Tradewinds, Sandcastles, Ocean Spray, Surf Beach
Tradewinds, Sandcastles, Ocean Spray, Surf Beach... the rectangular, red brick motels line the street that hugs Coffs Harbour's Park Beach like sentinels of summer, beckoning those in need of a restful refuel by the ocean. They've been doing so for decades. Back in the Seventies, the kitsch, neon signs with their obligatory palm trees and promise of pool, colour TV and "tropical garden", Pipe fitting mould would have delighted mum, dad and kids as they pulled into the car park in their Kombi. Forty years on and I'm in Coffs with my own family, which is perhaps a more modern set-up. I'm a working single mum with my three daughters in tow - aged nine, six and three - having driven up from Sydney in the modern-day Kombi, my SUV. I went old-school and stuffed the car with books. The girls take in the enticing lines of Alison Lester's Magic Beach from 1990, a very Australian ode to the family beach holiday and the magical adventures children ca...