For a great walk in the rainforest only 5km from Coffs Harbour, you have to visit Bruxner Park Flora Reserve. In addition to several signposted walking trails, there is also a fantastic lookout point over all of Coffs Harbour – Sealy Lookout – at 310 metres above sea level.

The walking tracks at Bruxner Park are only a 10-minute drive from the CBD, which make them  the closest rainforest walks to the Coffs Harbour city centre.

These bushwalks are so near and so easily accessible that you’ll have no excuse not to go there at least once. It’s amazing how many Coffs Harbour residents have never actually walked along these forest trails.

Immerse yourself in a rainforest experience just 10mins from Coffs Harbour

There is even a special flyer available from the Coffs Coast Visitor Information Centre that has a map showing all the walking trails.

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Coffs Harbour is so much more than beaches. Our hinterland is incredibly beautiful, tranquil and close by. I love driving through the Orara Valley and stopping the car wherever I want to enjoy the view and listen to the birds.

A Saturday or Sunday morning or afternoon is ideal to head out west to Coramba, Upper Orara and Nana Glen. On Monday and Tuesday, you may find some shops or cafés closed, but the views will be equally beautiful.

Find scenic views like this one at Upper Orara all around the Orara Valley

From the centre of Coffs Harbour, follow the signs to Coramba via West High Street and Coramba Road. The scenery becomes rural in just a few minutes, with banana plantations, avocado and fruit trees, wide open fields with cows and horses, and hills and valleys everywhere you look.

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One of the best kept secrets of the Coffs Coast is Red Rock – a tiny but beautiful village half an hour north of Coffs Harbour. It is situated by the beach and along Red Rock/Corindi River, and borders Yuraygir National Park.

If the weather is good, Red Rock is the perfect destination for a relaxing day out with your special someone or the whole family.

The picturesque park by Red Rock River invites a rest, a picnic and a swim

Here are just a couple of things you can do when you’re in Red Rock:

• Swim across the crystal clear river to the sand bank, walk in the direction the tide is going, get back in and float back to the park where you entered the water. 
• Go fishing in the ocean or the river, from under a tree on the riverside or the boardwalk, or from your boat you can launch at the boat ramp (the caravan park kiosk sells bait).
• Bring a good book, a blanket and a picnic and relax under a tree in the picturesque park, or bring a ball or frisbee and play on the lawn of the riverside park.
• Launch your canoe, kayak or rubber dingy in the river and go for a paddle up through the undisturbed nature of Yuraygir National Park that starts here.
• Go for a walk along the boardwalk, you’ll see and hear lots of  birds by the waterside.
• Swim or surf in the ocean near the actual ‘Red Rock’ the village is named after.

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Sometimes you feel like a walk on the beach, but other times you like to go somewhere where there are more trees, more birds and there’s more shade. But you don’t always want to make a daytrip out of it by driving to a National Park somewhere. At those times, the Coffs Creek Walk is ideal!

The Coffs Creek Walk is right in town but nicely hidden away between the trees, and I can guarantee you’ll feel far away from it all. It’s a real bushwalk through the forested fringes of Coffs Creek, with several boardwalk sections across wetland areas and mangroves.

The Coffs Creek Walk is a real bush walk right in the middle of Coffs

Reasons to do the Coffs Creek Walk – or sections of it:

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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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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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