After two hours on a train, eight hours on the bus and a heck of a lot of waiting in between, Matt and I pull into Coffs Harbour in the wee morning hours on May 4, groggy and disoriented. The seats on the bus were a lot more cushy than the sandstone we slept on the night before, but it still wasn't like curling up in bed, you know?
Thankfully, we luck out at the hostel yet again and get our own eight-man dorm to the two of us. We crash into our beds like two tonnes of bricks and sleep straight until noon. We awake to a stunningly beautiful day -- 27 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. What else is there to do but head to the beach on a day like this?
Coffs Harbour is home to four beaches that stretch the entire length of the city for miles and miles. We make our way to Jetty Beach on the marina and are surprised to find ourselves practically alone except for a couple of families and some swimmers in the bay. Something about Coffs Harbour is magically relaxing and we settle in for an afternoon of lazing about and walking by the water.
Just a few hundred feet from Jetty Beach lies Muttonbird Island, a small nature sanctuary where one particular species of bird (the Muttonbird) comes to mate in the thousands each May. We approach Muttonbird Island to see if we can do some exploring on the trails but are deterred by fences and warning signs all around the entrance. It seems a sly group of foxes has been wreaking havoc on the island, killing muttonbirds for prey. The city has decided to shut down the island completely for 10 days to poison all the foxes and there's no way we can enter. We're out of luck this time.
Thankfully, we luck out at the hostel yet again and get our own eight-man dorm to the two of us. We crash into our beds like two tonnes of bricks and sleep straight until noon. We awake to a stunningly beautiful day -- 27 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. What else is there to do but head to the beach on a day like this?
Coffs Harbour is home to four beaches that stretch the entire length of the city for miles and miles. We make our way to Jetty Beach on the marina and are surprised to find ourselves practically alone except for a couple of families and some swimmers in the bay. Something about Coffs Harbour is magically relaxing and we settle in for an afternoon of lazing about and walking by the water.
Just a few hundred feet from Jetty Beach lies Muttonbird Island, a small nature sanctuary where one particular species of bird (the Muttonbird) comes to mate in the thousands each May. We approach Muttonbird Island to see if we can do some exploring on the trails but are deterred by fences and warning signs all around the entrance. It seems a sly group of foxes has been wreaking havoc on the island, killing muttonbirds for prey. The city has decided to shut down the island completely for 10 days to poison all the foxes and there's no way we can enter. We're out of luck this time.
But our efforts to get out and see the wildlife don't go unrewarded. Coffs Harbour is home to an amazing array of plants and animals. Over the next three days we see giant pelicans, thousands of sand crabs, two stingrays, schools of tropical fish, a jellyfish and plenty of birds.
Friday night is "punch night" at the hostel. Guests pay $7 for all-you-can-drink "punch", which is really just a slightly foul mix of cheap wine, vodka, and orange juice. But damn, two glasses of the stuff and you've got the giggles. Three or four (or more) glasses of it plus the addition of a drinking game, and you've got the perfect recipe for a hangover. Yes, Saturday morning is a little bit rough.
Still, I wake up eager to get outside and make the best of the day. I rush to the window and wonder aloud, "Is it nice outside?" Matt just laughs and says, "Yeah, of course it is. It's gorgeous."
I realize afterward what a silly question it was. We're in Coffs Harbour. There's no need to ask such questions here.
We borrow a free canoe from the hostel and head up Coffs Creek after breakfast. Once again, we are practically the only ones on the water. Where is everyone? For a town of 65,000 people, Coffs Harbour feels a good deal smaller. Three or four hours go by as we paddle our way up the creek toward the city centre and then all the way back down again right to the ocean.
We opt out of a night on the town and stay at the hostel for a few card games before heading to bed. It's our last night in a proper bed before it's back out to camp for the next week and we had best enjoy it. That Australian ground out there can be awfully hard.
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