Thanks to the crazy weather Australia had over the summer, we've realised we are not going to see the country as most will know it… It's much more green than usual because of the increased rainfall. But surely we'd at least spot some koalas, right? Well five days in to the trip and we've not seen a single one. Nor have we seen kangaroos, despite being told we were guaranteed to spot them hopping along the roadside…

So we were pretty excited when our Lonely Planet told us all about a koala habitat here in Port Stephens .... 'guaranteed sightings' it read. Ok, so this is beginning to sound like a broken record, but… the Lonely Planet lies.

Still, with our naïve faith in the so-called 'Bible for Backpackers', we folded the bed down at the back of the van, said a fond farewell to the beautiful sand dunes, and headed off for Tilligerry Koala Reserve. We arrived before the information centre opened, but there was a map outside so we followed the advised trail. We had no idea where to look for these koalas, high or low in the trees? Maybe even on the ground? Walking around in circles we searched everywhere, but there were definitely no koalas here…

Feeling deflated we went back to the office, which was now open, to chat to the volunteer there. It turns out the council had recently allowed dog walkers to start walking their dogs without a lead in the area, which has proved fatal for the koalas. Those that haven't been killed by unruly dogs have moved on to safer environments. It seemed pretty stupid that the council let this happen, and very sad… Poor little koalas!

Anyway, for us the hunt for koalas continues…

In the meantime the volunteer also gave us some tips for our continued journey, so after that we drove round to the north shore, towards a lovely area called Tea Gardens of Port Stephens for some lunch. We have to admit, we were hoping for some tea but apparently it isn't literally a tea garden. It's a teeny tiny town with little more than a sprinkling of shops, and a beautiful riverside walk.

A visit to the tourist centre led us to a yummy fish and chip shop where we stocked up on some lunch, followed by ice cream.

Apparently the locals here live among koalas, which have been spotted in back gardens, or simply crossing the road during the school run. There is even a noticeboard outside the local newsagents listing recent sightings of the creatures, which had us rather excited but we didn't spot any. Oh well…

We really wanted to reach our next stop along the coast, Port Macquarie, by the end of the day so we couldn't grumble too long. It was back in the van to follow the scenic road through the Great Lakes this afternoon.

Driving the East Coast we had expected to pass beach after beach, so lakes were certainly a pleasant surprise - a beautiful one at that. We have no idea the names of the ones we passed, but most offered gobsmacking views from the roadside, so there were a few more breaks than we'd planned while we kicked back to enjoy the view.

Finally in Port Macquarie, we turned up at the first affordable caravan site we could find in order to charge the van battery, take a hot shower and cook with ease after dark in a camp kitchen.

So, here we are at Sundowner Holiday Park which has all our required facilities and it's right next the beach so we won't have to stray too far in the morning…. Sweet.