Paradise lost: Why I’m leaving Byron Bay, just when Netflix is moving in - Sydney Morning Herald

Our decade in Byron has been pretty much a love affair.

All that was the culmination of a single moment during a visit to Byron.

It took 14 years from that trip to be ready to leave Melbourne and its three-question triangulation on meeting anyone new: “What do you do, where do you live and what school do your kids attend?” Now, in Byron, I’m far more likely to encounter a casual, “So, are you working?”.

The kids embraced the laid-back Byron lifestyle.

The kids embraced the lifestyle, relaxing their vigilance on conformity and, when the youngest accidentally spent a day at school wearing his furry monkey slippers without attracting a single comment, we acknowledged that a significant shift had occurred.

Locals often protest against change by saying “We don’t want Byron to become Surfers Paradise.” But I feel we are instead living in Surface Paradise.

So, my family has embraced the real estate boom and sold our home to someone from Melbourne who only ever saw it online.

I didn’t have a ready answer for the real estate agent at the time, but I do now.