Coffs Harbour is where the Waterfall Way meets the sea, and the town has the easygoing, banana-and-surf character you expect from the mid-north coast of New South Wales. The Big Banana, opened in 1964 and often credited as Australia's first big roadside novelty, still stands beside the highway as a reminder of the plantations that once covered the hills. These days blueberries have mostly replaced bananas, but the sunny slopes are still there.
Start your day at the harbour, where a breakwater leads out to Muttonbird Island, called Giidany Miirlarl by the Gumbaynggirr people. Wedge-tailed shearwaters, the muttonbirds themselves, nest here from late August to April, and the walk to the top gives a sweeping view up and down the coast and across the Solitary Islands Marine Park. In the cooler months, from about May to November, humpback whales pass offshore and can often be seen from the headland. The harbour jetty is a fine place for an early coffee before the traffic builds.
The riding begins once you leave town. The Waterfall Way climbs from the coastal plain through Bellingen, a leafy riverside village with galleries and bakeries, then rises through the rainforest of the Dorrigo escarpment, where the road twists through tall trees and tree ferns and the air gets noticeably cooler and wetter. Dorrigo National Park has a skywalk over the canopy, and a string of waterfalls, including Dangar Falls, gives the road its name. On the plateau the landscape opens into dairy country and then rolls on to Armidale. The best conditions are in the morning in the dry months, when the road is clear of mist and tourist traffic. Wet roads under rainforest canopy can be slippery with leaf litter, so go gently on the downhill bends.
As a town of more than twenty-six thousand, Coffs Harbour has fuel, food, motorbike shops and accommodation in plenty. The Pacific Highway bypass has pulled most trucks away from the town centre, which makes for easier riding than it used to be.
Fill the tank before you leave: services thin out on the escarpment, and the best stretches are best enjoyed without watching the gauge.