G'day friends and family, it's been a little while since we had a chance to message you so this is going to be a brief overview of what we;ve been up to. Let's go back to Newcastle- we went there right after Australia day (Jan 27) and spent 3 nights there. Basically, it was awesome! Weather was cooperative and we got to the beach a few times; we managed to get 3 free dinners out of it - they catered to Chels' problem(ie her gluten allergy) and jeff got his first taste of a meat pie...lets just say hes hooked now. We met some great ppl there - 2 from Kelowna, 2 from Toronto, and a few other good ones too and spent our days with them. We went out to the Blackbutt Reserve and got to pet a Koala- her name was Suzi and was she ever cute...and soft....the hostel itself was really nice, huge common area with big leather couches...we watched the tennis finals there too...all in all a great time and we plan to head back there on our way down.
Next was Port Macquarie....we got in late(1030pm) but managed to find the hostel in the dark down a urban street and by 11pm we were ready to move on. Lets just say it didnt have much to offer us. You know in Waynes world where they do the green screen bit and end up in Delaware and they dont really know what to make of it...that's how we would describe Port Macquarie..but at least we can say we went there and again the weather was good so we got to the beach.
After that we were off to Bellingen which is about 15km inland from Urunga. This was probably one of our most favorite places but we didnt even get to really do anything while we were there because the weather was so crappy...it honestly rained for 3 days straight...but of course we found the bar close by and we played an exceptional amount of cards and learned many new games. It was a fairly small hostel with a big verandah overlooking the rainforest so it was really pretty and we definetly plan to head back on our way down and hopefully we can do the rainforest tour, do some bike rides, float down the river, etc. Oh and to make it even more like a home, there was a hostel cat named Bella...she slept in our room one day too...very cute.
After Bellingen we went to Byron Bay..again we ended up getting in after hours but managed to find a night manager to let us in. It rained on us the first couple of days so we did some shopping, watched some great thunder and lightening storms literally right over head. The sky cleared at one point and the sky just went orange and pink for about a half hour..it was kinda eerie but really cool. We found ourselves at a pub called Cheeky Monkeys on our first night and met up with some ppl we'd met the town before and even ran into, for those of you who might him, Scott Hetherinton from Tswassen...really random but quite funny. The club was pretty cool...great music and absolutely everybody was up on picnic tabels dancing...awesome! We went out to a club called Cocomangas with our new Irish friends the next night and ended up meeting a group of Torontonions but we were convinced they were from New York...one of them started freestyle rapping on the corner of the street and in turn attracted an 18 year old Aussie wanderer who decided he wanted to join us. We went to the beach on the one really sunny day we had with our new friend from Kentucky...hes been to 46 countries...and every US state...pretty crazy. The rip was so strong, its amazing that ppl were able to be out there surfing as we could hardly stand up in it and got carried out to sea and had to be rescued.....okay....maybe not but thats how strong it was. While we were there we also met up with Jon(Chels' bros) old Aussie exchange student Liz Hawkins. She came and met us for a drink and drove us up to the Byron Bay lighthouse...the most eastern point in Australia and quite a nice view. It was really cool to see Liz after all these years, and yes Mom, we got pictures. She was pressed for time but insists on taking us around some more when we come back down. Oh and the hostel at Byron was really nice...like Melrose Place some said. Kinda more like a Motel with a pool and everything..sweet deal.
We arrived in Surfer's Paradise yesterday and honestly so far we arent overly impressed. The hostel is really far away from town...5km...which when you are on foot adds up. Kitchen and bathrooms are probably the worst we've seen so far but we're only here for a few more nights so we'll be okay. Our friend Dave Patterson drove down from Brisbane(for those of you who don't know him he's from back home and has been living here for several months)and stayed with us last night at the hostel...we went out to the Billabong outlets with him and then ended up drinking at the hostel with some ppl and headed into town for a bit to a place called Cocktails and Dreams...it wasn't too great...not Cheeky Monkeys, thats for sure. Jeff was excited to see a pizza place open after our night out but it cost him 2.80 for a slice rather then the 89 cents back home...and it really wasnt worth it.
Today we went to the beach with Dave for a few hours and then he had to go as he's leaving for Asia on Monday so we just hung out and then took a bus into town for a bit and layed low tonight...we made an amazing stir fry though...mmmm...so good!
Tomorrow we are heading to an amusement park/water park type thing...should be fun...we leave here on Monday(maybe Tuesday) for Brisbane where we will meet up with Chels' relatives and who knows what else...we got ourselves a cel phone but dont have the number on us...if you want it, you can msg us and let us know....incoming calls are free for us so it's a pretty good deal.
Well that's all for now..we havent been able to post photos yet as the uploaders all seem too slow but we will try again in Brisbane...love you all,
Jeff & ~chels~
