Coffs Harbour (23/2/12 - 27/2/12)

We left Port Macquarie, headed for Coffs Harbour, 165kms north.  We took the scenic coastal route, via Crescent Head (gorgeous small coastal town), South West Rocks and Nambucca Heads.  We stopped at South West Rocks for morning tea and a splash in the water.  What a beautiful spot.  It had a great kids swimming area, where the river meets the ocean.  Shallow and crystal clear water – beautiful.   Chloe and Ben were mad that we didn’t stay there.  We were tempted, but we really did need to keep moving north or we would never get off the NSW coast.

Next stop, Nambucca Heads.  Another gorgeous spot.   There are so many beautiful spots along the NSW coast, but unfortunately we can’t stay at them all.

We stayed at Coffs Harbour for 4 nights and the weather was beautiful and warm EVERY day – we are finally getting summer weather! 

A highlight was a visit to the Pet A Porpoise Marine Discovery Park, a very hands on marine park.  We got kisses from a dolphin and a seal, got to pat the dolphins, feed seals, fish and penguins, Chloe got to throw hoops at a seal that caught them in its mouth and Donna got to stand up on stage and feed a dolphin when it jumped out of the water.  Plus we loved the show the dolphins and seals put on for us.  We especially enjoyed the dolphins moving the entire length of the pool on their tails – impressive!

We visited the “Coffs Harbour must do”, the BIG Banana.  The kids would have loved to go ice skating, tobogganing or on the water slide that you could also do there.  The same excuse that we have been using all holiday, "we would be doing the Gold Coast theme parks soon", convinced them to give them a miss.

Another highlight for the kids was the pool at the caravan park.  The pool was huge and had 3 water slides, which got very well used during our stay.  Even Donna and Simon got into the water slides, much to the delight of Chloe and Ben.

We must confess that we didn’t do many more touristy things in Coffs Harbour.  We really enjoyed the relaxation.

From here we plan to head further up the coast to Yamba, a place that has been recommended by so many people.

The dolphin's skin was so smooth.

Chloe just spotted the shark!

The beautiful little blue penguins

The new favourite park

Fun in the pool.