Coff's Harbour the Aussie Way

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These days our hostel stays are becoming fewer thanks to the kindness of other people we've met along the way or friends. So this weekend we stayed in Sawtell, a suburb of Coffs, with a friend of Grace. And finally we've had the long overdue "all Australian barbeque". So on arriving in Sawtell we could put our pro-salad-making skills into practise. Actually our salads are never this exotic so I've taken a few notes for future ventures. I got the lucky job of shelling the prawns.....a big bag of them that took ages....the last time I shelled prawns was last Christmas at home & I hope the next time is Christmas 2008.......cause with each prawn I decapitated they were becoming less & less appetising as the mustard coloured guts squirted out in all directions. Yum......only for I knew it was guts......you'd think it was a marinade. Happy shelling!!

Now I know you won't believe this at home but I was second in command on the BBQ.....responsible for skewers & meats of all kinds. I take no responsibility though for the skewer Grace had with a Christmas beetle charcoaled to the top......I remember at one stage this horrible big beetle landing on me & me flapping about hysterically but I don't believe there is a link between this event & Grace's beetle trauma!! Anyway full of protein....did bring a tear to her eye cause she nearly ate it!! Yuk!! Yes there was a man overseeing my BBQ-ing skills at first but he disappeared after a while.....& no......nobody required an emergency visit to A&E......so I'm considering going pro on the BBQ front!!

So it was nice to spend a night meeting "normal" people that aren't backpackers. Sometimes you meet a lot of oddballs in hostels & you wonder if there are any normal people left in the world & then worry that you've turned into "one of them". The following day we went out to a freind's house & had another BBQ.....this time it really was Australian in that we had our first taste of kangaroo meat......ummm.....so from now on I'll be telling the bus-driver to plough full steam ahead & if one happens to bounce on to our path....well it'd be a shame to let roadkill go to waste!!! Yes it's tasty....rare but nice & tender.

Of course we did the guided tour of the area with our hosts & in typical Aussie fashion there were beaches to write home about & sunshine. Managed to have a go on the surfboard too....stayed well away from the pros but my standing up has definitely come on. Probably helps that my board is the size of a small house!! I'm afraid it was a weekend of excesses.....no haven't turned to the drink but seems everywhere we went there was food & great fish n' chips. We took a walk out to Muttenbird Island in Coffs itself & there are lovely views up & down the coast from there.

On the Monday we went white water rafting on the Dorrogo River which is about 2 hours away from Coffs. It was so much fun. The drops are good.....not particularly fast water but it definitely is a great way to spend the day. Halfway along we swapped positions & Grace & I were commandeering the raft...hahahha. It's so cool being at the front & we couldn't stop laughing in the rapids whenever the instructor would shout "get down" & the two of us like sardines in a can, clinging to the raft & each other for dear life so we didn't go shooting out. At one point I did end up in the river unexpectedly.....didn't get hold in time but one foot remained in the raft so another quick-acting passenger grabbed my foot & hauled me in.....so I didn't get washed to oblivion!! Great craic!!

So after a funfilled day we got a late bus to our next port of call......Port Macquarie.

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