Way up to Brisbane: Hunter Valley, Port Macq & Byron!

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Our first Greyhound trip was an easy one, to get used to the bus rides 😉. Only about 3 hours up to Newcastle. The hostel over there was actually very nice, lot smaller and thus a lot cosier than the one in Sydney. Another advantage were the free pubmeals: on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (we were there Su&Mo) guests from the hostel could get a free pubmeal at an Irish pub in town. This way they tried to fill up the pub a bit at quiet evenings. Well, good deal for us. The meal was no haute cuisine, but not bad either, and it was fun to eat together with so many people from our hostel.

However, we of course didn't come to Newcastle fro the free pub-meals. We came there for the Hunter Valley! And we were lucky enough to discover a winery tour was organized by our hostel, one that could fit into our budget! yeahhhhh!! It was soooo much fun! We have visited 5 wineries, tasted cheese, chutneys, fudge, etcetera, but mostly wine of course! One of the breweries we've been to was the Lindemans brewery, so cool! And the last one also brewed schnapps, yummie! My favorite one was a butterscotch schnapps with chilis! Pretty special! But I have to disappoint the people who think we were completely drunk afterwards, Em& I behaved very responsibly :D. We've been good girls and only finished the samples of the wines we really liked, so we would still be able to really taste something from all the wineries 😊. My dad would have been proud of me 😉. But, have to say it again, it was all so yummie and so much fun! Emma & I are still talking about it!!

Next stop on the agenda was Port Macquirie. We knew it wasn't going to be too exciting, but a nice, family friendly place that was a convenient stop over on the way to Byron Bay. So we didn't expect too much, and were pleasantly surprised by Port Macquirie. True, not big nightlife, but a very very nice city with a no less than gorgeous beach. And so many cute shops, a lot cheaper than all the boutiques we'd seen in Sydney, so we allowed ourselves to do a bit of shopping. But the most fun thing we've done over there was the tour through the Koala Hospital, a institution run by volunteers that takes care of koala's that can't take care of themselves anymore, either temporary or for good. I know so much more about koala's now 😉!

Then, the next day, it was already time to hop back on the bus, on our way to Byron Bay (love how that rhymes 😉). Byron Bay was exactly how I'd expected it to be, a very laid back place, lots of surfers, one main street around which most of the places you'd want to go to where, a great place for backpackers thus. Besides the city and the beach, the main thing to do here was the walk to cape Byron, the most eastern point of Australia as we've been told. Wow, quite a view.. Amazing, the wild sea, the cliffs beneath you, pretty impressive. What was funny was that we coincidentally met Rem&Mar, the friends of Emma we had met already in Sydney right on Cape Byron! So that evening we went out for a dinner, delicious cocktails (they treated us on a cocktail, soo sweet!!!) and a coffee. Very cosy, and since this kind of replaced our plan of going out partying we were extra fit again the next day 😉.

Actually we were supposed to stay another night in Byron Bay, but it was too cold to go to the beach and for the rest there wasn't that much more to see around Byron. That combined with the fact that our schedule was already pretty tight, made us decide to leave for Brisbane one day earlier and spend an extra day there. So here we are now, in Brisbane! Brisbane is the 3rd biggest city in Australia, so a lot different than the smaller places than eg Byron Bay. I'll let you know how we like it, but it looks very good to me! And the weather seems to be getting better, yoohoo!!

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