Statistics from the Road and Traffic Authority, show 656 people were killed or injured in car accidents in the Northern Rivers (Byron, Ballina, Richmond Valley, Kyogle and Lismore local government areas) in 2009. That is almost 15 per cent of the statewide toll. Byron Shire had the highest road toll for the region: Five fatalities. The remaining LGAs each had four, except for Kyogle which had none. Half of the region’s road deaths occurred on the State’s worst road – the Pacific Highway. Tweed Shire saw 279 people killed or injured in accidents, the [...]

COUNCIL-OWNED land near the centre of Mullumbimby may be used as a camping site to help shelter the Byron Shire’s growing homeless population. Deputy mayor Patrick Morrisey will put forward a notice of motion at tomorrow’s council meeting to compile a feasibility report into providing a basic camping facility for the shire’s homeless. Under the proposal, the 2.4 hectares of council land, north of the corner of Mill and Station streets, would be used as a place where the homeless could ‘sleep rough without harassment’. The notice of motion report states there is an ‘urgent need for a well-located primitive camping ground’ and an on-site social services facility is ‘worth investigating’. The report also notes that the Byron Shire has [...]

A $9 BILLION deal with Telstra to provide infrastructure for the National Broadband Network (NBN) brings the Northern Rivers a step closer to super-fast broadband, Federal Page MP Janelle Saffin and Lyne (Port Macquarie) Independent MP Rob Oakeshott have said. However, precisely when the 100 megabit network will fall into place remains a mystery, with official predictions saying only that the eight-year national roll-out will now happen more quickly and more cheaply. It will provide internet speeds more than 66 times faster than a standard ADSL connection and between four and five times faster than an ADSL2+ connection. Ms Saffin and Mr Oakeshott in February presented a submission to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy arguing the North Coast, between Tweed Heads [...]

THE average cost of renting a home on the Northern Rivers has skyrocketed over the past year, with Lismore tenants copping the biggest increases. Figures for the March quarter were released by Housing NSW this week. They reveal that a three-bedroom property in Lismore will now cost you $295 a week, which is an increase of 5.4 per cent compared with last year, and 1.7pc more than the previous quarter. The cost of renting a one-bedroom property in Ballina has jumped by 11pc to $200 a week. For two bedrooms, renters are paying $280 a week, which is 5.7pc more than last year. In Byron Bay, rents for one and three-bedroom homes have stayed steady at $230 and $420 a [...]