Sydney and the end of the noughties As the build up to Christmas begins, we catch a train back to Sydney Central station on the 23rd Dec. After a brief taxi ride (a bit of a luxury, as we always go by public transport to the hostels – but our rucksacks are feeling just a bit too heavy and we’re just a bit too tired!) we arrive at the Summer YHA – basically they have converted the University of Sydney’s halls of accommodation into a hostel for 1 month ove...

Newcastle - 19th Dec By the time we arrive in to Newcastle, it has past 11pm and we are pretty knackered. As it is Friday night we are faced with many drunken revellers wandering through the streets - somewhat amused by the large group of backpackers, laden with many bags coming towards them! We're glad there is a large number of us walking to the same hostel. The YHA hostel we are staying at is in a beautiful old building - in particular we are amazed by a gli...

Port Macquarie 16th Dec After what seemed like the longest Greyhound journey – we ended up arriving into Port Macquarie over an hour late, hot and bothered as the air con on board was being rather erratic and there were lots of annoying people on our coach! We had been informed that our hostel had free wifi internet access – ‘great!” we thought, we could finally get up to date with our beloved blog (well as you can probably tell, this did not occur and w...

There has been some confusion about the accommodation we have booked for Byron bay – we’re not sure if we have definitely gone to the right hostel! Eventually we make arrangements for a Double room in an apartment for our first night, unfortunately we are sharing with 3 unfriendly guys (or rather, boys), who have taken ownership of all the communal areas - Not a great start. We quickly dump our bags and head out to explore the area. Fortunately for Andy our...

Surfers Paradise Next stop for us is Surfers Paradise, we’ve only incorporated a 1 day visit into our itinerary as we have heard mixed reviews (with more than a few mentioning “Magaluf” and “Benidorm”) So we make sure we book an early greyhound bus so we have 1 full day there. Unfortunately, this happens to be the day we (or rather I) make our first blip with times. On this occasion, I take full responsibility. On checking the itinerary many times, i...