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I flew up the coast into Coffs Harbour on Sat 19th Jan and was met with a massive hug from Zofia who I've not seen for 2 years. She drove me to her little town, Urunga. It is only a short distance around the golf course to the beach so we went for a lovely walk down to the lagoon and walked out along the boardwalk which goes right out to a nice spot looking out over the ocean. That evening we brought some supplies (you can only buy alcohol in bottle shops, not supermarkets - fact of the day) and drove out to Lincoln's place in Bellingen. It's literally like someone has just pulled up enough trees from the forest so they can fit a house in - a very remote and beautiful spot. We had a bbq and a few beers with his mates to celebrate his birthday then retreated back to Urunga to watch the tennis and get some sleep.
On Sunday we headed to the pub in town for lunch, where we were joined by Lincoln and friends for an afternoon of beer, pool and karaoke. Thankfully they never did play our request of Delta Goodrem but we did pull out some pretty impressive dancemoves and dragged a lot of oap holidaymakers onto the floor, much to their delight!
With Zofia feeling pretty rough we spent most of Monday infront of the tv although did manage to drag her for a dip in the lagoon followed by a little wildlife walk with our tourguides Lincoln and Fitzey, then fish and chips for tea.
On Tuesday I began my daily routine of running to the beach and strolling along the boardwalk around 7.30am, I got chatting to an old boy called Norm who was watching the fish swim around in the shallow water (apparently they were bream and mullet). He obviously just wanted someone to talk to and ended up offering me a job cooking and cleaning for him - nice offer but not sure how exciting I'd find it!
Lincoln, Zofia and I drove to Bellingen and saw a hell of a lot of fruit bats just hanging around over a river - they're massive and live there all year round apparently! We headed up the mountain to Dorrigo where we walked through the rainforest. It was so pretty and there was a really tall waterfall that you could walk behind (something I've always wanted to do!) so we pottered around there for a while and drove out to a look out spot for a picnic lunch. Later we headed to North Beach for a swim in the sea - the water wasn't overly hot but it was a lot warmer than Southwold!
Wednesday morning I saw a sting ray from the boardwalk just in the shallow water, they come in at night then head further out during the day. I bumped into Norm again and had a natter then spent the morning sunbathing, which it turns out is a really boring past-time! I spent the rest of the week doing much the same, reading and wandering around without too much of a purpose! I saw kangaroos from the boardwalk Thursday morning, they were just eating grass and laying in the water to keep cool - good job I'd taken my camera with me, I just stood and watched them for ages!
Friday was a turn up for the books as rather than seeing Norm, I got chatting to this guy and ended up walking right along the beach with him and back, then playing football with his dog. Not all went according to plan though as, cool as ever, I accidently kicked his dog in the mouth when I went to kick the ball, and it's teeth took a pretty decent sized chunk out of my foot!! Playing it cool I made out that I was fine and limped home, leaving a path of bloody footprints as I went!! On closer inspection it could probably have done with a couple of steri-strips but I managed to strap it up enough to go to the pub that evening. Priorities in order as ever.
On Saturday I was taken to Glennifer to this really pretty river where I swam with the afore mentioned dog guy and had a little picnic on the rocks which was very pleasant, even in the rain. And by heck did it rain!
The next 48 hours was pretty much spent indoors watching the news of the floods further up the coast and keeping an eye on how far the water was rising up the golf course. Norm tells me he had 380mm in his rain gage! Once we'd gotten all Zofia's posessions onto her kitchen surfaces and various shelves it was just a case of snuggling up on the sofa and watching movies and hoping the rain would stop soon.
Tuesday was spent wandering around town, buying postcards, sampling milkshakes and reading my book. I walked out to the end of the boardwalk and along the beach and sat there for a while watching the massive waves. In the evening Fitzey and I went for a meal and a beer in Coffs Harbour which was really nice, then we stopped in at Baskin Robbins on the way home - I don't think I've ever seen this in England but it is amazing! It's like a fast food place that only serves ice cream...I was in my element!
Zofia and I had a lovely evening together on Wednesday with a takeaway and Downton Abbey, and on Thursday Lincoln drove me to Hungry Head to see the beach and we saw a kangaroo, I got really close up to it which was really cool! We met up with Zofia during her lunch break and ate by the Bellingen river before Lincoln drove me to the airport. It was so horrible saying goodbye to Zofia as I have no idea when I'll be seeing her again! I had a major panic in the airport as I'd completly forgotton the give Zofia her house keys and Lincoln was already on his way back home and I didn't have a number for him. I managed to find Zofia's number and leave her a voicemail and text message from a payphone then I left the keys with a lady in the shop before I had to board, so hopefully they received the message - why don't I ever make things simple for myself!
Here are some photos of my stay
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=36125b0680f42cbe#cid=36125B0680F42CBE&id=36125B0680F42CBE%21163
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