Discombobulation

What a ridiculous start to the day!!

We didn't start early, because it was a very cold and foggy morning and knowing that we would be driving up the mountain to Dorrigo, we decided to delay our departure until there was a good chance that the fog would lift.

Last time we drove to Dorrigo, we turned a corner and drove into thick fog with misty rain and we were terrified for the entire trip, with a semitrailer right on our tail and BGWLBH alternating between praying to god and apologising profusely to the truck driver behind us.

So we took our time getting ready and packing the car. Once we were ready to go, I went to grab the cabin key from my bag to lodge at reception and I couldn't find it! I emptied my handbag with no success. Checked the pockets of the coat that I wore last night, checked under the car seat, double checked the cabin, looked in my computer bag ... and meanwhile, BGWLBH was checking through the car and in her handbag, on the off chance that she grabbed it by mistake. Nothing.

I decided to get my suitcase out of the boot and take it back into the cabin to empty it out. FINALLY, I found it in the most obvious spot .. in my jewellery travel bag .. where all shiny sparkly things should be!

We packed everything back into the car and I climbed into the passenger seat and said "Where are my sunglasses?"

We looked at each other and BGWLBH rolled her eyes.

I emptied my bag, with no success, checked the floor of the car and in the door pocket. Checked the glove box. Looked in my toiletries bag and a couple of other bags in the boot. BGWLBH said "Go empty your suitcase again". I replied with .. "It won't be there, I just looked there for the keys! I probably left them at the Club last night."

So I dragged my suitcase out of the car again and took it into the cabin to empty it out. Halfway through the 'emptying out' process, I found the damned things in the middle of my clothes!

Luckily, we were in no hurry and we both had a good giggle about it .. I will never live it down and BGWLBH will have something to tease me and laugh about for years to come!

We had to fuel up the car, so we drove back into Armidale and then on to the shopping mall where we had bacon and eggs at The Coffee Club and did a little shopping for necessities. It was about 11.30am before we finally made it onto the open road.

On the drive, we saw a signpost for the town of Wollomombi and decided to turn in to check it out. We recognised it immediately because we had bought the worst coffee in the history of the universe at the little shop (which is now a post office) on the main street last time we were there. Our memories were obviously struggling this morning.

So on we drove to the next stop, which was Ebor. We've been to Ebor twice before. Ebor Falls are quite spectacular, but we didn't go there today. We stopped at the little coffee shop called 'Fusspots' and BGWLBH got herself a Mocha. She also spotted a very appropriate sign that said "I finally got it all together and now I can't remember where I put it!"

Dorrigo was our next stop. We had a bathroom break and went for a stroll around the town. There was a lovely little boutique where I bought a vest and another gift shop where BGWLBH spent some money.

We noticed a sign for 'Dangar Falls' so we decided to head in that direction and found another beautiful waterfall very close to the town. We also noticed that the closer we got to the coast, the more tourists were about. Lots of kids and noise. Not our idea of a fun holiday.

So on we went.

We didn't get very far on the other side of Dorrigo when we saw a sign for Dorrigo National Park with a skywalk lookout and decided to go for a sticky beak there. Soooooo many people and kids! We checked out the skywalk .. well I did .. BGWLBH is terrified of heights. We started off on the walk through the rainforest hoping to spot some birds, but there were kids running and jumping and making a hell of racket, so we decided to turn back and have lunch at the restaurant near the skywalk instead.

BGWLBH had a pulled chicken toasted sandwich with gf bread and I had a giant bowl of Chicken and Corn Chowder. It was the biggest bowl of soup I've ever seen and as yummy as it was, I could only eat half of it. The gf sourdough toast that came with it was pretty disgusting though.

I should mention that we decided overnight, not to go to Kempsey today, because the accommodation looked very unsavoury and a quick post on facebook brought us enough negative comments warning us not to go there.

We chose Coffs Harbour instead.

We drove through to Bellingen and discovered a beautiful little coffee shop on the edge of town nestled in the side of the mountain. An old style home converted into a coffee shop/cafe. There were people sitting at tables out the front playing chess .. it looked to be a couple of elderly gentlemen playing chess with some young teenagers and a young man.

We walked through the shop to the side doors and stepped out onto a verandah where we chose a table and then ordered a wine for me (it was after 3pm) and another mocha for BGWLBH. I set my laptop up on the table and searched for accommodation in Coffs Harbour and booked a room online. The view from the back of the cafe was breathtaking with green fields, the huge trees lining the river and then the rolling hills in the background.

We could hear entertainment up the road. It sounded like fiddles and banjoes and crowds of people yelling for more. Such a great atmosphere.

When we hit the road again and drove through the main street of Bellingen, it was obvious that there had been markets on all day and they were packing up. There were lots of hippies and colourful people with dreadlocks and musical instruments and a crazy big colourful double decker bus with music blaring and the driver obviously bopping along as he drove.

I felt a little disappointed that we missed it all, but we certainly drove through a very happy atmosphere and Bellingen is obviously the place to be on the weekends!

Finally we made it to Coffs Harbour and were excited to see that our Motel had a lovely restaurant with a great menu and we planned on eating 'in' until we realised that it is closed on Sundays. Of course it was!

Luckily, I had overheard the receptionist telling a guest that the Coff's Exies had a courtesy bus that picked people up from our motel, so we booked the bus and headed to the Club for dinner instead. It was a beautiful club with a big friendly smiling man at the front door to welcome guests as they entered. He did all the hard work with the computer sign in for us and explained where everything was in the club.

The staff were all very friendly and helpful. The club was huge and looked almost brand new. There was a little coffee shop area and then the bistro which had it's own bar. The meals were huge and the food delicious and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time for a couple of hours until the courtesy bus brought us home when we were ready.

It's been a long, eventful, interesting and fun day.

Time for sleep.

Nite all.