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.

The horticulturalist was astonished to hear that my vanilla orchid was flowering in Northern Rivers. Two years ago, propped up at the base of a tall Bangalow palm, this lone plant burst into maturity as a vine.

On the April 19, the branching corals at Nguthungulli/Julian Rocks show up white. The warm water was too much for too long and they bleached. The same water encourages the leopard sharks to linger here later.

Mary Gardner One of my favourite things is meeting this frog. Her presence is a small sweet confirmation of the power without name. A tiny...

Crowds are still cheering how the sea floods 250 hectares at Steart on the mouth of the River Parrett, UK. This is the latest of five national ‘coastal realignment’ projects. Environmentalists worked with the local townspeople to undo a hundred years of hard seawalls with ‘soft engineering’.

From the viewing platform at The Pass, the onshore wind is fierce. I brace myself and scan the sea, as if this hour were my turn on the watch of a ship. Ahead I see the blows of five or six humpback whales. Next, their great splashes.

Sometimes, when I look across the Bay, I glimpse the global cinema epic. I see us all as bit players in the crowd scene. The lead characters are outrageous. The magnificent Sea, whatever the turn of plot, has its way every time.

Day after day, I watch the sun rise. Light glitters on the clear crystal surf as well as the smoky quartz Tallow lagoon. These different water jewels crown two parks, Arakwal and Cape Byron.