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I arrived in Coffs harbour, 550 km north of Sydney on the slowest train I've ever travelled on. To be fair, the track was very winding, more curves than a Rubens' model. But they treated us well, I had roast pork for lunch. And lot's of tea. I leave tonight for Brisbane on an overnight train.
Coffs Harbour is a coastal town, a little sleepy and very beautiful, not spoiled by too much mass tourism; well at least at the end of Coff Harbour I saw and stayed. There is no public transportation here so I was stuck at the south end, perhaps the north was a little more developed. I arrived in Coffs Harbour just as the sun was setting (5 pm) so there wasn't much to do on the first day. I walked out to Muttonbird Island Nature Reserve, as the sun was setting. (Don't forget I'm on the other side of the Pacific, the sun rises from the ocean and sets overland)
The next morning, I set off for Muttonbird Island again. It's about 1 km from the mainland, but they've built a marina and breakwater that goes to the island and makes for an
artificial harbour. On the far side of the island I watched the Humpback Whales head north. Far out to sea, you can see them breech the water, and blow air and water. Quite spectacular. It's the wrong time of year to see the Muttonbirds, but apparantly they roost in the rocks of this wind swept island. The island is about the size of a football pitch, quite steep, weather worn and well eroded.
Then I headed off to the Botanical Garden. In this garden they have native flora and some examples of plants from around the world. But I was more amazed with the birds: I saw many different kinds, I took many photos. The sounds were almost jungle like: squawking, cooing, singing, screeching, and calling. I brought along my book of Australian animals. Here's a list of what I saw: yellow tailed black cockatoos with a 1 m wing span, ibis, Great Egret, yellow eye catcher, magpie, dusky moorhen rail with a red beak, pelicans. And I saw birds too fleeting anf fast to identify, green and fairly small. It's an ornithologist's dream vacation here in Australia.
Koalas are in the garden too, but almost never seen
as they are extremely shy. I didn't see any, even the locals hardly see them. This is not a zoo, all these animals are wild and native. I know Koalas looks so cute and cuddly, how could they possibly cope and survive in the wild without us, but they've done just so for millions of years without our help.
The mangrove boardwalks were the best part. They've built walkways out onto the water through the trees. The Botanical Garden is on the river, but it's really an estuary being so near the ocean, when the tide comes in it sends in salty water, the trees have especially adapted to this brackish water. It rained today, and while on the Mangrove boardwalk I caught a complete rainbow, and the second rainbow was visible too.
I ended my afternoon of aviary delights with tea and scones with jam and cream. Only in Australia. Coffs Harbour is a very nice stop over between Sydney and Brisbane. The backpackers and younger crowd tend to end toward Byron Bay further north. I stayed in a hostel here in Coffs Harbour but it was nearly empty. A nice and quiet rest from the city.
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