The Heartland of the Counter-Culture

Title
“It’s always been a heartland of the counter-culture. Ever since the late 60’s, hippies and surfers have been coming here to explore the inner potential in their lifestyles. It’s always been a place where people can come and find some soul. In a world full of traffic jams, pollution, chem-trails and police brutality, this is a fine place to come. It’s a place where we can get away.”

Always trust a local, especially when that local is Ed Sinnott. This guy has been a local for the past 30 years, and if you haven’t worked out where the above-mentioned place is, it’s Byron Bay.

Surfers flock here to get a dose of Byron Bay goodness, like the crew from Afends in the video below who get down and dirty with what the northern NSW coast has to offer. Shenanigans like epic rock-hops, copping a drop-in’s fins to the face and sliding down grassy hills on surfboards, you know, the usual stuff you get up to at your local with mates.

Byron’s changed though. Maybe that’s what all the weird war-time footage is all about between the amazing surfing scenes. Byron now is as much of a tourist town as Surfer Paradise, with a macca’s on every corner and only the faintest remnants of a time where surfing was the only thing that mattered. Those remnants are in the water, where the hustle and bustle of a thriving city gets drowned out by the sound of freight-train beachies and local stoke. It’s still cool, as long as you know where to go.

Check out the video below to see some great surfing, crazy tricks and the Afends crew doing what they do best.