Wellness entrepreneur Radek Sali has hit his half-century with a two-day party in Byron Bay tagged “Radfest” and complete with an Aussie legend, a bunch of mates and a US singer who espouses not wearing shoes.

Sali is a former chief executive of vitamin brand Swisse, and during his tenure he helped the company achieve a $2.1 billion sale to Biostime in 2015.

Now operating his Light Warrior family office and the wellness brand Wanderlust, along with various other businesses, Sali marked his 50th with a festival-style party – think tents, cowboy hats and beer cans featuring the birthday boy’s face – at the weekend.

Among the highlights was a private acoustic show by Jimmy Barnes, during which Sali joined the gravel-voiced national treasure for a raucous rendition of the Cold Chisel classic Flame Trees.

“My voice is gone,” Sali confided when CBD called to wish him happy birthday on Monday.

It turns out he had not met Barnes until the day of the backyard show – Barnesy singing in a huge tent at your home seems like a pretty great way to mark a 50th.

“I was lucky to have a very close friend organise it for me,” Sali said. “The party was held over two days by the river on our farm. I was blessed to be able to share it with family and friends around me.”

Also keeping the Radfest party going over the weekend was Michael Franti, an American singer, songwriter, musician, poet, activist, documentarian and rapper who owns a yoga, soul and rock ’n’ roll resort in Bali, and doesn’t like to wear shoes.

“I just came down here to rock out at a friend of mine’s birthday party. We had a great little jam there,” Franti told his Instagram followers from Byron.

Back to Barnes, he seems to be in his private show era.

He played at Seek co-founder Andrew Bassat’s 60th birthday at the Mornington Peninsula’s Jackalope hotel in March.

Canavan pays own way (mostly) for swag tour

Nationals leader Matt Canavan made headlines for his swag tour through the Farrer electorate in NSW in April and now the latest Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority report shows that while he claimed expenses for his days on the road he didn’t slug taxpayers for accommodation for the nights he spent under the stars in a sleeping bag.

Canavan has put through a series of $121 claims under politicians’ travel allowance guidelines corresponding with nights spent bunking down in caravan parks and camp sites while supporting Nationals candidate Brad Robertson’s ultimately unsuccessful campaign in the Farrer byelection in May.

The swag sleeping arrangements in April covered stops in Hay, Griffith and Deniliquin.

When CBD caught up with Canavan he explained the claims were for incidental expenses – “the so-called non-commercial rate” - and not the full accommodation entitlement he could have used.

“When I was in the swag, I didn’t claim accommodation expenses, I only claimed incidentals. I could have claimed for a full accommodation rate, but I didn’t think that was fair,” he told CBD.

“The site fees were pretty minimal, about $40 to $60. I was happy to cover them myself. I must say that the caravan parks were all great and I am pretty keen to take my family down to Deniliquin … it is a great facility.

“It was a great lot of fun and kept me really grounded during what was a long and pretty tough campaign for us.”

We heartily applaud his frugality here at CBD! Queenslander Canavan descended on Farrer armed with a swag he used to use up north when he was a jackaroo in his younger days.

However, he quickly discovered his sleeping bag was a bit flimsy for the overnight chill in the region, which is located on the border with Victoria, and he had to do an urgent upgrade.

“One night in Hay it got pretty close to a frost, but otherwise I was pretty snug in the swag,” he said. “It is just having to get up to go to the bathroom, that was a bit chilly.”

On one occasion when he stopped over in Albury – “it was seriously cold this night” and “the caravan parks were a long way out” – he opted to stay in a hotel but still could not escape the chill as the heating didn’t work in the room.

Eddie Lee’s vanishing act

It was only last week that this masthead revealed the creation of a phoney website masquerading as LWP Capital, the financial venture launched by 21-year-old Edward Feng Zhao Lee.

The Lee Family Office said the website was not owned, operated or authorised by LWP Capital or the Lee Family Office, and was fraudulently reproducing its business name and address without consent.

But it seems that isn’t the only thing young Eddie has had on his plate. Only days later, Lee quietly departed the board of his family-controlled Terrey Hills Golf and Country Club in Sydney. Lee is the son of beleaguered billionaire businessman Phillip Lee, and the younger brother of Labor Party donor and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent Point Piper dinner party host Felix Lee.

The first question we had, of course, was whether young Eddie jumped, ran or was pushed from the board. If the latter, was it his big brother or uncle who did it?

As it turns out, he’s stepping aside to make way for someone with a little more golfing prowess. A spokesperson for Terrey Hills Gold and Country Club would only confirm young Lee’s departure from the board, and the appointment of golf legend Graham Marsh.

Marsh, 82, was one of the course’s original architects, and was apparently already doing a bit of work around the greens at times. But this is a whole new gig, as former federal treasurer Joe Hockey well knows.

Marsh will get settled into the role at a time of mutiny among dozens of the club’s members, who have threatened legal action against management amid claims of oppressive conduct and excessive annual subscription fee rises that they say are in breach of the club’s constitution.

At least young Eddie has one less thing to worry about.