Ballina

Ballina has several beaches, with the most popular in the north of the town. Shelly Beach is a patrolled beach, also popular are Lighthouse Beach and the pretty swimming beach at Shaws Bay Lagoon.

You can also travel along the river with various trips available. Ballina also has its own market held at the Circus Ground every 3rd Sunday.

There are also a number of other things to do and various types of accommodation around Ballina.

To travel further along the coast head to the Big Prawn, where the Ballina Transit Centre is. Here most of the main bus companies stop. There are several bus services to Lennox Head and Byron Bay.

Where Ballina's name originated from is not entirely certain. Some believe it was named directly after the Irish town of Ballina, although a more likely source is a Bundjalung word, "bullinah", meaning "place of many oysters". One possibility is that the Aboriginal name reminded the predominantly Irish settlers of "Ballina", so the name's origin could be an accidental or deliberate corruption of the Aboriginal form.