Coffs Harbour, another southerly change.
Fleck
Sat 10 Oct 2009 06:01
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Date: Saturday, 10th October
Location: Still in Coffs Harbour!
A mixed bag of news this week, lovely here at Coffs
Harbour, but we would rather have been off sailing midweek. Unfortunately these
southerly weather systems seem pretty incessant just now (and I am as ever
pessimistic, and believe that just as soon as I turn round the weather
systems will as well). Anyway this week we have been stuck in port with up to 40
knots of wind whistling through the rigging, and pressing our ship down against
the mooring pontoon with considerable force. There has been 60 kts wind off
Sydney, a real storm! We have been fortunate to have probably the most protected
spot in the harbour, and as the rates for the mooring are half those of Gold
Coast prices, it has not been so hard to count our blessings instead of getting
fretful. The southerly wind is quite cool, and the crew have been cold at night
in their sleeping bags, but hot in shorts and T shirts inland at midday. The
water is much too cold for swimming, although many locals are surfing, nearly
always with wetsuits.
The coast is interesting with quite high hills just
inland, and many offshore Islands, which we dodged in the dark last week, but
which provide an interesting backdrop. The Harbour is constructed from two small
Islands and two breakwaters, and the outer Harbour has been exceedingly rough.
One of the Islands, Muttonbird Island, is a breeding ground for
shearwaters, and their 'nests' (shallow burrows actually) are just
everywhere.The water in the inner harbour, the marina area, is exceptionally
clean, and Charlie and Mark have been watching turtles, and flounders on the
sand beneath. Just inland there is the Comunity of Coffs Jetty: the name taken
from the first jetty built out into the outer harbour, and down which it was
almost impossible to walk against the side wind three days ago. Lots of coffee
shops for me, and a branch of the ice cream, crushed nuts and sweeties chain
shop for the crew!!
Coffs Harbour, the Town, is a couple of miles
inland, but there is an excellent walk up Coffs Creek, with the
remarkably large and well maintained Botanical Gardens (plus coffee
shop) at the halfway mark. Coffs Harbour Town is quite unremarkable, much
like all other First World Towns the World over: a rather degenerate town
centre, and two massive shopping malls arranged along The Pacific
Highway selling stuff that no one really needs. Without our own transport
we have missed out on the main attraction: The Big Banana. this is a banana
shaped yellow lump of concrete someway out of town, and was the first
of many such outsize objects that the Australians have chosen
to scatter over their landscape.
Right on the harbour wall is the Fishermans Co-op:
locally caught fish for sale, along with fish and chips for takeaway. Seems
plenty of fresh fish for sale today, but I swear the trawler fleet has been
in port all week! Anyway tonight we will be feasting on fish, squid, prawns
and scallops, and tomorrow we will worry about our stomachs The chips are
quite salty, so we may have to visit the Coffs Harbour Yacht Club, also on the
waterfront, for a refreshing glass of the amber nectar. Weather is due to settle
tomorrow, but we shall have to delay our departure until the early hours on
Monday morning, and hope to arrive at the next River Bar on the late
afternoon flood tide, and before the wind gets too strong again.
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