Published On: October 6, 2022639 words3.5 min read

I recently travelled to the Byron Bay region and stayed just outside of Bangalow in a beautiful hilltop villa. One of the first things I notice in the Byron hinterland region is that it really does remind me of the Tablelands in Far North Queensland which is near where I grew up. It’s so lush and green – well at least it has been on the occasions I have been there – and the little rolling hills with cows and lines of trees on them really give you that sense of being out in the country. It’s strange to think that only 10 minutes towards the coast is the ever intensifying hustle and bustle that is now Byron Bay.

The property I stayed at had some of the most gorgeous and well kept Australian gardens I have seen. There were so many beautiful native plants to admire that I found myself doing trips up and back along the driveway just to make sure I had not missed seeing any of them – kangaroo paw, everlastings, banksias, fig trees, lilly pilly, and then probably hundreds more I cannot name. There was one native that appeared in almost every patch of the gardens though, assigned the job of being the feature tree. It was the grevillea.

Now I am not normally into grevillea. I am not sure why – maybe because it was something my parents had always planted when I was young and that somehow made it not as cool as the exotic kangaroo paw or banksias tree – both of which were rare to non-existent  in Far North Queensland in the 80s. But on the weekend I was in Byron the grevillea were in flower and it was spectacular! The landscaper had obviously taken much time in planting out the different types to create little families of exploding colour that beautifully showcased this Aussie backyard favourite. The bird and insect life there could create content for another whole article in itself!

Now, you are probably wondering where I am going with all of this. I ended up taking a large number of shots and videos of these flowering grevilleas without any real idea in mind of what I would use them for. The blooms were just so prolific and so splendid that I just felt I had better capture it or I would regret it later. I travelled back to Brisbane after that and didn’t really think about the flowers again and they just went into storage on my PC. I do like to keep photos for reference so I figured they would be there if and when I needed them.

But what is interesting about this is a week or two after I returned from my trip I was chatting on the phone to Brooksy having a semi-professional business meeting. Actually that’s not true. It was a business meeting but it was being interrupted by a multitude of background distractions including children, dogs and other phones ringing. But what I did get out of this call was that Brooksy said “Grevilleas” had come to her. I asked what she meant and she said “grevilleas just came to me this morning, like it just popped into my head”. So now we have a sign?! I am not sure but I am currently going back through my vast array of grevillea photos and video seeing if this is something we can work into our new collection.

And just so you can share in the glorious colour explosion I was able to experience in Byron hinterland I have included some of the shots I took in the gardens. On that note I will send a thank you out to the landscaper or avid gardener who took the time to plant all of those native beauties too – what a treat for the eyes!

Kerrin