Hi to all from Coffs Harbour. 

You will be happy to know that the giant water dragons haven't destroyed the town as yet.  You can see them around the park quite often, but mostly near the small creek that runs down behind our van.  They are pretty skittish but they wont run off unless you get too close. 

Got up to brilliant sunshine on Wednesday morning, after the night time temperature had plummeted down to 20C.  I think I would find it hard to live up in the north, as the night temp never seems to drop below 20C.  Pretty warm in the van.

Anyway we soldiered on and headed down to the beach near the Coffs Harbour Jetty.  The surf down there is pretty good and there were dozens of surfers in the water.  I managed to get off a few happy snaps, of course, the ones you cant recognise were of me, showing off my expertise.

 

After a hectic morning on the surfboard, it was time to check out the local camel rides.  'Indiana' Deb was first out of the starting blocks and got the lead camel, and she led us on a gentle stroll along the beach.  It is pretty amazing how the camels hardly leave any imprints in the wet sand.  It is just that they don't have hooves on their feet, and the foot spreads out to leave a more even imprint.  Camel Fact:  They have 3 stomachs, with 50% of each taken up by the storage of water.

Our next port of call was to check out The BIG BANANA.  Got the customary photo, but wasn't really up for the toboggan or the water slide.  We decided to take the more gentle option and headed up to check out Sealy Lookout.  The road up is only a few k's Nth of Coffs.  You get a great view from up there and you can see just how big the town is, as well as see a couple of the bigger banana plantations.

Not satisfied with this lookout, 'Indiana' Deb then directed me to a lookout at Mt Coramba.  She had obviously been looking at those damn tourist brochures again.  Of course the road up started out fine, bitumen for the first 200 metres, then down to smooth gravel, then rough gravel with huge speedhumps a tank couldn't get over, and finally to a rock riddled goat track up to the top of the lookout.  Just awesome.  Just to rub salt into the wound, the previous lookout was better.  After leaving the top of the mountain, we came across another explorer heading up the goat track.  It was really quite tight getting past each other, especially as we had the cliff side.  Just great.

It was then back to base to rest up, and go and check out a clog making demonstration at the office.  Quite interesting.  Arrived back at our van to find our resident water dragon had settled in about 10 feet from the van. 

Thursday was a peaceful day to catch up on chores and also to catch up with some friends that we had met earlier in the year on our travels.  A really good relaxing day was had. 

Friday morning and it was time for Deb to fulfil one of her bucket list items.  She was going swimming with the dolphins. 

We headed off to the centre and checked out the resident seals and also a beautiful peacock that was strutting around, just showing off.  I got some photos of the dolphins in another pool first.  They are just awesome.  They were throwing a ball around and doing all other dolphin show off things.  They really seem to react to the crowd.

It was then time to sneak off to our own private pool with Debs dolphin Jet.  The handler introduced them and it was then about 20 minutes of Deb interacting with the dolphin.  It was really great to watch, and photograph of course.  The photos don't really do justice, as at one stage Deb and the dolphin are doing a bit of a dance.  Just great to watch.  You have to dolphin kiss and of course the dolphin cuddle.  At one stage Deb was throwing a ball to the dolphin, in a game of basketball.  Well worth a visit.

Just a gentle kiss on a first date

May I have this dance

Just a cuddle this time. 

Basketball time.

Throw it again, throw it again

Deb checking out the silky feel of the skin.  Dolphin fact: they shed their skin every 2 hours.

Got some more photos of the dolphin after they were out of the water, and he appeared to be playing up to the camera.  Such an intelligent creature.  Dolphin Fact:  They can live from 35 to 40 yrs in the wild, and maybe a bit more in captivity.  They are the lighter colour on the bottom as from underneath them, the are more difficult to see for predators, as they blend in with the light overhead.
The same with the darker colour, they blend in with the darkness below them and are difficult to see by predators from above.

It was time to head back to base so that Deb could ease herself down from her higher plateau.  She was just stoked.

After lunch we headed out to the little town??? of Korora to check out the Carob Factory.  Nothing beats chocolate, but still, worth a look.  Arrived and there was no production happening this afternoon so really nothing to see.  As we were interested tourists, we had to check out the free samples.  The carob coated honeycomb was quite tasty, but nothing like the real thing. 

It was then time to check out the Botanical gardens.  They are in the centre of Coffs Harbour and are quite large.  They have different sections for various countries of the world, with one Indian tree, the elephant apple tree.  It has huge apple like fruit, and, as the name suggests, the elephants love it. Got some snaps of some very pretty flowers, and of a resident kookaburra.  That was enough excitement for the day so it was back to the van.

 

We will be heading off tomorrow to Tuncurry, where we will be staying for 2 days, before then heading to Cessnock for probably 3 days. 

Keep safe and well

Barry and Deb.