Australia (five)

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Hello Everybody!
We'll we have now left Sydney... We're in Coffs Harbour at the moment which is really nice. However the first weeks weather has not gone to plan! it feels a bit like we're on holiday in Wales not New South Wales! anyway...

We left Sydney about 12ish on Monday and drove for a couple of hours to Newcastle. Our first stop was park on the out skirts. In this park we saw lots of Koalas and turned up at feeding time so we saw them doing something other than sleeping!! They are the cutest little animals though, i think we all wanted to take a forth member for the road trip with us 😊 We then headed into the town and went to the tourist information centre and the rain was falling... So we were unable to get a good sense of the beaches that Newcastle had to offer. We went for a short drive and John sorted out a few things for the car. We then headed to the RSL for a drink and a bit to eat as there was no way we could cook in the rain!! After that we headed to find a spot to park up and had a few more drinks where we could also sleep for the night. The spot we found was over looking a cliff ndb also had a sheltered bench where we sat and enjoyed a few beers before crashing out. The next morning we sat there having breakfast and in the swell we saw some dolphins!! We then went to a local museum before hitting the road in the attempt to get away from the rain.

On the way we stopped off in a small place called tea gardens, I had previously been there before when I went to Booti Booti. We found out the forecast was not too good so we jumped back in the car. It was a shame as the beach there was gorgeous...
We then drove to Port Macquarie. When we arrived the sun was shining and all was well with the world and life. We got out of the car and then headed straight into the sea which was gorgeous. We then went to the super market and I had a quick St Georges Guinness in an Irish pub as I could not find anything more English(?) than that! After that we went and found a beach. WE cooked dinner and sat around chatting and also had a chat to a nice guy who had been fishing who gave us his number and lent us his gas lamp! It was just so nice to be out of the rain!! We also had a we games of catch in the dark on the beach which was really funny! Then John retired to the car and Cam and I slept on the beach!

The next morning we had breakfast and returned the lamp to the the guy who lent it to us before heading to another beach where we sat for a while well until the clouds finally caught us up and the sun disappeared behind them. much to our disapproval! We then thought we'd go and check out a waterfall, it turned out that this water fall was much further than we though (it seems all the tourist maps and not made to scale!) and the dreaded petrol light came on and we drove a bit further but being Anzac day the smaller places were closed so we had to turn back. We then went to the shop and bought some sausages and headed back to the beach we had been at earlier and used the bbq's that were there to cook up some nice sausages! Good hart grub on a wet evening went down rather well.

The next morning John and it wasn't raining so John and I headed for a walk along the headlands and beaches which had some fantastic views and ended up at a light house. We then headed to the Koala Hospital where we saw some recovering Koalas and read about the work we did. Then we jumped in the car and headed towards Coffs Harbour. Along the way we passed though a small place called Frederickton, near Kempsey and I had been told about a pie shop there by Rochelle, a friend I'd made at Altium. They certainly didn't disappoint they were gorgeous. I had a Kangaroo pie and a Crocodile one.. there was so much to choose from! really good pies! We then found our way South West Rocks which had a great view of the coast but not good visibility... grrr Then we went to Coffs Harbour where we have decided to stick out the weather until it gets better. We checked out a pub or two on the day we arrived and the bbq's down by the sea are a great resource!

Yesterday we climbed up a small island which is connected to the main land by a man made wall which is part of the marina. The island is specially protected and had a great view of the local area. The afternoon consisted of a brief visit to look at hte 'bib banana' which is supposed to be Coffs Harbousrs main attraction - very lame! We then headed to the cinema to hide from the rain! We saw 300 which wasn't the greatest film but entertained us for a few hours.
we then went and had a couple of beers before heading back and cooking dinner.

Today we got up and had some breakfast before heading to a maze which was great fun some may say amazing )like I wasn't gonna slip a pun in somewhere). It was great fun and exceeded expectations then we had lunch on the beach before having a look at the Botanical Gardens which were really nice and had a nice mangrove board walk. And the sun even came out... yay!

And the forecast in sun sun sun - woohoo

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