We left Sydney in our "Awesome" camper van, Mighty Matt (and yes, that's really the company name). Unfortunately, after several hours of driving, we realized that the fridge and electrical outlets weren't ever going to work. Not so awesome after all. The company apologized and offered to make the repairs or give a discount, but we decided not to turn back and instead manage with the loss.
 |
| Lunch at Port Macquarie with Mighty Matt |
One of our first stops was in the Port Stephens area at a place called Shoal Bay. The beaches in and around the bay have beautiful blue waters so we couldn't resist taking a dip. Our necks are sore from looking in the trees to find the different sounding and colourful birds. There are so many! We hiked up to the top of Tamaree Lookout which gave us incredible views of the bay and the ocean and then found a spot to say for the night. Not 20 seconds after getting out of the van was I swearing in shock and nervously yelling at Jamie to bring the camera. The welcome party was waiting for us... a monitor lizard!! He definitely wasn't shy and had us dancing around a little as he decided to come closer before leaving. Welcome to Australia!!
 |
| Shoal Bay, Tamaree Lookout |
 |
| Sunset at the beach |
 |
| Our lizard visitor |
 |
| Keeping us on our toes |
 |
| Coff's Harbour |
Port Macquarie was another one of our stops just a little further north up the coast. Again, great views from the top of a hill overlooking the bay where we watched surfers playing in the waves. The highlight if this place for me was the Roto House Koala Hospital and Reserve. Roto House takes in rescued Koalas and provides full hospital services from medication to operations. The goal is to care for them until they can be released back into their natural habitat, but unfortunately some have such bad injuries that they wind up staying for the rest of their life. Some of the Koalas here had been burnt in bush fires, while others were being treated for "wet bottom". For sure, though, they were all super cute!
 |
| This Koala woke up hungry |
 |
| This Koala was wide awake, while most of the others slept |
 |
| Kookaburra |
 |
| Not sure what this guy is called. |
We've continued on up the coast towards Brisbane, stopping at a lot of the beaches on the way. I hadn't realized that the east coast of Australia was so lush and had soooo many cliffs. We've seen dolphins, koalas, kookaburras and yes... kangaroos in the distance! Still waiting to see a kangaroo hop, though. We're keeping our eyes peeled. We've also spent hours watching surfers of all ages ride the waves. Seems to be the main religion here. We're still contemplating trying it, but so far can't seem to get the shark factor out if our minds.
 |
| Classic surfer dudes |
 |
| Lennox Head trail view |
p.s. sorry for the delay between updates, our van doesn't come with WiF!
