South West Rocks Motel

The fact that it's dark by 6pm here means that we tend to go to bed early and today we were up and walking round the camp site by 7 a.m., checking out the facilities we hadn’t seen last night, and looking for the adjoining lagoon. Checked out just before 8 am and reception organised tonight’s stop for us at Big4 site at South West Rocks NSW. We were even given a little complimentary pack of jelly beans. Very ...

... a year - 59") , but since we have been here it has only rained 3 days. The 1st thing we noticed as we drove North through-out NSW was the much greener scenery compared to Victoria and Tas. I wish we could send some of the rain down south as they certainly need it. It has been a nice change living and sleeping in a house instead of our campervan. We have 2 more weeks here and will then head North again.

... of the "Rocks" is the fact that the beaches all face different directions - Trial Bay Beach (which we can walk to) faces west, one of the few beaches on the east coast do so so! I have never seen a surf so flat, and the water is so warm, 20o and it is apparently like that all year round. We were hoping to spot some whales as it is the right time of year, but no such luck. We have toured around Trial Bay Goal and the Smokey Cape Lighthouse and Hat Head National Park ...

Seems like ages since I updated this again! Last time I did we were heading to Manly Beach in Sydney about a week and a half ago, that place was pretty good. Everyone was pretty socialable and we even got a free wine and cheese night the first night we arrived! There wasn't any cheese in the end but we did get loads of free goon, which out here is cheap boxed wine or 'the drink of the backpackers'! We were also there during Anzac Day which is remembrence day ...

... here in April. So instead of getting dark at 7p.m. we found out the hard way that it gets dark at 6p.m.. What's the name of the club for geniuses, MENSA? We'd great plans to do walking the next day around smoky cape in the national park. The rain from the day before had caught up with us, so we abandoned those plans fairly lively after gettin soaked 10 mins from the car. Back to relaxing in our nice comfy accommodation in front of the telly for the day.

... side to more abundant fish life including turtles, eels and clownfish. After a fantastic day's diving we didn't hesitate to cancel our bus that evening and book another 2 dives the next day. Yet again the visibility was 30+ metres and the water was about 23 degrees celcius. It's easy to see why this place is in the top 10 of dive sites in Australia but it's not very well known so the dive operations are small making it a more personal and enjoyable experience :)

... park looks tempting and it is not long before we have wet our lines seeking bream for breakfast...alas the bream prove to be a little too elusive on this first attempt. The smell of the BBQ brings us back to camp ready to savour the snags and onions that make up our staple holiday diet. After washing down the BBQ goodies with a few cold ales, the entire company is quickly into bed and fast asleep dreaming of the adventures yet to unfold in this wonderful coastal area of NSW.

... a day earlier, I must of mucked up my dates. Dad was glad to see us as he has been here in Ballina for 4 weeks by himself while mum went home to visit everyone, see baby Kiara (my 4 month old niece) and of course, as we were arriving in Sydney. It took quite a while to set up the campervan as we put up the annex roof (for the second time only). It was dark by the time we ...

We decided to take the Greyhound bus up the east coast, as we didn't fancy driving the huge distances between places. After a 10 hour bus journey we are now in Coffs Harbour, staying at 'Aussitel Backpackers'. The hostel has good facilities & everyone is really friendly & helpful. The room is quite basic & has cockroaches! Unfortunately it is still raining! Which is a shame because ...

... around a little. We were also hoping for lockers in the terminal that didn't exist. We felt a little abandoned, we almost asked the bus driver if we could get back on. But we toughed it out and thought we'd go check the nearby hotels for a room so we could at least sleep for a few hours and have a place for our bags. But none had a 24hr check-in. So we went back to the bus stop and sat there trying to figure out what to do. We decided we'd wait for the 6 ...