We spent a couple of nights in Newcastle as one of the first places offically on the east coast run. We went to the Black Butt Nature Reserve which was a nice bush-like place to wonder round and have a chance to get close to the Koalas they have there. Koalas aren't actually that soft, they seme more fluffy than anything...and they sleep for 19 hours a day, what a life!

Moving onto Port Stephen, we spent a few nights at a really eco-friendly back-packer camp site, there was a resisdent wollaby called Josie ( that kindly bit Sal on the arm when she tried to snuggle up close for a photo op) and a cute little birdie called Squeeky that was reknowned for landing on people at any given time, Jen had him sat on her finger at one point, such a friendly little thing!

We went for a walk up to Tomarree Head view point, great views of the bay. this was our first glance of seeing dolphins! there were about 8 of them swimming about near the shore down below. We also went to Stockton Sand Dunes close to our camp site. They were really impressive, apparently alot of movies are filmed there.

Today we took a boat ride from Nelson's Bay and managed to see loads more dolphins. One came up close to the boat which was really exciting!

Tomorrow were are heading into Hunter Valley, the winery region! Hoping to go on some free wine tasting and soak up the views of the valley!

keep you posted xx