WHERE TO STAY
Park Beach Holiday Park sits close to the jetty, with regional shopping centre, restaurants and Birch Carroll and Coyle cinema on Bray street just moments away. Modern villas start from $63 a night, or roll your caravan into one of the many powered sites for $31 a night. The park also has Kids Club activities throughout school holidays, embarking on daily excursions to the Pet Porpoise Pool where you can swim with dolphins or steal a kiss from the seals.
If cocktails by the pool and full body massages are more your style try The Novotel Pacific Bay Resort. Only 3kms north of the city, the Novotel boasts a beach front location, nine hole golf course, day spa retreat and waterfront restaurant. The resort’s elite training centre is also famously used by sporting teams such as the Wallabies, Sydney Swans and Socceroos, so you never know who you might bump into.

WHAT TO DO
No trip to Coffs is complete without a visit to the Big Banana. Established in 1964 by banana farmer John Landy who wanted to stop traffic at his roadside stall, the giant yellow attraction is a kids paradise with toboggan track, water park, ice skating rink and candy kitchen where you can watch sweets being handmade.
Nearby hippy haven Bellingen is a town bursting with cafes, galleries and quirky shops. Monthly markets with live music always attract a crowd with antique shopping and trinket collecting popular. It’s hard not to get swept up in the alternative lifestyle and buzz of this creative town.
For the adrenalin junky there are tandem sky dives over the coastline or whitewater raft expeditions down the Nymboida River. The 9km adventure covers rapids up to grades 4-5.

WHEN TO TRAVEL
It is said that Coffs Coast has one of Australia’s most livable environments, a subtropical climate that averages maximum 24 degrees celcius with a minimum 13, so any time of year is ok to explore the area.

TRANSPORT
Getting to Coffs is simple and can be accessed by road, rail and air. The Pacific Highway runs right through the city, a 6 hour drive from Sydney, five from Brisbane. Qantas, VirginBlue and Brindabella have daily flights from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and CountryLink run two rail services from Sydney to Brisbane per day. You can find price and timetable information on their site. (http://www.countrylink.info/)