First 10 days Down Under

Sid Knee
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Days 21 - 25 - Posing at Bondi Beach

We arrived at Sydney Airport and managed to find our way to Bondi Beach thanks to a helpful if slightly aggresive minibus driver. We checked into Indy's Backpackers which, as with most Sydney hostels was a bit of a party hostel.

The weather was sunny, although Naomi would have preferred an extra 5 degrees on the thermometer (nothing new there). We spent our 5 days relaxing on Bondi Beach, bodyboarding, and walking/running along the promenade - which resembles a running track in late afternoon when the Aussies come out to exercise in their hundreds.  The Council have installed various bits of exercise equipment en route, so you can stop every few hundred metres and do some chin ups, press ups, dips etc. No wonder everyone there looks in good shape!

Kangaroo Camping. Get your eyes off of our bread missus!
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We also ventured into Sydney City Centre and checked out the sharks in the aquarium at Darling Harbour, the Harbour Bridge and of course the Opera House, taking the obligatory photos along the way. We didn't overdo the centre as we'll be returning there for 3 or 4 days over New Year.

Days 26 - 30 Port Macquarie and Kangaroo Camping 

We had never heard of Port Macquarie until the manager at our Bondi Hostel mentioned it as being worth a quick trip. We bought ourselves a Greyhound bus ticket for $300 each (about 130 pounds) which will get us all the way up to Cairns, and allow us to stop as many times as we like on the way. Port Macquarie was our first stop and we had planned to only stay 1 or 2 nights.

Hang gliding at Cape Byron. Off to the gallows.
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When we were picked up, the manager, Big Tony, explained that the following day he was doing his first commercial "Kangaroo Camping" trip, at Crowdy Bay National Park 40 minutes down the road, after a successful trial run a few weeks beforehand. 3 nights camping just off on the beach at Diamond Head Beach, surrounded by kangaroos. Sounded like fun so we went for it. Good decision!

After setting up the camp, which will now remain a near-permanent fixture for future groups we spent the next 3 days and nights bodyboarding, sea kayaking, keeping kangaroos from climbing in our tents and stealing our food (not altogether successfully) building sandcastles/temples, drinking beer, hiking, sunbathing and generally having a brilliant time. There were 10 of us on the trip, and they were a great crowd - 5 Germans, none of whom got up early to steal the best breakfast chairs or sunbathing spots on the beach, an English guy, an American and Big Tony himself, who had some interesting stories to tell and who clearly loved his lifestyle choice of running a hostel after previous careers including truck driving, amking expensive furniture and bodybuilding (hence "Big Tony"). We were greeted with the amusing image one morning of the silouhette of a kangaroo against our tent hopping along with a bag of cereal bars, quickly followed by a hopping mad Big Tony in hot pursuit of the thieving marsupial.

Sometimes these opportunities come along when you are not expecting it and we were really glad that we went with the flow and did the trip. On the last day as we were leaving the campsite, it started raining, and then didn't stop for about 48 hours. Good timing! We're not convinced about the drought that the newspapers have been talking about every day!

Days 31-32 - Ballina

The Lonely Planet dedicates about 3 lines to Ballina. We have no idea why. We weren't able to book any accommodation in Byron on Saturday night so decided to stay at Ballina instead which is about 30 minutes south. It is a really really nice place to visit. The Richmond River has loads of small sandy "beaches" running along it, and the main beaches themselves are unspoiled white sand and good for surfing. We saw loads of dolphins at the mouth of the river, and a large flying fish or ray, depending upon whether you trust my eyes or Naomi's, which jumped 4ft out of the water. We stayed in a motel room for $80 a night, which was a bit more expensive than we've been used to but a welcome bit of "luxury".

Off to Byron next...