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Published: February 2nd 2008
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Day 270 (22/12/07)
Today we drove ... and drove .... and drove. We wanted to get within spitting distance of Sydney by the end of the day so we could make the last bit tomorrow but still have a free rest stop for the night.After the manic drving/sightseeing of the past couple of weeks we could finally start to really look forward to seeing Chrissie's Mum and Dad when we arrived in Sydney.
However the day was not all driving and no play! Stopping at Woolgoolga we had brekkie with an amazing view whilst making friends with a very brave seagull who we named Clive.
After another solid drive we stopped again at Coffs Harbour. Driving through the town we stopped at the harbour and took a nice walk over to the nearby Muttonbird Island. Unfortunately as it was the time of year for them to be incubating their eggs - they were all hiding in the thousands of burrows you could see all over the island. It did however give us a great view of the harbour and coastline and we were glad of the fresh air.
We made another stop for some lunch at a
place called Nambucca Heads for some more stunning coastline views and then continued on our way. We got a little bored of highway drivng, spotted a scenic drive through the Myall Lakes National Park and decided to make a detour. It was raining and we were short of time so we didn't really get to make the most of the scenery but it was pretty nonetheless and we made a brief stop to meet the local pelicans at Forster.
Another monster drive and we ended our day at yet another rest stop this one just 90km from Sydney. We cooked dinner and wrapped some xmas prezzies before some well earned rest.
Day 271 (23/12/07)
Today we were to finish our road trip to Sydney - with only 90km to go we drove into the city and were soon taking Nora through the highrise buildings and on our first journey over the Harbour Bridge getting some very exciting first glimpses of Sydney's iconic skyline. It was one of those pinch yourself type moments!
Arriving at our hostel, we dropped off our bags as it was still too early to check in before once again jumping back into
the van and driving out to Valerie and Bruce's house. Valerie and Bruce are long 'suffering' friends of Marks parents whom they met whilst teaching in Nassau in their youth. After hearing that we were in the area they had generously invited us to stay and offered their driveway to park the van over xmas and new year.
After catching up over a cup of tea and some of the best homemade shortbread we have ever tatsed - mmmmmmmm - Valerie gave us a lift to the station so we could get back into town.
Now able to check in we met out dorm mates, freshened up and bumped into Catherine (an old workmate of Mark's from England) before we went to meet Chrissie's parents, Sandie and Tony, who were visiting us for Christmas and had landed and checked into their hotel that morning.
We had organised to meet them at their hotel the "Four Seasons in Darling Harbour". To our supprise the Four Seasons wasn't in Darling Harbour and was a little further away than we had thought. Not thinking about it we made the trudge to the hotel. On arriving we went to the concierge
to find out their room number as we wanted to surprise them. the bad news was that there were 12 Smiths due to be staying for the night, the good news was that only one had checked in, unfortunately the only Smith checked in was a J.Smith ... the plot thickens!
After a little bit of head scratching between us and the concierge we sent Sandie a text to see where they were. Waiting for the reply the concierge told us that there was a Hotel called the Four Points in Darling Harbour .... ahhhhhh! After a quick call we had confirmed that they were there. Another walk back to Darling Harbour, which was just around the corner from the hostel, we eventually met up with Sandie and Tony. So very exciting to see them after so long away!
Spending the afternoon and evening relaxing over some food and a lot of chatting mixed in with a bit of exploring of the local area we wiled away the rest of the day.
In the evening we went back to the hostel and tucked into a seafood salad and caught up with Catherine and her friend over a
glass of goon.
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