Did you know you can go ice skating in subtropical Coffs Harbour? And if you knew, have you ever tried it? I’ve known there was an indoor ice rink at The Big Banana ever since I moved here, and I’ve always been keen to try it out, but for some reason I’ve only recently put on those skates – and I loved it.

I was afraid it would be a tiny ice rink but it was actually bigger than expected. I’ve been to an indoor ice skating rink before where you all you could do was go around in tiny circles, but at the Coffs Harbour ice rink, you can actually pick up some decent speed on the straight stretches before having to turn the corner.

The quality of the surface is also pretty good and there are lots of helpers on and off the ice eager to assist anyone who needs a hand.

Ice skating at The Big Banana ice rink, Coffs Harbour: fun for the whole family

(There’s also a short VIDEO at the bottom of this page)

It’s quite strange to see people ice skating in shorts and t-shirts, but it’s a permanent 15 deg C in the hall and if you dress too warm, I guarantee you’ll want to throw off some layers after skating a few rounds.

Essential Info

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Raining in Coffs Harbour? Stuck for things to do? In this blog post, I’ll list a bunch of wet weather ideas for the Coffs Harbour region.

The Coffs Coast is a subtropical region and we do get our fair share of rain throughout the year. If you’d rather not tackle outdoor activities when it rains, or when it threatens to rain, don’t worry – Coffs Harbour has plenty of things to do on a rainy day.

Some of the wet weather activities listed below cater to children, while others appeal more to adults. But hopefully everyone should be able to find some indoor activity or attraction they like in this list.

Things To Do In Coffs Harbour When It Rains:

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One of the most popular ‘Eat Streets’ in Coffs Harbour is the so-called ‘Jetty Strip’. It’s so popular because of the wide variety of restaurants and cafés to choose from. You can just go there and make a last-minute decision what and where you want to eat.

Below is a complete list of all the eateries at the Coffs Harbour Jetty Strip of restaurants, their specialties, their phone numbers and a link to their website, if they have one. There are around 20 cafés and restaurants in all.

Where is the Jetty Strip of Restaurants?

The Jetty Strip is at the bottom end of Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour, just before the road becomes Orlando Street. It runs between Marina Drive and Camperdown Street. See Map. It is opposite the Jetty Village Shopping Centre and near the railway crossing on Marina Drive, which goes to the Jetty Foreshores, Jetty Beach and the Coffs Harbour International Marina. It takes about 3 minutes to drive to the Jetty Strip from the Coffs Harbour CBD along Harbour Drive.

Part of Coffs Harbour's 'eat street' - the Jetty Strip with over a dozen cafés and restaurants

The cafés and restaurants at the Jetty Strip:

Starting from Jetty Dive Centre on the easternmost corner of the Jetty Strip, you’ll find the following eateries:

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Do you dive? If not, you can see what the underwaterworld of the Solitary Islands Marine Park looks like at the Aquarium of the National Marine Science Centre in Coffs Harbour.

Find out more about Coffs Coast fish and other sea creatures at the Coffs Aquarium

The Aquarium is only open on Saturday and Sunday, and daily during NSW holidays, and it makes a nice brief outing for a rainy day on the weekend. Treat yourself and have lunch or coffee at Pacific Bay Resort afterwards – it’s right there, after all.

It’s not big (don’t expect something like the Sydney Aquarium) but the NMSC Aquarium gives a good overview of the fish, coral and other sea creatures of the Coffs Coast area.

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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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