13/1/09 The next morning we began our journey down to Canberra. We stopped for the night at Port Macquarie, a place with beautiful views over its harbour and beaches. Before we arrived here, however, just as we were about to pass through Coffs Harbour we saw a sign advertising a Surfing Museum, so on an impulse we went in. We didn't have enough spare change for the $5 each entry fee, but the owner let us in anyway! It turned out he was a famous surfing star a few decades ago - Scott Dillon. We hadn't heard of him before, but there were lots of old newspaper clipping and photographs about him on the walls. He was really lovely! The rest of the museum was good - small but interesting and idiosyncratic, though without much explanation with the exhibits and old photgraphs.

After setting up the tent, we walked down to the main beach, threw the tennis ball around again, and walked around. The weather was still perfect.

14/1/09 Before we carried on our journey, we visited the nearby koala hospital! Koala bears are quite common in this area, and quite a few get knocked down by cars etc., so the koala hospital was set up in the 70's to treat any injured koalas found in the area. The hospital was set in a small nature reserve only a few streets away from our campsite; they had a couple of permanent residents, and temporary ones who would be released back into the wild once better. The operating room was inside, but the residents lived in large pens outside, and we were allowed to look round these. They really do look as cuddly as they are reputed to be! After looking round, we walked round the rest of the nature reserve, and went into a historical house which was now a museum.

On our way down to Canberra, we passed through the edge of Sydney, and as we carried on further south, I could tell from the scenery that there had been drought here! The landscape was filled with small hills with yellow/brown grass and trees on. We had left Port Maquarie later than we had planned, so we had to stop for the night not in Canberra itself but at a small town about 60-70 km north of it.