So, here we are again with another update! We are currently driving towards Byron Bay (don’t worry, I’m not behind the wheel) and are almost on the border with the province of New South Wales & Queensland, a good reason to write a new update about the last weeks in New South Wales. To come back to the last update I have good news and bad news; the bad news is that it has rained a few times in recent weeks, the good news is that the roof is no longer leaking and we can sit dry inside! 😊
In the previous update we were in Newcastle and now, we’re almost in Byron Bay. To give a perspective on how much we drive; that is about 600 kilometers (or 370 miles) apart. In total we made more kilometers than this because we took a small detour, but I will tell you more about that in a moment. Anyway, back to Newcastle. On the way in we drove past a stadium and heard music, of course I thought there was a football match going on, but I was sadly disappointed because it was ‘only’ an Elton John concert. We looked online and saw that he would play again a few days later. The stadium was quite open so you could look inside, with a nice parking space we thought we would have a great view from the roof of the campervan. And it turned out that way! We could enjoy one of Elton John’s last live concerts for free (let’s say you have to come up with something if you’re traveling on a certain budget 😉).
The next day we went to a vineyard just above Newcastle and they were kind enough to let us have a picnic in a very nice location in the vineyard. With a glass of wine and some kangaroos hopping around, we had a great afternoon!
From Newcastle we went to Nelson Bay, a smaller place with nice snorkelling areas. Of course we also snorkeled here ourselves! I like snorkeling but often find it nice for only about 20 minutes, but Samantha can snorkel for hours (she is a marine biologist, so that explains a lot 😉). We also walked to an island (Shark Island) that you can only reach at low tide, and if you go back too late you have 2 options; swim with the risk of getting a shark after you (no joke) or wait 12 hours for the tide to come out again. So we chose to walk back in time 😉.
We then continued our way towards Forster. We were recommended this place by someone at the gym, he came from there and said it was definitely worth it! He hadn’t lied because it was a very nice place on the water. We were there for a day and while we were eating ice cream after our pizza, at the water at sunset, we were also lucky that some dolphins spontaneously swam around. So nothing wrong with that 😊
After Forster we stopped in Port Macquarie to visit the koala hospital. As expected, koalas are cared for here until they can live independently in nature again. Koalas (but also kangaroos and other animals) are unfortunately regularly hit by cars and can be seriously injured as a result. At the hospital were koalas with brain damage, no eyes or other injuries. Not nice to see, but luckily the koalas are well cared for by the volunteers.
Then it was time to go to South West Rocks, again a town along the coast. We went there because here you can dive in a place where sharks swim. Well, it’s not for me, but for Samantha a reason to go there. I don’t know much about them, but I was told that there were gray nurse sharks and wobbegongs, and that they are basically not dangerous as long as you don’t bother them. So Samantha dived there, and fortunately came back in one piece. She was lucky because when she was diving I was on the beach and the shark alarm went off! A dangerous shark had been spotted and everyone had to get out of the water as quickly as possible. That alarm is not so nice to hear if your girlfriend is in the water at that moment! 😉
Now for the detour I mentioned earlier, because after Forster we were going to drive the Waterfall Way. You can probably guess it yourself but this is a road with waterfalls 😉. It’s about 2 hours there (and 2 hours back) through the mountains and in several places you can see waterfalls from the road, or make a stop and go on a hike to a waterfall. We did both and thought it was enough after 5 waterfalls! At the end of the road we camped for 3 nights and that was also nice to do. We travel quite a lot so staying in the same place for a few days was enjoyable. We could make a campfire, and even cook on it, so that’s what we did. Good food, campfire and a beer, it was great to stay 😊.
The last places we visited were Coffs Harbour, Woolgoolga and Yamba. All 3 places on the coast and we often saw the beach. We have made some good purchases to enjoy on the beach (with a football as the main one 😉) and are also planning to buy surfboards!
We will continue to make our way north for now and will report back to you next time. Thanks for reading and much love! 😊
