The day started with us driving out of Sydney at around 5:45AM. We spent the weekend there visiting with Amy and Sid and some friends we had met while traveling in South America and South Africa. We hopped the train from Newcastle and arrived at Tuggerah at around 1PM and we were really eager to get going since we wanted to cover about 50km before dark. When we stepped off the train we were greeted by some of the most foul weather that we’ve experienced in Australia yet! It rained so hard that 10 seconds standing in it got you soaked! The wind picked up and crap was being blown everywhere! As we tried to take shelter at the station Courtney got hit by something and felt a stabbing pain in her arm. She looked at her right bicep and had something stuck in it so she pulled it out and tossed it aside. Her arm immediately swelled and turned hard and red in the area where she had been hit. We didn’t figure out until after the trip that it was probably a honey bee flying around uncontrollably in the wind that hit her and stung her. They typically leave the stinger and a sack of venom behind, which is exactly what she pulled off of her arm, although in doing so she probably squeezed the venom from the sack into her arm.
After lunch we rolled north towards Belmont and luxury. We booked in to stay at Belmont Bayview Caravan Park for the night and they had a pool! We spent some time swimming and then wandered around Belmont for a few hours before retiring to the camp kitchen where we drank beer and played gin rummy.