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There is no way to tell the story of a place as beautiful, fractious, mocked, stereotyped and beloved as Byron Bay, unless you admit, firstly, that everyone will have their own version.
You fell in love here, married here, gave birth here. You came to get well, or die here. Your life fell apart here. You wrote your book here, or spent years
pretending to do so. You danced till dawn in the hills, learnt to surf on those perfectly formed point breaks. You kayaked with dolphins and sea turtles; you heard the migratory humpback whales singing their way up the coast, long after their parents and grandparents had been harpooned, their throats cut, then shipped to the slaughterhouse to be processed into margarine.
How money and global exposure are changing the face of Byron Bay
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How money and global exposure are changing the face of Byron Bay
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“We have huge environmental issues, huge social issues here,” Kay said. “I don’t want these influencers coming here and painting this fantasy picture that all is well in Byron Bay. It isn’t.” The comedian Mandy Nolan, who has lived in Byron for 30 years and is running as the Greens candidate in the federal seat of Richmond, echoed concerns that the show would paper over the housing crisis that the town is now facing.
“Most of our friends, so many people that we know, have nowhere to live right now,” Nolan said. “They don’t really feel like you rolling into town telling a fantasy story that doesn’t exist.”