Why Sawtell?
What 2452 has that nowhere else does. Every fact sourced.
- A beach where the sand sings
Walk Sawtell Beach when it's dry and the sand 'sings' under your feet.Source: Wikipedia
- A whole festival of chilli
Sawtell's annual Chilli Festival brings together more than 100 stalls of chilli-based food and products.Source: Wikipedia
- One of NSW's largest koala populations
Bongil Bongil National Park, Sawtell's nearest national park, was created in 1995. Its forests hold one of the largest koala populations in NSW, and about 165 bird species have been recorded there.Source: Wikipedia
- Started with a shipwreck of cedar
In 1863 a cutter carrying cedar logs ran aground where Sawtell Beach is now. About forty years later, Oswald Sawtell bought and subdivided the land, which gave the town its name.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
Know a fact we've missed? Tell us.