Coffs Habour

After our long coach journey to Coffs Harbour we arrived at 5:30am, someone from the hostel was waiting at the station to pick us up so it wasn't long before we were back in the warm. Check in wasn't until 8am so we tried to get our heads down in the common room for a couple of hours. Once checked in we had a short power nap then headed down to the village to explore. Coffs Harbour was quite small with a very pretty harbour, fishing dock and a great big jetty stretching out through the middle of the beach. There were a few restaurants and cafes that lined the street leading to the harbour and a small supermarket for essentials. First we decided to check out Mutton Bird Island, which was a small island just off the harbour that you could walk to, once at the top we had great views of the jetty, harbour and surrounding beaches. That evening we took advantage of the hostel BBQ, our first Ozzie BBQ!, which was prepared by Sunny, an american that worked for the hostel. The hostel, Aussitel, was fairly small and a little outdated, but was friendly and welcoming with plenty of activities and free equipment provided throughout the day.

Day 2 we took advantage of the cheap bike hire (only $5per day) and decided to explore Coffs a little further. At the top of our list was the 'Big Banana', so off we went, 25 mins and numerous large hills later we reached the famous banana plantation, home of the Big Banana, was it worth it? Er... Not quite! It wasn't quite as big as we were lead to believe, however we did learn that Coffs Harbour was used as a huge banana plantation area in the 60's.

Next we headed down Diggers Road a huge hill leading to Diggers Beach, a local surf spot we were encouraged to check out. It was indeed a beautiful beach and a great place to watch surfers hit the waves. We got some great photos from the beaches viewing platform. Back on our bikes we headed along the coast to Park Beach. This was a more built up area which to get to we had to pass through some affluent residential areas with amazing sea views. Back to sea level we followed the coastline to Coffs Creek where we stopped for lunch. Once full and refreshed we followed the Creek to the Botanical Gardens where we parked up and had a walk around. There were all sorts of trees, plants and flowers including a sensual garden which smelt devine!

After a busy day we cooked in at the hotel and watched a few movies in the common room before awaking at 4am to watch the Champions League Final!

The last day we joined Sunny on a walk down to the local Sunday 'hippy' markets. Homemade soaps, freshly made currys and hand knitted scarfs were among the many things you could buy there, but I went for a snow cone! It was the biggest, most colourful ice lolly/slushy i've ever seen and tasted devine! We sat and had lunch whilst listening to the live music before heading back up to The Promenade for a coffee and cheesecake overlooking the Creek (may I add the BEST butterscotch cheesecake I have ever tasted!). The view was simply beautiful and we got some great photos of some people fishing, some in boats and others neck high in water! The photos will explain this.

Next stop - Byron Bay