Byron Bay Beach Australia

Actually, Byron Bay is a small town in New South Wales, a state in Australia. If you were to go to the eastern most point, that's where Byron Bay Beach is located. The name came from Captain James Cook who named the cape here after John Byron, grandfather of English poet Lord Byron. But boy, we got away from talking beaches!

Head north out of Sydney and some 800 kilometers up the coast you're at Byron Bay. Feeling homesick for the States while you’re in Australia? The closest to the U.S. you’re going to get is Byron Bay, the most easterly point on the continent. Come for the geography, but stay for the beautiful beach and fun resort town.

Byron enjoys a warmer climate than Sydney or Melbourne, so you can enjoy the beach almost year-round. Temperature during the winter has an average high of 21 degrees Celsius, or almost 70 degrees Fahrenheit. That means that, even in June, you can get lucky with a scorcher, and have all day to play in the sand.

This beach town is immensely popular with backpackers, with many considering it to be a "must see" attraction. This gives Byron quite an international feeling. Cooking dinner in a hostel, you could hear four or five different languages spoken over the course of your dinner.

Byron Bay is well known for its surf, with the waves being regarded as some of the finest in all of Australia. Body boarding is also popular, along with scuba diving and snorkeling. There are numerous shops that rent surfboards for reasonable prices, usually around 10-15 dollars an hour. For novices, the Byron Bay Surf School offers lessons for less than 50 dollars for four hours.

There are a number of festivals year-round, most involving local, national, and even international music. The Byron Bay Film Festival in March, first put up in 2006, draws films critics from across Australia. Nearby Nimbin is likened to Woodstock in the United States as a progressive, free-spirited town (plus the whole legalized marijuana thing).

Byron Bay is a great stopping point on the Gold Coast between Sydney and Brisbane. This is regarded as one of the premier beaches in Australia, and for good reason.