Life After Hong Kong: Byron Bay

The following article, written by Jindibah founding member, Christobel Munson, was published in the March 1997 edition of Kanga News, the official newsletter of the Australian Association of Hong Kong Ltd. It describes what led to her decision to move to Byron Bay.

After living outside Australia for some years, we returned feeling we’d really ‘done our time’ in cities. As well, after decades in the mainstream of corporate life, both my husband and I were ready for a change, for a less stressed existence.

Ideally, we wanted to live somewhere where we had time to appreciate nature (but please, not too far from an airport and decent shopping); a place that was peaceful and unpolluted, where we could take care of our bodies and minds - but that wasn’t too dozy; a place where we could still get up to some business games if we felt like it, and where our children would be happy to visit.

Over the years, we had spent time on holidays in the north coast of NSW in the Byron Bay area, and once again we were drawn to the simple, less-pressured style of life of this sub-tropical region. We liked the fact we had friends here who had come from all over the world to build homes among tropical rainforests or in stunning beachfront locations, so there was an international ambience which other Australian country towns totally lacked.

Being a tourist town which had mushroomed when overseas surfers and other holiday-makers had decided to make it a year-round place to live, Byron Bay has a range of restaurants to attract the most particular of taste-buds, from the wholesome, natural foods at Strictly Vego (offering a smorgasbord of vegetarian food), through to European-style elegance at the Sunset restaurant or John Cornell’s Top Pub restaurant, or Asian food from the Japanese, Thai and Korean places.

As well as eating, there are year-round games for visitors of all ages to play, from learning to swing from the high wire at the circus school at the local (somewhat modified) Club Med, the Byron Bay Beach Club; through to a great range of outdoor sports from skin-diving, dragon boat racing and hang-gliding, to whale and dolphin-watching, through to horse or camel-riding on the beach. If it’s outdoorsy and fun, it’s happening up here.

Only a couple of hours’ drive away is Brisbane International Airport. It’s only an hour from the Gold Coast airport in Surfers Paradise or 20 minutes to the airport at Ballina, so this area has proximity to the modern facilities we want, yet feels like another part of the world entirely.

When we moved here, it felt like we stepped into a world where the relaxed pace was set by car-stickers suggesting we ‘Practise random acts of kindness and senseless beauty’. As well as all the healthy, outdoor activities, every possible esoteric art seems to be practised by an expert within a short drive; in fact the entire Byron area seems to have become Australia’s centre for the healing arts.

Articles in the Byron local weekly paper, the Byron Shire Echo, reflect a community deeply concerned with ecologically sensitive development. No-one wants it to become another high-rise town on the beach. While the Echo’s editorial pages are a channel for vociferous comment on local politics, its ads describe the esoteric nature of many locals, such as those concerned with alternative education (with Steiner and other schools). Numerous ways to expand and develop creativity are advertised, from courses in video editing, permaculture and square dancing, through to classes in sculpture, tantric sex, celestial harmony, and 50s style rock’n’roll.

Perhaps you’d like to embark on a quest to find ‘the core of your manhood’? A course starts in February. Astrology cosmobiology? Classes start soon. Satsang with Isaac Shapiro is held nightly in the Byron Surf Club. A class in making furniture from bamboo started Jan 26. Not to mention individual sessions in cranio-sacral balancing, esogetic colourpuncture, aurasoma, metaphysical healing or physical immortality.

We were intrigued and impressed meeting up with old friends who had the time to sit on the verandah with visitors and solve the world’s problems over a cup of herbal tea, before taking a dip in some of the east coast’s best-known surfing beaches before lunch. This is the life!

To begin with, we rented a house and set about re-inventing ourselves for this new life. We made endless lists: should we buy a stunning acreage in the hinterland above Byron Bay and build a dream house? Considering our need for human interaction, we realised remoteness wouldn’t suit. After living in India, we really appreciated the excellent telecommunication systems available here. As well as the esoteric alternatives, what really appealed to us was the luxury of fresh, unpolluted air. We have freely available and freshly picked local organic fruit and vegetables (a neighbour delivers our free-range eggs); clean beaches; rainforests, and a laid-back, country life.

We decided we wanted space: room to breathe. About 100 acres should do the trick, with a creek, green rolling hills, proximity to modern facilities, towns and universities. Oh yes and the chance to have some fun growing things and making a little business. Maybe wildflowers for export to Japan? Mangoes? Macadamia nuts? The idea was to create a cash-flow to pay for the property upkeep.

After 12 months intensively roaming the region; after imagining ourselves growing ostriches, planting coffee orchards or pleasure gardens in the dozens of places we explored; we finally found the perfect 111-acre site a 10-minute drive from Byron Bay just outside a tiny town called Bangalow, (population 2,000). Southern Cross University is a 30-minute drive away. Airports, five shopping towns, hospitals, schools and public transport are all within easy reach. Five TV channels (including SBS) service the district, and there’s an excellent Internet provider within the local call area.

Here comes the twist: rather than take on the expense of buying and running a property like this alone, we wanted to share it with others of like mind. We found two other couples, friends who were prepared to share the vision and the entrepreneurial risk of buying the property and applying for planning permission. The best way to do this, we discovered, was to apply to Byron Shire Council for a ‘Multiple Occupancy,’ which has now given us the legal right to share living on the land with others.

The two-year process of obtaining council permission is another story entirely. Let’s say it gave us a crash course in dealing with local community action groups; learning how the local council functions; and how to deal with stroppy neighbours and born-again greenies.

Meanwhile, we have moved into a 1911 farm-house on the property (adding a few touches of our own, like an Internet connection, an internal bathroom and built-in wardrobes). Using skills acquired during our Hong Kong days, we set up an electronic telecottage. Through my company Not Just Words, I use such ‘mod cons’ as a couple of Pentium PCs with 20" screens, a scanner, laser printer and modem, to be able to provide marketing communications material for anyone, anywhere in the world, while peeping out of the window from time to time to watch the contended cows and horses munching away on the green grass.

Then there’s Jindibah itself. We named our property Jindibah: the Aboriginal word for the ‘tawny frogmouth owls’ we found living here, (as well as numerous echidnas and bandicoots, eels and kookaburras, yabbies and goannas). Jindibah also means ‘wisdom’, some of which we hope to attain sharing this lovely land.

We’ve set up a deed for running the property, modelled on the ‘intentional community’ concept. There are now over 600 such communities around the world, with their own international association. Basically, it’s the best model we’ve found to use when a group of people decide they want to live - not communally - but on one chunk of land, with personal privacy, yet room to move. A management group representing the shareholders will be run along the lines of a strata unit Body Corporate.

The intent is to share our coastal country acres with people with whom we can have techno-business fun, develop agri-businesses, or just enjoy the land’s natural beauty.

View from our Hong Kong apartment
Byron Bay hinterland view