Joshua Tree with Lisa Smith
Photographed by Jamie Green
One of our gorgeous HQ angels {and all time muse} Lisa set off to Joshua Tree National Park last month. The other worldly Mountainous plains are so unlike our tropical home here in Byron Bay, so we asked Lisa to give us a little insight into what it’s like to stay in the desert.
Tell us about where you stayed:
We stayed at an awesome Airbnb called the Joshua Tree House – Hacienda designed and styled by an amazing couple Sara and Rich. This place is next level! They have thought of every little detail; from the soaps in the shower, to the best record collection ever, every little thing had been thought out and styled! it was so comfortable we didn’t want to leave. It is set in the desert on a property by its self about 15mins out of town, and you have to drive down these really cool sandy/desert roads to get there, you really feel immersed in the landscape.
Where were your favourite places to eat?
Well eating heathy whilst your travelling is sometimes hard, but not in this town! The people are almost on par with the culture of our home town, Byron Bay. The Natural Sisters Cafe is a vegetarian cafe, the meals are so big that we often shared one! Don’t go past the Killer Bee smoothie! Next door is a heath food store where you can by most things to cook up a meal back at your Airbnb, we did this a few times as the place we stayed had such a nice kitchen.
What did you learn in the desert?
Not all snakes are poisonous, we had a snake in the back yard of our place so I told the hosts, they wrote back and said “oh yes that Topher, he lives on the property and wont hurt you, but if you see a rattle snake please tell us so we can get it removed’
How did you spend your days?
Well it gets quite hot in the desert so much of our time was spend in doors lounging, reading, writing and eating. Then we would head down to the National park for the afternoon exploring and watching the sunset over the amazing landscape.
Top 5 tips for anyone visiting Joshua Tree
1. Stay somewhere nice, with a pool
2. The National park is massive, you’ll need a couple days if you want to see it all.
3. Talk to the locals, they have stories! And can be very quirky…
4. Watch out for UFO’s plenty of people believe they have seen them, we kept an eye out and saw some interesting things at night ;)
5. Drink lots and lots of water.
xx