*coughs* harbour - Coff’s Harbour (Coffs Harbour)

Member Name: Belfastgirl

Product:	Coffs Harbour
Date:	26/11/01 (638 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sun sea surf sand, quiet, yet plenty to do

Disadvantages: You'll not want to leave

That’s my nickname for this magic place in Australia.

When I arrived in Australia I managed to meet up with a friend that I had met online and chatted with for 3 years. We travelled around a bit together, and then finished off in Coff’s - where his girlfriend lives. This was the first time that I was on my own in this big strange country, but the people in Coff’s didn’t give me any time to feel lonely or sorry for myself - they were so friendly and helpful that it just felt like home - in fact all that was missing was my family and my boyfriend!

Coff’s Harbour is situated on the east coast of Australia, half way between Sydney and Brisbane, and just a few hours drive form the Gold Coast and the famous Surfer’s (yuck) Paradise.

In Coffee, I stayed in a backpackers hostel which was run by Nomads, called Barracuda Backpackers. On arrival, I met Sam, who proved to be the life and soul of the party, who had come to Coff’s 2 years ago, just passing through, and never left!

There’s two kind of people, those who hate Coff’s and want to leave as soon as they arrive, and those who love it, and never want to leave. I’m in the second category. I was to stay 2 nights and ended up staying there for a week.

So what is it about Coff’s that makes it so special. Well, I’ve already mentioned the friendly people there, so it’s onto the scenery. The main beach in Coff’s is extremely long, and takes roughly 1.5 hours to walk along from one end to the other. On one side is the headland, and the other side is Mutton bird Island, where the rare Mutton bird nest each year, in burrows in the ground. There is a walk along mutton bird island, which allows you to walk right to the end, and if you are there during the whale season, you may be lucky enough to see some Whales from the tip of Mutton Bird Island. If you make this trip at about 12 midday, you’
;ll probably meet Ray there, a retired teacher, who makes the walk along the beach, over the jetty to Mutton Bird every day. Ray is always on the look out for tourists that he can befriend, and is keen to make every visitor to Coff’s very welcome.

On the other end of the beach, there is the headland, which is a good hill walk, over to the next beach. This beach tends to be a bit quieter than the main beach (that said, the main beach is never that busy, you’d be lucky if you seen about 20 people on it!).

The thing that made me laugh about Australia, is their fascination with "big things" - In the whole time that I was in Oz, I saw a Big sheep, a big pineapple, a big Ned Kelly, a big shrimp and Coff’s Harbour’s addition to this was, wait for it, a big…….. Banana! He he, well I met up with my friend and his girlfriend, and I somewhat reluctantly (after finding the other "big things" too exciting *note the sarcasm*) went along with them to see this big banana. They seemed to find it really fascinating. Personally, it was just a big banana made out of what might as well be paper mache! Well it wasn’t my thing, but it interests some people, so each to their own is what I say!

There is also a big plaza which is the biggest shopping mall in the area, and it is pretty decent for clothes shopping and for food. Shopping is also available down by the jetty and up in the main part of town.

Everyday, the sun shone, and Coff’s was just beautiful. It’s hard to explain, but I truly felt at home there.

For those interested in learning to Dive, Coff’s is one of the cheapest places on the coast to learn to Dive, with the 4 day PADI course costing only $165 and for another $60 you get accommodation in the hostel! A perfect place to stop off before continuing up to the Great Barrier Reef!

You can also learn to surf, do horse riding, sky diving and s
o many other activities.

For those people that like walking, Dorrigo is only an hours drive away, which is home to a large area of Rainforest, and although I never managed to go there myself, is supposed to be brilliant.

The night life in Coff’s harbour is typically Australian - very laid back. One of the Youth Hostels in the area, "Hoey Moey’s" also has a pub where many backpackers and studenty types meet up. They have a pool competition every Monday, where the winner gets $100, the person who comes 2nd gets $50, and one of the loser, who’s name is pulled out of a hat, wins a whole crate of beer! On the night we went, each prize was won by someone in the hostel!

Coff’s Harbour Hotel has an Irish pub which is very popular in the town, I never went there myself, as I said, if I wanted to go to an Irish Pub, I’d have just stayed at home! They have various activities every night of the week.

In all, I loved Coff’s, it’s somewhere that I can truly see myself going back to, and if the opportunity ever arose, I may just consider living there for a while - who can beat it, a place where you can surf in the morning, go to work in the afternoon, and then go out for a drink(optional) and a bit of a laugh at night!

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