Voice of Byron

Whales by Numbers on Sunday

WHALE WATCHERS: Dedicated whale watchers Elaine Reid from Byron Bay with Tiffany Lee from Tyagarah will be on the headland this Sunday for the annual whale census.
WHALE WATCHERS: Dedicated whale watchers Elaine Reid from Byron Bay with Tiffany Lee from Tyagarah will be on the headland this Sunday for the annual whale census. Photo: Christian Morrow

EVERYONE is invited to celebrate the start of the whale season by joining National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and ORRCA (Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia) this Sunday for an official whale census.

Dedicated local whale watchers Elaine Reid, from Byron Bay, and Tiffany Lee, from Tyagarah, have been regulars up at Byron lighthouse for the past five months watching the whales on their northern migration spotting 80 whales since May 18 this year.

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June 2016 Erosion: Stress Testing Along Australia’s East Coast

The June 4, 2016 week of wild weather has stress tested beaches and coastal management strategies along the east Australia coastline. Maximum wave heights reached almost 10 metres in the peak of the storm.

It is not surprising that developed areas with long term pro-active coastal management strategies to protect beaches and foreshore assets have weathered the test with very little impacts and developed coastlines with “do nothing” or ad hoc strategies have fared badly.

Examples of pro-active coastal management plans are Gold Coast and Noosa.  Both use a combination of terminal seawalls combined with beach nourishment and coastal control structures such as groynes to widen the beaches seaward of the walls.

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The Dangers of DIY Kombucha

Photo: Getty/ Stock

It might sound like a good idea but brewing your own kombucha is dangerous.

With growing consumer interest in healthy eating, we are seeing a concerning increase of non-qualified health advice on social media.

‘Extremism’ in so called healthy eating is leading to diet fads and nutritional deficiencies as we see more and more people cut out complete food groups such as dairy, wholegrains, legumes and even fruit. The replacement of these food groups can lead to an overdose of the same food such as nuts and coconuts. We are all literally going nuts for nuts with nut milks, nut butters, nut cheeses, nut flours and nut creams. This can lead to nutrient imbalances and food sensitivities.

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Mono Wins at First Australian Championships

Mark Stewart the first ever Mixed Divisional winner, Photo by Surfing Australia
Mark Stewart the first ever Mixed Divisional winner. Photo by Surfing Australia

It was a big day for Australia’s first national title competitors at the inaugural nudie Australia Adaptive Surfing Titles. Cabarita Beach on the NSW north coast was the idyllic location for the event with fun waves and great conditions for the surfers.

The three-day event included an Adaptive Surfers of Australia (ASA) Forum, Adaptive Surfing Coaching Clinic and a day of competition surfing that decided the Australian Titles.

Mono was one of the standout competitors of the event and easily took out the AS2 division with a heat total of 12.66 to give himself a shot at back to back ISA World Adaptive Titles later in the year when the team travels to California to take on the rest of the world.

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Essential Oils They Say Can Stop Cancer in Its Tracks

essential oil cancerScientists are now recognizimg the power agents that exist within some essential oils which stop cancer spreading, and which induce cancerous cells to close themselves down.

Their disease-preventing ability is no longer doubted, especially for cancer.  A healthy body, from head to foot, typically has a frequency ranging from 62 to 78 MHz, while disease begins at 58Hz. During some testing with frequency and the frequency of essential oils it was measured that: Holding a cup of coffee dropped one man’s frequency from 66 Hz to 58 MHz in just 3 seconds. It took three days for his frequency to return to normal.

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Councillor Hits Back at Rock Wall Critics

Byron Shire Councillor Rose Wanchap has hit back at critics of the Council’s rock wall at the Belongil.

In a full-page advertisement in this week’s Byron Shire News Cr Wanchap slams critics, particularly the Greens. She also attacks local media, accusing them of not wanting to publish the “good news” that the Belongil wall was a success.

“It is all too easy to twist facts to make a person look sinister,” she says in the advertisement.

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Cr Cubis Clarifies Council’s CZMP

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Photo: Geoff Bensley

Amid concerns as to Council’s CZMP policy decisions, Councillor Chris Cubis has answered Voice of Byron questions around Council’s decision-making process.

Cr Chris Cubis
Cr Chris Cubis

When asked for his response to allegations that the Committee preparing the CZMP was loaded with Belongil residents, Cr Cubis said that the CZMP was prepared by Council’s accepted coastal experts.

“In fact, there was no committee full of Belongil Residents writing the CZMP as suggested. We have run stakeholder and community forums, accepted the feedback and published it as part of the CZMP,” he said.

“The process has been both exhaustive and transparent.”

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Devils Down But Not Out. Pride Counts.

Byron’s Chris ‘Jawbone’ Coleman, Tom ‘Deano’ Martin and ‘Debonair’ Scott Stapleton are intent on getting a Casino Cougar’s daks off at Red Devil Park on Sunday.
Byron’s Chris ‘Jawbone’ Coleman, Tom ‘Deano’ Martin and ‘Debonair’ Scott Stapleton are intent on getting a Casino Cougar’s daks off at Red Devil Park on Sunday. Photo: John Campbell

Story & photos John Campbell

All of a sudden, the threat of the wooden spoon looms larger than the prospect of a finals berth for the Byron Bay Red Devils.

Undaunted, however, by the boys’ leaky journey through the troubled waters of NRRRL Season 2016, and ignoring the inclement weather, an estimated 2,417 hardy souls turned up to support the Bay on Sunday in their clash with the Casino Cougars.

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The Early Signs You’re in an Abusive Relationship

The potential for abuse can be identified early in a relationship
The potential for abuse can be identified early in a relationship

If we say ‘domestic abuse’ to you, what do you picture?

We can almost guarantee that many of you would have thought of black eyes, bruising, tears… in short, the signs of a violent attack.

However, there’s still a big difference between what people might imagine and the reality.

Although physical violence will often eventually happen in an abusive relationship, the actual abuse starts long before this. Control, manipulation and, as strange as it sounds, charm, are all part of it.

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Byron Plans for Zero CO2 Emissions by 2025

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The iconic coastal and tourist region of Byron Bay and its surrounding towns has become the first local community to conduct a full audit of its greenhouse gas emissions as it maps out a plan to reach 100 per cent renewable energy and zero emissions by 2025.

The emissions inventory – unveiled at the local RenewFest festival that attracted some 2,000 people on the weekend and formally released on Tuesday at the National Assembly of Local Government in Canberra – assessed emissions from energy, buildings, land use, waste and transport, and possible solutions.

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