Some say it's the powerful pull of volcanic rock deep beneath the earth that draws people to Byron Bay. Others claim it's because the coastal town at Australia's most easterly point is an entrance and exit point for the spirit world. My therapist at Rae's day spa says it's because of the Byron Bay roundabout: a vortex at the main entrance to town so complex that once you're on it, it's nigh impossible to get off.

Long before that roundabout, Byron Bay had cultural and spiritual significance for the indigenous Arakwal people, a tribe of the Bundjalung, and it remains home to many sacred sites connected to the Dreaming. Also, the town sits on a partly eroded volcano that erupted about 23 million years ago. As the lava solidified to magmatic rock, it added what many describe as a charged energy to the place.