Three in a tent

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So camping. I survived. Ok my back hurts, my hip hurts and I have reached a new level of acceptable hygiene. But apart from that all is good!

On the first day of our road trip up the coast we headed to Newcastle, a town that Lonely Planet has named one of the top ten places to visit for 2011. I think though that they may have been confused with our very own Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which apart from the weather is in my view a much more happening and fun place to be. Arriving at 4.30pm we were met with a town that was pretty much closed so we had to hit the road to find somewhere to sleep for the night finally ending up at a family campsite in Swansea just south of Newcastle. Ok but too many children anyhow I was quite relieved as I was expecting drop toilets and no showers. This was the height of luxury. The next night would prove slightly different.

So what has Newcastle got to offer. Well we loved Blackbutt Reserve where we got to meet a koala (I want one), snakes and wombats. I even fed an emu. All for $3.50 not bad. We then headed to Nobby’s Beach – ok but not as nice as Catherine Hill Bay which we visited earlier.

The night – we stayed at Watagans National Park where I basically spent the night in fear with every sound outside equating to something worse than it probably was. I even broke marital etiquette by insisting on sleeping between Christalla and Michal. Christalla I discovered can sleep pretty much anywhere and Michal has an extreme fear of snakes probably worse than my fear of spiders. Yes that bad. The half box of cheap red wine did help and the fact the campsite was free but I can safely say I won’t be a repeat customer.

Next a deserved trip to the Hunter Valley Wine Region, one of the famous wine areas in Australia, famous for its Chardonnay and Shiraz (Steve B you would love this place). We dropped into a few wineries including Audrey Wilkinson where we were rewarded not just with great wine but also great views over the valley. I just wish I had the money and room in the backpack to buy some of this lovely wine.

We then headed to Port Stephens to see Nelson Bay and check out some promising beaches. We booked into Melaleuca Backpackers next to One Mile Beach and set up camp. Melaleuca proved to be the cheapest around with most campsites charging above $60 for three people. It was a great place and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. I persuaded Chris and Mic to stay another night I liked it so much, It was nice to settle in for the night and have the whole day ahead of us without having to worry about accommodation. We spent Fri night chatting with fellow campers and dorm residents. Michal more so who managed to stay up until a whopping 3am. We spend Sat on the beach at Shoal Bay and a lovely walk along Fingal Bay where we navigated a spit across to an island. It really was stunning and was way better than Newcastle. Sat night and we hit the BBQ with meat a plenty and wine a-flowing. Great couple of nights and would definitely recommend the Port Stephens area.

On the Sunday we headed up to Port Macquarie – really not much to write home about by-pass if you can. We spent the night at the Smokey Cape Beach campsite – only a fiver a head and a great location – I even braved my first drop toilet not something I would like to repeat but if you gotta go you gotta go. The stars were incredible though without the pollution of London or anywhere I have ever been.

Monday – we travelled inland slightly to visit the town of Bellingen a great little town on the Waterfall Way. We stopped off for a cold beer in a lovely pub and I rummaged through books at the local second-hand bookshop. I was quite constrained only purchasing two! Headed up the coast to Coffs Harbour, a town who’s main claim to fame appears to be a Big Banana. Enough said we decided to hammer it up to Byron. I loved Byron – ok it’s touristy but it has a nice hippy vibe and has lovely views up the coast.

After spending the night at Stalag Luft, sorry our campsite, where a delightful young man patrolled the site throughout the night in his golf buggy, we threw ourselves into a surfing lesson with Kool Katz. So surfing. You all need to know I did manage to stand-up, albeit very briefly. Surfing it turns out is actually very hard – our teacher made it look so easy regularly commenting on our faults. No matter how much I protested he seemed to think that despite being a city-dweller surfing should come naturally. Mmm… I was more interested discussing the local marine life, sharks to be specific. I was reliably informed by the instructor that there were sharks ‘out there’ and that someone had been eaten ‘out there’ pointing vaguely to somewhere worryingly close to our current location, Anyway it turns out that Michal is a surfing genius and deserves applause for making it look almost easy. He sure showed the women how it was done.

Off we went when the women showed the man how it was done. With Michal passed out in the back we took the decision to head over the border to Queensland and head to Surfer’s Paradise. Well we had got this far so what the hell. Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast is awesome, brashy and very much like Miami. I loved it. After staying in a rather lacking campsite we went off to enjoy Australia Day. This began with a surfing competition on Burleigh Heads – they sure showed us (even Michal). We then walked into Surfers Paradise (yes that really is its name) and wandered round the shops. The best bit though was an event hosted by Gold Coast City Council where we got to see a rodeo with bucking broncos (amazing) and bull riding. I want to marry a cowboy. We also got to see sheep shearing, duck herding, poisonous snakes and racing pigs! Brilliant! I can only really compare Australia Day to St Patricks Day – these guys go crazy with the Aussie flag everywhere, barbies and a lot of beer – great fun.

Our final night was spent in Nimbin, famous for its pot dealers and general hippy commune ambience. Well it sure lived up to its name. After supping a beer at the local pub we were offered acid, and not just any acid good acid. Don’t worry we didn’t try or buy but we did get to listen to the woes of one tripping resident who claimed to have spent $40,000 in the last three months on drugs – hard to believe. I was in danger of checking him into the nearest drug treatment facility as despite claiming being straight was boring was clearly in need of some help! We survived the night however without any drugs and I started the day with a refreshing dip in the local pool. And thus began our trip back to Sydney.

I will check out now and apologies for the enormity of this blog I promise they will return to their usual brevity in the future. Also any similarities with the Szewczyk blog are purely coincidental… ☺

K xxx

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