The beautiful Dorrigo bakery

Aha ... Dorrigo bakery is still there! Look, here's the evidential proof.

My father walked into the shop and announced proudly: "Last time we were here was 23 years ago, and the bread was so good we thought we'd come back for some more!"

Did I mention we were here with my parents as well?

We bought two of the massive high-top loaves, as well as four sausage rolls, and a giant vanilla slice. That kept us going for a while .... as we wandered around the little shops there and found some nice second-hand bits and pieces, like a collection of bowls and plates from the old Lismore Convent (perhaps slightly too holy for us I think, but we'll eat off it happily!).

We didn't find an old hatbox though, which is the thing we're actually looking for. Fatpuss has decided he loves to sleep in our suitcase, and we've decided we'd rather he slept in one we don't care about, given the amount of black fur he sheds all over it in the process. So we thought an ancient old hatbox would be perfect for him to curl up in - it's round, and nice and deep - but can we find one anywhere? No we can not.

So we went on to visit Dangar Falls, which is absolutely teeming with water at the moment. Remember that nice sunny holiday we were coming away for? Well it has rained every single day since we got here. Sigh.

But never mind ... we've still been able to sleep in, and read, and eat (eat! like you wouldn't believe! I can practically feel my waistband getting tighter each day). And of course rainy weather is the best kind of weather to visit Spotlight in.... and visit it I did, and I will take a photo of all the marvellous material I got, before too long ....

And we went to Bellingen and had a good coffee - the Lodge Cafe was closed unfortunately! - and I found a nice present for the Amateur Actress, who is looking after our three furry babies while we're away, and My One True Love bought some shoes, and then we came home for a fantastic dinner and then fell into bed exhausted.

Today is the Big Banana day, and visiting some cousins, and going to the beach.

I'm on HOLIDAAAAAAAY!

Hooray! After close to 19 hours of driving over the course of two days, My One True Love and I are finally in Coffs Harbour! Whoo hoo!! And we didn't even die on the Pacific Highway along the way. This is an achievement.

I'm all excited. I don't know what to do first. The Big Banana? The Pet Porpoise Pool? Korora Beach? The Coffs Harbour Spotlight?

Actually I shouldn't joke about that. We'd only been driving for one-and-a-half hours on Saturday morning when I made my first holiday fabric purchase.

Well, you can't blame me... we'd stopped for a snack in Benalla (him: coffee scroll, me: vanilla slice, or as our friend Pommy John likes to call them, a "snot block" .... eeeuuuwww). And there was a CWA fete right there beside the bakery. For overseas readers, the CWA stands for Country Women's Association, and they are FA-mous for their fetes and jams and cake days.

And look at this great material I got, for the bargain bin price of $2! I think my favourite is the mustard-y, lime-y, lemon-y Seventies piece.

The old apricot-flowered tablecloth is going to be cut up and go into one of the three new quilts that have been ordered for various babies arriving shortly. The aqua piece is very interesting too, I thought it had pictures of goldfish all over it, but in fact they're stylised fauns - like Bambi - except they've got their heads at very strange angles and kind of look like their necks are broken. I think that's part of the reason I like it. And at the back is a simple white cotton with coloured pinstripes on it. That'll go nicely into the quilts too.

So now that we're actually HERE in Coffs, having broken the journey briefly in the Blue Mountains and caught up with the Sister Of My Heart, Mountaingirl, and the Sober Judge, (photo of his new Hoot attached here) ... is it wrong to be longing to explore the new local fabric shops up here first???

I promised My One True Love that I wouldn't bring the sewing machine on this trip, and I made sure I was true to my word by dropping it off at the health spa that is Camberwell Sewing Centre.

I miss it already ... sniffle .... sob ....

But we are on holiday, and so I must be brave. I can't wait to look around Coffs and revisit some of my favourite childhood haunts (not just the Spotlight).

Coffs is where we used to come for our family holidays when I was small ... I have a number of seminal memories which are centred around Coffs Habour, and I shall reveal these to you slowly over the coming few days ... so stay tuned!