Coffs Harbour

There are some nice beaches around Coffs Harbour, but their main attractions is the Big Banana. It started out as a big banana sculpture on the side of the road, that has grown into this kitschy tourist site with a 3D interactive film/tour, a tobogganing ride, an inflated waterslide park, a trike ride (these 3-wheeled motorcycle car things), an ice skating rink, a puzzle shop, a candy factory shop, and café that sells delicious chocolate covered frozen bananas. The area is home to a couple banana plantations, but they really capitalized on the tourist market by creating the big yellow banana sculpture and joining in the "BIG" Australia craze. People now go the "Big Things" Australia tour to see all these larger than life sculptures of randomness: there's a Big Prawn in Ballina, a Big Guitar in Tamworth, a Big Oyster in Taree, etc.

Here's the famous Coffs Harbour Big Banana.

In Coffs Harbour, I took a whale watching cruise to see the migrating humpback whales. But the sea was really really choppy and I got terribly sea sick. The 4m waves (~12ft) were horrible, and I spent most of the time laying down. Nevertheless, I managed to snap a few good whale pictures before relinquishing myself to a nap on the boat bench.

Two whales!!