Body Boarding, a Camel ride and best dinner yet!

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6/1/09 = Port Macquarie

Catching a 7am bus today, so had to get up at 5:45 = not good. So, so tired from lack of sleep and literally rolled out of bed in our hot, and disgustingly sweaty bed. Had to creep around room so as not to wake anyone up and slipped out to get a wash as an attempt to wake myself up.Got changed and had breakfast on corridor and were late setting off at 6:30, rather than the 6:15 had planned. Marched all way to station with awful pain of bags digging into shoulder...if a wash doesn't wake you up, then that will! Bought ticket and continued march/jog to platform only to find had just missed train = so absolutely typical. Had to wait 10mins for next one and really cutting it fine for getting to coach on time. Jumped straight on when train came and were so relieved when got to coach and found that people were still checking in. We were last ones there, but at least we were there!

Collapsed onto bus in our newly gathered pile of sweat and were so grateful when set off at 7:15 and air-con kicked in. Journey was v.quiet and lots of people sleeping = what we should have been doing. Instead, we played cards, chatted and ate our packed lunches. Didn't feel so good; body feeling a little flu like....hope is just lack of sleep. Arrived at Port Macquarie an hour late at 2:15, but good that we arrived to sunshine. YHA hostel man came to pick us us and showed us main things in town as we drove by. Hostel was really nice and people really friendly. Dumped our things in bedroom, then went straight to beach. Brilliant that hostel gave out free body boards and couldn't wait to try them! Followed map and went to nearest beach. Was really surprised to see how quiet it was...suppose everything looks quiet after a week at Bondi and Coogee. Got our spot then went straight out into water. Told Hat to go off on her own because I couldn't go out deep, so off she went and I stayed in middle area, comforted in knowledge that I was surrounded by other people that a shark might eat before me. Harsh...but true. Water was freezing, but after a few waves, soon got used to it. Didn't really know what to do, so watched a few people first. Then when saw a decent wave, jumped on board and off I went. Didn't catch any good waves at first and was a really cute kid that wanted to have a competition with me to see who could catch the best waves...obviously he had been watching how rubbish I was! I didn't know any better, so thought the small ones were good, but when I caught my first wave, could really see the difference. Wave picked me up on my board and took me all way from middle of water and washed me up onto beach like a beach whale. Was brilliant and all happened so quickly. That was me hooked then. Kept going back in and just waiting to catch a good wave. Was in about another 15mins and only really caught one more good one. Worth it though and if it wasn't for coldness of water, could have stayed in all day.

Got out of water (had my posery picture done...awful!) and laid on beach for a while. Was a really nice temperature because was 5pm, so even managed to have a little snooze. Woke up at 6 a little cold, so went back to hostel, quick changed, then straight back out for supermarket to buy some dinner. Didn't work out because passed a pizza shop en route, selloing large pizzas of any variety for $5.50 - can't even cook for that cheap. Ordered one and then 2 mins later went back and ordered another. Only got a drink from supermarket and some breakfast/lunch things for tomorrow. Pizzas were really quick and we did 2min walk to ocean to eat our pizzas there. Were loads of people down there having picnics or a few beers; was really chilled. Pizzas were lovely....absolutely lovely. A large pizza each was being a little greedy, but ate most of it and then just had to lay still for a while. Sun started to set and looked great over water. Would have stayed longer, but temperature dropped and got really cold, so waddled our way back to hostel. Needed to wash our clothes then, so put both our loads together and crammed themin machine = mistake! Overloaded washer way too much and when got clothes out, most were dry, still dirty and covered in white powder. Disaster. Ended up washing most of them again by hand! Didn't even have enough pegs to hang them all out and so had to cram most of clothes onto 2 coat hangers and make do with putting them out. Whole washing experience =not good and by time it was all over, was 10 o'clock. Had fancied watching bit of TV, but with another early rise looming, went to bed early instead.

7/1/09 = Koalas, a Camel Ride and Spag Bol!

Had to get up early again so we could visit local Koala hospital in town. Supposed to be really good and feeding at 8am, so got up at 6:45. V.tired...need a break from these early mornings.Got changed, packed up (i.e. dragged bags into living room), had breakfast, then set off for Koala Hospital at 7:30. Took a few wrong turns, but did get there and managed to be just in time for feeding. Looked so cute. A lady was drip feeding a koala and he was just sipping away. Really want to stroke one. Wondered round rest of park and had a look at all other koalas. Wasn't as good as seeing them in wild, but still good. Also a bit of a sad place; only reason koalas are there is because natural habitat (trees) been chopped down, so they had to be rescued 😞. Also made me sad that don't have more time in Oz. Would have loved to have done some work for a while and this would be perfect kind of job for me: volunteering in a koala hospital. Don't worry though Michelle...definitely am coming back for wedding...wouldn't miss it for world x

Had seem camel rides advertised on beach = another thing have really wanted to do since been in Australia. Lady from Koala Hospital rang them for me, but didn't get through, so walked back to hostel to try again from there. Still really suprised at the lack of pavements out here, know it's a big country, but doesn't anybody walk? When rang back at hostel, did get through and the camel man came to pick us up 30mins later. Wow...what a character. His name was John...a 75yr old guy who was cute/sweet/rude all in one go. He gave us the usual schpiel about moving out to Oz and when arrived at Lighthouse beach, pointed at some 'overweight' people next to us and proceeded to tell us, in a v.loud voice, how disgusting these 'fat' people were and that they were all just greedy and lazy. Don't know how he managed to not get punched....found myself backing away from him a bit just in case!

Lighthouse beach was really lovely and glad we came to see it. Camel rides were v.busy, but because I was only one riding (Hat not interested), a guy who resembled the Hoff/Hulk Hogan managed to squeeze me on nearly straight away. Camels were all shared with 2 people, but was an older camel at back who they only liked to put one person on and in this case, that was me. Bless the lovely camel. She was called Leyla and due to retire in 3 weeks. She couldn't get up and down like other camels because of her weaker knees, so I had to be airlifted onto her. Immediatley regret decision of wearing skirt....definitely not apporopriate for a) being lifted onto a camel, on a v.busy beach, by 2 men or b) straddle riding a camel! Once I had been hoisted up though, was really nice. Ride lasted for 20mins and involved us all walking down beach as a group and then back up. Brilliant view of beach, but a v.uncomfy ride. Legs kept banging against metal frame, so ended up taking my feet out of stirrups and just lifting my knees up. When got down to the bottom of the beach, we all stopped and guy told us some interesting facts about camels (forgot most of them), then we came back up.

Took a few pics of Leyla, then shilled on sand waiting for old man John to come back and take us back to hostel. 5 mins into sitting, realised that I hadn't paid for ride yet = $25. Faced a v.difficult moral decision. Travelling = v.poor time and $25 = lot of money. But, not paying = stealing and that =bad karma! Ruminated on it for a while......until John finally came and I skulked off without paying. Yes...I did feel guilty, but still kept quiet 😞. Riding back with John was an experience again. 1st, he locked his keys in the car, so had to take another car, then he made me jump out of car to steal a newspaper off ground for him (definitely not good karma for me!) He regailed us with more of his stories/theories about life, then decided to take us around town and show us some more sights since he had the afternoon off. Took us to the lighthouse to get a better view of the beach and was really nice. Then he drove us to another beach we had missed called Flynns beach and that was beautiful; shame we didn't have more time to enjoy it. He wanted to show us more, but thankfully, we didn't have time. Only so much of a guy like John can take in one day!

Got back to hostel, had a massive lunch of flavoured beans and spaghetti on toast, then did a final pack up ready for bus. YHA hostel man dropped us off at greyhound pick up point and bus came more or less straight away. Journey went quite quickly (with lot of chocolate in between 😊...need to sort that out) and got to Coffs Harbour at 4:45. Staying in a hostel called Plantation Hotel and was a v.wierd place. Were some other people from bus staying there too and we all got picked up together. Had a lobby like a hotel, but the rooms definitely were not like that! Not the worse place we've stayed, but definitely not the best! Nice guy from Scotland staying there; got chatting to him and all ended up going to supermarket to get some things for dinner. Wondered round supermarket and decided to have spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. Disappointed that they didn't do any lean mince, but happy that only cost $10 for all ingrediants, for 2 of us.

Went back to hostel after supermarket and chatted for a while until we got hungry. Did some phonecalls home; sad to hear that everything not as well as it could be and really wish could come home for a day, but was nice to chat. Hang in there ladies...things always work out x. Back to hostel then and definitely hungry. Cooked dinner in cockroach infested kitchen (just not right...especially for Australia) and was absolutely beautiful. Best meal so far. Shame had made enough for 3 people. Did manage to squeeze loads in (Miss Piggy can always push through), but couldn't finish it all! Played few cards with Ian (Scottish guy), had more chocolate (addiction creeping back again!) then headed to bed for an early night. Don't have to be up in morning and really hoping for a good sleep!

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Photos

Total poser!
Well...where can I start. Yes I am aware of how much of a poser I look and no I really don't know how it happened...I certainly didn't mean to look like that! All I can think is that am sticking hip out to rest board on it because my arms are so ridiculously small that I found it hard to hold the board. That's all I can come up with....no comments thank you!

Cute koalas
Just can't get enough of them!

Lighthouse beach
A view from the lighthouse.

The Lovely Leyla
....=camel I rode on...no they don't all look the same!

The least graceful way to get on a camel
Bless her...she was jsut too old to lay down for me....talking about the camel of course!

Me on the camel
V.disappointed about my wonky helmet...why didn't you say anything My Camel Man?