Port Macquarie - first stop on the east coast :)

We caught our greyhound bus at around 7 am from Sydney and started our 7 hour journey to our first stop of port macquirie, we wasn't sure what to expect from the greyhound or the stops we had chosen to stop at, there were so many stops it would have been impossible to stop at them all so we just kind of picked them at random !luke researched into the different stops we had picked and the choice seemed good ! So we just went with it !

We were a little apprehensive after kiwi experience but The coach was ten times better, the driver was lovely and there was no unnessasary stops the driver packed our bags onto the coach neatly unlike kiwi passengers who just thought throwing them on top of each other was a good idea!

Anyway the journey was good, there were a few stops we went to were some people got off and we were pleased we hadn't stop there! And there was one particularly we wished we had stopped ! It was called "forster" and it looked like a lovely little seaside town with fish and chips shops, little fishing boats all around, people were swimming in the water and there were those shops you get at the seaside with the Inflatable toys outside! It really was a bit of us!

Driving through to port Macquarie it seemed like a small town with more to it then meets the eye and we were kind of excited about exploring ! We were dropped at the bus terminal and picked up by our hostel "Ozzie pozzie YHA!"......

......this hostel was like the one we stayed at in west port New Zealand! Small but full of character! There were paintings that had been drawn all over the hostel ......

 

 

 

.....it was really good and the atmosphere so calm and they even had a small pool which of course we loved!

This was our first proper stay In a dorm, we had had one night in Sydney in one but this was 6 bedded dorm, it was ok actually, there was only two people in there when we arrived so we had choice of the beds we wanted we took one unit of top and bottom bunk, I had top and Luke had the bottom, and they were actually very comfy!

That first evening we went down to the town for a wonder and were pleasantly surprised at what we found ! It was a lovely town full of shops, bars, restaurants, fish and chips a lovely harbour, it was such a difference to what we had seen when we first arrived! We quickly found a mall with free wifi! And caught up with friends and family we also found a ship called target very like the warehouse branch in New Zealand! It was a pretty small branch but we had a look, I was constantly on the look out for skylanders for my chester and here they had loads! I quickly found the one I wanted to buy him in New Zealand and it was buy one get one 40% off! So I facetimed him and showed him all the skylanders there and he told me the ones he hasn't got! I cannot wait to send them home and here all about him opening them! I was also on the look out for something special for Millie she was collecting disney princess little people and there houses, unfortunately they had all the ones that were inthe store so I will must keep on looking I don't want her to feel left :( anyway they should be recieving the package I sent back a week ago soon so that should keep them going! However chester will probably wander where th skylanders are!! 

So after the skylanders mission! We took a stroll back for an early night we wanted to explore all day tomorrow! Our first night here was so hot and pretty much unbearable, there was no fan or air con and it was so hot! People had said the more north you go the hotter it is!and they weren't wrong! The change in climate here compared to sydney was hot hot hot!

Having survived the first night, we went out first to a fresh fruit and veg shop to stock up it was cheap here and the food was good! And then we went for a walk.....all around the harbour, along the break wall.....a wall where people have painted messages and pictures! And also a place where a lot of people fish! We decided that we wouldn't fish until Queensland as you didn't need a liscence there and we would save even more money ! Every penny counts!

as we were walking along the break wall Luke spotted some dolphins ! :))))) a while family of dolphins! It was such an amazing sight and they were so close! I couldn't believe we were seeing so many of them in the wild!i tried to get some pics but of cors they were to quick so I just enjoyed the moments looking at them.

We arrived at town beach it wasn't to busy which we liked! We found a spot by the rocks and went for a dip! We didn't go in to far .....1 ....because it was cold! And 2.......because it was very rough and there was no life guard but it was nice to cool off :) we stayed here for around 4 hours just chilling and cooling off, Luke decided he would be arty and draw so etching in the sand! This is what it was.....

.......love it!

Luke enjoyed just chilling and as we were chilling he again spotted a dolphin! This time it was almost on the beach! It was so close to us you could of got in the water with it! The locals weren't bothered at all about this it was just a few tourists there with there cameras including us!! We enjoyed our pack lunch we had made the night before yet again saving more penny's! We applied sun cream regularly and had hats my mum and dad would be pleased about that! After a while we got so hot and decided to walk back we only got to the shopping center before we decided to go in there and take full advantage of the aircon and the wifi!! Planning more of our travels up the east coast! 

We decided the next day to go to the koala hospital :) it was the only one in Australia, we had to walk there so set off around 11.30ish it wasn't to far around a 50 minute walk but the heat was so strong it felt like it took forever ! There was no shade any wear on the way, when we got there we had a sit down and cooled off. 

We read all the info they had on each koala and the history of the hospital it was very interesting and a little sad at the same time reading all the stories of these poor koalas, a lot of them had been hurt in Bush fires and attacked by dogs, and so,e others had suffered diseases such as chlamydia which is really very common in koalas and can be awful for them. A lot of the koalas and joeys have to be cared for 24 hours a day and the hospital has cared volunteers ! I would love that job! Where they help get the koala better and then when it is well enough it goes into the koala hospital for rehabilitation and then release back to were it originally came from, as koala stay within the same family for life. Sadly some koalas can't be released back to the wild and have to stay in the hospital yards for the remainder of their lives, they nave lovely little,yards just perfect for these koalas, they can only be released if they are not diseased, still fertile and able to care for themselves in the wild. We saw many of the koalas just chilling and they all looked very happy :) I enjoyed coming to the koala hospital although it was sad it was also nice seeing how much is done for these lovely animals. I even bought a pair of koala earrings! And donated my bit for them! 

 It was one time for our long walk back! I was not looking forward to that, we decided to treat ourselves to dominos pizza! It was only $6 ! And we had spent nothing today so thought we might treat ourselves! And it was goooooood! It was then time for a cool down in the pool and some games - pool, table football air hockey, ping pong and then chess! All these games were free and we had some fun playing them :)))

It would be our last day the next day we were leaving at 14.20pm that morning we decided to chill out by the pool :) 

We really enjoyed port Macquarie and were so pleased we had chosen to stop there! Good choice Saunders :))

Our next stop is coffs harbour :)))