Murwillumbah is a beautiful old timber town on the banks of the Tweed River, 45 minutes north of Byron Bay and 30 minutes south of Coolangatta and the Gold Coast airport. It's Bangalow's lesser-known sister, with a thriving arts community and a good food scene, surrounded by productive farming land and small growers.
In the early 1900s the town was gutted by fire and replaced with late federation and art deco architecture. It's in one of these fabulous art deco buildings underneath the Regent Theatre where we will hold the Galah Regional Photography Prize exhibition, from Sunday 12 November - Sunday 19 November 2023.
The opening party is on Friday night 10 November. We'll announce the winners of the photography prize and celebrate with food by Bistro Livi, drinks by Husk Distillery and Stone & Wood and music by The Versace Boys.
Then on Saturday 11 November, we're hosting A Day for Photographers. Tweed Regional Gallery director (and soon-to-be director of HOTA) Susi Muddiman will interview photographers Tamara Dean and Lisa Sorgini. Harriet Tarbuck from Photo Collective will talk about putting together a body of work and then portrait photographer Hugh Stewart will riff on all things photography, from taking portraits of Clint Eastwood to the looming AI.
Join us for the festivities, or pop in the week after to check out the exhibition when it's open to the public.
And why not make a trip of it? Here are some ideas to help you plan your mini-Murbah-break.
Just click the menu up the top for where to eat, where to stay and what to do.
Words by Megan Morton and Annabelle Hickson
Keith makes grown men and women want to throw in their decent jobs and open a cafe. It's very cool but with a super M’bah friendly vibe. A great place to fuel up before you go pay your mandatory tribute to the nearby-ish Margaret Olley studio at the Tweed Regional Gallery. While the gallery has a cafe on site with a lovely view, if you’re in Murwillumbah for only one breakfast, go to Keith's. As a bonus, in the same arcade out the back of Keith's is a new-ish knitting shop. So think of this as your one-stop shop for craft supplies, coffee, cafe classics and truly worthwhile doughnuts. As far as dream days go, you couldn't get much better than starting at Keith’s, onto Margaret Olley and friends and then doubling back to town for the early table (pm) at Bistro Livi (see next listing).
Where even are we, Dorothy?! Just promise you’ll try to get a table if you want evidence that this area has a world-class hospitality offering. Shared plates of the region's most incredible produce. It was awarded the 2023 New Restaurant of the Year by Sydney’s Good Food Guide for good reason. The less we say the better. Just go.
Drive ten minutes out of Murwillumbah, through the sugar cane fields, and you'll find Australia's only paddock-to-bottle agricultural rum distillery. Husk Distillery grows its own sugar cane, which it then crushes and ferments on-site to turn into outstanding rum. They also make gin. Visit for a farm tour, a long lunch, cocktails, or all three.
We did not expect to include a petrol station in this guide, but the Murwillumbah BP is a breath of fresh air. And fresh food and fresh juice. An excellent place to stock up on all sorts of local supplies while you fill up.
This is a gem of a cheese shop in the M|Arts Precinct. Kat has a selection of beautiful cheeses in the fridge, a couple of outrageously good toasties on the menu and tins of Perello olives on the shelves: in other words, absolutely everything. While you're waiting for your cheesy sandwiches to toast, duck in next door to Fable Bookstore where owner Vi curates a small but excellent selection of books.
On the banks of the Tweed River sits a majestic timber house which is now a fancy bar and bistro. Australian flavours meet French techniques in the restaurant, while the lawn bar is more casual affair. Either way, it's wonderful.
A working post office that serves truly excellent coffee? Bastion Lane, in the small hinterland town of Uki, 15 minutes south of Murwillumbah, is exactly this. The coffee in this glorious 1909 heritage-listed building is downright some of the best you can drink. And to be able to do so while sitting alongside sacks of coffee beans (to be roasted out the back), watching the comings and goings of Uki, population 700, and their mail deliveries is an entirely delightful experience. It’s almost only coffee here, which is fine because 10 doors down is Uki Pies, serving almost only pastry (see next listing). And if you like to hang out in weirdo bookshops post-coffee, The kooky Fortuna Bookshop is a short walk away to bookend the journey. Also worth a visit is A Tinker’s Cuss, a smithing collective where knives are made (and sharpened) out the back.
The online reviews are almost suspiciously bot-like. “Best. Pie. Ever”, “in all the world I have never …” and “flaky beyond belief”, but the one that originally piqued our interest was “deep fried sausage and 3 potato cakes please”. Uki Pies is deserving of all of this succinct and guttural online praise.
Natural wines and craft beer is the offer at this try-before-you-buy wine store. It’s the ideal pre-dinner-reservation way to extend an evening session in the Northern Rivers. You know you're good when you trade the big four hospitality days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and advertise being open “by appointment only” for the rest of the week.
Once you’ve secured your table for the set-menu lunch here, whatever you do, resist the urge to go down the rabbit hole that is the #farmandco hashtag. All you’ll find are pictures of mini influencers - of all ages - stomping through the sunflower fields at the back of property for their “shot”. Galah Guide advisor Megan Morton took her father here (he's a farmer, not an influencer) for family lunch and, after a quiet half hour at the beginning, he fessed up and said he was a little overwhelmed and had never seen anything like it. Then when the food arrived he couldn’t stop gas-bagging to the waiter about every single flavour hit and at the end he concluded it might just have been the best meal of his past three years. He texted MM when he got home: “Whatever that cost you today, it was worth double. Thank you, honey."
Just down the road from Farm & Co, in a packing shed on a working avocado farm is Earth Beer Company, a brewery making a small but fantastic range of beers from IPAs to largers and pale ales. Under their watchful eye, even local avocados and mangoes are transformed into kolsch and mango Weiss beer.
Timing is everything in this region. The ever-changing timing of operating days. The difference in timing of night service and lunch service on every other Tuesday. The daylight savings timing change when you cross the border. This can keep city visitors in a #slightlynervous state. We assume Pipit, recently named Australia’s best regional restaurant, might already be on your radar, so this listing is really to remind you about timing. Pipit is open on Monday nights (not many establishments are) with a bistro-only menu, then its set menu is on for three other nights and lunch for three other days, but slightly different days to the evening openings. This puts Pipit in the must-see category but also the “must check opening times/days” before you plan the potentially best meal of your trip.
A modern Greek restaurant on Kingscliff Beach. Intimate, delicious with a gorgeous fit-out.
Wal Foster smokes paperbark from the tree in his front yard. He uses that smoked paperbark in his ice cream (as well as tamarind, wattle seed, strawberry gum, finger lime and aniseed myrtle), which he sells to those in-the-know from a caravan in the same front yard. Small batch, probiotic and prebiotic ice cream with native, local-only flavours. You can pay up to $18 a cup - this is no typo. Your front lobal system recognises it as “ice cream” and sends signals to all the other senses to prepare you for ice cream but this is like nothing you’ve ever put in your mouth before. Not one bad thing, all native, all handpicked, low glucose, truly good for you. Cultured, non-cultured and vegan. We might have to call it “ice cream” for now, but it’s utterly beyond words.
From the team behind the tiny and much-lauded Brunswick Heads restaurant Fleet (due to reopen soon) and La Casita (see next listing) comes a charcoal chicken shop of the best kind. Golden rotisserie chickens, chicken-bone gravy, excellent salads and homemade ice cream – all superb. Perch on a stool and eat in or opt for takeaway and head to the river.
This is a very good, laid-back Mexican restaurant by the two-hatted Fleet team. What I would give for one of these in my home town. Order a mescal margarita and sit in the rattan-covered courtyard while you look at the menu and wonder how you will not order one of everything.
Cadeau means “gift” but it’s also shorthand around here for “where all the chefs go/want to go”. Doughy pizza frittata with pressed pig-head ham and green tomato chutney. Burrawang Gaian duck breast, sweet corn purée, nectarine mustard with prized Boonluck farm radishes. To add to the general hedonism, the wine list has options from Sicily, Japan, Mexico, England and France. You’d be hard pressed to find another place where you could devour such clever dishes in such a casual, beach-proud town.
If you need a break from eating out, Bottle and Hoop is an excellent bottle shop + deli where you can find everything you'd possibly need for a platter and a glass of wine (or whatever you like to drink). As a bonus, Rob the owner also invented a cocktail called the Galah. Ask him for the recipe It's fabulous.
Weekdays only. Weekdays only. Weekdays only. This is very important because you really don’t want to miss out. Hand-cut udon noodles. Hand-cut udon noodles. Hand-cut udon noodles. This is also very important and it's this level of care that makes Tombo so deeply impressive. With magnificent Mount Chincogan as a backdrop and a beautifully appointed room in Mullum's industrial estate, you'll be hard pressed to find more nourishing food. Hand-made everything. Hand-made everything. Hand-made everything. Go. Go. Go.
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Murwillumbah is home to the Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre and you'd be mad to miss this excellent regional gallery with a reproduction of Margaret Olley's chaotically beautiful Paddington home studio. If you have children and they complain about going to a gallery, bribe them with a trip to the legendary slide at Murwillumbah pool afterwards.
The Tweed section of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail is open, which means you can hire bikes (electric or the ones you have to actually pedal) from Murwillumbah and ride 24km on the converted railway line through the lush green hills and the occasional very dark tunnel to Crabbes Creek. A return trip from Murwillumbah on e-bikes with a stop for lunch at Hosanna Farmstay Cafe for lunch will take you about 4.5 hours. You can hire from Murwillumbah Cycles at the start of the trail at Murwillumbah Railway Station.
Set in an industrial warehouse in downtown Murwillumbah is a commune of shipping containers and shops filled with all sorts of artists and makers. Such was the vibe when Galah walked in that we immediately asked about leasing a container. Of particular note are Kat Harvey’s cheese shop (see Belinda Jeffrey wax lyrical about Kat’s toasties in the Dream Day section below); Fable Bookstore, which, if mega-bookstores give you panic attacks, will soothe you with its highly curated offering and Jo Olive’s letterpress studio. Not in M|Arts, but also worth a visit is Scarlett’s Wardrobe on the main street of MurBah. An impeccable vintage clothes shop full of not-at-all-musty gems. And floral artist Donna Stain's warehouse on Queen Street.
Murbah Farmers Markets are every Wednesday from 7am to 11am at the gorgeous Murwillumbah Showground and then Friday's Farmers Markets are at Mullumbimby. BYO mobile coolroom in which to load up crates and crates of the region's best produce.
There's a grand old art deco building in town that's – if you can imagine it – diagonally split in half. The bottom half is the venue for the Galah Regional Photography Prize exhibition, while the top half is home to the Regent Cinema, a venue that's always playing interesting movies as well as hosting other events and live music on its lovely balcony. Definitely worth checking out their program while you're in town.
Madcap, but truly devoted to his subject, Martin Martini is the respected mushroom forager who deals shrooms to many bougie establishments throughout the Northern Rivers. He is as good a mushroom spotter as he is an educator, and his walks follow local natural trails, sharing the sites and the secret code to help identify what might be a “good” one versus a “bad” one, or a “really good” one. Listening to him say #pushthemush during an early morning walk is a wonderful way to start the day.
You know that feeling that creeps up when you’ve been with your people (or whoever you’re travelling with) and all of sudden it’s very clear that you need a group activity that gives you all a bit of time out? Bingo! With wonderful mixed-bag programming, it feels very good to be an audience member here. It‘s a picture house, a comedy club, a loved music venue and acts as the general assembly hall for the wider performing community. You can watch movies, you can see plays and BPH operates during the day and night. They also run circus from this site, should you really need to run away.
You will think about bypassing it. Maybe the cheesy name puts you off? Maybe you already know enough about tropical fruit? Maybe you don’t even like fruit? Maybe you don’t want to spend your precious holiday day navigating farm tours with fruit obsessives? Or at a mini golf course or an animal park? You might be right, or you might be missing out on an old-fashioned, fun and slightly odd day out. What’s for sure is that, unlike every other listing, Tropical Fruit World is open seven days a week.
If you look at Instagram, Banya seems like it’s one big show-off public bath with cute tiling. But if you go there in real life (and ignore anyone doing their own mini-shoot), it’s also a place where the water is beautiful, the pools are easy to get in and out of, and the sauna has a woodfired oven in it. There are private massages upstairs and health conscientious lunches at the bar. The White Lotus theme song was not playing through the speakers, but Galah feels it should have been. We suggest a late afternoon massage and bathhouse session, followed by a pizza and a glass of wine at Milk & Honey around the corner.
Instead of buying drop-shipped goods masquerading as local from a gift store as your take-home souvenir, why not make your own meaningful talisman? A one-on-one with local artist Bruce Pringle is a really solid day out for anyone looking to do something creative and meaningful. It’s $300 for an eight-hour 1:1 class, or $500 for two if you want to share the experience with a friend. You’ll make and take home three cast items, including one of Bruce’s signature bronzed hares. The fee includes all the precious metals and sand-casting materials. Walk across to Red Ginger Asian for a super-fast lunch of pork steamed buns and prawn gyoza and return to class via the Bangalow Pharmacy, one of the most beautiful chemist-cum-gift shops outside Europe. That’s the trifecta BOB - Best of Bangalow - in one day.
Galah Guide Megan Morton booked in before she had eye surgery and somehow didn’t see the bit about it being vegan. But Megan assures us, even for non-vegans, three days spent in Veet Karen’s vegan classroom and home is a glorious thing to do. Veet’s legit teacher skills shine through, along with her passion for sharing her knowledge of process, technique and flavour, with useful hacks along the way. You can book privately, but her one- and three-day classes are excellent. They’re divided into very doable and usable modules, and make up part of her full vegan chef training program. With vibes of proper Home Ec lessons, it feels very wholesome to be under her care and expert tutelage. And pack your takeaway containers; there are delicious leftovers aplenty.
Tintype photography nerds are rare. The gear needed to make Victorian-era images is not very modern-life friendly, plus the subjects usually end up looking like a snarly cowboy or a bruisey bar wench from a Western spoof. But this is exactly where Jaka Adamic comes in, with his portrait sessions for up to five people at his tintype studio. The most honest of photographs, Jaka’s tintype will pick up every freckle on your face and you will look like, well, you. In this age of over-filtering, a tintype photograph session seems to be the perfect post-pandemic analogue holiday gift to self.
There is not a lot of accommodation in Murwillumbah, so we're going to list the motels in town, as well as our picks for a bit further afield. Those with an asterisk will offer a 10% discount if you book directly with them and say you are coming up to Murbah for the Galah Regional Photography Prize.
The Imperial* is the pink pub right in the centre of Murwillumbah. The rooms have been recently renovated and start from $120 a night. A heads up, some rooms don't have external windows, and all come with a set of earplugs in the bedside table. Another affordable option in town is the Murwillumbah Motor Inn, and then slightly out of town are the Riverview Hotel, the Gallery Motel (near the Tweed Regional Gallery) and the Tweed River Motel.
Further afield
If you want to stay on the beach, Cabarita and Kingscliff are less than half an hour away. There's the Anna Spiro-designed Halcyon House right on Cabarita Beach. If that's out of your price range, try the new Blue Water Motel at Kingscliff, refurbished by Byron Bay designer Jason Grant.
Brunswick Heads, about 40 minutes south of Murwillumbah, has lots of great places to stay, ranging from simply renovated motels such as The Sails, The Brunswick* and Chalet, all with clean fresh rooms and pools and bikes you can use to tootle about town, through to the supremely located riverfront cabins at The Reflections Holiday Park, to the beautiful three-bedroom Bruns Surf Shack.
If you want to stay out of town, and if you don’t have a tight budget or children (it’s adults only), consider Blackbird, a cluster of beautifully designed pavilions perched high up in the hinterland of Mullumbimby. There’s a lovely pool with a communal kitchen where, if you don’t feel like venturing to the outside world, you can organise a chef to cook dinner.
Another out-of-town option closer to Murwillumbah is Mavis’s Kitchen. The main building, a beautiful two-storey Queenslander, is home to the on-site restaurant and scattered throughout the lush garden are several cabins and cottages to stay.
And if you’d rather save your money to spend on all the eateries listed in this guide, here are two campsites of note. Hosanna Farmstay has tent sites, A-frame huts and cabins in the wonderfully named Stokers Siding area, between Murwillumbah and Brunswick. And there’s simple bush camping at Wooyung Beach Holiday Park near Pottsville. It’s dog-friendly and a one-minute walk to the beach.
Here are some other options:
The Croft Bed and Breakfast, Dungay
Hillcrest Mountain View Retreat*, Upper Crystal Creek
Mt Warning Estate*, Dum Dum
Crystal Creek Rainforest Retreat, Crystal Creek
Mt Warning Rainforest Park, Uki
Bellingdale Farm, Nunderi
Tweed River Hacienda Holiday Park*, Kingscliff
Peppers resort, Kingscliff
Mantra, Kingscliff
Santai Resort Casuarina
Cabarita Beachfront Apartments, Cabarita
Hastings Point Holiday Park, Hastings Point
Pottsville Beach Motel*, Pottsville
Words Belinda Jeffery
It would definitely be a Friday so I could start off at the Mullumbimby Farmers Market to pick up all their beautiful fruit, cheese, bread and veg…and no doubt, have breakfast there too. Look out for The Nomadic Kitchen stall. Robert and Michelle’s cooking is some of the best in the entire area.
Then a quick stop in Mullumbimby at Baker & Daughters to buy their delicious cannoli and coffee. And maybe an extra loaf of bread…they make great sourdough breads.
A drive over to Brunswick Heads for a dip at Torakina Beach and a wander around the shops. By which stage it’s probably coming up for lunchtime so I’d pick up an organic chook and salads from Birds of Paradise Rotisserie and have a picnic lunch by the river. (BTW, Birds of Paradise is owned by the same lovely people who own the tiny but excellent Fleet restaurant which is due to re-open this year. Keep your eyes peeled.)
After licking my fingers and maybe having another swim, I’d then drive over to Murwillumbah. First stop is the Tweed Regional Gallery – a brilliant modern gallery with some of the best views you could imagine. And of course, it houses the wonderful Margaret Olley exhibition which is a total must-see.
I’d then head down to the M|Arts Precinct which is in the centre of Murwillumbah. There are all sorts of interesting artists working in this great space. Around the corner is Kat Harvey’s tiny gem of a cheese shop. Kat is a mine of information and her cheeses are beautiful. (If you missed out on lunch, Kat’s toasties are to die for and there’s a park opposite where you can sit and eat them. You’ll need copious quantities of serviettes as they’re very generous!)
After all that, I’d wash the sand and saltwater away before heading to Bistro Livi for dinner. It’s just on the edge of the arts precinct and is a fabulous, small neighbourhood restaurant. Their small but elegant menu and delicious cooking would be the perfect end to the day.
