Coffed by mistake

Following our surfing-high from Byron Bay, we headed down to Coffs Harbour after hearing that it was the same as Byron except cheaper, which is perfect for us poor backpackers. We arrived mid-afternoon and decided to leave the surfing til the next day. A man in the transport office showed Alex a really good walk that would take us along the coast and up to Muttonbird Island so off we headed.

The walk took us through the Botanical gardens to start with and Rach embarrassed Alex by making him carry a large stick and pretend to be Gandalf. We received some funny looks by passersby. After a brief interlude through some residential streets the path came to a mango boardwalk and then onto the beach front. From there the path continues through the harbour and leads to Muttonbird Island. The island itself is tiny and there is a single track winding across the top of it and down the other side. It was a fantastic island bar the wind nearly blowing us off the cliff face and Alex taking a chunk out of his toe.

The next day we woke up excited for our day of surfing. We were driven to the beach like gleeful school kids and ran eagerly onto the sand. It was then that we saw the utterly rubbish waves. What were we going to do now? We did what we do best in places where there’s not much to do: we went for a walk. This time we climbed up a hill and nearly stepped on lizards to go and see the Big Banana, the first ‘big thing’ that started off the craze. It was really cool to see and it was big for a banana but not as big as we imagined.

There were a few activities to do there like ice-skating, tobogganing and some water slides but like the cheap backpackers that we are we decided to go for a free option: a candy making demonstration. There was a candy shop there that gave demos on how to make sticks of rock and we were actually very impressed, particularly when they gave us free samples.

Other than that we didn’t find much else to do in Coffs Harbour. Luckily our hostel was amazing and had the best TV room with leather sofas and beanbags and a huge collection of films. We befriended another couple, Ben and Debbie and watched many a film with them as well as chatting about their travels in Asia. Best of all we got upgraded to a private double room with the comfiest bed ever. Going to have a great nights sleep tonight.

Rex’s Rules of the Road

• If it’s not a great time for surf, perhaps skip Coffs Harbour.

• Look out for the ‘Big’ things in Australia- massive statues in the shape of random objects- we’ve seen the purse, prawn and banana so far.

• Rach has done some more reviews; this time on Plantation Backpackers and the Big Banana.