Coff's Harbour is not a beach

We've just had 3 great days with Ros and Pete (and Josie) on the "Coff's Coast". They rent a house at Emerald Beach, a stylish coastal village about 20 minutes north of Coff's Harbour and about 10 minutes south of Woolgoolga (Woopi). Ros and Pete are great hosts and our 3 days went quickly, sight seeing, eating great meals, lots of beach and headland walks and a chance for us to see their block of land at Sandy Beach (5 minutes further north of Emerald Beach) and all the plans for the beautiful house they are building (starting soon hopefully).

I learnt many things over the three days, never having spent any time in this region before. The main one being that Coff's Harbour is a harbour (duh) and therefore mainly appeals to boaties and fishermen. It is the beaches around the harbour that attract holiday makers and sea changers (like Ros & Pete). The coastline is beautiful-long stretches of clean, sandy beaches broken by rocky headlands and off shore islands most of which are protected as reserves and marine parks.

This is a shot taken at Sandy Beach looking south to Moonee and Emerald beaches.

These shots were taken Saturday afternoon walking around the beautiful headland at the southern end of Sandy Beach.

Pete does a lot of contemplating of the waves.

There was a great break at Sandy Beach that afternoon, protected from the cold southerly. 

It was great to visit Bellingen on Friday. We loved the famous Hammond & Wheatley Emporium building-especially when Rob was able to find a pair of Naot shoes that he liked.

Lunch at the (Israeli) Mouza Restaurant in Bellingen was amazing - best cafe we've eaten at in a long time.

Ros and I ordered the same most amazing dish - stuffed vegetables basically, but amazingly delicious.

It was a fine dining experience the whole weekend. Room 101 at Emerald Beach on Friday night (sashimi oysters and duck for me with a degustation dessert platter) and Saltwater on the beach (at Emerald Beach again) on Saturday night (bugtails and gnochi and spatchcock for me). Cafes at Sawtell (Barrel) and Woolgoolga also benefited by our custom - all serving great food in really interesting settings.

I had to get a shot of Ros & Pete's ocean view from their block of land at Sandy Beach. I sort of got it - but their verandah will be much higher up! They are only about 200mts from the beach.

Thank you Ros & Pete for your great hospitality. You both seem very happy building your new life together. We were incredibly envious of your early morning beach walks and swim. We've decided to restart our early morning walks around the boring old Circuit after the good habits you started to get us into.

The house was very cold to return to on Monday evening; only 8oC. It took hours to crank the heating up to a bearable temperature. It had been the coldest day all year in Canberra, although we hadn't found the the Coff's Coast particularly warm either.

Check out the link to Joel's new website..it is stunning..he is the man!