With Sheila, our 1999 Holden Commodore (the most Aussie car possible), packed full of camping gear, cookery, a small bbq, beach/snorkel gear, computers, cameras and even a skateboard we headed North from Newcastle mid-day on Friday October 11th. For the first week we didn’t really have any set plans so we opened our Camps 7 book (a book listing all the low cost campsites under $21 per night or free camping spots around Australia) and decided we’d drive 3-4 hours and find a place to stay. Our first night we camped in a tiny town called Bellingen in their showgrounds. We arrived in the dark and had to call the showground groundskeeper who took our money and gave us a few options of where to camp. That night we cooked up a big bbq and enjoyed the stars. The next day we continued North towards Lamington National Park, first stopping in Nimbin, a small hippy town popular with tourists as they are very “free” spirited when it comes to smoking. Lamington NP is in the mountain range inland from the Gold Coast. During the drive up through the mountains we got great views of the Gold Coast, which is Australia’s version of Disney Land, Canada’s Wonderland, Sea World, and Miami mixed into one crazy area. The beach is just covered with massive high rises where lots of Aussie’s go to party and enjoy the constant sunshine. We spent two nights near Lamington NP and enjoyed a nice day hiking in the park. On the holiday Monday we packed up and begun driving North. We wanted to see what the Gold Coast looked like up close so we headed towards the beach. While driving there our engine started to beep at us that it was overheating. Unlucky for us it was a holiday and everything was closed. After frigging with the radiator and calling Andrew’s dad we got in touch with a backpackers up the road who said we should bring the car to them if we could drive it and she’d call her mechanic friend. We eventually got the car to them and the mechanic Wally showed up and fixed the problem. There was a small air bubble in the radiator and amazingly within a few hours we were back on the road. Our next stop was to a beautiful lake area 3 hours north of Brisbane called Elanda Point. The campground was set next to the lake that is part fresh and part salt water depending on rain and tides. The next morning we hiked into the forest to a ranger’s cottage set on the opening of an estuary. We got chatting with the ranger and learned all about snake safety and what to do in an emergency. Hiking safety is very different in Australia than at home, snakes don’t really like to be sprayed in the face with bear spray…who knew? Our next stop was to a town raved about by old Aussie surfers and is the most northern surfing town in Queensland called 1770, near Agnes Water. We spent two nights there enjoying the amazing tranquility of the town and the campground, which was next to a beautiful beach with a really relaxed atmosphere. We both agreed we could have easily lived in that town and hope to one day go back for longer. After two nights relaxing we left in the early morning and had a big day of driving (5-6 hrs) through Rockhampton, a town known for it’s massive amounts of beef exports. The road was pretty straight and not too exciting for the next 4 hours until we reached an area West of Mackay to a place near Eungella National Park. The rest of the area was pretty dry and flat but once we started to get near Eungella everything changed from flat dry farmlands to lush green rainforest. Tucked away in the rainforest is the coolest campground called Platypus Bushcamp run by the wackiest old man. The camp had a few different tree huts, then two natural pools, one for spotting the very rare platypus and the other for swimming, which is a treat as this far north you’re in croc country and it's stinger season so swimming in the ocean can be limited. There we enjoyed the evening and next morning trying to spot the platypus with no luck, but had an amazing time swimming in the natural pool. From there we headed to Airlie Beach, the town used as the jump off point to the infamous Whitsunday Islands where we will be spending 7 days kayaking around and camping on the islands!
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Between hitting the beach, surfing and work we've been pretty busy down here in Newcastle. But that doesn't mean we haven't snuck in a few other activities to really soak in the summer while it lasts! For Andrew's birthday we took the ferry over to Stockton, which is just north of Newcastle across the harbour. Stockton has a different feel than Newcastle. Its quite a bit more quiet and the beaches are more secluded, plus we were able to camp next to the beach! Basically we were getting tired of crossing the road to get to the beach so we just set up our tent next to it! One morning we woke up to some guy shouting, "Cordial!" While it was annoying it did get us out of bed and we watched the Hill to Harbour Marathon come past our balcony. We did feel a bit lazy sitting on the balcony drinking coffee while all these fit runners past below. I'm guessing they would have traded with us if they had the option. We woke one morning to our roommate shouting, "Dolphins, dolphins, the dolphins are so close!" It seems like we are consistently woken up by shouting. At any rate we ran down to the beach with a couple of boogie boards and quickly swam out to where the dolphins would pass by us. The swell was relatively small so we were able to get past the break without being dumped. We got pretty close to the dolphins at one point and our roommate even grabbed a couple of snaps of us. It was an amazing way to start the day!
After a few weeks of "career" job hunting online and living it up in Sydney with Amy and Sid we decided we would start researching places to move as we wanted to live somewhere smaller with more outdoor activities nearby. So one day we went to look at an apartment in a city called Newcastle approximately a 3.5 hour train ride from Sutherland. We totally lucked out and found an amazing apartment right beside Newcastle Beach sharing with an awesome Aussie bloke. We moved the next week, but before we moved we had a few Sydney festivities to tick off the list. One being AUSTRALIA DAY where we headed into the city for a day out celebrating this beautiful sunny country. We walked around Sydney harbor then made our way to Darling Harbor and shared a few pitchers of beer and cider. Once our bellies were full we headed to The Star casino and watched Amy win over $75! After the casino we headed for some ice cream then found a spot in the crowd to watch the fireworks. The show was AMAZING!! The fireworks were set to music and lasted 30 minutes. It was so much fun watching and celebrating Australia day with Australians in Australia’s most beautiful harbour!! Our last day in Sydney was spent in the city where we got to go on a jet boat ride courtesy of Amy and Sid from Christmas. It was insanely fun! The boat was airborne the majority of the hour ride. Due to a storm, the swells in the open water were too big (they tried hitting one and it felt like we were about to flip) so we stayed in more protected waters. After our ride we met Amy and Sid for a delicious pizza dinner to thank them for hosting us for over 1 month. The Monday after we headed by train to our new home in Newcastle. For the first few weeks in Newcastle we looked for casual jobs at all the cafes, restaurants, and retail stores. Whoever says getting casual work is easy, it sure wasn't for us. We kept hearing that no one was hiring or that they wanted people to stay at least a year and have years of serving or food handling experience etc etc. We were feeling pretty low and looking into other places to move when Andrew got a call back from an Adventure travel and gear shop! He got a interview and was working within the same week! A few days later I got a job working as a receptionist at a family medical practice. So now we are living and working in Newcastle enjoying the city. One weekend we headed to Port Stephens, a touristy area popular for their beautiful scenery, water sports and marine park where most in this area go to snorkel or dive. We stayed at a "rustic hostel" (another name for dirty and unkept). The first day we had great weather so we spent time playing around on surfboards and then went out for dinner in Nelson's Bay. When we came home this guy (photo below) was waiting for us to arrive. Andrew flicked Henry off the door but when we got inside we were all spooked and spent the next hour looking for Henry's relatives, which we found all over but luckily they were much smaller but still gross. We ended up sleeping with the light on, then woke at 5:00am by roosters crowing, overall not the greatest sleep we've had. On Sunday along with being tired the weather was also pretty lousy, however we did get to see that the area is beautiful and we'll be back as soon as we can. So far we love living here, we've got to experience living next to the beach, waking up to the sound of the ocean and swimming in the ocean baths and surf. We've even spotted dolphins off our balcony multiple times!! The area is great for swimming, surfing, biking, running and close to both of our new jobs. We've signed up for an Ultimate Frisbee league and will start participating in some local events and clubs. We've also enjoyed watching the weather change and the storms roll through. The last storm caused severe flooding inland and currently there is a dark brown silt tinge to the sea from the river waters. Newcastle was hosting Surfest, a large international surf competition with competitors from all over the globe including Brazil, Japan, USA, Hawaii, but no Canadians. One day I volunteered at Surfest and was responsible for checking in the junior pros and handing out their rash guards. It was pretty interesting and informative as I got to learn all about surf competitions and who this years up and coming surfers are. The week after the juniors competed the world pros came to compete so we went back to watch. The pros were amazing and made it look so easy when we've experienced it's quite the opposite. |
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