Ballina – Overview

Ballina is the small town in Australia where I grew up. It lies on the north coast of the state of New South Wales, one hour south of the Queensland border and ten hour’s drive from Sydney. The current population is about twenty thousand, but I still remember it when it only had ten thousand people.

As a child, the only thing I wanted to do in Ballina was leave. It seemed so small, boring and lacking anything resembling fun. Coming back now, it’s still all those things, but I can now appreciate it for the positive aspects.

I always wondered why the hell anyone would want to come to Ballina for a holiday. Every summer and school holidays, the town would be swarmed with tourists. All the locals hated it. The roads were always clogged, you couldn’t get a park at the shops and there were people on the beaches! Nasty!

I can now see the attraction. For someone who lives in a city, Ballina seems like a little piece of paradise. The town is built on a corner of land where two rivers meet. The main river is the Richmond River. This is joined by North Creek, just before they flow into the Pacific Ocean. The mouth of the river is very broad, so there are loads of lagoons, beaches and parks.

Since I left, Ballina has also developed into the commercial hub of the area. Growing up, it was always a big trip to go shopping in Lismore. This is an actual city, with fifty thousand people in it. It’s about thirty minutes drive away, but I always thought it was a big expedition. Nowadays, the commercial heart of Lismore is dying and everyone is moving to Ballina. There’s two big shopping centres and a whole bunch of boutique shops. It’s retail heaven!

Then there’s the beaches. On top of that, the tourist hub of Byron Bay is only twenty minutes away. Growing up, I never went to Byron much. It was always full of smelly hippies and backpackers. I guess they saw the attraction long ago!

While I still struggle to find much to do in Ballina, it’s always fun to come home and see the relatives. Not much changes from visit to visit, but I can see the town slowly developing into a much more developed place than I ever knew.