Wet'n'Wild - 9th March

Because of the clocks going back we both woke early so decided to make the most of the day and head to Wet’n’Wild – a famous water park around 20 minutes bus away. We arrived at the park very excited at 8.45am.... The gates didn’t open til 10am! D’oh! It was a really hot day so were excited to get on all the rides. The rides were amazing and gave us a good adrenaline kick! They made Amanda scream a few times! 

As we were so early we managed to get the main rides done before the queues built up too much, which meant that we could chill in the afternoon next to the last river and wave pool. There was one ride which was a straight drop and then you shot back up through a tube before getting to the end of the slide. We noticed that some people didn’t make it and slid back down to the middle of the slide again. After an hour of queuing Gav went first and made it all the way around – great fun. Amanda was not so lucky and slid back to the middle! She had to climb out of an escape hatch in the slide. She was not on her own though as the other two people who went at the same time also didn’t make it to the end! It seemed a shame as we had queued for an hour!

The day was so hot that the floor was unbearable to walk on with bare feet. All of the rides had a place to store your shoes called a ‘sneaker keeper’ so they are obviously used to it!

We had a great day and felt like we had made the most of the park. We did not want to spend too much money on food there so heading back to the hostel for some pasta...yum! We also did our washing, which was complimentary at the hostel!

When we got back to our room the other two couples were heading to an Irish bar so we said that we would meet them there in a while. We arrived at the bar at 7.40pm and the bouncer said that from 8pm you were not allowed to wear flip-flops or vests (we both had both these on!) so we got our one drink expecting to be kicked out soon. A promotions girl approached us and asked if the bar had given us our raffle tickets as we had bought Carlton Beer – we said no and they went and got us the tickets. Turns out we didn’t even buy that beer so weren’t entitled to the tickets anyway! After a while they called a raffle ticket number, which was close to the numbers on our tickets. Nobody claimed this so they drew again.... it was only our ruddy ticket! Before we knew what was happening Gav had his photo taken with the promo girls ;-) and was given the prize.... The BIGGEST tray of meat you have ever seen. There must have been at least $150 of meat (£120!). We think that this is the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to us. Then we got kicked out the bar for having a vest on! What a strange evening. We got some very strange looks walking back through the town with our tray of meat. We did not have a clue what we were going to do with it as we were leaving the next day!

Byron Bay to Surfers Paradise - 8th March

Felt hung over.....! We had to check out the hostel and the temperature was scorching hot. None of these things helped us feel any better! Once we had made some good we headed back to the grass near to the beach where we had laid yesterday. We sat in the shade for a while but built up the courage to sit in the baking heat! The intention for today was to walk to the lighthouse in the bay (around 5km) which has amazing views... however the heat put an end to that!

After getting some final food shopping we jumped on our bus at 3pm to Surfer’s Paradise, which was 90 minutes away, however we passed from New South Wales to Queensland and the clocks went back an hour... so it was really only a 30 minute journey!

We thought that our hostel was near to the bus terminal, however it was 2km walk away – a fair mission in the heat with 2 backpacks and a heavy food bag each! When we arrived at our hostel – Surf ‘n’ Sun Beachside Backpackers’ - it looked pretty rough from the outside but we had heard good things about it. The staff were really friendly and gave us a tour of the place and explained everything to us. They showed us to our room – a 6 bed dorm room – which we shared with two other couples, One from Ireland and one from England. It was nice that the hostel had thought about their rooms and put similar people together. Although the rooms were small and very hot, we had our own bathroom and TV.

Before nightfall we walked 5 minutes to the beach, which surprisingly had less surf than Byron Bay, despite the name of the town! The town of Surfers is very commercialised and specifically built to be a holiday destination, so there are high rise hotels next to the beach. It felt a bit like any European beach resort, such as Benidorm!

Byron Bay - 7th March

In the morning while making some breakfast we bumped into three girls from Vancouver who were on our Great Ocean Road trip. It was nice to have a catch up with them and exchange some stories. We headed to the beautiful beach which was around 10 minutes walk away. 

The weather was lovely, however after an hour or so at the beach it became cloudy and even rained a little bit. We decided that it would be nice to have a walk around the shops. There was some really cool stuff which we would have loved to buy, but again couldn’t afford it or carry it. Amanda did buy a handbag from a Bohemian 70s style shop. While walking around we got chatting to a travel agent who ended up booking some trips for Fraser Island and the Whitsunday Islands for us. These trips will be explained when we actually do them, but they are both considered a ‘must-do’ while in Oz! This made us super excited for the next few weeks. The trips were pretty expensive but we got a good discount for booking more than one trip. Also an upgrade to a private room on our Whitsunday boat trip.

By now the sun had come back out so we headed back to the beach, however instead of getting all sandy again, we laid on the grass on the beach side and chilled for a while. The atmosphere and people in Byron Bay are really laid back and funky. There were a group of people next to us on the beach with two small dogs off their leads rolling around fighting each other, while the people played and sang along to the guitar, not at all threatening, even though we haven’t seen this anywhere else. You could just tell that everybody was really relaxed. We sat and watched some pretty sporty looking surfers heading out for a practice.

On the way back to the hostel we bought some wine (not GOON!) which we enjoyed with a stir fry – one of our favourite meals to cook and eat here! This got us in the mood to head to some bars. Our first stop was across the road from the hostel called Cheeky Monkeys. Our hostel had given us a wristband which entitled us to a free drink. We did not know however that it also entitled us to a free meal!! Second Tea... bring it on! We both had a Thai curry which wasn’t that great. It was the full moon party in the bar so everybody was covered in luminous paints. There was a good party atmosphere but we both felt a bit old (how depressing!). It probably would have been better with a bigger group of people. We headed further down the road to a bar called ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ which was very different – live music and a chilled out atmosphere. We wanted an atmosphere somewhere between both bars so headed to the next place – Woodys. Exactly what we wanted as there were pool tables, good music playing and a great atmosphere. A few drinks later we were both feeling slightly passed our best so called it a night. It was fun to let our hair down for a few hours and not worry about spending too much money (even though we probably did!).

Coffs Harbour to Byron Bay - 6th March

The weather was not supposed to be great today so we organised with Sarah and Stacey to go to the Pet Porpoise Pools – a visitor attraction in the town with lots of marine life. The place was quite small but they put on a funny show with the dolphins and seals. 

There were also talks on the rescue turtles and Great Barrier Reef fish. We all got a kiss from a seal and a dolphin and had our photo taken, which were really good so we bought them! 

At one point in the dolphin show they asked for adult volunteers to feed the dolphins, so Gav being Gav stuck his hand up and got picked to go up on the stage and have a dolphin jump out the water and grab the food he was holding out! It was funny to watch! 

It was quite a small company and so felt more personal than somewhere like Sea World. The staff were really nice. The company also help the community by having volunteers that are mentally challenged.

The afternoon was very miserable with monsoon style rain, so we sat in the hostel and played board games with Stacey and Sarah.

Our bus to Byron Bay was late afternoon and got us there in the evening. When we arrived we were both shattered and in need of some good sleep, so we upgraded our room to a private double – what a treat! Tuesday nights are very special in Australia - $5 for a large Dominoes pizza!! We took full advantage of the deal rather than cooking more pasta. We both thoroughly enjoyed it!

Coffs Harbour - 5th March

We were sat in the hostel having breakfast when one of the workers told us he was taking a group to the botanic gardens if we wanted to go along... it was free! We had thought about doing that anyway so said we would tag along. The gardens were really pretty and we saw some wildlife – Koala, Funnel Web Spider, Wolf Spider and the skin of a Python that had slithered through not long before us! How scary! The gardens themselves were really pretty. 

A Canadian guy that came with us got a leach on his foot which freaked us both out a bit. This is the first time either of us had seen one before and they were much bigger than we thought. Although it was thin because it hadn’t sucked any blood yet!

When back at the hostel there was the option for another surf lesson for $25 again. Amanda did not fancy it but Gav was eager to improve his skills. The instructor for this lesson was an ex pro so gave a lot more information than the previous guy. This helped a lot. Also the surf was not as wild so it was easier to get on the board. While Gav was on his lesson, Amanda walked down to the beach to watch and take some snaps. 

Once the lesson had finished we both lazed on the beach for a few hours catching the last of the sun. On the way back to the hostel we picked up some wine and beer to celebrate our forgotten anniversary!

Staying in our hostel were Sarah and Stacey, who we met in Port Macquarie, so we spent the evening with them and a Swedish girl called Isabella having a good laugh and enjoying some drinks. It was here that Isabella introduced us to a drink named GOON. The best way to describe the drink is the cheapest box of wine that you can find. You take the bag out of the box and “SLAP THE GOON” before you can drink it.... apparently! Legend has it that the aboriginal word for pillow is GOON. Once you finish your bag of wine you can blow it up and use it as a pillow! It was pretty disgusting and I don’t even think it can be classified as wine really – on the box it says “refreshing white alcoholic drink which may contain fish eggs”! It is a favourite with the backpackers though as it is ridiculously cheap and gets you drunk very quickly! We can safely say we have resisted it and feel posh with our $5 bottles of proper wine which are much nicer!

Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour - 4th March

We did not get a great sleep as our room was right next to the main communal area of the hostel. A few people stayed up late and also our room mates were quite noisy. Our bus was mid afternoon to our next stop so we didn’t want to venture too far. We decided to hire a bike from the hostel and go and look at some beaches. 

We headed along the break wall which separates the town’s river harbour from the sea. This is quite a defining feature of Port Macquarie, as over the years all of the big stones have been painted with many messages. Most of them saying ‘We Woz Ere’ in loads of different languages. it was cool to see all of the different colours. We were told that the council was not happy about them, but once tourists came to see them (bringing money in to the town) they decided it was a good thing and now encourage it! 

Further around the coast was the first beach. As we approached it the heavens opened and we got drenched. There was a surfing competition being held but we didn’t want to hang around too much and get even wetter. We found some shelter and waited for the rain to pass. Once it had, we headed further around the coast and stopped to take in some views. 

By this point we were both wet and lacking in motivation to carry on so headed back to the hostel. On the way we went to a supermarket for food. Having completely forgot we were on bikes, Gav had to balance 4 shopping bags on his handle bars while cycling back to the hostel – was funny to watch!

We jumped on our Greyhound bus heading for Coffs Harbour. We shared the journey with Lee and Jessica and got to know them much better. Turns out they left the UK the same day as us and are doing the exact same trip, just in reverse from us! So we exchanged notes on Asia and New Zealand. We arrived in Coffs Harbour and left the Bus. Lee and Jess carried on to Byron Bay.

A bus from our hostel - The Aussitel Hostel - collected us and showed us the sights of the town before taking us to the hostel. We had a really nice 4 bed room we only shared with one other girl from Manchester who did not shut up the whole time!! Kept us entertained though! 

We made some tea and sat down to watch a film. At around 7.30pm Gav said something, to which Amanda replied “how long have we been going out?” Gav looked at his watch and said “Actually 5 years TODAY!!” we had both totally forgotten with all of the other things on our mind! We thought that we should celebrate this in some way so headed down the road in search of a bar. On the way we stopped at an Ice Cream Parlour... very romantic! The only bar we could find was a sports bar (like a betting office with a bar in it) we got one drink. The clientele could only be described as trailer trash! We didn’t stay long and instead said that we would get some wine and celebrate tomorrow night!

Port Macquarie - 3rd March

We arrived in Port Macquarie (our first stop north of Sydney) at 2am! We had our room key left for us in the postbox which was in an envelope with ‘Enter by the Bookcase’ written on it – it was like a treasure hunt! Well cool! Once we got in to the corridor of the room, we set our bags down so we could get changed and brush our teeth without disturbing others in the room. We tiptoed and whispered our way around and used the bathroom. Once we sneaked in to our room, we realised that there was no one sharing our room! Typical! We could have made as much noise as we liked!

The hostel was called 'Aussie Possie Backpackers' and was a lovely little hostel with a swimming pool, big TV room, table tennis table and games room. It was clean and the rooms were spacious. The owner - Richard - enjoyed spending time with the backpackers and getting to know them. He had a pet Rainbow Parrakeet which was very friendly. 

After catching up with our sleep we headed to reception to pay for our room. As we were sorting it all out there was a surfing lesson leaving the hotel – only $25 each for 3 hours.... we didn’t have any better plans so joined the group. Before we knew what was going on, we had a wet suit on, had been given a brief lesson and were in a van heading for the beach. In the group were 2 girls from Sunderland – Stacey and Sarah – and a couple from Huddersfield called Lee and Jessica. We all clicked and had a laugh about how rubbish we were going to be on the waves. When we arrived at the beach we grabbed a surfboard and headed into the rough waves. We had noticed that there were quite a few jellyfish on the beach but the instructor said they did not sting so we were not worried. After only a few wipe-outs, Gav managed to get on his feet on the board.... for about 3 seconds before the wave got revenge and flipped him off the board. He was well chuffed that he had managed to surf on his first attempt! Gav managed a few more stand-ups before his arms got too tired to heave himself on to the board. Amanda was persistent with trying to stand and most times managed to make it to her knees before the wave tipped her off. However soon after she managed to stand up – proper surfing.... cool duuuuude! She looked like a pro... apart from the screaming and laughter! As she came off she brushed a jellyfish and it gave her quite a bad sting on her leg! It felt like an electric shock! She ran out of the water and to the lifeguard stand, where they gave her some ice to sooth the sting. By the evening it had calmed down and was gone. Still not pleasant though. Both happy that we had managed to stand up we headed back to the hostel for some lunch.

The weather in the afternoon was a bit brighter than the morning so we decided to have a walk around Port Macquarie. It is a relatively small holiday town that a lot of Aussie’s go to, so there is a fair few hotels and touristy shops. From here you can normally spot dolphins in the harbour, however we didn’t get to see any – which was a shame.

Leaving Sydney - 2nd March

It was our last day in Sydney and so we repacked our suitcases and mentally prepared to say goodbye to the space, the amazing bed, the en-suite bathroom etc. etc. We then walked to town to buy Lynda and Ron some Thank You flowers. Once we were ready, we jumped in to a taxi which took us to where we needed to catch the Greyhound bus. A bit sad to leave Sydney, but ready for the adventures to continue! We grabbed a Chinese meal from a small cafe called the Asian Cookery School, which was surprisingly well cooked and filled us up to! The bus was full so we didn’t get to sit together, but Amanda met a really interesting girl from San Diego so got to know her a bit better – she had been to New Zealand before coming to Australia and was really interested in the different fashions between the countries and her own – something that hadn’t even occurred to tomboy Amanda, but great to hear about. She was 30 and a bit fed up of over-partying 18 year olds – it is obvious out here if you are that bit older than the majority of people on ‘Gap Years’, but everyone’s here doing their own thing. We get to see so much more of the country whilst the ‘youngies’ are hungover sleeping in.

Sydney - 1st March

We had a morning of planning for the next move of our trip, as we decided to leave Sydney the next day. We had done all of the bits in Sydney that we wanted to see and do, and felt refreshed after living with Lynda and Ron.

We got the ferry to the City and then our second double decker train of the trip, to the Greyhound office. After becoming members of the YHA and buying our Greyhound tickets, we were satisfied that we were prepared to move on. Greyhound is a huge bus company that runs buses between all the towns up the East coast and so with 1 ticket, we have 90 days to make our way up to Cairns, jumping on and off buses as frequently as we like – this gives us plenty of time before our flight booked for 7^th April to leave Oz.

We then got the train over to an area called the Rocks – this is at one end of Sydney Harbour Bridge, and is a historic area with cobbled streets and small cafes. It is beautiful, and really makes you for forget that you’re in a city at all – once you look above the small buildings and see the skyscrapers, you are reminded soon enough!

The day was very warm and close, it felt as though a storm was going to break out. After taking lots of pictures (again) we headed back home. Ron arrived back from his break away to Magnetic Island in the late afternoon and we had planned to take both him and Lynda out for a farewell and thank you meal. We got back and had a leisurely ‘get ready’, whilst enjoying champagne and beer, and then made our way to the local Thai restaurant. The food was amazing, company was even better – we had a great evening, and were sad to say goodbye to such lovely people. 

Sydney - 29th Feb

It was raining really heavily when we woke up. Lynda told us that although it rains more often in England, when it rains in Sydney, it rains so much heavier, that they actually have a much higher annual rainfall. We didn’t want to waste a day, so we packed the waterproofs and caught the ferry to the city centre.

We visited the Botanic Gardens, and although we had been there before, they are so big, that we saw so much more this time. We spotted the hundreds of Fruit Bats or Flying Foxes, as the locals call them, in the trees! 

We also treated ourselves to a coffee/tea and cake! Gotta be done in the rain! The cakes were so sickly they were goooood!

The plan was to then walk straight to the National Art Gallery which is in the Botanic Gardens, and with a slight detour (which was nothing to do with Amanda navigating again, honest) or the ‘scenic route’ as we like to call it, we spotted an outdoor 50m swimming pool just randomly next to the river! 

There were also hundreds of runners going past us, which Gav first said “well it must be lunchtime for the workers”, but this was an impressive turnout for a lunch break! After closer inspection, the runners had numbers pinned on them which said “The Corporate Cup” on – there were teams from all the big companies such as PWC. So, we made It to the Art Gallery which had a Picasso exhibition on! Mand was so excited about that! We got to see the classical colourful crazy paintings, but also how he got to this point – there was a quote of him saying something along the lines of “I had advanced drawing skills from a young age, it took me years to draw like a child”. It was interesting to see some of his unfinished sketches, learning about his family, about when he painted through the 2^nd World War and the other artists he worked alongside, like Cezanne! After walking around this exhibition, we were both tired and legs ached (for a change) we wondered around some other bits, seeing a Monet painting, but just made our way back to the entrance.

Our next stop was the Aquarium, not the best idea when our legs were killing, but we had already bought discounted tickets online, and it was an ideal thing to do for a rainy day. Everyone else in Sydney seemed to have the same idea...it was rammed! There was some amazing marine life to admire, including a Great Barrier Reef section with Nemos, Marlins and Doreys, a Freshwater shrimp that said “My bubbles” and a crazy starfish called Peach that claimed she was from Ebay (this is all true!). There was also a big tank of sharks and massive stingray that you could walk under through a tunnel, and there were Flashlight fish that were in pitch black tanks and their eyes flashed like a torch (believe it or not!) – Caroline saw these in Bristol Aquarium too!

When we got home, we were both really tired, and Lynda had got Sausage and Mash in for us, which hit the spot! As you can imagine, we both slept amazingly well!

Blue Mountains - 28th Feb

We had an early start, and had to catch the 7am ferry in to the City, to be at the hotel meeting point at 7.20. Both feeling very tired, we slept on the coach for the first couple of hours.

The Blue Mountains tour was with the main tourist company in the area, the coach was modern and the tour guide was friendly and professional. We drove out of the city across the Harbour Bridge and he took us to the Fetherdale Animal Park for our first stop. When the bus was pulling into a space in the car park, one of the staff from the park walked out to greet us with a Joey – a little tiny weeny Wallaby baby! SO so cute!! Walking around the park, we saw lots of koalas, and got to stand close to one and stroke her back (Chloe), which was very very fluffy! 

We also got to feed the Kangaroos! They were so gentle and Gav fed a little baby (roo) too! They had ice cream cones with grass in and the kangaroo’s held on to them with their little paws and munched on it all. Some were greedy and stole the whole thing. 

We also saw our first Tasmanian Devil and Dingo!

After an hour we were back on the road to Echo Point, which is a view point high in the Jamison Valley over the Blue Mountains and the Three Sisters. You could see for miles over the lush vegetation on sandstone cliffs. The Three Sisters is a rock structure with three points (hence the name) and is very impressive to see. This is the iconic image of the Blue Mountains. Although impressive, we were not as impressed as the views we saw in New Zealand. Maybe we were spoiled there!

From here we drove to the town of Katoomba and to an attraction called Scenic World, which is based on the side of a gorge and has the world’s steepest railway, which has a decline of 52 degrees.  

This was used for carting coal up the mountain side when the mines were active.  The ride was only short and we all quite cramped into the seats so it was not great. Quite impressive though. Once at the bottom we walked around the forest area learning about the various trees (more trees!!) before catching the sky ride back to the top. Like a ski-lift that holds about 30 people! We got another good view over the valley and the Three Sisters.

Amanda took a trip back into town, which turned out to be a massive hike! She was looking for a company which had the same name as the one she works for in the uk – River Deep Mountain High. After 3km and several hills in the midday heat she found them, with enough time to take a snap and head back to the bus to move on to the next stop.

The driver took us to a small historical town called Leura which had traditional shops, including a sweet shop! There was also a Tea-pot museum! Amanda bought some sweets (of course) from the shop – some sherrrrberrrrt and a lolly!

From here we moved on to Wentworth falls which is meant to be great, however the best view is a 40 minute walk away. We only had 10 minutes so could only see the top of the falls from where we were.

On the way back to the city, the bus took us to the site of the Sydney Olympic games in 2000 and the impressive stadia that were built and are still used today! It was cool to see this as we had both watched it when it was on tv and when we were both still athletes. We learned about how they are still improving the facilities today.

The bus finally dropped us at the Olympic park ferry point where we took a cruise down the Parramatta river back to the city centre. 

We jumped off at Darling Harbour for some Pizza before working our way back to Lynda and Ron’s, both extremely tired from the very long day

Manly and IMAX, Sydney - 27th Feb

We booked a trip to the Blue Mountains for tomorrow and then caught the ferry to Manly. As the sun was shining, the ferries were all very very busy; Manly is known for having a brilliant surf beach – some have said that it is better than Bondi beach because it is less commercialised. We didn’t have time/or good weather to be able to visit Bondi beach, and so we can’t make this comparison. Manly was brilliant though, after getting off the ferry, we had a pie! The first pie that we had eaten in Australia! They were quite tasty, but think we need to sample a few more to be able to judge them properly!

At Manly beach, we hired a bodyboard for an hour. Not really knowing if an hour was a long enough time for us both – we soon realised it was definitely more than enough. Amanda managed the whole of 10 mins and Gav 30 mins before we were tired of being bashed and hit by the very strong waves. We both had a great time though enjoying the sea properly.

The plan was to then go to Bondi beach but the weather wasn’t great, it had turned grey and we were both feeling sufficiently beached out. We went for a total change of tact and visited the biggest IMAX cinema in the world! It was a brilliant experience, the screen had so many seats and you really felt like you were in the film! We watched a short film on the history of reptiles, so it was quite educational – not our first choice, this just happened to be what was being shown at the time. There was a scene where you were flying over a gorge and some fields, and it made us both feel a bit dizzy.

Some great views on the way home...

Once we had caught the later ferry back to Lynda’s house, we were both very much in need of a shower. We had to find our way home because the ferry that runs a bit later was different to the one that we usually took. With the Gavnav's skills we found our way, but kept walking in to spider webs which freaked us both out! 

We opened Lynda's frontdoor and she had some surprise guests around to enjoy dinner with us. We had no idea that we would be having dinner with the local ‘Pearl’ shop owners! Very random, but great to get to know some new people! We had a great laugh.

Baulkham Hills - 26th Feb

Still feeling a little weary, we lazed in the morning, and at midday went to visit Anne, Lynda’s mum, in the Hills District at Baulkham Hills – just a half hour drive from Lynda’s house. We had both met Anne when she came to the UK last time and so it was nice to see her again, see where she lived and get to know her a bit better. We went out for lunch and had a lovely catch up together. With a toasted sandwich for dinner, we chilled in the courtyard reading our books – lovely relaxing Sunday – just what the doctor ordered!!

Lynda, Anne, Gav

Balmoral - 25th Feb

After our tiresome day yesterday, we decided that we really did need to take advantage of being at Lynda’s house, and spend a couple of days resting our legs and minds! Just 15 minutes away, there is Balmoral Beach, a very relaxed and beautiful spot away from Sydney city. 

We enjoyed some really fresh Fish and Chips (being strongly against ordering Doreyfish which was on the menu!!! Disgraceful! – Mum, don’t tell Dorey at home), spread our towels on the beach, and joined all the other sunbathers taking advantage of the lovely hot weather! Gav enjoyed lolling around in the sea looking at the mini Stingrays, claiming to have ‘gone for a swim’ – Mand told him it wasn’t a proper swim, and we enjoyed playing Volleyball and catch in the sea together. Once we started to feel a bit frazzled, we headed back to Lynda and Ron’s, stopping off for a yummy Ice-cream on the way home. And for dinner, a first for both of us, Spag Bol! Not any old Spag Bol though...this was Spag Bol straight from the Barbie!