Australia - Coffs Harbour

  Coffs Harbour, Australia
Monday, January 9, 2006

Day 1

The bus journey from Port Macquarie to Coffs passed quickly, as usual, with little time to do anything but have a snooze, read a little and look at our plans for the East coast.

The hostel shuttle bus collected us and transferred us to Aussitel VIP backpackers where we dumped our bags in the room (PIC) before heading back out to see what Coffs had to offer. The room was a bit of a disappointment as we had booked a double room with ensuite but what we got was a triple room (bunkbed set-up and NOTHING else) with a private bathroom down the corridor and around the corner!

Aussitel is also a bit out of town so we had a 30 min walk to get to the beach front where everything else is...not that there is actually a lot there! Just as we got to the beach (PIC) it started to poor down with no sign of stopping so we took refuge in the nearby yacht club.



This turned out to be a fortuitous decision as we had a fantastic three course meal there! The starters were huge and could have easily done as a main (we didn't know until we had already ordered everything) and then the mains were really tasty as well. By this point, with a disappointing room, long walk into town and the unwelcome downpour, we decided to treat ourselves to dessert as well - two cheesecakes.

With the rain finally subsiding we opted to stroll back to the hostel to walk off dinner. Once back in the dry we got on with some much needed laundry and travel planning before heading to bed at 11:30pm.


Day 2

Having previously decided to do a day trip to Dorrigo we got up at 8:00 and went next door to hire a car for the day (public transport is virtually non-existent in Coffs! And there is only one tour bus a week to Dorrigo!!) which cost $50 / 20GBP (after a bit of negotiating!) for the whole day and unlimited mileage.

There were a couple of things in the local area we wanted to check out first so we drove over to the nearby Botanic gardens in hunt of some wild Koalas but to no avail, then drove along what was named the 'coast road' but various tourist buildings obscured any 'coast' view so we headed on up the Pacific Highway a few km to 'The Big Banana' complex (PIC).



'The Big Banana' is a popular tourist spot (even for locals) built around the banana plantation - apparently a huge $70m business!?! We walked through the plantation up to the lookout at the top (a steep climb!) (PICS) before heading back down to take in a few of the stores at the base; puzzle shop & candy factory. There is also rather randomly a; toboggan run, in-door ski-slope, ice-rink and trike tours available at the plantation but we opted against any of them.

Big bananared out we started the hour long journey to Dorrigo National Park. The drive is fairly scenic, especially when you start the steep, winding climb up to the main tourist centre. We stopped off at Newell falls on the way for a respite and to take some photo's (PICS).

The main attraction of the visitor centre is the 'skywalk' affording panoramic views out over the valley (PICS) - it is actually only a 200m boardwalk set up at canopy level which makes it easy for anyone and everyone to access (including a family with 4 noisy kids unfortunately!).

After the 'skywalk' we wanted to see Crystal shower falls (which you can walk behind - PICS) but didn't fancy walking the 2.5 hour circuit there and back so drove down to the picnic area with a plan to just 'pop down' to the falls and back which we estimated might be 20mins each way. Wrong! The steep walkways, uneven rainforest floor and mid-afternoon heat all meant that it took more like 45 minutes to get to the waterfall (PICS) and another hour to get back as it was all uphill!!



Due to all the recent rainfall the waterfalls were much more impressive than those in the Blue Mountains and passing another waterfall on the way (PICS) made it slightly more worthwhile but knackering nonetheless.

Tired, hot, aching and nursing several itchy insect bites for our troubles, we moved on to Dangar Falls (PICS) which again were gushing due to the recent heavy rainfall. Even more impressive were Ebor falls close by (PICS) which was split into two sections - upper and lower falls and offered impressive valley views (PICS).

Returning to Coffs Harbour we stocked up on edible essentials, refilled the car ($22 - 9GBP) and made our way back to the hostel to cook fajitas for dinner before making our way to bed at a sensible 11:30 again in preparation for the early start to Byron Bay the next morning.