Sydney - Hunter Valley - Port Macquarie - Coffs Harbour

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G'day mates! We're now halfway through our holiday and halfway through our road trip from Sydney to Brisbane. The total journey is about 12 hours but ours is broken up into approx 2 hour slots each day. We left Sydney on Monday morning - cloudy and drizzly. Got to the Hunter Valley wine region by lunch and the sun was fully out again so we detoured off to Shoal Bay, Port Stephens and had a glorious arvo there, accompanied by a tree full of parrots. We stayed at the Hunter Valley Resort which has developed from a wine grower to the main tourist centre in the region. In the morning we had a short walk round the resort and saw our first wild kangaroos - hopping and everything. We had a tour of the winery after breakfast and then hit the road again. Weather awful once more but we still took the scenic route and drove through some delightful little places that we would otherwise have missed. By the time we'd reached Port Macquarie it was lovely so had a pleasant arvo by the pool, and a little canoe trip out in the creek.

Wednesday morning was really rainy again but did get a bit better when we reached Coffs Harbour. This resort claims to be one of Australia's favourites - there's certainly lots of family orientated things to do here and there's one particular beach that has gentle waves so all the kids go along to surf and body board. They're back at school now so generally the places we're staying at are quite quiet, but after school all the kids go to the beach with their boards. We've got 2 nights here so today we went to 'The Big Banana' while it was dull and raining and then to the beach after lunch when it turned out gorgeous again. Tonight we ate at a fish restaurant on the marina, (we've been eating at the hotels other nights) which was really good. Afterwards we walked along the jetty and had a fantastic view of the southern sky at night - beautiful.

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Photos

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Hunter Valley saw three kangaroos!

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And an enormous spider!!

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Looking over the vineyards.

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Parrots

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Our towel purchase in Manley comes in handy!

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Stopped off at Forster for picnic lunch.

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Pool at Sails Resort, Port Macquarie.

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The creek where we went canoeing.

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Odd view of where we're staying in Coffs Harbour.

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The Big Banana, Coffs Harbour

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Walking through the banana plantation.

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The huge jetty on Coffs Harbour beach - the kids jump off this where it's deeper.

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Came across a shark's head on the beach! The jaw and teeth had been cut out and the head had been cut off, just been washed up on the sand.