Mary’s influence on me as a local activist, and later councillor, was profound – she opened my eyes to how water courses through and shapes this place.

Jim and Mary are moving to Queensland. I am pretty sad about it. Even if you don’t know them, they have been your friends too because, separately and together, they have done so much for Byron.

Like others that day at the Cape Byron lighthouse, David Bryant saw this small whale ride a wave. Skilled photographer that he is, he had his camera to the ready and took this photo that has flashed its way through media around the world.

In the lagoon, the pace of winter life during the long dry seems pretty settled. The growth of small estuarine prawns slows down. Bream now five years old are grown up, itching for saltwater and their winter spawn.

Are there more sharks or have we just become accustomed to vanishing species in our midst?

We peered through the branches amazed to see this colourful bird, resting one wing awkwardly. By the next day it would be dead.

Flying foxes live life large across the landscape. They are the chief pollinators and seed carriers for many species of forest trees.

It’s not a done deal. The swamplands that define Byron Bay are crippled but still alive. The NSW Joint Regional Planning Panel is still debating how mega-development of West Byron might harm the Cumbebin Nature Reserve and the Belongil waterway.

This replica nawi, unlike the bark canoe at the Maritime Museum, is oversized and made of steel. It is moored at a cove at Barangaroo, the inner city place named after a Cammeraygal woman.

Where to go during the holidays? Try following waterways and discovering waterplaces. Start with a ramble down some path or an hour along a shore: curiosity will take over. Where did this water come from? What is it doing now? Where might it go? What does it mean?