Byron Bay Ratha Yatra
The New Govardhana Farm Community held its 9th annual Ratha Yatra at Byron Bay, a coast resort South of Brisbane.
The festival takes place at two different days, one at Daytime on the beach and one at Night through the town to celebrate the New Years Eve.
For the beach procession the cart gets special wheels so that in can be pulled on the sand along the main beach. The Lordships are then taken to a pandal in the 'Main Beach Park'. Here, due to the many Ratha Yatras held over the years and to the amazement of many, the city council erected recently a 4 meter high peace monument with a golden letter engraving: 'om namo bhagavate vasudevaya'.
Thousands of people flock the streets of Byron Bay for New Years Eve celebration. For the last many years the Devotees used to be part of a parade. However, the spirit to keep the parade going has faded over the years and this year the organizers cancelled the event altogether. Devotees insisted to be allowed to continue. Once the government security inspectors had checked the Cart and were satisfied, they received permission to hold the parade alone and could even choose own rooting and timing.
More then 40'000 peole could see their Lordship riding up Jonson Steet, along Bay Street and back to Byron Street. The processions was led by a 20 foot high statue of Lord Caitanya followed by around 300 devotees pulling the well lit cart. The National TV covered the event in the News and 4 newspaper reported with colorful photos. Please come next year to join the joyful occasion.
