Coffs Harbour

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Monday 21 December

A good nights sleep.

Objective today, pick up hire car and drive to Coffs Harbour, approx distance 400 kilometres.

We awoke and stirred at 7.30 am.

Check out was 10.00 am and our car pick up was 10.00 am. So we showered and packed, left the room at 9.30 am.

The rental was a short walk and with the great pavements here, our wheeled luggage was easy to walk through the streets.

The office at the rental place was manned by one person, who was answering a constantly ringing phone and dealing with several people. Our turn came and our booking was there, so it was simply a case of filling in the paperwork.

Out the door and down the ramp to the cars. Our car is Toyota corolla saloon automatic. We stuck our bags in the car, having checked the dinks over with the man.

We drove off at 10.10. am, figuring where we were and which direction we then needed to head. 71352 kilometers was recorded on the clock.

In our research there seemed to be two ways we would head out of town. One of them being a route over Story bridge. Currently Pat's favourite as this is the one all lit up at night with Christmas lights.

Our luck was in and we drove out of town via Story bridge. Not lit up during the daytime of course.

Our drive started off on the M3 then changed into the M1. Traffic was very heavy to start with, but once through the Gold Coast it calmed down.

Because of it being Motorway driving initially, there was not a lot to see. Also we wanted to get on with our journey so we drove and drove.

Entering New South Wales we lost an hour as the clocks went forward.

There is a lot of roadworks on this stretch of the road so 80 kph was our speed for long periods.

We had a break after 200 kilometres at a rest stop and changed drivers.

Then at Tynedale at 3.00 pm Pat spotted a roadhouse and we stopped for a breakfast. The guy didn't charge us enough we realised later, and it was a lovely breakfast.

Back on the road again. sugar cane is all over, cattle in the fields and occasionally bananas.

We arrived at Coffs Harbour, saw the big banana which this place is famous for, and found our way to the motel and checked in at 5.00 pm. Distance today 388 kilometres.

After unpacking a little and having a cup of tea, we went for a walk in the general direction of the harbour, whilst it was still daylight.

There was a fairground near the sea, we looked but didn't go in.

We found the jetty but only looked, then found some restaurants and are beginning to find our way around.

On the way down we had walked passed a drive thru bottleshop (drive through off licence!) and we purchased a few items on the way back. I wasn't hungry but Pat was peckish, so we dropped things back in the room at 8.15 pm, then jumped in the car to see if we could do some shopping at the shopping centre seen on the way into town earlier.

There were still a number of shops open including Woolworths, so we purchased a few snack items and again returned to the room by 9.00 pm.

Tuesday 22 December

A slow start, we lost an hour yesterday so not adjusted yet. The motel is full, as is nearly everywhere, we are in prime holiday area and the summer for them is starting, also christmas holidays.

Last night there was initially a hubub of noise but it all died down early and not a sound was heard during the night.

We awoke and started slowly moving at 9.30 am. We moved out at 11.00 am and took a drive to further get an idea of our surroundings. We found the town centre eventually.

Then up the main shopping centre. It was packed. Popped into Aldi's first and bought a few items. Then into the centre itself.

Pat was desperate for a haircut and after asking at the motel reception this morning, was recommeded a place we had seen last night, by chance. So went in and they had an appointment at 12.45 pm.

We went into Big W and purchased more stuff and looked around. Then Pa t headed off to the hairdressers.

We had arranged to meet up again at The Coffee Club at 1.45 pm, which we did and had a light lunch.

Back to the room, to drop stuff off and then a drive to Sawtell, another town about 10 k down the road.

We parked up and walked around the historic town - that means it's a least 100 years old! Then back to the room again at 4.00 pm.

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Comments

[Paula & Leo]

haircut
Nice photo Pat - post-haircut x