Cape Byron Lighthouse, Byron BayCredit: Destination NSW
Cape Byron Lighthouse sitting on Australia's most easterly point, Byron Bay.
#lovensw #newsouthwales
Since Australian borders closed in 2020 due to Covid-19, Wendy Bithell’s northern NSW eco-touring business, Vision Walks Eco Tours based in and around Byron Bay, has evolved from the natural world to the virtual world. Now, her interactive wildlife and bush tucker tours for travellers stuck at home are going wild around the globe, with Bithell beaming Australian native animals in their natural habitat to fascinated groups of corporates, students and tourists as far as South-East Asia, Canada and the USA.
In May last year during lockdown, Bithell began using Zoom to catch up with family and friends, strolling around her hinterland property pointing out plants and native wildlife. “I live in a very beautiful place. Within five minutes I've got the river, the ocean or the rainforest,” says Bithell. This sparked the idea for how to stay connected with her clientele. “I was lucky that I could just start walking and experiment with virtual tours.”
Bithell drew on her skills in technology, science and education to create something engaging and educational. “I think that’s why it was an easy business transition for me. I’m pretty innovative — I started to consider how I could keep international tourists engaged and what new products I could create to attract locals.”
The virtual tours were initially picked up in India, then parts of South-East Asia from Singapore to Hong Kong. Bithell charges $30 for an interactive, virtual hour of wildlife watching, bush tucker ‘tasting’ or the unique Glow In The Dark Live Tour, where she seeks out nocturnal animals with a UV light. As Bithell’s virtual audience grew, US platform, Beeyonder, got onboard. “The platform was launched by a bilateral amputee who originally aimed to bring tours from around the globe to people with disabilities who couldn’t travel. With Covid, many people can’t travel and Beeyonder gave me this huge opening into Canada and the USA.”
In the USA, Bithell’s most popular tour is her Virtual Koala Tour. “They absolutely love it and I’ve Zoomed into all kinds of groups: a 10-year-old’s birthday party in LA; a Harvard University student group and the Vice President of Spotify along with their staff. I talk a little to camera, but mostly the focus is on the koalas and everyone laughs at their antics and asks questions,” Bithell says.
Bithell also talks through the koala’s biology, threats to their habitat and uploads a link on how to adopt a koala in Australia.
While running her successful koala tour and local face-to-face tours, Bithell noted a thirst for information about Indigenous culture, so she connected with expert local Indigenous guide, Aunty Delta, who now runs the Aboriginal Tour at Cape Byron. “One of the highlights of my whole career was seeing Aunty Delta conducting her bush tucker tour last week with a group of Native American children. We had this beautiful First Nations Culture exchange.”
Bithell is now reaching even more people per session. “On land, face-to-face, you can only have a certain amount of people on your tours.” Currently, 30 per cent of her clients are Zooming in from overseas, to see NSW live. Wendy has come a long way since she was a child camping in her backyard for the school holidays, dreaming of being a park ranger. “I've always been passionate about nature.”
Hinterland, Byron Bay Credit: Destination NSW
Aerial of the rolling hills in Byron Bay's hinterland.
#lovensw #newsouthwales
Hinterland, Byron Bay Credit: Destination NSW
Aerial of the rolling hills in Byron Bay's hinterland.
Vision Walks Eco Tours
80 Jonson Street, Byron Bay NSW 2481
visionwalks.com.au/virtual-tours
@visionwalks
Get social by tagging:
@sydney #ilovesydney
@visitnsw #lovensw
The NSW Government via Destination NSW is sharing a series of NSW Success Stories – businesses of all types that have adapted their offerings to face the current environment and continue serving their community with a fresh approach and shining success. These innovative initiatives are nothing short of inspiring.
More Inspirational Stories
Mulwala Water Ski Club, MulwalaCredit: Destination NSW
Mulwala Water Ski Club located in the Riverina Murray region in Mulwala, offers an outdoor bar and casual relaxed dining overlooking Lake Mulwala. Learn to water ski on a world-class, private, twin lake the Max Kirwan Ski Park.
#feelnsw #newsouthwales
Cool off with an adventure: NSW is a watersports playground
Mulwala Water Ski Club, Mulwala Credit: Destination NSW
#feelnsw #newsouthwales
Hot sands, wild rivers, bays with towers of coral and waves that curl like a rockabilly quiff – NSW is a paradise for adventure on and under the water. For adrenaline-chasers, there are world-class waves and whitewater runs, foils and jet boats built for speed, and reefs home to sharks and turtles. For the quiet adventurers, try paddleboard expeditions, fishing for rainbow trout and bass in pristine rivers, and colourful snorkelling spots.
Your next adrenaline hit
Surfing may be the famous action-hero of the NSW watersports scene, but the state’s rivers, lakes, bays and beaches also host a huge diversity of aquatic adventures to get the heart racing. Take in Sydney Harbour’s icons, while spinning, splashing and thundering past in a jet boat with Oz Jet Boating or Thunder Jet Boat. In Western Sydney, Penrith is a hub for adventure. Penrith Whitewater Stadium, purpose-built for the 2000 Olympics, is uniquely set up for both beginner paddling and intense raft adventures, as well as kayak courses where you can test yourself against Olympic times; Cables Wake Park teaches you to wakeboard via zipline (jumps and obstacles included); and Jet Pack Adventures lets you feel like a water-powered Iron Man.
In Brooklyn, on the Hawkesbury River, Jet Ski Safaris will take you around the bends of the river at 30 knots, while Fliteschool Manly and OzFoiling (with multiple locations on the Mid North Coast) will teach you how to cruise the coastline via eFoil, a motorised surfboard that glides above the water like an elegant seabird. Outside of Sydney, on the Murray River, encounter one of the greatest and oldest waterski clubs in the world at Mulwala Water Ski Club.
Find a wave
With reliable breaks on some of the world’s most picturesque beaches, NSW is a premium spot on the international surf circuit. Surfers with their own board and years of experience behind them can find world-class waves all up the coast while newbies can join in on a surfing lesson, all you have to do is choose which one and which beach. You can also practice on a perfectly shaped, perfectly reliable wave (with multiple options suitable for beginners or experts) at URBNSURF, Olympic Park’s surf park, and finish off with a meal at RAFI, the onsite Applejack-run restaurant and bar that overlooks the waves.
URBNSURF Sydney Credit: Applejack_Sandy’s_URBNSURF Sydney
URBNSURF Sydney
#feelnewsydney
URBNSURF Sydney Credit: Applejack_Sandy’s_URBNSURF Sydney
URBNSURF Sydney
Oz Jet Boating, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Experience the incredible speed of the red shark boats as they blast across Sydney harbour at high speed with Oz Jet Boating.
#feelnewsydney
Oz Jet Boating, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Experience the incredible speed of the red shark boats as they blast across Sydney harbour at high speed with Oz Jet Boating.
Explore NSW’s coral reefs
The pristine, ecologically rich seas of NSW have seen the development of 10 protected marine parks covering more than 100,000 square kilometres, offering a haven to wildly diverse range of sea life. Beyond those areas, in the harbour and the bays of the coastal cities, there are also vibrant ecosystems ripe for snorkel or scuba dive trips. Self-guided snorkelling can be done in most places along the coast and, provided you have the equipment and training, so can diving. Or learn the ropes with a tour. Woebegone Expeditions and Courses will teach you how to explore the reefs of the South Coast with safe, freediving techniques; Region X Snorkel Tours has you jumping off a kayak with a snorkel around Batemans Bay; and Ecotreasures fits in a headland walk between time in the aquatic reserve around Manly. For new divers, you can explore the lower North Coast with Jetty Dive Centre or the tropical far North Coast with Cooly Eco Adventures. While Sydney Underwater Scooters will set you up with a handheld swim-assister and show you the clear waters and underwater fauna of Sydney’s Gordon’s Bay.
Paddling sunrise to sunset
Every river, bay and lake has a different scene and a different story, and cruising on a kayak, canoe or stand-up paddleboard (SUP) lets you discover at your own pace. NSW is also full of explorers and local experts ready to guide you along the way. In Sydney, Sydney Harbour Kayaks and Sydney by Kayak will introduce you to the harbour at its multicolour best with dawn and dusk paddles. Manly Kayak Centre has both hire and guided options for kayaks and SUP, as well as giving you the opportunity to try your hand at SUPBALL, which is like polo but replaces the horse with a SUP. Cronulla SUP and Balmoral Paddlesurf let you explore less famous, but no less beautiful, beaches of Sydney’s south and north respectively.
On the Sapphire Coast combine your next river adventure with a story, like on Navigate Expeditions’ Aboriginal Culture Tour, where you journey into the land’s Indigenous heritage, or a Kayak and Shuck Tour where you visit the oyster farms. On the North Coast, social enterprise and SUP tour guides Wajaana Yaam Adventure Tours offers cultural eco-tourism on a paddleboard around the pristine waters of Solitary Island Marine Park. Not far away in The Tweed, Watersports Guru offers SUP lessons and hire, allowing you to cruise the waters Cudgen Creek while taking in the local birdlife – if you’re lucky you may even see a pod of dolphins.
Reel in a new experience
With pristine rivers and wild oceans, NSW is a dream for fishing for both newbies and those looking for the next big catch. Out on the oceans of the South Coast Kiama Charter Service will help you pull in your first deep-sea fish (go for blue-eye trevalla, gemfish or hapuka). While Port Macquarie Fishing Charters, Reel Ocean Adventures (in Tuncurry) and Evans Head Deep Sea Fishing Charters, provide the boats, deep-sea equipment and vibes on the North Coast. Inland, learn traditional yabbying in the bush at Narrabri Fish Farm, or set up your own line on NSW’s most epic jetties at Coffs Harbour, Lake Macquarie and Lake St Clair in the Hunter Valley. If you know the ways of a fly fisher, the Snowy Mountains and Blue Mountains are the hot spots.
Kayaking, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Friends enjoying a day of kayaking on Sydney Harbour.
#feelnewsydney
Kayaking, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Friends enjoying a day of kayaking on Sydney Harbour.
Navigate Expeditions, Kalaru Credit: Destination NSW
Guests on a walking tour with Navigate Expeditions in Kalaru
#feelnsw #newsouthwales
Navigate Expeditions, Kalaru Credit: Destination NSW
Guests on a walking tour with Navigate Expeditions in Kalaru