Arrived in Coffs Harbour just 4 hours after leaving Byron Bay, not a bad journey, in fact I might go as far as to say I like coaches now. But I won't. The YHA had put on a shuttle for us to get to the hostel so I didn't have to trawl the numerous kilometres it appeared to be back to the place with my backpack on again, the backpack that doesn't seem to get lighter even though I throw out bits and bobs every time I open it!

I was in a 6-bed dorm this time, 2 girls from the Netherlands, one elderly lady, a Korean girl, and someone who didn't talk! Not a bad hostel, but the beds were not up to the standard of the Coolangatta hostel by any means! You pay $29 for a bed, you expect certain standards: am I wrong? It was clean, that's all that matters. One girl was snoring, but it wasn't enough to keep me up so I wasn't too bothered. I was glad to nod off really, as a wave of missing home hit me yet again after dinner: it was not indigestion before it's suggested! Got over it though, thought there's no point phoning home and worrying them when I know that tomorrow's going to be a good day and I'll be fine whilst Mum and Dad are worrying. See how selfless I'm becoming!

I looked into buses to Sydney and found that I'd either have to check-in in Sydney in the early hours or leave Coffs in at 1am, so I opted for the latter, only to be told by the bloke on the desk that I couldn't stay on the premises for that long and would have to pay for another night. $29 down the drain again, but I was fine with it as I thought I could get some kip before the journey. This was until the yesterday morning when the Korean girl mentioned she too was getting the 1am bus to Sydney and had been told that she could leave her bags in storage and hang around in the hostel! An already emotional me set off to the lady at reception to ask why I was told differently, and she said that had always been the rule! The tears started to well up again and she said she'd ask the manager what he could do because of me already booking the night and paying for it: he was lovely and told me that I could have a full refund (score!) and leave my bags in storage. They both apologised for the misinformation from the bloke before and all was fine. Phew! Until drama number two entered when I returned from the harbour: I'd lost my diary! It wasn't in my room, my locker, or my bags: the same lady from reception had a look in the room and asked the cleaners, no joy. It was only seven days in so I wasn't too upset, but it had my picture of me hugging a koala in it! Just as I resigned myself to fate and put by bags away in the storage room, there it was, sitting there on the shelf where I'd placed it ready to take with me! Crisis averted: apology number two to reception for being a drama queen!

The rest of the day was much less eventful: went down to the harbour, walked up Muttonbird Island, up the Coffs Harbour Jetty, which is just a pier from what I saw, and then back to the hostel for a shower. The excitement must be keeping you enthralled!

Mulled around the hostel until midnight when the 'maxi taxi' came to pick the Korean girl and me up to take us to the bus stop, another episode of rolling around the back like a tortoise with my rucksack strapped to me as he raced around every single corner!

The bus arrived at about 1.15, but it was so cold it seemed like hours later! I come all the way to Australia and the cold weather still haunts me! Loaded my bag on first as I'd seen the coach first, and managed to get the last double seater at the back of the bus, no letting other people getting on before me: my inferiority complex is on its way out!