As the bus journey from Byron to Sydney was 14hours we decided to split this up by stopping for a couple of nights in Coffs Harbour, which was half way between the two. Coffs was quite a large town with a long sprawling beach and tiny harbour. As we were only in Coffs to break up a long journey we didn't do much here except for nosing around the shops and walking along the beach. We left Coffs at 10.30pm on the second night and were pleased that the bus was half full so we could claim 2 seats each and spread out a bit. We managed a few hours sleep before being woken by the rising sun at 6.30pm and the driver switching on the radio and tuning into the Sydney radio station. Half an hour later we were entering Sydney in brilliant sunshine and coming in over the Sydney Harbour Bridge with amazing views of the Opera House below us and Bohemian Rhapsody blaring out on the radio….quite an entrance.

We spent our first day walking around the large park, which overlooks the Opera House and taking in the views from every angle. We walked around the park and towards the Opera House to get a closer look and actually stood on the steps directly under it. We then walked around the nearby streets and past the locals enjoying a Saturday afternoon beer in the café gardens that line the water's edge. Over the next couple of days we explored the local shops, parks and markets and even managed to walk the length of the Harbour Bridge. Before the end of our time in Sydney (and Australia) we managed to meet up with Nikki and Ben2 one last time. We met up for a late lunch and happy hour drinks in various bars. By 9pm we'd spent up and had managed to bar crawl from the city centre up to Kings Cross. We decided to call it a night and said our final goodbyes. We went back to prepare for New Zealand and Nikki and Ben2 were to move down to Melbourne before ending their trip in South Africa.

We unpacked, repacked, rearranged and sat on our rucksacks until they were suitable for checking onto a flight. We then ate the last of the food we had (mainly noodles and baked beans) and then got an early night as our pick up for the airport was at 4.45am the following day.