The Big Oz

Life is still a beach. We are in a small town called Byron Bay, which is a real mixture of party and chill out so we are staying for just over a week at a place called J's hostel. The accommodation is quite nice with a pool and good rooms. The town is not a cheap place to stay so we are sharing a room with two other people. It's $25 a night each. The beach is very nice. It's a real surfing town - lots of people with surf boards but half of them carry them around just to look cool and everyone is buying the latest surf fashion ware just to look even cooler. It's a bit sad.

 

Sydney was great with so much to see and do. The opera house is amazing to see but we did not go in on a tour as half of it was closed so we'll have to go when we return. I would have liked to have done the harbour bridge climb but it costs over $160 each which is a lot of beer money so we are drinking the money. We had a great night at the theatre and Dany was sitting on the edge of her seat the hole time. We went to see "The Lion King" which was fabulous - the music, costumes and the songs, you all have to go and see it - it was well worth the money.

 

Travelling up the coast heading towards Cairns by Greyhound bus we have until the 28th of May to get there and be back in Sydney as this is the day Dany has to go back to Cambodia. We have been to several towns on the way. We first went to Port Macquarie which is a nice town but when we arrived at the hostel I had booked two beds two days before, they said they did not have a booking for us and they were full. We were left stranded at 9.45pm with nowhere to sleep. We now know a lot of people have said they over-book all the time and the staff don't care. Luckily a place called Ozzie Pozzie had beds for us. This was cheaper and a better place to stay. In town we went to a Koala hospital. It was great to see them up close and hear all about them. They sleep for about 18-20 hours a day and are not bears. Everyone got bitten by so many mozzies there.

 

Next stop was Coffs Harbour and a brand new hostel with lovely surroundings and great facilities. I would recommend anyone to stay there. Coffs is a bigger town than Port Macquarie but is so spread out that we only walked on the beach rather than around town. We walked around the very nice harbour and on to Muttonbird Island Nature Reserve with great views of the town, harbour, beach and sailing ships.

 

When we move on from Byron Bay we are going to Surfers Paradise, Brisbane then north to Fraser Island, Airlie Beach, Mission Beach and then Cairns and maybe a few more towns in-between.

 

I'll tell you all more when I have time in-between chilling and chilling.

 

Dany is amazed at how big Oz is and how long it takes to get anywhere but she is having fun and does not want to go home. She wishes she could stay with me.