Sand, Surf and....Snakes!

We dragged ourselves away from Sydney and hopped into our tiny little Hyundai Getz for the two hour drive to the Blue Mountains. It took a while to get used to being in a 1.2ltr manual petrol car, after driving a chunky 3ltr automatic diesel for six weeks in New Zealand!

The Blue Mountains were fantastic. We arrived in scorching heat and it was almost unbearable to be outside, but the heat meant the mountains were very blue (eucalyptus oil evaporating) and the view was stunning!

From the Blue Mountains we drove back towards the coast to Newcastle. We had tickets to go and see the John Butler Trio play there, so we booked a hostel near the venue. The place was a dump. The hostel was a flea-pit! The sort of place where you don't want to walk on the carpet because it's so dirty! Luckily we had an eveing planned, so we just had to bear a few hours of sleep there.

The gig, however, was amazing! The best live performance we have ever seen! The drummer was incredible! They played for almost three hours...which was great beacuse it meant less time in the hostel for us!

The next morning we woke up very early and hit the road towards Port Stephens. We were a little bit apprehensive, as we had booked another hostel there and were praying it wasn't another hell-hole. Luckily, it turned out to be one of the best hostels we have stayed in!

Nestled in native bush land, just a few minutes from all the beaches, was our own cabin. It was surrounded by gum trees in a Koala habitat (although we didn't see any!) and we could hear the Kookaburras and Possums. The owners had made a real effort with the place and the pool was a welcome relief from the heat!
The place was buzzing....with mozzies! But I guess every place has to have it's downsides. The people at the hostel were all really nice and our next door neighbour was an 81 year-old danish man who was cycling around the world!

One evening the slightly eccentric owner of the hostel came out to the kitchen with his pet Python! The huge snake was still a baby and apparently far bigger ones roam wild around the bush here! I got up close and personal with Syphon the Python as he slithered around my neck and shoulders! Nikky stayed clear and took photos with a nervous smile when the owner threatened to hide the snake in our room one night!

We reluctantly moved on after three days in the bush, to Port Macquarie. Another stunning coastal area, the town is surrounded by miles of beaches with great surf and good swimming. (grote mastandontes pavel!)

We ended up in an outdated cabin on a campsite that was infested with cockroaches! After a sleepless night with our sleeping bags zipped all the way up despite the heat, we complained and got most of our money back. This was put towards the next night's accommodation in a clean, tidy and self-contained apartment right across from the beach! It even had a pool and a washing machine (which we made full use of!).

Today we are back on the road, driving a few hours north (and inland) to Bellingen. A hippy community! Should be fun! We will keep you posted!


[We're having some problems uploading photos to the gallery. Will try to get the pics up soon!]