Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and Newcastle

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After our very early morning rise in Byron, we needed a nap, so the journey on the greyhound from Byron Bay to Coffs Harbour went really fast! We arrived late afternoon and strolled into the 'city' along the boardwalk from our hostel for some distance. Coffs is quite a sleepy town and was more just a stop over for us, but the following day we went for a lovely walk around the harbour and onto Muttonbird Island which gave us fantastic views up and down the coast.

On the afternoon of the 23rd we moved down the coast to Port Macquarie, another nice little harbour town where we did a coastal walk and ate yummy ice-cream. We also visited a Koala Hospital which had lots of poorly and injured koalas, some of which were permanent residents. We also walked along the seafront area - home to a beautiful beach. Along the estuary there is a breakwater made up of rocks, the ones closest to the walkway have been decorated very tastefully; from RIP messages to those commemorating trips.

The following day we nearly missed the bus taking us to Newcastle, no not in northern England, just a couple of 100 K's down the coast! The alarm didn't go off so we only had 10minutes to get out of the hostel and to the bus station which was a 10 minute walk away - we had to run down the hill with all our luggage, not great at 5.30am! The highlight of Newcastle was the old buildings and their architecture. We did an old tram ride with commentary around the city in the morning and then visited some of the few sites in the afternoon, mostly consisting of Queen's Wharf (the viewing tower).

26th Jan - Australia Day - Into Sydney for the celebrations.

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