Ballina Information Blog

With the school holidays almost upon us and parents and carers looking for something to challenge the kids this summer, look no further than NSW Sport and Recreation’s surfing, kayaking, cricket and Lake Ainsworth Activity Programs.
“The surfing program is always a great hit,” said Lyn Larsen, from NSW Sport and Recreation.
“It’s a great chance for [...]

The work of 25 local artists will be auctioned on Friday night, December 14, as a fund-raiser for an orphanage in Bali.
The Point Church has organised the fundraising art auction the help the Widha Asih Orphanage Foundation.
It will be held at the Richmond Room, starting at 6.30pm.
The works to be auctioned on the night are [...]

Northern Rivers rugby league fans soon will be able to watch their favourite NRL team play live at a new $160 million stadium on the Gold Coast.
The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans squad this week took their very first steps on the playing surface at Skilled Park Robina, the team’s much anticipated new home in 2008.
Watpac, [...]

An exhibition promoting the people of Cabbage Tree Island’s connection to country through the land and sea is the realisation of the long-held dream of the late Mrs Lorna Kelly, Byron Bay Arakwal and Bundjalung Elder.
The exhibition provides a glimpse of life on Cabbage Tree Island, a small island in the middle of the Richmond [...]

Following 12 months of fund-raising by the Ballina Shire community, the North Coast Area Health Service (NCAHS) officially unveiled new digital X-ray equipment at the Ballina Hospital today.
The new equipment will ensure a faster diagnosis for people attending the hospital, which will in turn result in faster treatment for patients, Ballina Mayor Phillip Silver said.
The [...]

The section of the Pacific Highway from Ballina to Ewingsdale has been included in an Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) ‘worst rating’ of parts of the highway which need urgent attention.
The report, released as thousands of families prepare to go on Christmas holidays, gave a low two-star rating to 18 per cent of the Pacific [...]

Rhonda at Dave’s Bait Shop says flathead and whiting are going quite well through the river.
Nice whiting still around Pimlico and North Creek on worms, while the flathead are in the lower river and North Creek and biting on drifted whitebait and lures.
Dart off the beaches around Lennox and northwards, some fair bream and the [...]

Conditions have improved through the week, with a reasonably clean north-east swell providing decent waves.
Today the swell is about three feet, and there were beach breaks from Ballina through to Lennox Head this morning.
Northerly winds are forecast for the weekend.

Ballina MP Don Page has spoken in State Parliament opposing the lifting of the moratorium on growing genetically modified (GM) food products.
“I believe the reasons behind putting the moratorium in place in 2003 still apply today. The trials that were supposed to have taken place for GM canola in New South Wales following the 2003 [...]

Don’t be alarmed if you see a big mob of bikers thundering through Ballina on Saturday.
It won’t be an outlaw motorcycle gang coming to terrorise the place — it’ll be the Ulysses Motorcycle Club conducting their annual North Coast Children’s Home Charity Toy Run.
This year the club members are travelling from Ballina to Lismore.
They’ll meet [...]