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Published: January 25th 2008
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Our hire car collected we left Sydney to make our way up the east coast. We got a nice surprise when we went to pick up our car- they didnt have the car we had reserved and so we got a bigger one instead! Our first day involved a slight detour out to the Blue Mountains as we hadn't actually managed to make this trip while we were in Sydney. It's a pleasant enough area, but the highlight (or lowlight) was seeing our first snake in the wild. We were walking a trail to see the Three Sisters and I stopped dead in my tracks as there was a little black snake across the path. I'm glad we don't have these animals in Ireland. We were plagued by flies while at the Blue Mountains- they were landing all over us and flying into our noses & mouths constantly- really annoying. One night camping around this area was more than enough.
From the Blue Mountains we headed back out to the coast to the central coast of NSW. We made a stop in The Entrance to see the local pelicans before heading to Nelson Bay for the night. Nelson Bay is
The Blue Mountains
Look at the size of that snake! a nice area with a few lovely beaches, but it being high season we spent hours looking for somewhere to stay- and you should see the size of our tent, it doesn't take up very much space! From Nelson Bay the next stops were Port Macquarie & Coffs Harbour. In Coffs Harbour we made our first trip to the cinema in over 6 months and saw probably one of the worst films I have ever seen- 'I am legend'. Probably out on dvd shortly- don't rent it.
Next stop Byron Bay- I'd heard alot about Byron and how great it was but I have to say we weren't overly impressed. This could have had a lot to do with the weather though- it was pretty miserable while we were there. We did take some surfing lessons which were good fun though- it doesn't really matter if it rains when you're in the water :-). Eddie was alot better than me and managed to stand up several times. I stood up once and thought I was great! We also did the Cape Byron walk out to the most easterly point in Australia- a nice walk with plenty of steps.
After leaving Byron we made our way to Nimbin- if we saw a few hippies in Byron it was nothing compared to Nimbin. Everyone in this little town was on their own special planet. Finding somewhere to stay in Nimbin was an adventure in itself- all the campsites were flooded so we couldn't pitch a tent and the laneway to the only hostel with vacancies was a mucky disaster- our poor rental car took a bit of abuse making that trip. However we did see a wild kangaroo- and no that wasn't cause of any happy high herbs, a kangaroo defintely jumped across the road in front of me. Nimbin explored (it doesn't take long) we headed for the Gold Coast. We spent three days on the Gold Coast and that was more than enough for me- it's a really tacky high rise touristy resort. That said the nightlife was pretty decent and we did have some good nights out. We met up with all the Furlongs again here and spent some time with them, including trip to the Wet n Wild theme park- a good day out. Our little tent nearly came to the wall on our last night
Cape Byron - Byron Bay
Australia's most easterly point. in the Gold Coast when we were practically washed out of it- but thankfully it survived.
And so on to the next city- Brisbane. We decided to give the tent a rest and stayed in a very luxurious hostel - well luxurious might be pushing it a bit but we did have a bed. We spent a week in Brisbane and I loved it- its really compact and doesn't have the big city feel, which was a nice change after Sydney. Think this is definitely one place I could imagine living. From Brisbane we made a day trip to Australia Zoo- it's really good, one of the best zoos I've visited. The rest of the time in Brisbane we took it fairly easy, strolling around the city gardens and waterfront areas and doing a good bit of swimming. Our last nite in Brisbane we went out to Pauric and Carmel for a great BBQ. Our first BBQ since we got to Australia- something amiss there- we better start making use of the facilities at our campsites!
That's it for now, time to head for the Sunshine Coast....
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