Blogs from Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

This morning after breakfast we decided to head south on the Port Macquarie Coastal Walk to achieve our 30 minutes exercise goal while it was still early. The walk goes all the way to Tacking Point Lighthouse, but we didn’t have any ambition to walk quite that far this morning! We stopped off at the Flagstaff Lookout and then walked for about another 10 minutes before turning around to walk back to the apartment to get ready for our 12 noon whale watching tour. Yes, at the risk of seeming obsessed with whale watching we booked another tour for today … still hoping that we might see a whale breach?? On Monday we were told that the whales are more likely to breach if it is a bit choppy because it becomes difficult for them to ... read more

After a final stroll on the beach we said goodbye to the Gold Coast and headed further south. Our aim today was to reach Port Macquarie which was quite a distance – almost 500km’s and over 5 hours driving without any sightseeing detours! We travelled along the coastline at the start of the journey to find one of the lookout points. We found Lores Bonney lookout which needed a bit of a climb up some deep steps. We started making our way slowly up while another guy was heading down…. Just over halfway we were hoping that it was going to be worth the climb…. Got to the top and other than the bushes obscuring part of the view, it was a reasonable view of the Gold Coast. Once we’d caught our breath we turned to ... read more

Just 4 weeks after arriving home from my last holiday, it was time to pack up the car again and head off on another holiday. Originally, I had planned to visit the Victorian High Country but with the state border closed I had to come up with another plan. This time I decided to stay in New South Wales and visit a region I have not been to before – the North Coast. With everyone holidaying domestically, I decided to skip the camping this time as I feared I would be packed into busy campgrounds which is not my preferred type of holiday. The forecasted wet spring also helped make the decision. So packing the car was a little quicker, but I still made sure to pack my barbecue, chair and table so I would be ... read more

Day 4-5-6 Day four was bike prep day. I had to replace a screw in my windshield which came in after I shipped the bike back in July, remove the garmin from my bike and put in the Australia chip, and finally get gas once the chip was installed. I had 11 miles of fuel in my bike so I couldn't afford to get lost (easy to do in Sydney). I made it to the gas station no problem and was able to hit Harry's meat pies and some of the Aussie naval fleet (see pics). Harry's is a local favorite and was pointed out to me by Alan who is the concierge at the Marriott Harbour hotel (also a fellow rider). Side note for those planning to travel to Australia the Marriott Harbour at Circular ... read more

Our day started with a 4.30 am alarm for a 6.15 taxi. What was it with these early get ups? As a morning person and an early riser I didn't struggle too much but 4.30 am??? Get a life. As a night person and a late riser it was more of an effort for Steve ... Our Greyhound bus was punctual as ever at 7.00 am and we got another lovely driver, Brian, who had a 12 hour shift ahead of him through to Grafton. I got it wrong about the DOG registrations on the Greyhound buses. Apparently, they ran out of those and the newer registrations (though not necessarily on newer buses) have a PUP registration. Some buses have neither, so I guess they'll have to start on the CURs for those that are bitches ... read more