Skating Session Times are shown below.

In the last blog post we talked about how enjoyable and also educational the World of Bananas Experience was.

Well today we are going Skating!

When I was younger, I used to go ice-skating regularly. I loved it and was not too bad. But now with the busyness of life, I have not had a chance to go skating for many years. In fact, when I stop and think about it, it is probably more than 10 years since I skated.

The Coffs Ice-skating rink operates daily with a varying number of sessions depending on the time of year. So in NSW school holidays there are more sessions and on the weekends there are also additional skating sessions.

Friday and Saturday nights are popular times for the young people and youth groups.

When we arrived at the rink, we went in and had our tickets stamped. Then grabbed our correctly sized skates and quickly put them on.

Greg and I were pleased to see that there were not a lot of people when we first went out onto the ice, as we were quite slow at getting around.

Since it has been so long since I skated, I was pleased to find out that they offer a metal skating frame for beginners, or in my case for those beginning again! The frame slides smoothly over the ice and is much like the concept of a walker for elderly people.

I actually found it a good way to regain my confidence so that I could skate without the frame.

After we had been skating for around 15 minutes, a group of high school students arrived with their teacher as part of their sports activity. It was nice watching the youth skate passed me. They reminded me of twenty years ago, when I used to skate comfortably and confidently.

Greg and I enjoyed our time skating. It was something that we do not usually have time or energy for. This made it even more special.

So if you are in the Coffs area then why not go to the Big Banana and find out the daily times that the skating rink will be open.

Skating Session Times:

Monday to Sunday:

During NSW School Terms

• One Session Daily: 1:00pm to 2:30pm

NSW School Holidays: 2 Sessions

• 10:30am to 12:00 Noon & 1:00pm to 2:30pm

Friday & Saturday Nights:

In Addition to the Sessions during the day, there is also an evening session.

• 7pm to 9pm [Great for Youth-groups or Get-togethers]

Next time we will write a blog post about the Toboggans at the Big Banana. Even young children enjoy the toboggan rides down the hill as they sit in front of mum or dad. If you purchase a group of tickets then it works out cheaper and the tickets can be shared among family members or friends.

Until then, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy a fun time at the Big Banana, Coffs Harbour.

Leanne Annett <><

As I mentioned in the last post, Greg and I visited the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour over 3 separate days, during our week visit to the region.

The visit day we got our combined ticket that included the World of Bananas Theatre & Plantation Tour, a 1.5 hour Ice Skating session and 2 Toboggan rides for each of us. It is great that once you have your ticket that you can do each of the specific things on the day that it best suits you.

So on our first day at the Big Banana we thought that we would do the Educational and fun Plantation Tour and the World of Bananas Experience so that we had a better understanding about the history of bananas themselves and the Big Banana also.

We found the two different theatre presentations to be very informative and enjoyable. The first theatre gave a good history of bananas. It then went on to reveal the history of the Coffs Harbour and Woolgoolga banana industries.

It amazed me to learn how hard those, mostly immigrant, workers worked each day to grow and then harvest the bananas. Without machinery, like we have today, and because of the steep slopes on the hills around the area, the bunches of bananas needed to be carried by hand to the collection points.

Often a bunch of bananas can be anywhere from 25 to 50 kg each. These strong and motivated men designed a frame to go over their shoulders so that they could carry two bunches of bananas at once. This was often around 100kg each time they moved these 2 bunches to the collection point.

The workers repeated this process and moved five or more pairs of bunches each day!

The second theatre had a special hologram presentation where a hologram man and woman discussed and demonstrated special facts and benefits of bananas.

We were really impressed with the presentation and also the information presented. We were even given a Fresh Coffs Harbour Banana to eat at the start of the presentation.

After the second theatre we went outside to begin the self-guided tour of the Big Banana Plantation. This took us up and around paths that run through the banana plants themselves on the side of the hill behind the Big Banana.

It was interesting seeing the different stages of the developing banana fruit on the banana trees. Everything from the very first stages of the flowers, to the tiny baby bananas starting to develop, then the fruit developing and growing in size and finally to the fully developed bunches of bananas, covered with protective plastic sleeves that would soon be harvested.

At the end of the self-guided tour you go into a packing shed and watch a video on how the bananas are cut off the large bunches and packed appropriately into the correct sized boxes to be sent to shops all around Australia.

There is then a room where the kids can sit down and colour in various pictures of the Big Banana character doing fun activities.

At the same time the adults can walk around the room and look at the information filled photos, pictures and different displays. You can see all of the varied tools that are used to harvest the bananas and then to carefully cut the hands off from the bunches.

If you are feeling strong then you can try your strength at lifting a bunch of bananas up via a rope and pulley system. I only managed to just move the 25kg bunch off the floor. Greg is obviously stronger than I am and he succeeded in getting the 50kg bunch lifted up.

I can only imagine how the works in past decades lifted two bunches weighing in at approximately 100kg! And then doing this multiple times each day. Wow! They certainly must have developed some strong muscles!

Greg and I found the whole presentation and tour to be very educational and enjoyable.

In our next blog post we will continue at the Big Banana, with Greg and I going to the Coffs Ice Skating rink for one and a half hours of skating fun!

Since my first visit, as a child, to the Big Banana back in 1974, there have been many additional features and things to do added onto this popular destination. There is something for every member of the family, from the youngest child to the more mature family members.

Until next time, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy Travelling to Coffs Harbour.

Leanne Annett <><

Last time we talked about our drive from Coffs Harbour down to Frederickton, just north of Kempsey, to enjoy delicious Fredos pies for lunch.

Well today we are back in Coffs and enjoying some fun activities at the Famous Big Banana.

There are so many different things to do at this well known Big Tourist Destination.

Fun Activities at the Big Banana, Coffs

• World of Bananas Theatre
• Plantation Tour
• Ice Skating
• Tobogganing
• Water Park
• Candy Kitchen
• Sunset Lakes Nursery
• Puppet People
• Trike Rides
• Bungee Trampoline
• Going Bananas Cafe
• Big Banana Gift Shop

You could easily spend more than a full day enjoying everything that the Big Banana has to offer. In fact, Greg and I went over three different days and enjoyed much of what is on offer at one of the most well-known “Australia’s Big Things”.

Next time we will continue with more details on our visit and what we did at the Big Banana.

Until then, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy Traveling Australia

Leanne Annett <><

After spending the morning at the Coffs Butterfly House in Bonville, and enjoying lovely Devonshire scones, jam and cream for morning tea, Greg and I drove south to Frederickton for lunch at Fredos Pies.

Since December 1997 my family and I have stopped in at Fredos Pies on the Macleay Valley Coast, on our many trips from Newcastle, NSW up to the Gold Coast, Qld, to visit family. Often we would drop in both travelling north and on the way back down south.

Even my daughter, who is vegetarian, has always loved the food at Fredos as they have a good range of vegetarian pies, currently consisting of eight different varieties.

Vegetarian Range of Pies at Fredos

• Spinach and Cheese (My daughter loves this one)
• Farmhouse Potage
• Asparagus Cheese and Pasta
• Cauliflower, Broccoli and Corn
• Vegetable Mornay
• Vegetables and Garlic Sauce
• Curried Vegetable
• Gonzo Gado (Chickpeas, mild chilli, coconut cream)

Since we had happy memories of all of our previous visits to Fredos, Greg and I made the decision to drive the 100km south of Coffs Harbour to enjoy some yummy pies at our favourite pie shop! Frederickton is just 5km north of Kempsey and about 1 hour south of Coffs.

Greg was braver than I am and he ordered Fredos famous Crocodile Pie! I was more traditional and ordered a Shepherds Pie with creamy mashed potato on top.

I was surprised when I tasted Greg’s crocodile pie. It tasted similar to chicken. It was a pale colour and did not have an over powering flavour. I was pleased to have tasted it.

There is a wide range of Game and Gourmet pies available. For instance, you can buy the following game pies at Fredos.

Game and Gourmet Pies

• Crocodile
• Kangaroo
• Emu
• Ostrich
• Quail
• Camel
• Rabbit
• Rabbit Mulligatawny
• Venison
• Lambs’ Fry and Bacon
• Lamb, Mint and Honey
• Mongolian Lamb
• Bacon and Egg with Cheese
• Seafood
• Curried Prawn and Vegetables
• Prawn and Vegetables in Garlic Sauce

While we were in the shop Greg and I were blessed to chat with Nola Turnbull, the owner and founder of Fredos Pies. Nola set up Fredos back in April 1993. We recorded an interview with Nola. I will be editing this video and hope to have it published on this website in the next week or so.

One question, which I asked Nola in the interview, was “What is the most popular pie purchased at Fredos pies?”

I was actually surprised by the answer. I thought that it would be something different and unusual, but the answer was, “The plain, regular beef pie is still the most popular pie!” So there you go. The good old Aussie beef pie is still the most popular choice for most Aussies!

Nola has also set up Cafe 73 in the shop adjacent to Fredos Pies. Greg and I enjoyed some hot drinks in Cafe 73. Greg had a latte and I had a cappuccino. My cappuccino was absolutely delicious. Often I find coffee at some cafes to be too bitter, since I do not add sugar to my coffee, but this cappuccino had a lovely flavour and taste.

Not only would we highly recommend Fredos Pies to anyone travelling along the Eastern coast of NSW, in the Kempsey to Coffs Harbour region, but also recommend Cafe 73 for great tasting coffees.

In our next post we are going to show you the great time that we had at the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour. We enjoyed being educated with the World of Bananas Theatre and the Plantation Tour. Then the following day Greg and I spent an hour a half at the Big Banana Ice Skating Rink. We then went and each had two rides on the Big Banana Toboggan.

So until next time, enjoy life and enjoy travelling the world

Leanne Annett <><