Sunday, October 13th
The alarm buzzed at 4:30 and Dave was already brewing each of us a cup of his magic coffee to take on the road. What a gem he is! We were out the door at 5 and Lisa dropped us at the train station in plenty of time to board our train south into New South Wales and our final destination today, Coffs Harbour.
The rail journey south was lovely! The seats were spacious and very comfortable and the landscape, at times, awe-inspiring. We thought of Jackie Belsham as we passed through her home town of Casino and the Grafton skyline, lined with hundreds of lilac-coloured jacaranda in bloom, was spectacular!
We arrived at our destination to find Kathy Rees waiting for us. I met Kathy in Scotland 6 years ago and she hasn't changed a bit since then! She drove to Coffs Harbour from Armidale, a good 2 hour drive from the mountains, to spend the afternoon with us. How lucky are we?!
Kathy was keen to show us her favorite places on the coast, so we began at Sawtell, south of Coffs, where we enjoyed lunch and a good chinwag. In the photo below we are under one of the fig trees lining the street where we had lunch.
After lunch we went to Sawtell Headland to walk on the beach and wade in the water.
We drove back to find our motel in Coffs Harbour. It is perfectly located across the street from Park Beach. The beaches here are fantastic - plentiful, long and covered in beautiful, fine sand! After checking in we took a walk on the beach and then said our farewells to Kathy. She had a long drive home ahead of her and was hoping to avoid hitting a kangaroo on the road at, or just after, dusk. She had seen some carnage on the road earlier in the day.
Tina and I continued walking up the beach and then back up to the road to find a beer. It'd been a thirsty afternoon. We decided on Parks Beach Lawn Bowling Club - a huge facility with a restaurant, bar and a full casino number of slot machines. The building was surrounded by bowling greens - I'm guessing enough space for at least 30 games playing simultaneously. The food looked great - this was obviously a popular place for family Sunday dinners but we were there for the beer. We enjoyed watching 2 young couples play a game of bowls from our table at the window.
Feeling refreshed, we continued our exploration of the neighbourhood and were able to pick up wine from a drive-through bottle shop and snacks for a light dinner this evening in our room.
Hi, Sandy,
ReplyDeleteWe loved Coff's Harbour. My cousin Barry Mufford moved there from BC in the sixties as a vet. We visited him and his family there. Lovely place.