One very interesting character I met, Graham Isaacs, started surfing three years ago after retiring at 60, and spends his mornings surfing at Watago beach, breakfasts at the Balcony, plays golf in the afternoon and practices the guitar in the evenings. Its hard to miss Graham in the water with his blue helmet, and yellow long board. Graham is an inspiration, at 60 (something) he picked up a board and hit the (large, fast and scary) waves! His only regret is that he did not retire at 55 so he could travel and surf more!
Grahams best surfing experience? Surfing a wave at Watago with dolphins on both his left and right side, and one underneath the board. The dolphins at Watago come in close, and sometimes surf the waves with some lucky surfers. AMAZING!
Read more here!
His mate Giles who shaped the board moved to Sydney from the south of France in 1971 (imagine a French/Aussie accent!), and headed up to New South Wales in the mid ?f80 because Sydney was too mellow! There was one night club and it closed at half past 10!
Most of the people I have met here that make up the over 50 crowd truly appreciate what they have, how they got here, and use everyday to its fullest. The younger crowd seems content to catch a few waves, throw back many beers, and dance in the streets. The town has a very eclectic mix of young and old, rich and poor, local and tourist that has turned Byron into a great little spot that I highly recommend, and that I will surely visit again.
Have a look at the link below to see some of the faces of Byron.