Coffs Harbour

We sailed overnight from Camden Haven to Coffs Harbour, and we enjoyed being able to actually sail for half of the way. Early in the morning, we had to start this damn engine again, and to make matters worse, the autopilot went on strike and refused to help. But, all that was well worth it as Coffs Harbour proved to be a very nice and pleasant port of call. I did not expect to find so many services available at the marina, laundry, showers, restaurants, schipchandlers, yard and even an electronician who fixed the autopilot in less than an hour.
Yesterday, Bernard and Claudine left us to fly back home and they are leaving a big hole behind them. Bernard had a very strong and pleasant presence, not to mention the "french cuisine" with butter and cream.
After they had left by taxi, Olivier took me to a 10k walk to get to the downtown area where we could find an Irish Pub and have a couple of beers before returning, still walking, along the river to return to the boat, exhausted but very pleased to have moved my butt a little bit. . . .
Today, we did it again, this time to go to the shopping mall, about the same distance as downtown, with a MacDonalds, a KFC, Target, etc. . . . I bought a typical australian hat and a "gorilla pod", kind of flexible tentacles that allow me to install my camera on a branch, on a rail, etc.. I even took the time to learn how the timer works on my camera.
Also today, Cosinus arrived in port from Opua, with Christian and Jean-Louis. Very pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, we are still planning to leave on Saturday morning, but this will at least leave us time to have dinner together tomorrow.
Also tomorrow, Debbie arrives from Sydney by train. She will stay with us for a good portion of the trip around Australia.