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| Newcastle: Not a Geordie in site... |
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| Anette (Norwegian), Johnny and Peter (Dutch) in the hostel |
After leaving Sydney and sorting out our coach pass we headed up to the East Coast of Australia. We checked out Newcastle for a night but there was nothing special so we then then headed to the town of Port Macquarie. After the nightmare of our terrible 14 bed hostel in Coogee Beach in Sydney, we made sure we booked a 6 bed dorm up in advance! We were greeted at the bus stop by an Italian man by the name of Giovanni who whisked us away to the hostel and offered us a private room at no extra cost....we didn't hesitate to take up the offer. I had already recognised the pool table at reception and knew it was my kind of place! Giovanni started up the hostel with the owner Nick and another friend after meeting each other backpacking. The hostel was small and homely, probably had no more than 30 people and after a few days everyone knew everyone.
The hostel offered free surfboard lessons so I gave it a go as I was clearly a professional after my one hour surfing lesson in Bali. There was about ten of us who took up the offer and we was all pretty much useless! I gave up on the surfing and tried body boarding instead and had a bit more luck with it, although I was drifting away along the coast into rocks most of the time. I panicked a bit especially as the rest of the group was sunbathing relaxing on the beach and I was there just casually drifting away from the beach towards New Zealand. When I reached the shore I was shattered and passed out on the beach for a bit!
Me and Georgia got our first glimpse of a koala and checked out the koala hospital which looked after koalas with injuries from bush fires or car accidents. It wasn't like a zoo with cages, just a sanctuary for koalas. The people who run it were more concerned about the koalas than the tourism it attracted which was good. We also did a 6km coastal walk and came across beautiful deserted beaches and even the odd nudist beach, I did ask Georgia if she want to sunbathe but she passed on the offer. There was thousands of washed up dead birds along the beach which was strange and after asking our friend Google, they apparently make a journey every year from the north pole to the south pole but most of them don't make it. How did people find things out before Google?
The hostel offered free surfboard lessons so I gave it a go as I was clearly a professional after my one hour surfing lesson in Bali. There was about ten of us who took up the offer and we was all pretty much useless! I gave up on the surfing and tried body boarding instead and had a bit more luck with it, although I was drifting away along the coast into rocks most of the time. I panicked a bit especially as the rest of the group was sunbathing relaxing on the beach and I was there just casually drifting away from the beach towards New Zealand. When I reached the shore I was shattered and passed out on the beach for a bit!
Me and Georgia got our first glimpse of a koala and checked out the koala hospital which looked after koalas with injuries from bush fires or car accidents. It wasn't like a zoo with cages, just a sanctuary for koalas. The people who run it were more concerned about the koalas than the tourism it attracted which was good. We also did a 6km coastal walk and came across beautiful deserted beaches and even the odd nudist beach, I did ask Georgia if she want to sunbathe but she passed on the offer. There was thousands of washed up dead birds along the beach which was strange and after asking our friend Google, they apparently make a journey every year from the north pole to the south pole but most of them don't make it. How did people find things out before Google?
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| Costal walk |
We extended out stay in Port Macquarie for a further 3 nights but had to move to a dorm which we couldn't moan about. Our "roomies" were two Dutch guys, Peter and Johnny and two German girls, Isabelle and Katrin. We got on with them so well along with most people in the hostel including French, Norwegian and excited Canadians.
Most of our nights consisted of Georgia cooking and drinking and playing games in the hostel. Georgia showed off her cooking skills by making all these different recipes whilst everyone else made the standard spaghetti bolognese most nights. We also discovered 5 dollar Domino's and goon. To anybody who doesn't know goon is cheap cask wine which costs around 6-10 dollars for thee equivalent of 6 bottles and is basically a backpackers dream although the morning after isn't great. We still had our secret stash or vodka from Cambodia, we couldn't let people know otherwise they would think we were posh pommies. The nights also consisted of me be giving pool lessons for free and Georgia being exploited by the hostel co- owner Giovanni phoning a girl working for a rival hostel as he was banned from making contact with her and the hostel.
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| Beer and a BBQ on the beach |
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| Professional Chefs! |
Our final night in Port Macquarie was having a BBQ by the beach with the Dutch boys whilst having a beer watching the sun set over the sea. That was one of the best moments traveling around Asia and Australia. We had such a fun time in Port Macquarie with the nice beaches, the weather and was lucky to share a dorm with Johnny, Peter, Katrin and Isabelle. We even applied for a few jobs in the hope we could work and live in the small town by the sea but it was not to be! It was time to leave as we were had a home-stay arranged with a retired couple further along the coast.
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