Blogs from Shoal Bay, Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

Over night in Port Stevens – the Butlins of Australia I had a really shitty sleep because I had no roll mat so it was like sleeping on the ground which was not pleasant – ah well it's better than a kick in the balls. Decided to get up early for the sunrise which was quite magical, the only thing that interrupted my serenity was that I was being feasted on by a couple of mozzies; “Dirty feckers.” I can't stress how much I hate them. I thought it would be a good idea to escape to the water to get away from them; it worked to a degree. After about 30 min of having a cat fight with the mozzies I went back to camp to pack up and wake Louis up so we could ... read more

Friday 13th, eek! But nothing untoward happened in our world. The lovely bay of Port Stephens is totally charming. Its unofficial capital is Nelson Bay, which is also the ‘dolphin capital of Australia’, and there are several other little towns and pretty beaches dotted around. We based ourselves around Shoal Bay and when we first arrived it was already pretty dark. So we parked up and got into the back of the van, wondering what our view in the morning would be like. It was lovely! We were up on a hill and woke up sunshine pouring through the leaves of the trees and glimpses of the sea sparkling below. Truly wonderful. For once it was very easy to live completely in the moment and not think about much else :-) After brekkie, we headed down ... read more