Monday 5th April

Tent time - 40mins plus (first time to use camping gear)

Not very sunny, but not raining

Picking me up early Monday morning, in their new 23 year Red, Wagon Toyota Camry was Nicola and Owen. We crammed my bags in the boot/back seats amongst the camping gear, fishing rods, surf board and food and went to work one last time to say good bye to everyone in melon head. Leaving Sydney via the botanical gardens so Nic's boss could do one last check of oil ect on the car we drove to the blue mountains, I showed them where I had been in the blue mountains when my parents were over as it was a pleasant walk and with me and my broken toe I didn't think the walk would have done it any good. We then camped in the Blue Mountains that night at a back to basic camp site with a long drop loo and nothing else. That night we learnt how to put the tent up and where and how we shouldn't have cooked in the dark! But all was well as no kangaroos came to beat us up.

Tuesday 6th April

Miserable day with showers

An early wakeup call by the monkey sounding birds we repacked the car after packing up camp and set off to Newcastle. On the way the car ended up over heating and splitting the radiator, so we waited an hour on the side of a highway for it to cool down so we could fill it up with water and carry on. I had 2 friends who lived there whom I met in LA and again in NZ so I hoped to meet up with them as they were lovely girls. After another 2 hours of driving to Newcastle on the coast we met with Lori who kindly let us stay with her, the first night Lori and Miranda took us to the RSL club around the corner for dinner and a big dinner it was! Had a few drinks with our catching up.

Wednesday 7th April

Raining and cloudy

Taking full advantage of the comfy bed we all had a lie in luckily Lori got the day off work and showed us around town. First things first we put the car in to a garage for repair then went and picked up Miranda from work, the town seemed small compared to Sydney but I guessed a lot bigger to towns up the east coast. We drove to one of the many beaches and went for a walk to the 'bogey whole' which was a man made swimming pool in the ocean, they are quite common in Oz but there not normally as big or as deep as this one. Then was a trip around town for lunch, Miranda had a trampoline in her back garden so I couldn't resist that and took a journey over to have ago, met their parents whom offered us a home if we needed, we didn't want to impose as Lori had done enough for us. After we went back to the RSL again for dinner as was soo good! Then we headed to town for a night out, was nice to go somewhere else that wasn't in Sydney! Had a great night out.

Thursday 8th April

Tent time - 13 mins 38 seconds

Very hot day not a cloud in the sky

Had another lay in before repacking the car said our goodbyes and left Newcastle headed for South west rocks but ended up staying in Port MacQurey, as didn't have time to get to the rocks. We weren't going to stop here but so glad we did as it's such a beautiful town more lovely secluded beaches and a sweet town. When sun was setting we headed to a camp site to set up camp, this was campsite had a pool and showers which was a lot different to the space in trees at Blue Mountains. Stayed up playing cards.

Friday 9th April

Tent time - 1 hour plus (as pole snapped)

Sunny and cloudy

We left Quite early and took a stroll around town I sent a few packages home and checked the internet, When Owen and Nic bought the car it came with a surf board and snorkelling gear, so we managed to get a really cheap rash vest so we could try the surf board out, Thinking it would be really easy after our day surfing lesson on long boards this small pointy board wasn't quite the same! Owen gave it a good go and I passed for next time with smaller waves, so instead we went snorkelling, I was a bit worried at first as my last couple of experiences with snorkelling didn't seem easy with me panicking every time my head went under water. I didn't think there would b much to see in a secluded beach but was proven wrong as loads of small pretty fish and big eating fish were found. Not much coral or shells but a lot of fish. We had tuna sandwiches for lunch like every day but this time we had them on the beach, then headed to South west Rocks, When we got there we found a camp site and set up camp then were planning on watching the sun go down, the only place to watch it on the east coast but as soon as we got there ready to watch the sunset clouds appeared so we couldn't watch it in the end. So we cooked dinner in the dark and played games around the fire, whilst playing games a possum came and sat with us and ate our scraps of food!

Saturday 10th April

Tent time - 20 mins 18 seconds

Hot and sunny

We woke up this morning with 2 kangaroos stood the other side of the car from us, looked like a mum n baby, was such a great surprise to walk out of the tent too! Left South west rocks quite early there wasn't much to see in the small town, and drove 50 mins up to Coffs Harbour during this drive the speedometer broke! When first driving in to Coffs I didn't realise we were here as it seems a bit industrial with lots of large buildings and shops. All the way up the coast we've been on the Pacific 1 high way which most of the time is the main road in the towns, especially in Coffs, everything is off the highway, our campsite is just offit, main shops are, the famous 'Big Bananas' is off it. Whilst driving around town we stumbled across a small festival, Owen loved it as it was about graffiti art ect so we stayed and watched the break dancing We went to the park side beach after trying to find another mechanic I was going try the surfing again but with a 7 year old girl doing all the tricks I left it to her! Instead just sunbathed. We drove back to the highway to find our campsite and set up camp. Stayed up playing card games again.

Sunday 11th April

Tent already set up

Very hot and sunny

Woke up to another sunny day wasn't too sure what to do today, so we had to go and have a picture with the 'big banana' and then was going to go and watch the porpoise dolphin show but stumbled across another festival, this one had music and stools. We bought lunch here and sat and watched the music, although it was too hot to stick around so we left and went to play on the beach found some crabs and fish by the rocks. Drove 5 mins back to the camp site and went for a swim in the pool. So far Port MacQuarey has been my favourite place with the best beaches and gorgeous little town!

Monday 12th April

Tent time 20mins

Packed up the tent after a swim and visited the porpoise dolphin show in Coffs. We went for the 10 o'clock show, arrived early for the free seal and dolphin kisses. Thinking that the seal kiss would be slimy and smelly it was actually furry and tingly with the whiskers. And the dolphin kiss was wet and smooth, was so cute to have kisses on the cheeks from them, we watched the show of dolphin and seal tricks and got to stroke the dolphins after they felt like a wet suit and cold. We then fed the massive fish a tortoises in another pool, fed them small slices of mackerel was scary when they appeared from now were snapping the fish out your hand. After we saw the baby blue penguins but didn't feed them as the kids made quite a long queue instead we got good seats to watch the reptile show, there we saw a red belly poisonous snake, baby croc, blue tongued lizard and a brown poisonous snake we thought us what to do if we were to get bitten in the outback. We then drove to Byron bay, stopping in a lay-by for tuna sandwiches, starting to go off them now! Arrived in Byron didn't get to go around town as it was dark when we got there, it took around 3 hours from Coffs to Byron.

Tuesday 13th April

Tent already set up

Overcast day but warm with sunny evening

Today we had to take the car to a garage so asked in the Information centre where he best one was, they pointed a few out of which we checked them all out, whilst we were slightly out of town looking at a mechanics in a arty town, we got to watch glass blowing was interesting to see how they make vase's, and surprised it only took 10 mins! We didn't get to see the complete finished piece of art as it had to set in the fridge for a couple of hours. Driving back into town to the cheapest mechanics we got to take a long stroll around town seeing all the arty, surf shops stopping for lunch seemed a task as there didn't seem much choice. I found an Ugg boot shops and now have my heart set on buying a pair which isn't great due to the fact I don't have enough room in the bag as it is! We also took time to look what we wanted to do tomorrow and booked a kayaking trip in the morning with dolphins and a trapeze/trampoline class in the evening, which I'm sooooooo excited about as I haven't been on a good trampoline in over a year! Didn't have to cook tonight as all still full from lunch, I did have a large snapper burger with chips!

Wednesday 14th April

Tent already set up

Cloudy day but still warm

Waking up think it was 7.30 got ready to go out to go kayaking with dolphins, leaving ourselves plenty of time, but realising as soon as the engine was turned on that our clocks were an hour late, so we had missed our kayaking tour in the morning but luckily when we phoned up they let us on the afternoon tour, so we wondered around town and lazed about on the beach. Arriving at the kayak's on the beach they gave us life jackets and helmets and we carried/dragged our kayaks to the shore, there was us 3 the instructor and 4 German girls, the sea had made a sand back about 10 metres in so everyone walked to the sand bank and the instructor pushed them past the waves, I was with the instructor who pushed me out with our kayak, just as I thought we made it through the waves a huge wave hit at the end so I got shouted to duck and we went straight through it then she jumped in, I was now drenched and a bit drowned as I didn't quite expect to go straight through it, by the time we got out to sea everyone had floated out so far so they had to kayak back to us, right in front of us was a mini island which I thought was where we were going. To the right of us was all the surfers as the waves seemed to be perfectcrashing into the side of the beach, it was weird how the waves were at the shore and on the side where the beach curved. Just before the us and the waves on the side of the beach was dark patches in the sea this is where the turtles were meant to be chilling out but we never saw them. So carrying one kayaking out to sea we hoped to see dolphins, we stood up on the kayaks or tried, I fell in once! We still didn't see any wild life of any sort. It was easy to kayak out as we had the wind behind us, expecting it to be hard to paddle back in, it was very easy as we had moved over to the side of the beach and caught waves back in. The end bit was the funniest as 1 by 1 the kayaks were sent in, if you got caught on a wave and started to fall out, you had to lean into the wave to stay afloat of course no one managed to do this apart from me and the instructor, or should I say just the instructor as I just laid there and she did the work - only because I was told though! After tea and biscuits we got dropped off at the mechanics and picked up the fixed car, hoping to make it to the gymnasium for circus tricks we hurried but still didn't make it in time so I hope we get to do that another day! Instead we had a few ciders and drew some pictures of each other.

Thursday 15th April

Tent already set up

Really hot and sunny day

Woke up to a gorgeous day and got invited to a waterfall jump with some other campers. So instead of surfing we drove to a waterfall in the next town, on the side of the road it said do not enter but we decided to carry on as the 'leader' had been there the week before. We walked down stream for 5 mins through the trees and many spiders. To a big water hole at the bottom of the waterfall. The leader (not sure of his name) jumped straight away and first so his mind didn't talk him out of it. Owen went next seemed to find it quite easy then me and another girl decided we would jump together as no other girls would do it, so stepping to the edge of the stone we decided against going together so she jumped first, which then threw me off and then took me another 15 mins to finally jump off after nearly talking myself out of it. I hated the first step off and I'm sure my face showed it! Then apparently my body went dead straight and arms next to me. Plunging in to the deep water, my bikini top flew up and my ears went pop! I floated back up to surface and sorted my top out and swan to the side we waited for another guy to jump who funnily enough looked like Tarzan, then all climbed back up. The boys all jumped again but I left this one out as my ears had started to hurt and I don't think I could mentally put myself through that again. So we all went back to camp for lunch / tuna sandwiches again! And then Nic, Owen and myself went to walk up to the light house but by the time we drove there I was in agony with my ears so I sat on the beach and painted my toes instead and drop up to meet them as it was dark by the time they were going to walk down. A big food shop was done on the way home which will hopefully keep us going for a while. Didnt get up to much in the evening just caught up with my diary and charged all electronics in the games room.