Blogs from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 6

David here... We got up early on our final morning with the camper van... our camper van as it had become after being our home for the last two weeks. Once packed up, with all the rubbish thrown away and the inside looking spick and span, we made our way back to Cambridge and dropped our home off and then got whisked to the airport. After a cup of coffee we boarded the flight and left Tasmania behind, again like much of this trip, with heavy hearts. We had fallen for 'little Tassie' and were already discussing coming back to do it all again. We landed in Sydney, and made our way to the Central station and onto Newcastle, three hours North along the coast. We felt that seven nights in Sydney was too much and ... read more

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! After a night sleeping on the floor at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport (we just couldn't risk missing this flight!) and a short flight later we arrived in Sydney. It was a slightly odd experience sleeping on the floor of an airport; you fall to sleep and it's deadly quiety and are later rudely awaken by excited travellers all checking into thier flights. I bet Mat and I were a beautiful sight crawling out of our sleeping bags, bogey eyed, with a look of 'what the hell are all these people doing in our bedroom!' We met with one half of our Vietnam travelling family and once we'd exchanged our sectret Santa sex toys (the theme was nothing to do with us!) we headed to Glenbrook, which is one hour west of Sydney towards the ... read more

Our journey in Newcastle reminded us of been back home - it didn't help that it was wet and windy when we arrived and during the entire time we spent there!! .....and the destinations on the buses such as Jesmond and Wallsend echoed home as well as the seaside beaches and the coastline which just resembled "Tynemouth" one way and "Whitley Bay" the other and with the brisk cold wind on our faces!!.......and with "Jonah's seafood restaurant" looking remarkably like "The Grand!' it was just like been back in the UK!!! Considering Newcastle was full of heritage architecture, history of the convicts and New South Wale's second largest city, we weren't feeling it and in some parts of the streets we felt slightly uncomfortable! Despite hearing that David Beckham was due here on the 27th November, ... read more

This week has been heaven for a budding gastronome and oenophilist. Its been about wonderful scenery, wine, chocolate and cheese plus the odd shot of chilli schnapps. Fabulous. Only three things ruined it - getting trapped in the Hunter Valley, putting on another ton of weight and some seriously strong winds. I had a day to kill in Port Macquarie before my evening bus to Newcastle, so I booked onto a Hastings River trip for a 3 hour jaunt spotting wildlife. The ride was packed with sightings of all manner of birdlife and plenty of fish, but even before we had left the estuary we spotted a pod of bottlenosed dolphins playing about and feeding on fish being brought in with the incoming tide. We headed off on a gentle motor half way around Pelican ... read more

We awoke early and hoped to be on the road for around 8am but breaky and a leisurely 'get ready' we jumped in the car for 9am. Our drive would take 3 hours and we were off to the Blue Mountains to see the sights. Conversation on Horsham pubs, cars and old school friends made the journey fly by and we arrived in great spirit at Echo point for our first breath taking view of the Three Sisters, Jamison Valley and Mount Solitaire. From here we drove a short distance to to Scenic World where we took the dramatic, near vertical cliff train down the cliff side into the valley. After a short walk around the raised boardwalk through the rain forest and a history of the coal mining, we boarded the cable car for a ... read more