East Coast, here we come...sort of

Waking up at the ungodly hour of 5.30am and our trip along the East Coast was ready for full swing! With a 7am bus to catch to Tuggerah (just over an hour north of Sydney) we were visiting the family we first met in New Zealand during the Huka Falls River Cruise, Agnes, Scott and their daughter Olivia. Arriving at their beautiful home just a few minutes from our bus stop, we sat and chatted before being treated to an Aussie toastie, lush!

In the afternoon we headed to the beach, where although we were bombarded by blue bottle jellyfish (especially Agnes), we did manage to test out our skimmer ball and play a bit of beach Frisbee. As the evening approached me and Soph were treated to a first as we hand fed a couple of lorokeets and Kookaburras on the veranda.



Lorikeet feeding

After dinner we watched Scott and his band ‘Kotadama’ play at a village pub. Mainly playing covers, the music was brilliant, unlike the venue which as pre-warned by Scott was reminiscent of what can only be described as a red-neck joint. The locals really were a rare breed, however all in all the night was a good laugh! 

With another beach day planned, Soph began the day playing doctors and nurses with Olivia and her toy animals, I was rejected by Olivia and unfortunately not allowed to play…I was devastated of course. Arriving at the beach, we spent most of the time jumping off rocks into the sea, and also testing out our newly fixed skimmer ball thanks to Agnes’s sewing skills. In the evening Soph was again treated to a game of doctors and nurses by the incredibly energetic Olivia before Agnes cooked up some incredible home made pizzas.



Soph and Olivia playing Doctors and Nurses

Afterwards we went out to have an ice cream and watch the sunset, however we ended up watching an old man being rescued from the sea. Not the most pleasant site, however he did seem to gradually recover.

Me and Soph with our adopted family for the weekend

The next morning it was time to depart and catch our next coach to Port Macquarie. Six hours later and we arrived, just in time to visit the Koala hospital for feeding time. Although the hospital is run by volunteers and survives on funding only, the place was in great condition, and all the staff were really keen to let us know what had happened to each of the koalas. The only downside was that the koalas had been in various accidents in the wild, so there was no opportunity to pet or hold them, although Soph did adopt a three-legged Koala for her mum and Sarah for their birthdays, so we felt we had done our bit to help (karma and all that).

Oxley Kaylee - the adopted Koala who has 3 legs following a collision with a car

The next day began with a brief visit to the library for the internet to check emails…and of course the football results. As our coach was due to arrive at 2pm we headed into the ‘main town’ of Port Macquarie, which was none other than a couple of surf shops, a coffee shop and a few food places. With a 3 hour journey to Coffs Harbour planned we eventually arrived, an hour late as the bus had been behind schedule from the start. Along the way we began to see quite a few areas of high water levels and we were warned about potential flooding further up the coast!

In the evening there was quite a low/desperate feeling around the hostel as news bulletins began flying in about areas of flooding beginning to appear both north and south of Coffs Harbour, and by late evening we knew our bus for the next day couldn’t get to our next destination – Yamba.

The majority of Wednesday was spent mulling over possible options and ways of going up the coast, nearly deciding to fly over the floods to Queensland, however we eventually stuck with plan A - which was to sit out the bad weather and then travel up the coast by coach as we had originally planned. As it was raining heavily there was little option to do anything, so barring a 5 minute foray outside we eventually settled for the safety of the hostel and cooked a chilli for dinner before watching England beat Australia in the first of two Twenty20 matches.  

"and it's Leicester City..."

The next morning was a complete contrast from the previous day as bright sun and a clear blue sky welcomed us to the day. With our bus rescheduled for Friday, we spent the morning at the beach before heading on a board-walk along the river in the afternoon, with nothing more to see than thousands of little crabs darting into the sand – clearly highlighting exactly how exciting Coffs Harbour really is… To top off our ‘action packed’ day we headed home and finished the remains of the previous days chilli before packing our bags!

The only wildlife to speak of in Coffs Harbour

6am, and we were ready and waiting for our bus along with a few others that had been stranded much like ourselves. The 5 hour bus journey, which included an inland detour to avoid the water-logged highways, was broken up with a brief stop in Grafton which had been flooded only days before - fields had turned into lakes, whilst a petrol station further along from where we stopped was under water. By 11am we had arrived in Byron Bay which was a welcome change from our previous two stops, as compared to those ‘towns’ it could only be described as a ‘city.’ Most of the day was spent deliberating as whether to book a couple of tours further up along the coast, and having finally settled for a tour through Peter Pans we headed for the beach.

As evening arrived we chose to finally taste the ever popular Goon (the cheapest and most horrible tasting boxed wine) with our new ‘roomies’ Jude and Phil – an English couple from Cumbria. Since our previous few days had been a boring and depressing affair we chose to hit the town, well, one club – Cocomangas. A few drinks and a boogie later, the walk back turned out to be one of the funnier journeys home. Only a stones throw away from our hostel we saw a few 17 and 18 year olds swapping driving a car whilst clearly intoxicated when a police car came up behind. Needless to say two of them were arrested whilst the other three jumped in various bushes as not to be caught up in it all. Whilst we sat and watched, those absconded were taken away before two of the three escapees began canoodling in the bush…hilarious.

The view of Cape Byron (the most Easterly point of Australia) from Byron Bay's Main Beach

Things done:

• Try some goon
• See a koala

Things to do:

• Throw a boomerang
• Surf some waves
• Try some kangaroo meat