Coffs Harbour

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Tuesday 22 December continued

Pat decided to have some retail therapy and went off to the shopping centre on her own at 4.30 pm.

I had some quiet time. It rained.

Pat came back with a few purchases about 6.15 pm.

We had booked a table for 7.30 pm at Macauleys just up the road. It was still raining.

Pat had atlantic salmon and lemon tart citron, I had chicken satay stir fry (hot) and a deep fried ice cream covered in macadamia nut. Lovely and we were both stuffed.

Back to the room in the rain.

Wednesday 23 December

Still raining. We woke and slowly stirred about 8.30 am. We had thought to go out for a drive today, but because of the rain we changed plans. Instead we would stay local and visit shopping centres and do some food shopping for christmas.

We have been thinking about food on Christmas day; will there be any restaurants open? Is there a BBQ at the motel? Etc.

Cooking is not allowed in the room, but we have now found out that there is a BBQ by the pool, we have therefore decided to go native and use the BBQ to cook something for our meal on Christmas day.

Also, we have been figuring out that the summer style clothes are much better than Cyprus and really good value. Yesterday I bought swimshorts for AUS$5.00, less than £2.50 or €3.40 in a shop called BigW. Pat has bought summer dresses for AUS$25.00 and so on. Anyway, the reason for mentioning this is that we have 30 kilograms luggage allowance to return to Cyprus at the end of the trip and I started with 18 kilos, Pat had 23 kilos. We have bought a few things along the way, but not that much and therefore we have weight available. Pat's case is expandable and we can get more in there but sadly mine is full with what I already have, so a decision was made, a new bigger suitcase for me and then we can buy more stuff.

We went out at 10.30 and we headed for the town, but the rain was heavy, so we changed plan to visit the shopping centre which was all undercover.

The place was heaving and cars were going round and round looking for empty slots. We went round and up and down the multi story car park to no avail.

We formulated another plan that we go back to the room, get wet weather gear, go out again, park as near as we could on the road somewhere and then walk.

This is what we did and by sheer luck parked in a place where there was a walkway through to the shopping centre and we ended up walking no distance at all and didn't get very wet.

So we pottered around the shops, bought a few things. Found a bag shop with a sale and bought a suitcase, knocked down from AUS$200 to AUS$60 and asked them to hold on to it until we came back later as it was raining and the car wasn't near? They were fine with that.

Next we hit an IGA supermarket and bought some steaks and stuff for our Christmas meal.

We were peckish and had things in the room for a sandwich and so on, so headed back to the car, the rain had lessened considerably and went back to the room at 1.00 om and had sandwiches for our lunch.

The rain stopped and it brightened a little so we went to look to some local stuff at 2.30 pm.

We headed for the local museum first. AUS$5 entry into what was originally the police station. Five rooms manned by very willing people who gave us lots of information.

Next was the Botanical gardens. However we went passed the cemetery, which said it was historic. I elected to look around. Some unusual graves with tiles.

The earliest we found was 1912, but we only looked at some of it.

Then on to the gardens. These turned out to be a real gem and we really enjoyed looking at some wonderful things. No entry fee either.

It was near to 5.00 pm as we left and a quick stop down the road to take a picture of the famous big banana.

Back to the room until 6.10 pm, when we headed out to the shopping centre.

We did some more shopping, picked up the suitcase, took things back to the car and got soaked. Wandered about some more, then had some chinese take away in the food court for our tea. Honey chicken, satay chicken, beef in black bean sauce and rice for two people with drinks AUS$23.80.

Final return to the room 8.10 pm.

Thursday 24 December

A peaceful night, we stirred about 9.00 am. Throwing it down, so we took things easy, kind of waiting to see if the rain died down and figure out what we might do today.

The rain did stop and we left the room just after 12.

Our first destination was the Old Butter Factory in Bellingen and if the weather was still ok, to do a walk in the Dorrigo National park.

It was a short drive to Bellingen and we found what we were looking for, after following brown signs. The place is an arty crafty centre with a few shops and galleries and a cafe.

Lots of lovely stuff and plenty you could find to spend your money on.

Lunch in the the cafe was next on the agenda. Pat had a steak sandwich with chips and I had the special of the day, which was beef brisket with roasted peaches, walnuts, houmus, salad and a vinegraitte dressing. Mine was a really good sized portion and delicious and was AUS$20. The bill with drinks was AUS$46.30.

At 2.10 pm we left and headed for Dorrigo, 30 kilometres away. We stopped at the visitor centre to get our bearings and walked nearly to the end of the skywalk. My fear of heights kicked in and I turned back.

The shorter rainforest walk was a little drive further on, so we jumped back in the car and drove another kilometre or so down the track.

The Glade was our starting point a beautiful location, then we walked down to the Crystal Falls. You are able to walk behind the falls and stand there while the water thunders down.

There is a suspension bridge at the falls, a fairly sturdy one so both of us managed with no problem.

When we were walking into the visitor reception earlier a guy said to watch out for leeches, which we didn't pay too much attention. But, when we got to the Glade a couple of ladies said they had been bitten by them. We covered ourselves in insect repellent.

A short way along the walk, I brushed against some foliage and a leech did get on me, which I very quickly brushed off. No harm done, but we paid closer attention after that.

We saw a few birds including some weren't familiar with. Brush turkeys were around which amused us as it is Christmas.

At the end of the walk we checked carefully and both of us had at least one leech each on our shoes.

We left Dorrigo at 4.40 pm and drove through very rural countryside. We saw a lot of cattle, loads of horses, some sheep, a shetland pony and an emu on the journey.

Pat drove on the way back and it managed to rain again, but it had stopped again by the time we returned to the motel.

We had a quiet evening and snacked in the room. We watched tv for a while, including a dreadful Bruce Willis film.

Friday 25 December

Merry Christmas

No riotous partying went on at the motel, so a quiet night. No rain this morning. Sun shine aplenty.

We woke at 9.00 am and slowly stirred. At about 11.00 am we took a drive to the jetty.

There were a number of people in the water swimming and surfing. We walked to the end of the jetty and generally ambled around.

Then a short drive to the town centre, to look around and then back to the motel at 1.00 pm as we were getting peckish.

We were helped by the motel people setting up the bbq and even provided with some crackers and a gift. Very thoughtful.

Steak, salad and pumpkin mash, sitting in the sunshine was our Christmas dinner. We popped our crackers and opened our gift. Dairy milk chocolates. Cheese and biscuits and mince pie for dessert.

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