Hello again from Coffs harbour, a nice little seaside town about 9 hrs north of Sydney on the train. We arrived here last night after a very boring train journey, looking at the nice weather outside - waiting to be confronted by the impending rain, rain and ..... yep more rain!!! we did not travel across the world for their summer to be rained on!!!!

It is really nice here despite the rain, and the hostel is good, especially compared to the one we stayed in in Manly (that story to follow!!). We are planning to go canoeing up the creek tomorrow koala spotting!

We decided to leave Sydney central on Tuesday. It took a whole day of searching fruitlessly for accommodation (all becoming very tedious!! this travelling is not as easy as you think - there is so so so much organising to do, and there are no rooms in the hostels, no seats on the trains etc etc!!) until eventually we found one in Manly, a nice area just North of Sydney, just a short ferry ride away. The problem was, despite New Year and Christmas passing, the prices are still holding high!! this one was $34 which by our budget is a lot.

We arrived there at about 6pm and it was the s***tiest s***hole we have ever set foot in!!! the place was dirty, crowded, smelly and unfriendly!! the place was an absolute dump beyond words, and for that kind of money .... it just made it worse!! The bedroom we were in was about 10 ft X 10 ft, with 3 bunk beds in! It was legally allowed 5 ppl max - ours had 6!! the 3rd bunk had just been shoved in for them to make even more money! absolutely disgusting! Sarah didnt even have a ladder to her bunk, as they were all crammed up against each other ...mine wobbled about when i was on it, as one of the guys in the room had to build it himself, to be allowed to stay for any longer!!!! Luckily we met a couple of nice ppl in the room, who took us to a lovely cheap pasta bar! so it soothed the stress somewhat!!

Needless to say we got out of there at 8am sharp, and worked out our next move. We camped up the coast a little in a town called Narabeen. Then we went on a journey to achieve the goal of this little adventure ..... to see the Home and Away beach!!! I think you may be able to guess on who's prerogative this idea came about ... but i went along anyway as i heard it was real pretty! It didnt disappoint! Sarah had a wicked time walking along the famous fence by the beach and we then went to the surf club, with Summer Bay on the sign, and Alf Stewart as the manager!! The beach was actually called Palm Beach and was lovely, one side battered by big ocean waved, and the other protected like a lake, where we dwindled the afternoon away, until ....yep, it started to pour down!!!

We then headed back to the campsite for a nice sleep and tbegan our trek to Coffs the next day!

We are spending a few days here then heading up to Byron Bay - again if we can find a bloody bed!!!

Catch you soon

x