Ballina Information Blog

The much anticipated Ballina Coast & Hinterland Visitor Guide has touched down in Ballina.
The new Guides are the authority on all there is to see and do in the Ballina Coast & Hinterland.
It features stunning imagery from around the Shire and captures the essence of the beautiful hinterland and our magnificent waterways.
If you would like [...]

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and tourism groups, Tweed Tourism and the Rainforest Way, agree that Mt Warning (Wollumbin) remains open for tourism.
Both groups support the new sign at the base of Mt Warning as a step forward in recognising the importance of the mountain to the Bundjalung people, and in promoting [...]

Ballina Shire Council’s Tourism and Development Department has received two Awards of Distinction in the regional Northern Rivers Tourism Awards.
Ballina Shire Council entered two categories, one for significant festivals and events with Rivafest 2005. The other category was for media, where the Ballina Coast and Hinterland Visitor Guide was entered.
Both entries received Awards of Distinctions.
Tourism [...]

T K NALEEM stands on a concrete slab, all that is left of his former home. It’s only metres from the ocean, and is surrounded by make-do shacks. It’s the site where his family last saw their daughter and sister.
It’s the site where, on December 26, 2004, a tsunami struck in Galle in southern Sri [...]

Byron Bay has been selected as one of 23 destinations to be included in a nationwide research project designed to assist in the development, marketing and management of regional tourism destinations.
The project is being run by the Australian Regional Tourism Research Centre (ARTRC), a partnership between Southern Cross University and the Sustainable Tourism Co-operative Research Centre.
The [...]

Quiksilver is taking its Revolution Tour — a surf, skate and music show — to South-East Asia, starting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on April 22.
Quiksilver says Australian surf stars Ry Craike and Julian Wilson will be joined by international bands and thousands of fans for a ‘Big Day Out’ style celebration.
The surfers will be strutting [...]

The 24 police officers who will walk the Kokoda Track for charity will find the going tough but will be much richer for the experience. Papua New Guinea is like that.
I haven’t walked the Kokoda Track, but I’ve spent time in the north of PNG. It was the experience of a lifetime.
Arriving in Madang on [...]

The New South Wales Government says naming Ballina as a planned major regional centre recognises the importance of its airport and its role as a river and coastal lifestyle centre.
The Government says the strategy makes it clear new commercial and retail development should be concentrated in centres such as Ballina, rather than isolated locations.
Initiatives to support and maintain [...]

Plans to limit human activity of beaches south of Ballina have spearked a series of meetings opposing the proposals suggested by the Department of Lands.
Recommendations include restrictions on dog exercise areas, the use of four-wheel drive vehicles and horse riding, and ‘formalising’ beach access areas. A full list of recommendations can be viewed by clicking [...]

#$%&*&  hell! The Brits have banned the use of the word #$%&*&  in the Tourism Australia advertising campaign!
That’s the one where the girl in the bikini, after spruiking about the delights of this great land, asks ‘So where the #$%&*&  hell are you?’ (yes, we know, if she was a fair dinkum Aussie sheila she woulda said ‘Where the #$%&*& hell [...]