Coffs Harbour

The next stop long the line was a small little town called Coffs Harbour. It is situated halfway between Brisbane and Sydney. Its a nice place, with a small enough population.We arrived here out of a need for somewhere to stay. It was getting late so we needed to set up camp at the next place we came to on the highway. What we found was a pleasant surprise! Its these small towns that are the highlight of travelling the east coast.

Theres pretty much one main road in Coffs Harbour. Everything stems from this road. We drove in on this road and went looking for a caravan park. We asked directions in a garage and we got given 2 options. We could pay for the nice caravan park down by the water, or we could park up by the forest up the hill for free. Needless to say, as we are free and easy backpackers, we chose....the caravan park with its nice electricity, TV room and all mod cons!! Haha, you'd hardly expect us to live without electricity for a night???

So we checked into the caravan park anyway. Got settled, and went to explore the place. As it turned out, we ended up exactly where the guy in the garage said we could stay for free. It was up in a kind of viewing area that you can park in, then walk through the forest only to come out the far side at a really nice secluded beach. We went into the forest and thought we were lost, until we met an old woman walking through the forest alone. She told us the beach was only a few minutes walk further down through the forest. She was right. A few minutes later, the forest opened up onto this gorgeous private beach. There was only maybe 10 people on it, including the 6 of us, and it stretched for about a kilometre. We had a dip, got a bit of sun, and headed back through the forest to our vans, still parked back up the far side of the hill.

It was getting late and the light was starting to fade. Throughout our journey, we have always kept an ear out for any dangerous wild animals lurking in the bushes beside our vans. A few times we've heard things, including up in Port Douglas when we had the infamous Crocodile incident, mistaking water for a crocodile, only to see Christy dive into the van, pushing the girls out of the way to get there! So Coffs Harbour was no different. As we were finishing up, we heard some rustling in the bushes. Not big enough to be human, but still big enough to be dangerous. We listened on as it got louder and louder, closer and closer. Noises sound a lot scarier when you're in a strange country, where nearly everything is either poisonous, or dangerous to humans, and you haven't a clue how to tell the difference.

The noise got closer. We still had no clue what it was, only that it was big! We got the torches out. We even tried throwing stuff into the trees to either scare it off, or flush it out so we could see what it was. Everything went quiet. Did we scare it away? Did we kill it with out leftover ham sandwiches? Neither! The noise returned, this time only a few metres away in the bushes. After a few more seconds everthing became clear. As the noise veered towards an opening in the bushes, we saw a figure. It was about6 foot tall, and definately not human. As it came out behind the bushes, we saw standing in front of us, a 6 foot odd tall......bird!! Yes, it was an emu or an ostrich, or cassaworie or something like that. It was cool to see such a creature in the wild, but still an anti-climax that it wasn't a vicious croc, or massive snake or something cool and dangerous that could have killed us!! Ah well, maybe next time!

We returned for the night to the caravan park, and the next morning, we would go our separate ways. AnneMaries flight landed in a few days, and I needed to get back to Brisbane to meet her at the airport. About midday, I was dropped off at the train station, and they all headed on to Sydney.

The train didn't actually leave until after 3pm, so I had a few hours to kill. I decided to explore the town, and I found a nice nature reserve over by the sea. It was a steep climb with my bag on my back, but I made it. Theres a viewing area on the far side that I sat for a while. I managed to spot several schools of dolphins, which was amazing, as well as seeing a hump back whale off in the distance. I had seen both dolphins and whales before, but never from such a vantage point. Definately one of the highlights of my trip!

I went for a bit more exploring, had some food, then caught the train to Brisbane. My brother said he'd meet me off it so I had a point of contact once I got to Brisbane.