Decided to set pff for somewhere else as there doesn't seem to be much to do in Port McQuarie. But first we needed to do some laundry - we've had it done in guesthouses and hostels up to now - it was quite fun doing it in the launderette! Drove about 120km to a rest area for the night. It was right near the Pacific Highway with quite a few other campers there. Sat outside with table and chairs and food and wine. So many trucks were passing, it was pre...

Drove up to Port McQuarie this morning. Port is a small town with a palm tree lined main street and hundreds of apartments overlooking the sea. Quite a lot of new homes being built too - as we've seen in many places since Sydney. Its a pleasant place; very tidy but quite plain really. Wouldn't really say its a foriegn tourist place particularly - apparantly it attracts Sydney weekenders and Oz tourists though.

Thought we'd spend the day at the beach today. We drove back down to Seal Rocks, so called because in the summer Australian fur seals come here. We went to another beach on the other side of Sugarloaf Point lighthouse (lovely name!). This was empty apart from a surf class just about to start. So we sat and watched them. The sand looked like golden creamy fudge and was really fine. We built a sandcastle, quite ambitiously styled on Angkor Wat... A...

We left Newcastle to drive up the Pacific Highway to Seal Rocks this morning. A couple of hundred km later we came off the highway at a tiny town called Buladelah, which just had a bottle shop (of course), an Iga supermarket, library and some houses. Real 'Neighbours' style houses too! Got some petrol and checked the oil, after not being able to find the dipstick and having to ask for help. (The guy in the shop announced, "This gentleman can't find his dipstick",...

Went for free showers this morning at Ocean Baths. I had been bitten on the side of my face and it had swollen so I looked like Minnie Driver from one side. Had coffee, then set off for heaven. Hunter Valey, home of wineries! About 40km west of Newcastle there are about 90 wineries; the region is the oldest wine region in Australia. We wen to the info centre first to get a booklet and our first tasting. Although the guy in the info place who gave us a...