The Greyhound & The East Coast

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The Greyhound and the East Coast

We have an early start today and are up at the crack of dawn. We pack the last of our things and head on down to reception. The Northern girl, Melanie, with the really long hair who came on last night just before we went to bed is on reception. She is the one who has a bit of a moan at everyone as she never wants to do any work! Well true to form she was sitting outside having a fag ignoring all of the rubbish, cups and left over drinking items that have obviously been sitting there since last night! We said we wanted to check out and she told us to wait until she had finished her fag!

Well, Charlotte replied that we were getting a bus and did not want to be late. Also we needed her to call us a cab, which the guy the night before said was not a problem. Well she was far too lazy for that and claimed the number used to be on the white board, but had been rubbed off, perhaps we would like to walk with all of our bags up to the top of the hill and hopefully catch one there. Mmmm you know what Charlotte is thinking at this point! But calmness prevails (maybe tiredness!) and we let it go.

When we had found a cab and loaded our bags he proceeded to take us the long way around to Central station, but of course insisted it was quicker than going through the main strip, because we have seen soooo many traffic jams there in our three & half weeks. Well, he did not get a tip! (Except not to piss Charlotte off!)

We jumped on the coach and were glad to note the air con was working! We were later to find out it was over working as we huddled under our one hoodie. However on change of driver he sorted it out and we were soon back to an even temperature. Plus he had a good manner and was a bit funny saying things like, ‘my name is Martin if you enjoyed the journey, Gary if you didn’t’ and don’t ask stupid questions like are we there yet? Quick tip if the wheels are still turning. We’re not! He also slipped on a great DVD to pass the time. We watched “The freedom writers” a nice little tear jerker!

PORT MACQUARIE
Well the bus driver managed to get us in to town an hour early, so we grabbed our bags and headed off. We asked a few people in town the direction of the hotel as we believed it only a street or two away! Turns out it was a good 20/30 min walk, but it was good for us! We checked in to our dorm and as we were the first there Charlotte grabbed the lower bunk and Liam jumped on top (make your own jokes here)! We meet Norm an older gentleman from Oregon in the US. We bumped into him many times over the course of the East coast. He gave us a great tip, there was a Koala hospital up the road that had a feeding time at 3pm.

Off we went for a walk there in the blazing sunshine and arrived just in time. Jan showed us around some of the cutest Koalas and told us all about the reasons they were there, which ranged from dog attacks, Wet bottom (a form of Chlamydia) and Arthritis. We made a small donation at the end, but did not have enough to adopt one. We also had a wander around the old house in the grounds, which restored and set up to look like it did in the olden days.

En route back we passed by a swimming pool and ear marked it for a visit in the morning. We got up and had a wander around town looking for a pair of cheap converse for Liam, to no avail. But we did find a barber’s so Liam got his hair cut and re-shaped after Charlottes botch job! We had a little internet time in the Library then headed on over for a morning swim in the pool. We got back to the hostel and gratefully grabbed a lift back to the bus stop. In came the bus and we all boarded , Norm sat behind us and was interrogating a poor Dutch lady next to him, about where she was from and what longitude and latitude it was compared to Oregon. Kind of special is our Norm.

COFFS HARBOUR
We were dropped off at the edge of town, with Norm, and Charlotte called the YHA to pick us up. Good job we got that Ozzy sim card as the other six or seven did not even think about calling! We drove for miles to the other side of the harbour and checked in. Tonight we are in a six bed dorm and being the last to arrive we both have top bunks! Argghh! We got chatting to a Dutch girl who was under Liam’s bunk, we told her all about New Zealand and the Magic bus!

We headed out for a walk and to hunt out some dinner when we came across ‘Hog’s Breath cafe & bar’ a bit of a chain, aimed at the kids we think, so enjoyed a nice supper before going back to the hostel to relax in the TV lounge. After watching ‘The Mentalist’ and having a bit of a doze in the dark room everyone left except one, so we got a DVD from reception. We decided on Forrest Gump, which we had been wanting to re-watch since the USA. Norm came in just after it started and joined us, but Charlotte had to keep explaining the story all of the way through! Annoying!

We went up to bed quite late and everyone was already in bed with the lights out. But when we got in there we found that the fan was off! We tried to sleep, but it was soo hot we just ended up with a layer of sweat over us. Liam used the cold metal bed frame to try and cool down, Charlotte left it an hour or so, then switched he bedside light on and had a look around the wall fan to see if someone had pulled the plug out! No the wire went into the wall. She tried to sleep again, but the Dutch girl got up and went for a wee and on her return Charlotte again switched her light on and they found that there was a switch on the wall that was the main one. Sweet relief, we slept like babies. Mind you the Dutch girl did comment on the really load snoring man in the other bed! We kept it quiet that it was Charlotte and agreed whole heartedly!

We checked out and paid our $2 each for use of the facilities and lift back to the Greyhound bus, then headed off for a walk over to the beach for a swim and sunbathe. Liam lasted about an hour which is a good start. Most of that was in the sea wave jumping!

We then wandered back to the Hostel, via the shops grabbing lunch of Tuna salad. We had a bit of a swim in the pool, Liam did comment that it did not taste of as much chlorine as the last pool did. We went back to the greyhound stop for the journey to Byron Bay.

BYRON BAY
Well this was a place Charlotte was looking forward to reporting back from! We arrived in to town at about 10pm and hunted down the Arts factory bus. After popping into a couple of shops we were directed across a dark car park to the other side of the railway! Bit strange, but we found a battered old bus that took us to the right place.

As reception had closed they took our passports and gave us some room keys. We declined Cockatoo Pauls spider tour that night headed up to the dorm. Again we were both on top bunks! We found the only fan in the room cooled the middle of the floor! Useless!

We sorted ourselves out and hopped into bed. Three in the morning a gaggle of young girls came giggling into the room switching on lights and gossiping about the night they had just had. It took a little while for them to realise we were asleep in the room, but soon were off to sleep themselves (Charlotte cannot have been snoring that night!).

Charlotte was up with the sun with a dodgy tummy. She felt sick, but nothing would come out! Feeling uncomfortable and far too hot, she decided a shower might help. It did not, so spent the next hour or two sitting on the bench outside the dorm watching the goings on before everyone else woke up! Still no relief so we checked out and went and sat outside the kitchen which had a couple of comfortable chairs. A little doze and a few trips to the loo and that was it projectile vomit all over the floor and herself! It was like a scene from ‘The Exorcist’.

We Charlotte ran off to the showers to wash off and found a cleaner on her return to clean up the mess (luckily it was all water!). The staff were very nice. Charlotte crashed out in the chair for a couple of hours before we were allowed into our new room, The Cube! Well Charlotte spent the next 24 hours asleep and Liam did not want to wander too far in case he was needed. As Charlotte insisted he went and got something to eat and see other human beings (a rare thing in the arts factory). He went to the cafe part of the factory for a chicken wrap, then to the Buddha bar for a couple scooners of Billy goat beer and the live music of a young lady who sounded a lot like Mama Cass (no I don’t mean dead for several years).

The following day Charlotte felt a little better and as we had pre-booked the surf school decided to give it a go. Surprise, surprise after no food for 48 hrs and lots of sleep we managed a four hour surfing lesson. Liam was very good and stood up a few times, Charlotte was very happy to kneel up and ride the waves, but Wiapu (the surf instructor dude) was very persistent and managed to get Charlotte to her feet on the board for a little while, unfortunately there were no decent waves, so she did not get to ride one on her feet.

A little doze after the lesson and a little food that managed to stay down and Charlotte was on the mend! We decided to keep off of the booze for a couple of days to allow the tummy to mend, so went to the really cool Lounge cinema on the complex and watch ‘Where the wild things are’. We followed that with the biggest bowl of beer battered potato wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli dip. We could not finish the bowl, there were millions.

We headed into town the next day and spent most of the afternoon on the free computer at the Wicked travel booking as much as we could for the forth coming trip. We needed to book up to the boat in the Whitsundays because it only holds 24 people, so gets booked out quite quickly. We had supper at really nice restaurant with a very camp owner, but it was BYO and they had the biggest burgers (again with the beetroot) at a great price.

We decide on a day shopping in Byron and Liam found a couple of big white shirts that he brought with Christmas money from Granny Kelly. We had a look at the beach then headed back to watch ‘Zombieland’ at the Cinema. A much better film than we expected with a great cameo from Bill Murray.

We popped into town and had a last little go on the free Wicked travel internet before bumping into Norm who is arriving off of the earlier bus. We then hop on the Greyhound.

SURFERS PARADISE
We get into the Greyhound terminal after watching a kids DVD on the bus ‘Are we there yet’, it was light entertainment. We have to wait about an hour for our free bus to the YHA which is miles away! We grab a subway and settle in playing games on the spare phone, which has been converted to our games phone. When the courtesy bus arrives it drives us miles away to Main beach on the sand spit.

We find that it is a very rich and exclusive area, across the road is the only 6 star resort in Australia. We are in a new looking hostel above shops with lots of big wide verandas. We have a little wander over to the beach and had a little sunbathe and wave jump! We walk back via the shopping mall and find a McDonalds for a little free WIFI time.

As there are no food shops around for at least 4km we don’t feel too guilty ordering pizza from the shop under the hostel, at least we get a discount. We take it away upstairs and sit there chatting to a lovely couple that have been working over here for a year, Keith & Patty. They had been on a sunset cruise and were off to Sea World the next day. There was a crazy dude outside the hostel, threatening all of the boys and offering to fight them. When it got a bit loud the security staff from the Wharf pub came over and moved him on. Apparently he is a local nutter, but they cannot do anything other than move him on.

We threw around ideas of what to do the next day, would we go to Sea World, Movie world or any of the number of theme parks that were on offer? No, we shall save our money and go to the beach again, but this time we will borrow a body board. So that is exactly what we did! But the body board was a bit knackered! So it was more hassle than it was worth. In the heat of the mid day sun, we headed back and had a wonder around the air-conditioned mall again, window shopping.

We popped back and grabbed the computer and uploaded a load of new photos to our blog & Facebook. Pizza again tonight me thinks, it is one of the best we have tasted so far. Tonight is Movie night with free popcorn, but there are no spaces in the TV lounge, so we hang out on the veranda and enjoy the cool breeze.

We get up early and check out to get the 10.15 bus, when Charlotte has a revelation and realise that actually we are on the later bus, just after lunch! Well, we jump on the early courtesy bus to town anyway. Charlotte waits at the bus stop in the nice cool shade and Liam goes off for a wander around town, still trying to find some cheap Converse, to no avail. Then we jump on the bus.

BRISBANE
After watching the same film as the last bus again we soon arrive in the largest bus terminal so far. We ask at the Greyhound desk for directions and our hostel, the City Backpackers. It is only a 10 min walk, so we head up there and are very pleased to enter our Air Conditioned double room, with free WIFI, a swimming pool and a pub!

We head over to Woolworth’s to grab some supplies and come back and chillax in the room. We have a little supper a little play on the computer and a couple of happy hour drinks in the pub. The next day follows the same sort of routine. Except we throw in an evening swim in the pool, which gives our slightly over exposed skin a little break from the sun. We top this off with a hearty laugh at the karaoke night they have on, again with a couple of happy hour drinks!

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