What a gorgeous place!! We have decided to stay at Emerald Beach 20km north of Coffs Harbour for 3 nights as it is just so lovely and there is so much to see here!

After a lazy morning chatting to our friendly neighbors (Keith and Junnie), washing and of course the kids enjoying the park facilities (jumping pillow/playground) we headed off.

First stop was Carobana, where we watched the process of making honeycomb- lots and lots of it!. Did you know that honeycomb dosn’t actually have honey in it? We then did a bit of taste testing various carob products- and of course the fresh honeycomb- and made some purchases.

Next stop was the Big Banana. No trip to Coffs would be complete without a stop here and a pic in front of this Aussie icon. We also booked into the tour, in which we enjoyed a 3D movie, walk through the Banana trees and giving a helping hand in the packing room. Did you know banana trees only grow 1 bunch of fruit, then they are chopped down to make way for new shoots? There you go! We finished off with a choc-dipped banana each, followed by a few rides down the toboggans. The kids hadn’t been on one before and really enjoyed it.

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We finished off the day by stopping in at The Clog Barn. We enjoyed a walk through the miniature Dutch village, followed by a demo on making a clog.  This process used to take 3 hours per clog, but modern machinery has brought this process down to only 5 minutes.

The following day, we headed down to The Butterfly House, which was a simply beautiful experience. It was lovely to walk through the house and have butterflies all around- stopping to rest on hair, arms and even cameras! We have never seen Kaytlin sit so still as she waited for the butterflies to land on her. There were also puzzles to do in the cafe, along with a maze and quiz which the boys really enjoyed.

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We then headed to the Fisherman’s Co-op on the wharf for some tasty salt and pepper squid. We watched a fishing boat bring in and weigh 20 sharks, caught the previous night. Kaytlin and I headed off for walk along the breakwall, while the boys threw in a line to catch their own sharks. A few small fish were caught, kissed and thrown back in. Fishing ended when Joe caught a cheeky bird, who had decided to try and steal his bait-while it was on the hook! Fortunately, Joe managed to free it and it flew off to join the other scavengers.

Our night ended with dinner at the Greenhouse Tavern- a very family-friendly place, where kids eat free! I was particularly impressed with the range of healthy options on the kids menu- not just the regular fried food with chips. A nice end to a lovely time in Coffs Harbour.