Mermaid Beach (for Feb.18)

This morning we started by touring Coffs Harbour. Its harbour and marina are protected by sea walls, making for a calm swimming beach. But outside the seawalls on both sides of the harbour are normal beaches with enough waves for surfing. We walked on the jetty, first built in 1892 and restored in 1997. The harbour was abuzz with people. Some were fishing from the jetty, many youngsters were jumping off the jetty into the water (about a 15 foot drop), some were swimming back and forth parallel to the shore, some were sunbathing and splashing around in the water, and some young kids were taking some kind of training on surf boards. On both of the surf beaches there were surfers, body surfers, sunbathers, and people fishing. And a dolphin was cruising around in the harbour looking for lunch.


From the beaches, we stopped at the Big Banana on our way out of town. It was so kitschy that we had to stop. It was actually a kind of amusement park with various attractions, many of which were out of service for renovations. The main attraction is a lookout tower on a hill overlooking Coffs Harbour. Quite a view. Of course, the other attraction is a wide selection of banana dishes celebrating the fact that the area is a huge producer of bananas. It wouldn’t be right to go on without sampling the local cuisine, would it?




We left Coffs at 2 and stopped in Byron Bay at 5. Byron Bay is another surfer’s haven. The point that separates the two beaches is the easternmost point on the Australian mainland and is topped by a historic lighthouse. We spent an hour checking out the lighthouse and taking a quick look at the beach. I would have liked to spend a little more time because it looked like an interesting place with lots of young people and lots of things going on, but we still had a way to go to reach our hotel. We stopped at Mermaid Beach, one of a string of beaches that goes on for many miles on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane.

We settled in our hotel about 7:30 and went looking for something to eat. Across the street was a two-in-one pub. We ate in the Mermaid Beach Tavern upstairs. Downstairs was an East Indian place called the MADIRISHMAN Sports Bar. That seemed like an odd combination. As we left, we saw another sign with a space between the D and first I. It made more sense then.

The road today was mostly good two lane highway with frequent passing lanes and not too many towns until we hit the Gold Coast, so we were able to make good time. The terrain was hilly and forested along the coast at first. We turned inland for a while over a river delta where it was flat with some grazing, but mostly sugar cane for about 50 km. Then it was back to a hilly, forested coast until we hit the flatness of the Gold Coast Beaches.

How do you like the pictures? The new camera is less capable than my old one for more money, but what can you do?

They say they have free wireless internet here, so I am going to try it out now and see if I can post this.

Greg V. emailed that the wind chill was -50. No offense, but…At last! It wouldn’t be right to travel to the other side of the world if we didn’t escape at least one cold spell, would it? Is it really that cold or is he just pulling our legs to make us feel better?

Laura sent us an email about how everybody took such good care of her on her birthday. THanks everybody. It made us feel sad to hear all that we had missed out on. We will have to make up for it with a big party when we return.