There’s nothing like the personal touch of a guided tour with someone steeped in knowledge and culture. Arakwal woman, Delta Kay, offers tours through Explore Byron Bay, introducing you to the landscape and culture of The Pass (Byron Bay’s legendary surfing spot) or nearby Bangalow and Broken Head. You’ll move through Dreaming stories to the arrival of non-Aboriginal people in the 1830s, to how Delta’s grandmother lived a traditional life after fleeing from a mission, to the sites of ancient middens, and how the Byron lighthouse was built on traditional meeting grounds. Then, feast on a colourful and nutritious array of bush tucker foods, gathered by Delta and picked as you walk.

One local bush food is karkalla, the Indigenous name for the ubiquitous but rarely celebrated ‘pig face’ plant with its bright flowers and succulent leaves. Karkalla is also the name of a new restaurant in Byron Bay, opened in late 2020 thanks to a COVID-inspired seachange by Mindy Woods, after a career at the Lotus Dining Group in Sydney. Embrace local native ingredients by starting with Brunswick River oysters topped with davidson plum sorbet, or humble saltbush crafted into a crunchy lattice, served with smoked chilli and bush tomato mayo. For mains, try the homemade gnocchi served with wild caught prawns and seablite (a salt-marsh native plant). Then contemplate how wonderful it all was, over a cup of davidson plum and lemon myrtle tea.

Keep your eyes open for stunning artworks etched into the pathway through central Byron’s Railway Park. Created by a young, local Arakwal artist, Nickolla Clark along with her sister and cousins, the etchings represent important aspects of Indigenous culture. Look out for wajung (dolphins), yugoori (fish), jullum (pipis), clapping sticks, traditional meeting places, and yelgun (the first light of the rising sun that forms the colours of Country). Movingly, the artists’ handprints are also captured, below a plaque acknowledging the fight for native title spearheaded by Nickolla’s nan, Dulcie Nicols and her sisters, which ran from the mid 1990s until 2019.

Broken Head, just south of Byron, is within the Arakwal National Park and a key area for local Traditional Owners. The simply furnished cabin accommodation and camp sites are gloriously located, nestled between the bush and the beaches, with walking tracks to the Three Sisters rock formations and hidden coves. You can visit for the day, do a tour with Delta Kay or, by staying at the holiday park, you have the double win of a back-to-nature holiday and supporting those who care for this Country. Image courtesy: Destination NSW.

A holiday is always better with a book in your bag, especially if it is one that will enhance your knowledge and understanding of our country’s Indigenous history and current life. Pop into the gorgeous Book Room at Byron for a recommendation; maybe Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu or newly-published Loving Country, the locally produced Our Way Stories, or sink into Melissa Lucasenko’s novels Too Much Lip or Mullumbimby, both set in the wider Byron region. Hear Traditional Owners’ requests to preserve middens by not disturbing sand dunes and to refrain from climbing Wollumbin (Mount Warning), the nearby ancient volcano core that is a sacred site for people of the Bunjalung nation. Boogelbah (thank you) for taking the time to acknowledge, experience and learn about the traditional custodians of this beautiful region during your next visit.