April 25 - May 2 A Tale of Two Coffs – sunny side up, or a very soggy bottom

 

Having left the peaceful Grassy Head we move on to the coastal city (well after Grassy Head it definitely felt that way) of Coffs Harbour.  Actually Coffs has a population over 70,000 and Grassy Head, well I can’t find the answer and the nearby town only 700, so you can see the comparison.  We started our time of Coffs pretty much as we continued it – with a problem.  The thread on the jockey wheel handle was gone.  So after a quick dash to Bunnings (with maybe a stop at the café, kids playground and a wee spot of craft – got to love a Bunnings when you have young kids) – we had our quick fix.  Two days later we contacted Jayco in Coffs and had wonderful help and service and fixed our problem for a princely sum of $8 (WHEW!!!!!!).  The rest of the problems during our stay resulted from the weather and a sky light we overlooked going out one day :(

After the quiet of Grassy we swapped to an all singing all, dancing caravan park, Park Beach Holiday Park – it had bouncy pillow, kids playground, resort pool with slides etc, good camp kitchen and large amenities block.  It was also only a stones throw from one of the most popular beaches in Coffs.  We originally took advantage of their stay 4 pay for 3 deal.  However, after a day or two it became evident that more bad weather was on its way and this time likely to hit northern NSW or southern Queensland.  Considering the availability of activities (especially those of the indoor variety) in Coffs we added another 4 days and hunkered down through more rain than Canberrans get in the best part of a year.  Our stay was divided into outdoor activities while we could and then wet weather ones later in the week. 

So we started to take advantage of the good weather with a day at the markets and then to a local flora reserve – Bruxner Park Flora Reserve - with the most sensational lookouts at Sealy Lookout and the Forest Sky Pier.  The views were fantastic and we had a good hike up and down a few hills.  They have built a spectacular ‘Sky Pier’ at the top most lookout – a really great innovation.  There was a bit of wind that day so there was even a bit of sway – which the boys loved.