Saturday 6th February 2016

We had another good sleep in Kylie, starting to feel at home in this camper van and really looking forwards to the things to come. We had breakfast outside on a table joined to the side of the camper whilst looking over a river. We toyed about wanting one at home but then came to the realisation that it wouldn't be the same.

We then headed off to make a 2hr drive towards a place called Smokey Cape which has a lighthouse and a really nice beach. The weather was still rubbish and got us thinking that we had picked the wrong time to come. I started the drive this morning and then Isla took over as we headed into Smokey Cape. We had maybe judged the fuel wrong as we were just below a quarter of a tank, driving away from civilisation towards the coast. Hopefully we wouldn't run out this time, must be the third time I have written something similar, you really would think we would have learnt by now.

We reached Smokey Cape and the view was amazing, the best way to describe the lighthouse is to think of the Aussie show "Round the twist" (for you eighties babies). We looked down at the beach from the lighthouse and it was very, very long. It went on for miles. The water was super rough but had this blue emerald colour to it.

We walked down to the beach and came across our first dangerous Aussie wildlife. A spider the size of a large Conker, yellow and black and its feet looked razor sharp. It looked nasty so we limbo'd under its Webb, which Isla did with a scream.

We made it to the beach and were the only ones on it. It was so cool, the sand was really soft and the view back up to the lighthouse was special. It was getting dark so we went back to Kylie and parked her in a campsite just behind the lighthouse. We were about 30 meters from the beach. Shame about the weather it would have been perfect. We got settled in for the night and went for a walk on the beach. We spoke to an Aussie camper who said he had seen Kangaroos and Koalas here so we obviously got out hopes up. Whilst sitting in Kylie making dinner an adult Kangaroo and a younger one came hopping right past the van. Isla was so excited to see her first roo. After dinner we went back on the beach and found Kangaroo prints in the sand and obviously tracked the prints. Amazingly 30 meters later we found 4 kangaroos on the beach. Never knew or pictured Kangaroos living on the beach.

That night we played a game of poker for which the loser had to go skinney dipping in the Ocean. At Midnight I lost the game and made the run into the shark infested ocean in the pitch black. Didn't stay in long surprisingly, however the water was lovely and I wish it wasn't that dangerous as I could have stayed.

Sunday 7th February 2016

We woke up early as we had plans to go to church and needed to get fuel also. We had found a Hillsong church in a place called Coffs Harbour which we were excited to attend. We made it for the service and were immediately welcomed in by loads of people and handed a goodie bag containing chocolate. The worship was amazing, very professional and similar to the songs at FCC. The preach was even better, a very passionate preach about the power of earnest, heart felt prayer.

After the service we were flagged down by 3 English couples who had moved over after travelling and told us it is amazing and made us consider the move over even more, especially if we came to this church. We left the church and headed to the beach front in Coffs. It was lovely and the weather was starting to turn for the better so the sun was shining but with menacing clouds in the sky. We sat and chatted for a while before making the trip towards Byron Bay. We stopped off at a paid campsite in a town called Broadwater so that we could get water and electricity. This site had a pool which we made use of before having our dinner outside again. This time we were joined by bats. Absolutely huge bats, the size of pigeons, maybe even sea gulls. We decided to head in for bed and get ready for our first surf lesson in the morning.