Coffs Harbour’s economy grew from the banana tree, so when the town was nominated by Caravan World readers as a Destination of the Year finalist, all kinds of jokes came to mind. I wanted to hitch up and split. Because, you see, Coffs Harbour had a-peel.

And split we did. With a Windsor Rapid pop-top hitched to a 200 Series LandCruiser, a portable DVD player on the headrest to keep our son happy, and a hankering for that long, yellow fruit, we rolled in and discovered that Coffs Harbour had many flavours – banana was just the start.

HARBOUR HIGHLIGHTS

Coffs Harbour is on the mid-north coast of NSW, about 540km north of Sydney on the Pacific Highway. To the east is the harbour, a kind of square horseshoe that’s shaped by the coastline and northern and southern breakwalls. Yachts rise and fall on the tide, anglers hunt mangrove jack and tourists queue at numerous shopfronts that spruik adventure. Snorkelling, scuba diving, fishing charters, beach buggies: if you want your pulse to quicken, the commercialised section of the harbour – closer to the shore – has what you need. And if you prefer to buy your fish rather than catch it, the Fishermen’s Co-operative on the jetty is a must-visit.

Beyond the harbour’s southern breakwall is the comparatively barren area known by locals as “The Quarry”. It’s a bitumen glade of car parks and boat ramps: nothing commercial, just a place to turn around your van or launch your boat. But on the other side of the rocky, rolling, green Corambirra Point headland is Boambee Beach. Pack your tyre pressure gauge: this is the best 4WD beach on the Coffs Coast, and a good access road curls from The Quarry towards the hard-packed sand and the surf.

If you were so inclined, and your 4WD was up to the job, access to the beach is just suitable for small caravans and camper trailers. Extreme caution is critical, though. If taking a trailer, only do so when the tide is out (the sand closer to the dunes is softer and likely to trap your rig), keep away from the salt water (and wash everything with fresh water afterwards just in case), and preferably make sure other 4WDs are about beforehand – the tide comes in fast and high, and if you need a tug out, you’ll need it quickly.

Beyond the harbour’s northern breakwall and the headland known as Muttonbird Island (the 500m walk to the island leads to good views of the Pacific Ocean), the coast meanders and meanders. Park Beach, Diggers Beach, Hills Beach…
West of the highway, hills loom green and large. Paved roads wind upwards, through banana plantations and tall trees. The 450ha Bruxner Park Flora Reserve, access to which is a 10-minute drive north of the Coffs township, is home to Sealy Lookout, which arguably provides the best overall view of Coffs Harbour and surrounds. The regional airport, the harbour, the beaches and blue water… On a clear day, it’s like heaven on a very big stick.

COASTAL CRUISING

The so-called Coffs Coast takes in Nambucca Heads, Sawtell, Urunga, Valla Beach, Bellingen and Dorrigo to the south, and Woolgoolga and Arrawarra to the north.

There are 15 national parks and reserves in the region, 37 state forests, 44km worth of beaches, 84,000ha of world heritage areas, and the 77,000ha Solitary Islands Marine Park. This park’s namesake islands, the Solitaries, dot their way north for 75km from Muttonbird Island at the harbour to Plover Island at Sandon, and were named by Captain Cook in 1770. The park is the largest marine protected area in NSW.

Coffs Harbour was originally known as “Korff’s Harbour” after shipbuilder John Korff who sheltered there during a gale. Coffs developed as a port for the shipment of cedar and other timbers. Bananas were introduced in 1881 and the industry thrived following the completion of a rail link to Sydney in 1923. The Coffs economy boomed, tourism flourished, and the Coffs Coast developed.

These days, Coffs Harbour has a population of around 100,000. It feels like more, though. Head down Harbour Drive, the picturesque main street in the CBD replete with shade sales, trendy traders and latte establishments, and it’s instantly clear that Coffs is a major regional township. Sure, there’s plenty of tranquillity to be found on the outskirts, but almost always in a holiday park. Free-camping opportunities seem minimal; it strikes me that solitude has no place in these parts.
But while Coffs proper is vivacious, its outlying areas are – to me – the real drawcards. Places such as Moonee Beach (10 minutes’ drive north along the Pacific Highway), with its tidal estuary separating the surf from the caravan park, and Sawtell – which has a tidal lagoon of its own – to the south. They’re the kinds of coastal retreats that caravanners return to each year. Myself, too: Moonee Beach and I have a long history; I’ve eaten freshly caught bream from that estuary almost every year for the last decade.

As the tide rises, water rushes in, filling the sand banks quickly and creating a swimming haven for kids (though it can get deep, so supervision is a must). The water winds westwards towards the highway, behind a newish housing development. When the tide is out, the sandbars become cricket pitches, kids chase soldier crabs and anglers swap their rods for bait pumps. A warning based on bitter experience: the sandflies at Moonee Beach are among the hungriest in the country – wear insect repellent or end up on their menu.

BIG THINGS GROW

If tourist traps are your thing, there’s nothing quite like the Big Banana with its banana-centric food and activities behind its famous façade – the giant banana is apparently 11m long, 5m high and 2.4m wide.

Fancy chocolate-coated frozen bananas? The Big B has them. Banana smoothies? Those, too. A waterslide fun park called “The Banana Slip”? What do you think? But it’s all good fun, and with a toboggan run, ice-skating rink, puzzle and lolly shop, elevated walkway through a banana plantation and more, there’s enough to keep a family busy for a day or so.

Considering Qld is Australia’s principal producer of bananas, accounting for 75 per cent of national production, it might at first seem strange that a NSW town would promote itself so heavily as banana central. But the farming of that yellow fruit was once the mainstay of the Coffs economy – the local industry peaked in the late 1960s, at a time when NSW was producing 80 per cent of Australia’s bananas. Nowadays, though, there are still plenty of plantations – banana trees seem to fill almost every hill, dale and dell on the west side of the highway, and generous bags of their fruit can be found at roadside stalls that employ the honour system. During our visit in early April, $2 bought us more bananas than we knew what to do with.

Another major tourist attraction is the Pet Porpoise Pool marine park on the bank of Coffs Creek. Ever kissed a seal or dolphin? If the inclination strikes, this is the place to do it. As well as feeding penguins and other animals and seeing dolphin and seal shows, visitors can line up to smooch one of these aquatic mammals.

GO ON

Coffs Harbour has generally good facilities for RVers. If you’re a caravanner, try to organise your trip so that your van stays behind at the park when you head to town for supplies. Coffs has great shopping facilities, but big-rig parking facilities are non-existent. And generally the petrol stations lack sufficient turning space – refuelling with the van attached can be done but it’s heart and traffic-stopping stuff.
Would I recommend it? You bet. Despite the hustle and bustle, I love the vibrant CBD, and love equally the feeling that you’ve discovered some secret whenever you leave it for the beaches and tidal lagoons, the hills of nearby Nana Glen, or the Dorrigo rainforest.

I like the bananas, too.

- Max Taylor, Caravan World