byron bay trip, first stop: coffs habour

We planned to go to Byron Bay for a long time, but never really got our act together. Until now. Our first stop is Coffs Harbour, though.

As with every trip we take, the first thing is to organise Kimi’s accommodation. She will be staying at Kip in Hunter Valley. We just hope that she won’t get into drinking wine while she’s there and come back home as a wine snob.

Sometimes we organise Kip to come and pick her up, but this time, because we’ll be driving up to Byron Bay, we decided to drop her off at Kip on the way. And she wasn’t happy in the car. As always, she was so stressed. I just wish there was another way.

After dropping Kimi off at Kip, we had a quick lunch stop in Newcastle.

Newcastle
We found this quite hip and edgy café on the main strip in the town centre. It’s called One Penny Black.

This is what I had for lunch and it was yummy:

One Penny Vegan Bowl (Garlic hummus, greens, gram fritter, avocado, quinoa, roasted sweet potato, enoki & button mushrooms) and to drink I had apple, carrot and beetroot juice. Cold-pressed.

After lunch, we drove down to Coffs Harbour to spend the night.

Coffs Harbour
When we arrived at Park Beach Resort Motel, we were greeted by the owners’ dog Coop. Coop liked to hang around the reception area and have his underarms scratched.

Walking down the beach showed us a glimpse of what everyone was talking about Coffs Harbour. The beach is beautiful and not so busy. The surrounding area is full of things to do and places to eat. A little seaside city like but only a little.

As it was almost dinnertime, we asked the lady at the reception for vegetarian-friendly places to eat. The restaurant she recommended was booked out for the night. It would’ve been quite convenient, as the place was within walking distance of the motel, but what can you do? So, we drove down into the centre, had a look around and decided to try something new, something different.

That’s how we ended up eating at an Ethiopian restaurant. Talk about trying something different.

Dinner at Mana Chita
Mana Chita is an authentic East African restaurant. Basically, an Ethiopian restaurant. It was quite funny actually… I was tidying up my recipes before this trip, and I remember spotting an injera recipe amongst African recipe folders. I’ve always wanted to try injera, and it was my luck that evening.

It’s always a good sign when the vegetarian dishes are labelled. So, we spotted this ensemble called Beyenet for Two: a selection of 5 curries on injera, served on a large platter.

Lentil curry, pumpkin curry, spinach & potato curry, split pea curry, beetroot with greens and tomato salsa & spinach relish.

As for the dessert, my husband had Shuro Mia which is a teff crème pudding served with shaved chocolate, date syrup and coconut yoghurt. I had a little taste of it and it was quite light and refreshing.

Well, that was for dinner. In the morning, we went to a nearby café and had eggs Benedict served on a piece of toast, with baby spinach and sliced avocado (as seen below). It was one of the best eggs Benedict we’ve ever had.

Back on the road again…