Tourist Drive 28 - a day trip through Ballina and Byron Bay hinterland

The stretch of hinterland around the Ballina and Byron Shires is home to some of the last remaining pockets of the Big Scrub lowland subtropical rainforest. Setting out from the village of Wardell on Richmond River near Ballina, head through the township of Dalton to reach Victoria Park Nature Reserve. Here, a 300-metre-long boardwalk whisks you back in time to one of the last echoes of the epic Gondwana Rainforest, which grew in this region around forty million years ago. Giant strangler figs climb towards the light, inquisitive echidnas and grazing pademelons scurry into the bush when disturbed, and the sound of your footsteps is swallowed by the dense rainforest canopy.

One of the key highlights of a drive through the hinterland is visiting the turn-of-the-century hamlets and cottages established during the height of the cedar cutting era in the late 1800s. Stretch your legs in the village of Alstonville, previously known as Duck Creek Mountain. This small township located on the plateau has a heritage trail that takes in Federation-era architecture, such as the Old Butter Factory, Federal Hotel, and Crawford House Museum, built in 1910. If you’re here in late summer, keep an eye out for the town's namesake flowering tree, the Tibouchina Alstonville, which blooms with distinctive purple flowers. For a morning coffee pick-me-up, head to Summerland Farm, which began as a macadamia and avocado plantation in the 1970s. It has since emerged as a popular attraction with an adventure fort, water park, seedling nursery, and paddocks full of cheeky goats. Stay for high tea, which includes honey and macadamia tarts made fresh on the farm.

The Byron hinterland is filled with wild swimming spots and magnificent waterfalls, some open to the public, a few hidden away on private property, and others closely guarded local secrets. While Minyon Falls is popular with tourists, a short, twenty-minute detour off Tourist Drive 28 up Friday Hut Road will take you to Killen Falls, a 10-metre waterfall enveloped in a small pocket of old-growth rainforest. From the carpark, it’s a 600-metre walk to the lookout over the falls or continue for another 400 metres to reach the base of the falls. If you do walk the longer route, a small, hidden cave accessible behind the falls is your reward.

With its old, faded castle facade removed, the iconic Macadamia Castle has evolved into the new Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Now run by a not-for-profit organisation, the complex, which features an 18-hole mini golf course, waterpark, cafe and playground, will be transformed into a sanctuary and home for the Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital. Open for visitors during the upgrade, owl, snake and sugar glider experiences are available, and for those keen to stock up, there are still plenty of macadamias available for purchase from the gift shop.

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Further down the road, Newrybar is the most popular and photogenic of the Federation-era villages in the hinterlands. With its tin-roof homesteads, this busy village offers uber-hip retail stores, organic food cafes and Byron-style fashion shops. Book ahead for lunch at Harvest, or take away a picnic pack of local artisan produce from their deli if you’d prefer to grab-and-go. Nearby Bangalow is also a good spot for retail therapy. For a nature fix, explore the Bangalow Weir Parklands, which have been regenerated with hundreds of native plant species; in the waterways you can also spot turtles and occasionally the elusive platypus that live along the riverbank. Local Indigenous elder Delta Kay runs bush food tours here on a Thursday afternoon.

While you’ll catch snatches of ocean views along the back roads of Tourist Drive 28, take the turn off for Scarbellotti’s Lookout and indulge in the stunning view of Australia’s most easterly point. Once slated for development, locals have since preserved the lookout, which takes in Mount Chincogan and Mount Warning, and glances across farmland and forest to the yellow strip of beach and Pacific Ocean. To the east, you’ll see Julian Rocks out to sea, and the iconic white Byron Bay lighthouse, and just a few minutes’ drive away is the Crystal Castle and Shambalah Gardens. One of Byron Bay’s biggest attractions, the property includes ten hectares of manicured gardens and rainforest, as well as a collection of oversized crystals. Lookout for the 12-million-year-old, ten tonne amethyst cave. It’s a definite highlight.