Coffs Harbour A refuge on Australia’s east coast. By Jason Bermingham In 1847 a ship builder named John Korff, sailing along the eastern coast of Australia, ran into foul weather. He sought refuge in a nearby cove ringed by forested mountains and protected from the open sea by a barrier island. Here he lowered his anchor and waited out the storm. In all likelihood Korff was not the first to take advantage of this lee shore. After all, from half a million to a million Aborigines lived on the Australian continent on Captain James Cook claimed it for Britain in 1770. But Korff is credited as the first European to anchor in this harbour, and for more than a decade the place bore his name. In 1861 a British surveyor made a spelling mistake in a Gazettal notice, and thus Coffs Harbour was born. Coffs Harbour is located in the Australian state of New South Wales, 570 kilometers north of Sydney and 350 kilometers south of Brisbane along the Pacific Coast Highway. It is home to 60,000 people and that number continues to grow as Coffs becomes a popular anchoring point for adventure travelers, people retiring from the city, and families looking for a better standard of living. “The area is so nice. The climate so mild, “ says Coffs resident John Logan. “We have beautiful hinterland and the beaches are gorgeous. People who are sick of city life sell up and move here. They are looking for a “sea change”. Logan is a case in point. Born in Sydney, he spent the 1970s working for a concert management company in the city, putting together shows for groups such as the Beach Boys, Electric Light Orchestra, and ABBA. Logan’s parents moved to Coffs in 1979 and he loved the town so much that he too decided to stay. Today Logan run his own business, But instead of working for big n-name bands, he runs the Coffs International Busking Festival (www.coffsharbour-buskers.com ), which brings together street musicians from around the world. The charms of Coffs Harbour have also spurred growth in the area’s tourism industry. For years, backpackers starting out in Sydney have moved up to the Pacific Coast Highway on this eastern route to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Once just an overnight stop along the way, Coffs is now a destination in its own right. Muttonbird Island, which had protected Korff and his crew during that fateful storm 160 years ago, now has walking trails and viewing platforms. The Dorrigo National Park (one hour from Coffs offers boardwalks into the Great Escarpment’s World Heritage rainforests. The solitary Islands Marine Park, running 75 kilometers along the coast north of Coffs, boasts some of the world’s most beautiful deserted beaches, along with excellent fishing and natural reefs for diving enthusiasts. In addition to ship builders, concert promoters, and backpackers, the rich and the famous are also seeking refuge in Coffs. In fact, if the story of John Korff is ever brought to the big screen, the producers won’t have to look far for a leading man. One of world’s most popular actors, Gladiator star (and New Zealand native) Russell Crowe, lives inland from Coffs Harbour at a place called Nana Glen. Last year, when filming of the movie Eucalyptus with Nicole Kidman was cancelled, Russell retired to a local pub – the Sawtell Hotel – to drown his sorrows. But Coffs´s growing popularity does have its drawbacks. Construction of condominium complexes has transformed once-charming parts of town is something like a suburb of Sydney. And people mean pollution; conservationists are worried about the effects of growth on the area’s biological diversity. Last, the beaches around Coff´s are no longer as secret as they were a decade ago. But efforts are being made to protect the area, and increased tourism has certainly brought jobs and economic growth to the town. What would John Korff think of his harbour if he could see it today? Would he be proud of the place that bears his somewhat-modified name, or would he be saddened by the series of transformations his discovery set off? We’ll never know the answer to this question, but one thing is certain: Coffs Harbour, which provided sanctuary for a storm-tossed English ship builder so many years ago, will continue as a refuge for more and more people in the years to come. Australia’s Big Things Coffs Harbour enjoys a sub-tropical climate with average summer temperatures of 26 C and average winter temperatures of 18 C. This weather is ideal fro growing tropical fruit and Coffs is the hub for a prosperous banana industry. Fijian Bananas were introduced to Coffs in 1881 and the industry grew in the early 1900s with the construction of a railway and the harbour breakwall. In the l920s, plantations to the north were hit by disease and Coffs´ banana industry boomed. The people of Coffs paid tribute to their chief export in 1964 by constructing an 11-meter-long, 5-meter-high Big Banana. This monument started a trend and other “Big Things” soon began popping up all over Australia: a Big Pineapple in Nambour, Queensland; a Big Potato in Robertson, New South Wales; and a Big Apple in Stanthorp, Queensland. The list of Big Things in the Land Down Under isn’t limited to fruit. Road trippers can also get their picture taken inside a Big Oyster in Taree, New South Wales; beside a Big Coffee Pot in Deloraine, Tasmania; and underneath a Big Boxing Crocodile in Humpty Doo, Northern Territory. Today there are over 50 Big Things spread out across Australia. Important links searched by Ivani: Coffs Coast International Buskers Festival http://www.coffsharbourbuskers.com More about Coffs Harbour & John Korff http://www.about-australia.com/nsw/nswtown.htm http://www.raywhite.com/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=xrw&ag=XRWXBA&cu=XRW2&page=home http://www.visitcoffsharbour.com/coffsharbour/history.html http://www.abc.net.au/news/features/ocean/coffs.htm http://www.dawsons.com.au/destinations_UPS_22/coffs_coast.htm http://www.ljhooker.com.au/real-estate/coffs-harbour-real-estate-nsw.html http://www.smh.com.au/news/New-South-Wales/Coffs-Harbour/2005/02/17/1108500193317.html http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/3caf0/1ca7ba/ http://coffs-harbour.biography.ms/ Australia Big Things http://www.alphalink.com.au/~richardb/page4.htm http://www.travelmate.com.au/BigThings/BigThings.asp http://www.wilmap.com.au/bigstuff/default.htm |