Easter weekend (April)

The Big Banana
synonymous with Coffs Harbour

For our long Easter weekend in April we drove up to Coffs Harbour. Only 8 hours of driving away and we were still in New South Wales. It was Good Friday and we made quick progress. We got out of Sydney without any trouble and didn't get into heavy traffic until we were well after Newcastle and it was only due to road works. Needless to say we didn't take the 14h 19 min Quick 2 option.

Needless to say we didn't take the 14h 19 min Quick 2 option.
Are they driving off with the big banana?

Coffs Harbour's economy is mainly based on bananas and it should be no surprise then that Coffs Harbour has the Big Banana.
The Big Banana is the first Big THING that has since sprouted all over Australia.

We spent our first day going to the beaches that are around Coffs. Always looking for a rockpool to explore. And I would have jumped in them, if someone did not forgot to pack our swimmers. Just kidding, honey. Our biggest trip was climbing Mutton Bird Island. It is quite imposing from ground level, but once you are up there it is not too bad. Unfortunately the Mutton Birds had just fledged. I was eager to see one as I was privileged to have the opportunity to eat one in Tasmania 5 yrs ago. I have heard how they hatched in burrows and it was nice to see those burrows for myself now.

The next day we decided to visit the biggest rainforest in NSW Dorrigo National Park a World Heritage listed site. Worth the long drive in itself. We decided to do a short walk and most of the time we had the place to ourselves. We enjoyed our leisurely stroll and it wasn't until we headed back that the leeches came out. Caroline had 2 in the end and I had 4!!! Woohoo I won!!! =) Luckily, we got them all off before they sank their jaws into us. The nice thing is when you see leeches crawling on you that even several hours later every little itch you feel you think its a leech. Aaaah!

Our main objective really was to see a waterfall an hour into the forest. Due to the recent flooding in the area we were not able to walk the full circuit as parts of the path had washed away, but we didn't mind. We had a nice walk obviously with Caroline being pregnant now a bit slower, but we were on holiday and we had the whole day. On our way to the waterfall I caught this GIANT land snail, it nearly escaped me everyone knows how fast they are. It was huge!!!

On our way back we walked passed a place we just passed minutes previously near the waterfall. I spotted from the corner of my eye a red-bellied black snake. It just stopped in its track and retreated a little bit. With little kids approaching and Caroline pregnant I didn't get that close to it. Two families with young children were approaching so we stayed and pointed it out to them and when they left we moved on as well. Funnily enough when we got to the tourist centre the mum asked if I had stumbled upon any other snakes.

The way back home was a long one. It took us 10 hours all together. We planned to stop along the road on our way down at scenic places but unfortunately it rained all the way down for the full 10 hours.