It’s not often you find a spot that offers something for everyone in the family (including the dog!). Iluka is a beautiful quiet coastal town in Northern NSW that we first discovered last summer. It has an amazing blend of beach, river, rainforest, and laid-back charm.

Iluka is located on the north side of the Clarence River – opposite the more popular town of Yamba which you can visit easily with a ferry. It feels much more chilled than Yamba – less shops, less people, sand tracks for some of the streets and gorgeous old beach shacks – Iluka pretty much reminds me of growing up on the coast many many years ago.

On this second visit to Iluka, we saw first hand the far ranging impacts of Cyclone Alfred, with so much beach erosion and debris – including heaps of plastic 🙁 we filled quite a few bags picking up as much as we could!

I hope you enjoy this photo diary, including some of my sketches I did while we were there (even sitting on the beach drawing in strong winds while my family fished, that was a first for me, not easy but I persisted!). There is definitely some inspiration here for future patterns…

Oh and the drink is from Chez Basho Boatshed Cafe – amazing Japanese inspired food right on the water!