Why Coffs Harbour?
What 2450 has that nowhere else does. Every fact sourced.
- A free 20-hectare botanic garden
The North Coast Regional Botanic Garden opened in 1988, just one kilometre from the CBD. It covers 20 hectares, entry is free, and native forest and mangroves make up about half of it.Source: Wikipedia
- A walk that tells the goanna story
At Korora, the 400-metre Gumgali track leads to Korora Lookout. Artworks along the way tell the Aboriginal story of the black goanna. The name Korora comes from 'Kurrawa', read as 'rough seas', 'sound of the waves' or 'roar of the seas'.Source: Wikipedia
- Where the district's bananas began
Hermann Rieck was the first to grow bananas in the district, at Korora, and banana farming spread out from there.Source: Wikipedia
- Home of Australia's largest Indigenous rugby carnival
Every March, Coffs Harbour hosts Ella7s, described as Australia's largest Indigenous rugby carnival. The national touch football championships, The Championships (formerly the National Touch League), are played here in the same month.Source: Wikipedia
And the whole area: Why Coffs?
What can Coffs say that nowhere else can? Plenty. Here's the pitch, every fact sourced.
- World Heritage rainforest an hour away
Dorrigo National Park is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area. Walk the Skywalk and look all the way from the forest to the sea.Source: NSW National Parks
- Muttonbird Island is a moon sacred place
Its Gumbaynggirr name, Giidany Miirlarl, means moon sacred place. Wedge-tailed shearwaters, the muttonbirds, nest all over it.Source: NSW National Parks
- It's named after a spelling mistake
Ship owner John Korff sheltered here from a storm in 1847 and called it Korff's Harbour. In 1861 a Crown surveyor wrote it down wrong, and Coffs stuck.Source: Wikipedia
- Where the mountains meet the sea
Coffs is often described as the only place in NSW where the Great Dividing Range comes right down to the Pacific Ocean. - Gumbaynggirr Country
Coffs is on Gumbaynggirr Country. The harbour's Gumbaynggirr name is Gitten Mirreh, meaning big moon.Source: Wikipedia
- Sunnier than Brisbane and Cairns
Coffs averages about 122 clear days a year: sunnier than Brisbane and Cairns, a little behind Townsville. Locals will also tell you the CSIRO once named it Australia's best climate. We couldn't find that study, so if you have it, send it in!Source: Wikipedia
- Where tropical meets temperate
In the Solitary Islands Marine Park, the warm East Australian Current meets cooler southern water. Many species here live at the northern or southern edge of their range, and critically endangered grey nurse sharks gather here.Source: Australian Marine Parks
- Home of the original big thing
The Big Banana turned 50 in 2014.Source: Wikipedia
- The Jetty is older than Federation
Finished in August 1892, it reached about 500 m out to sea so steam cranes could load timber onto ships. The last commercial cargo left in 1979, it reopened restored in 1997, and it has been State Heritage listed since 2021. Technically it reaches straight out to sea like a pier, but it will always be the Jetty, and jumping off it is a Coffs rite of passage.Source: Coffs Coast Heritage
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