There’s always something happening in and around Coffs Harbour, but I thought it would be good to give an overview of just the biggest Coffs Harbour events and festivals - the most popular ones that are held every year.

For more information on any of these, click on the link to go to the relevant website.

Overview of Coffs Harbour events in 2009 and Coffs Harbour festivals in 2009:

January:
Pittwater to Coffs (yacht race) & Festival of Sail
March’s Coffs Jetty Carnival
Coffs Open Air Cinema

February:
Botanical Jazz

March:
Coffs Coast Ocean Swims 

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‘Botanical Jazz’ is a jazz event held in Coffs Harbour.

Unfortunately, this event is NOT being held in 2010 for some reason. Hopefully it will be on again next year.

In the last couple of years, Botanical Jazz was held every Sunday afternoon in February, featuring outdoor jazz concerts at the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden (official name) or Coffs Harbour Botanic Gardens (what most people call it).

I’ve been to a few of the concerts in recent years. The atmosphere is great and the setting is fabulous. The concerts take place in the open performance area not far from the Garden’s entrance which is surrounded by big old trees.

The entrance and performance space at the Coffs Harbour Botanic Garden

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Coffs Harbour’s historic Jetty (1892) is a great destination any time of day or year, but the atmosphere can be especially magical around sunset. Not to mention when there’s a full moon as well, rising from behind Muttonbird Island.

I dare say that the Jetty at sunset is the top choice for local couples to have their bridal pictures taken, and you’ll see at least one bride and groom there most Saturday afternoons or early evening.

The Coffs Harbour Jetty and Muttonbird Island at dusk and with a full moon

The Coffs Harbour Jetty (which is heritage protected) juts out into the harbour and you’ll get a good look, from many angles depending on where you stop to enjoy the view, at:

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About 15km north of Coffs Harbour is a village called Emerald Beach. It’s in a very pretty location and worth a visit even just to respond to the southern headland’s ‘call’… “Look At Me Now” is its name. And go and look at it you should, in my opinion.

To get there, drive north from Coffs Harbour, take the Emerald Beach turnoff from the Highway onto Fiddaman Road and turn right at Dammerel Crescent to the carpark at the foot of the headland.

Look At Me Now Headland is part of Moonee Beach Nature Reserve. There’s a short walking trail that takes you up and around the headland,  which is a significant Aboriginal site.

Start of short walking track at Look At Me Now Headland

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I love spending a few hours in the seaside town of Sawtell. It’s a popular holiday spot, especially in summer, and it’s easy to see why. It’s got:

• great natural beauty,
• an attractive main beach (Sawtell Beach) tucked in between Boambee and Bonville headlands,
• picturesque Boambee and Bonville Creeks to swim, fish or paddle a canoe in, and
• a charming main street (First Ave) lined with great old fig trees, boutique shops and galleries and lots of al fresco cafés.

A great way to really enjoy all this beauty, if the weather is nice (which it can be year round), is to go for a stroll around Bonville Headland (also referred to as Sawtell Headland), look at the waves and the surfers, and to take a dip in the ocean, creek or rock pool.

The rock pool on Bonville Headland, Sawtell

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If you’ve got an hour or two to kill and perhaps it’s raining or it’s too hot to be walking around outside, I recommend you pay a visit to Coffs Harbour’s quirky Bunker Cartoon Gallery. 

The World War II Bunker has been turned into a fabulous gallery space

It’s a unique and funky little art gallery housed in an authentic, underground WWII bunker. It’s also Australia’s first and only dedicated cartoon gallery and has the largest collection of contemporary cartoons in the Southern Hemisphere (around 18,000 works at last count in December 2008).

Around 11,000 cartoons, caricatures and comic strips have been catalogued and are available in folders at the reception area for viewing at your leisure (in addition to the ones that are on the walls, which rotate every couple of weeks and usually follow a theme).

The gallery is also used as an art exhibition space, with exhibitions changing about once a month so there’s always something new on show.

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One activity that is a typical Coffs Harbour thing to do, doesn’t cost any money and NEVER gets boring, is to go for a walk along the North Wall (the northern breakwall along the Coffs Harbour International Marina) and up onto and over Muttonbird Island (and back, of course).

View from the top of Muttonbird Island over Coffs Harbour

Muttonbird Island is unique because:

• although it’s an island, you can walk to it because it’s attached to the mainland via the northern breakwall, so it’s very accessible;
• it’s a seabird rookery and is home to thousands of muttonbirds (wedge-tailed shearwaters, is what they’re called officially) between August and April;
• there’s a paved path over the top to the other side (1km return), giving you unsurpassed 360-degree views from the top back over Coffs Harbour, along the coast, the beaches and the ocean;
• there’s a viewing platform at the end from where you can watch for passing humpback whales between May and November;
• it’s a Nature Reserve and the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service has put up interpretive signs with interesting information about the shearwaters/muttonbirds and marine life such as the whales.

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In 2010, the third year that Coastal Cinemas is running the Coffs Open Air Cinema in January, there will only be a very brief run – 3 nights only from 8-10 January.

In the previous two years, it ran for two whole weeks. But the good news is – this year it’s fully sponsored so entry is free!

In the 2010 program, there’s an outdoor movie in Woolgoolga (at the Beach Reserve) on Friday evening 8 January and two in Coffs Harbour (at the Jetty Foreshores) on Saturday 9 January and Sunday 10 January.

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I live in Coffs Harbour and I love it. I also write web content for a living. I’ve decided to start a website in blog format to write about life in Coffs Harbour and all the great things you can do there.

I’ve only put this site up today (5 Jan 09) so there’s nothing much there yet, but I will be adding lots of content over the next weeks, months and hopefully years.

There’s so much to do in and around Coffs Harbour that nobody around here (or visiting here) should ever have any excuse to say “I’m bored”!

So bear with me while I populate this website with ideas for activities and postings about my own (mostly outdoor) experiences. If you want to be kept up to date with new posts, subscribe to my RSS feed!