Coffs Harbour Road Trip

OH HAI! How was your nye guys? Hope it was awesome and you’ve all recovered! The boy and I took a pretty spontaneous road trip the other day, with the main aim of getting to the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour. You see, Noods has never been to the Big Banana and I felt it was my duty to educate him on the finer points of tourist attractions. So we left early in the morning and lasted a coupla hours before hitting the first pit stop on the F3 at the Caltex Stopover at Wyong.

BEHOLD THE CRACKLE ON MY ROAST PORK SAMMICH!!! I didn’t really want Maccas and went over to the trucker resto and randomly chose the Roast Pork Sandwich ($6.90) which came on good ol white bread with surprisingly tender pork nubbins with a river of gravy and topped with a glorious piece of crackle. Awesome start to the trip!


The boy has a cheeky grin because he couldn’t help but dig into his big brekkie ($16) before I took a photo. The brekkie had a generous serve of sunny side up eggs, bacon, baked beans, sausage, hashbrown, toast and fries.


Surprisingly Noods and I have never really done a long road trip before. There may or may not have been a power struggle for the music on the ipod haha


For our driver reviver stops we kept our eyes peeled for random food signs, one sign we stalked for about an hour had the claim of ‘best scones on the coast’ and well, who can pass up a scone?


Moorland Cottage was great to recharge and grab a bite to eat. The Devonshire tea ($9p/p) was a steal, 2 freshly baked scones with a pot of raspberry jam, clotted cream and a giant teapot. Our basket had plain and date scones and were super fluffy and light with a buttery crumb. Best on the coast? Quite possibly.


Of course the boy was in need of sustenance that had some form of meat and after several signs taunting us with ‘the best pies are with Marilyn’ we turned a hill and ta dah Fredo Pies (75 Macleay St, Frederickton- north of Kempsey on the Pacific hwy) complete with Marilyn Monroe statues aplenty.


There were heaps of pies available even some of the more crazier types like emu and buffalo but I stuck to a pepper steak pie while Noods went for the Crocodile pie. Pretty tops pie and super friendly staff who were nice enough to print out google maps so we could follow the back roads and avoid the horrible traffic. The lemon meringue pie was a snack for the road and it sure was tasty and the sugar rush helped us stay awake.


Woot almost to Coffs and we see a double rainbow!


Made it to Novotel (cnr Pacific Highway and Bay Drive, Coffs Harbour) and crashed for a bit of a nap.


It’s the Big Banana yo! We made it! Bahahahaha it uh seems smaller than what I remember but that’s most likely because the last time I went I was in primary school lol


Chocolate coated banana with 100’s & 1000’s ($3.95) heh heh get your mind outta the gutter!


Aaaand a banana split ($6.95) which came with banana ice cream, whipped cream, caramel sauce and a sprinkle of nuts. Mmm be still my lactose intolerant gut!


Heh when we saw that there were Segways available we couldn’t resist going on an hour ride ($65p/p) muahaha it was so much fun! We had a practice run around a mini obstacle course learning how to go around corners before our instructor took us past the golf course and onto a bushwalking trail that led through the beach and to a paddock where we roamed freeeee


Wheeeeeeeeee!


After a non-delicious dinner we managed to sleep thru breakfast time and drove down to Anna Bay where I found this crazy awesome cream puff ($3) at Anna Bay Hot Bread (118 Gan Gan Rd, Anna Bay) filled with a caramel so rich and thick it tasted like dulce de leche oh baby breakfast of champions!


Of course all that sugar has to go somewhere… helloooo sand dunes!


Teehee SPLAT


Yeah that was a fun morning though sand just about went everywhere 😛 After getting smashed by the waves we headed back and stopped at Aussie Bobs Fish and Chips (156 Gan Gan Road, Anna Bay) for lunchies. Sooo can you guess what I’m holding?


So along with their usual fried goodness of fish and chips, Aussie Bobs also had deep fried Mars bars ($4.50) AND DEEP FRIED OREOS ($1)!!! The Oreos tasted GLORRRRIOUS! Light batter, crumbly biscuit and gooey icing innards oh baby.


A couple more hours on Pacific hwy and we spot signs for Ricardoes U-Pick Strawberry Farm (221 Blackmans Point Rd, Port Macquarie) where I finally fulfil my dream of picking my own fruit ($16.90/kg)


Armed with a bucket and scissors we set off into the greenhouse to find perfect hydroponically grown strawberries. The boy is fascinating to watch, he’ll stare at a strawberry for a good 10seconds before deciding if it’s worthy for our collection lol


It was pretty therapeutic actually, super relaxing to just stare at a sea of green instead of the harsh grey of the highway. There was also tomatoes and lettuce which you could pick but we uh didn’t.


Aaaand with our bucket all filled we head home, sandy and happy in the knowledge no blood was shed over ipod control 😀