Comfort Inn Lake Macquaire Newcastle

... over the loud speaker.. she took my passport and my boarding pass.. woops I said they have found my stash of drugs. But no, they had overbooked the flight and I had been upgraded to business class. Woo Hoo. Lots of room, lovely hostesses to look after your every whim. So from then on I did have quiet a lot of sleep. But must admit the pratt (sorry ******) next to me didn't say a word. Pity I should have got Louise ...

... hid it around the corner. The next morning we drove to Byron Peak, the headland overlooking Byron Bay. The scenery from up there was really nice and in July and August it's supposed to be the best place on the planet to see whales from land. It is also the most easterly point of mainland Australia and has a nice lighthouse up there too. We hung around up there for a while and took a few photos then spent the rest of the afternoon either online or walking ...

... much notice as possible so I could find a flatmate. Ok, she said she was going up to the Gold Coast to scope out housing situations mid December and would have a better idea of exact dates then. Great, life isn't so horrible after all! Then gave her three weeks notice. I would need to find someone for between Christmas and New Years. Who the hell wants to move between Christmas and New Year? I asked her the exact date, she said she didn't know, but she would let me know the ...

... it as a sign to hold off for another two weeks for my next pay check. Two weeks later I happen to check the internet and found a great deal. I called the guy and test drove the car that day. I put $500 down and payed the rest that weekend (it takes a while to get that many thousand out of the bank). The car is a Ford "Falcon" Wagon. Yes, I bought a station wagon. And yes, it's white. It's a bit of a "tank"; a 4 litre, 6 cylinder tank. But it's a 2000 model ...

... bus stopped at a little shopping center so we could use the restroom & grab a drink. I'm still kicking myself for leaving my camera on the bus because when I went into the little IGA to get a bottle of water, I passed the cereal aisle and saw that telltale blue box with the Snap, Crackle and Pop guys on it, but it didn't say Rice Krispies...it said Rice Bubbles! I got such a kick out of that! But the bus was going to leave and I just couldn ...

... sadly he was whisked off for a wardrobe change (there's a job) before Aimee could have a picture. So, we ran to the surf club, which is where they were filming next and managed to have picture taken with Kane and baddie drug dealer. Aimee made them laugh by telling our Detective Baker is alive story (as he was dead the last time we saw him, in sunny England). Jack came back, wearing a slighty dodgy orange t-shirt & very dodgy blue tracky pants (he said they ...

Day 8: I went to Hillsong Church with the Mangans and it was incredible. It reminded me a lot of the big contemporary churches in Western Michigan and that was fun. I got a free CD and I already have it downloaded to my computer! After church, we went to go cliff jumping into the ocean and then I had to catch another train ...

After a cold night, passed cuddled in our sleeping bags, we headed to the coast. At Seal Rocks I could finally swim in the Pacific Ocean: how incredible is that?! Swimming in the middle of winter, I couldn't believe it. We spent the night in Newcastle at Zander's place, an old friend from Delft. It was nice to catch up with him and finally speak some Italian with somebody. He cooked a delicious Cottage pie and the night passed by with some glasses of Australian wine.

... chandeliers, it was such a cool theatre right out of the 1930's I think. And it was totally empty on a Tuesday afternoon. The movie was 2 hours and 15 minutes long but it was great. It might not have been the best movie to watch given all the flying over oceans we're doing! The weather turned rainy and overcast after the movie and we headed back to the hostel. We chatted with Fiona and David for over 2 hours. It was awesome. We learned so much about them and their ...

... school children in uniforms complete with hats happened at a park in the center of town. Later I'll add some great pics of my sons standing on a cliff while the surf pounded to shore. We saw surfers swimming with dolphins here and did quite a bit of walking in the town. For some reason when I think of Australia it is this town I wish revisit. Just a lovely small town atmosphere with the addition of the coastal view.