It was un-Australian to have a maximum temperature of 18 degrees in December on the mid north coast of New South Wales. Darn you La Nina. It was also un-Australian to be in Coffs Harbour and NOT go to the Big Banana. One of the iconic Australian "bigs", we committed ourselves to visiting this infamous attraction rain, hail or shine! It turned out to be a surprise hit, although probably not in the way that was expected. The Big Banana had diversified even more since our last visit. We couldn't do the self-guided walking tour of the plantation , mini golf or water park because of the rain. We did, however, managed to win ourselves 6 soft toys on account of a glitch on the skilltester machine at the Fun Zone. The "glitch" gave us over 60 attempts for free. We got one toy for each child! Elliot was particularly happy with his George Pig. We also managed to score a loot of chocolates from the same machine. It made the our morning. This was followed up with 2 games of laser tag, our exercise for the day. We came out hot and sweaty and were glad we were first off the rank. I'd hate to have to put on a vest that came off a sweaty, smelly stranger. We finished off with banana treats from the cafe and of course...banana merchandise purchases from the gift shop. Our banana experience was complete.
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| The BIG Banana |
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| The 65 attempts at the skilltester...for 6 toys |
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| The final loot |
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| Laser Tag |
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| The banana plants were still there... |
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| Chocolated coated frozen bananas |
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| Banana thickshake |
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| A very delicious banana fritter |
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| Banana incense for Oma and Opa |
We were blessed with a short break in the rain. We made a quick trip down to the jetty to visit the harbour and buy some take away lunch. The rain returned but we pushed on to utlise the pool and visit the beach. The wind was crazy by this stage and we were sand whipped. The lone person on the beach was a dumb Asian (AKA me). Sanity prevailed and we retired to our villas.
Dinner was at Carney and Earl's to continue our coastal burger sampling. This was a laneway, grungy style burger joint that would fit in well in Portland. The verdict... best patties so far, but the package was better at Bro Burgers at the Belmont 16s. The pulled pork loaded fries were amazing but somehow they always taste better when you get to use a snack credit for them
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| The sign at the pub |
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| The jetty |
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| It was very windy!!! |
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| Let's swim! We're going to get wet anyway....what's with a bit of rain... |
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| Carney & Earl's at a laneway |
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| The pulled pork loaded fries |
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| Definitely not diet friendly... |
