Coff's Harbour & The Road to Brisbane (Day 7/8)

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Coff's Harbour and The Road to Brisbane



Thanks to my wife’s suggestion to leave Sydney a day early, I had a short 2 1/2 hour ride up to Coff’s Harbour from Port Macquiere.

Coff’s H is a getaway spot with both marinas and beaches. I wanted a hotel along the beach-however that’s not exactly what I got. That said: what I got was actually pretty cool. I reserved Brodie’s Beach House Bungalow (BBHB) Which turned out to be more of a Air BnB in a residential area. I drove right past it on my first pass thinking I was looking for a resort (see the little sign). Brodie’s consist of a 4 bedroom house with a little 1 room bungalow behind the house. No one was around so I called and got the owner and told her I had arrived. She said: Wonderful -the door to the bungalow is open and the key is in the box under the table - there’s a book with instructions and things to do -call me if you have any questions. The van parked across the street advertises surfing lessons from Lee Winkler who is one of the owners of Brodies Beach House and Bungalow.



The place definitely would fit the dictionary description of a bungalow. But it quickly grew on me. It was recently refurbished (see pic’s) and had a small washing machine which saved me a bundle- however no dryer. I know I’ve used a clothes line before (I started washing my own clothes at age 11 or 12). However I’m guessing I hadn’t hung close on a line for say 40+ years (excluding bathing suits on the line up north). Karen and I’ve been married for 36 years and I don’t recall that we ever had a clothes line. Anyway I digress!



After the clothes were done and hung, I decided to take a ride down to the marina area and see about taking some pictures while it was still light and check out my dinner options. I met my first aboriginal fella. I think I got his name right - Langaley. He was part of the construction project and introduced himself to me. He explained the names of all the islands offshore and was interested in my bike ? (see pics). I think he is from the Gumbaynggirr people from the area. He was very nice to talk with (albeit tough to understand because of his thick ascent) and was willing to take his picture with me. Getting to meet some aboriginal people has been high on my list.

I decided on Latitude 30 for dinner, which turned out to be an awesome choice. I met a guy (Chris- see pic) from Wisconsin Rapids of all places. For those readers not familiar with Wisconsin- Wisconsin Rapids is about mid state in the northern half. The area was a very big paper producing area back in the day. Chris’s ex is an Aussie and he has two boys living here. He’s starting his own Barbecue restaurant after being a chef for 12 years. Had a fantastic meal of an Oyster Medley (see pic) consisting of 4 raw, 4 French, 4 Kilpatrick(Aussie bbq spice), and 4 Japanese tempura oysters and a Soft shell crab. I shared some local colloquialism’s with Alex (bartender) and Chris. The only Aussie one I remember is “flat out like a lizard drinking” which I first heard in the movie Crocodile Dundee. I tossed him a couple of mine. “Like kissing your sister” which means you go through the motions but it’s no big deal. “Hotter than a bad girl in church” which definitely loses something in the translation as my wife made me modify it over the years - the original version exchange’s "bad girl" for a term that rhymes with "snore". 😊

After dinner I headed back to my bungalow stopping along the way for some snacks, water, and breakfast drink for the next morning.

One of my goals in Brisbane would be to see if I could find a BMW Motorad dealer. I was only able to put about 200 miles on my new bike before I had to ship it off, so I wanted to get my first service (1,000 mile) before I “hit the outback” -(scratch that) -let’s say “Tackle the outback “ over the next week. I sent an email to a dealer about 12 miles from Brisbane but couldn’t locate them on my Garmin. I decided to use the dealer button on my Garmin Dah!!! and found a fantastic dealer about 30 minutes south of Brisbane. I arrived about 1:30 and told them what I was up to and they said they could get me in tomorrow - which I had anticipated because I scheduled two nights in Brisbane. Because I was staying in Brisbane central at the Marriott they said that would be a pain for me to come back down tomorrow. So they checked with one of the mechanics and said he could get me in at 3:00 TODAY. This was way more convenient for me- I found a little cafe (see pic) and had a couple dirty Chai’s and worked on my blog. The ladies that ran the cafe were very nice and let me hang around while they started to close up shop.

I got back to the dealer a few minutes before 3:00 and they took me right in. I sat in the lounge for an hour or so and talked to Robert and few of the service department guys - who were all fantastic to talk to. I took a picture with Liam who did the work on my bike. They even reprogrammed the headlights so they are aimed for left side driving (although I will avoid night riding at all costs- to many critter problems!). The bike was decidedly more responsive after they made the “First Service” adjustments (for the initial use during the break in period of the bike they gear things down a bit so the bike has a chance to break in).

It wasn’t until I got into Brisbane traffic did I realize just how big a favor the Team Moto Guys did for me. Sydney streets and traffic is just as bad as Sydney. What gives with the weird street angles and screwy turn lanes in Aussie land? In case the boys at Team Moto read this THANK YOU!!! Besure to email a BMW satisfaction survey!!

To no ones surprise - I had a hard time finding the MARRIOTT in Brisbane city center. I had to ask a person on the street who pointed it out to me and said that I had to go 6 blocks down and go around the big tree and work my way back to the hotel ( the hotel was 1 block directly behind me on a 45 degree angle street. After making it to the valet for Reception I was told the parking garage was on the other side of the building and to get there — you guessed it I had to back down to the tree and come back so I could go 1 block back from where I was at. I asked if I could leave my bike at the valet and let traffic die down after going up to my room. It was much easier going to the tree in calmer traffic. It also saved me a trip since I was now ready to find an Irish pub and you guessed it ....a Guinness! (And some food and no TB I don't just eat~). I was directed to Mick O’Malleys Pub had some great Guinness pie and a so-so 8.0 Guinness. O’Malleys has live Irish music and some Irish nationals bar tending - nice place. I suspect after my last stop in civilization in Townsville, I won’t be seeing many Guinness taps in the outback. So maybe I’ll rate the Fosters ?. I can’t believe that I’ve only been gone a week. It will be nice to take day off of riding tomorrow and relax and check up on things at the office. I'm going to reach out to my friend Doug's school buddy that lives here to see if we can meet up tomorrow night for dinner.

Note: Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia by population at about 2.5 Million people.

It is one the largest city’s by area in the world and the largest by area in Australia.

Brisbane is the capital of Queensland.

And has the most F’d up streets in Queensland ( unofficial commentary by Jim Ruetz)?

Next report -Day 2 in Brisbane and the Road to Townsville.

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