Day Six – Coffs Harbour to Yamba
Since the last ride we took was way too long, we decided to head to Yamba, only a two hour drive away, and hit the road as early as we could. We pulled out of the hostel before 10am and made one last stop before leaving Coffs at the Big Banana Amusement Park. It’s really just a gimmicky road stop but we took the obligatory photo of the bikes in front of the massive banana and savored every bite of our chocolate and peanut covered frozen banana.
The taste of banana was still fresh in my mouth as we climbed out of the city past the valleys of banana trees below. Can’t get much fresher than that.
Instead of the faster highway route, we chose to drive inland along the farms and pastures with street names like Lemon Grove Lane, or Brush Grove Gully. We passed by towns like Coramba and Glenreagh which had little more than a General Store and a bakery lining the “Main Street”.
Deep in the woods, our gas lights went on and we tried to calculate how long we had left, but we had to convert our calculations from miles to km, so we stopped at a very rustic station along a dirt road. The pumps looked ancient, but the owner was lovely and wished us a “joyous day” and a local man with his grandson rattled off all the things we must see and then all the things we shouldn’t see. It’s a much simpler and humble lifestyle out in the woods, but the people were so friendly.
We pushed on past Grafton and through more farmland along the Pacific highway just as the rain started to come down. We were in Yamba twenty minutes later and pulled into the covered garage of the Yamba YHA just as the rain intensified. Since the town is really only known for its beaches, we hung around inside for the rest of the day watching movies with the Backpackers. The sunset from the hostel roof was a vibrant swath of deep blues, creamy clouds and fiery oranges.
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April 22, 2018
Daily Costs
Accommodation: Yamba YHA, $23
Food: $25
Gas: $19
Distance covered: 150km
Day Seven: Another rainy day in Yamba
With another dreary day ahead of us, I took advantage of the minor pause in the rain and went for a run. The air was thick with mist as we passed through the main streets and out along the beach coast next to the light house and the fishing boats.
We dragged out our breakfast as long as possible to fight the rainy day boredom with two cups of coffee, sipped slowly on the rooftop patio. Our fellow backpackers decided to spend the day binge watching How I Met Your Mother in the lounge.Luckily the cafe downstairs had wifi, so we caught up on some online work and tried to plan a few days more of the trip.
The rain held long enough for us to walk along the jetty, past all the surfers and dolphins. That took us just about up to dinner time so we opened up some goon, played some cards, had some
Dinner, and played ping pong ball until bed. Oh and watched some HIMYM, which was still playing on TV ten hours later.
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April 23, 2018
Daily Costs
Accommodation: $23