Byron Bay - We had booked 3 nights in Byron Bay so that we had a few days to relax and explore the town properly. Byron is where a lot of 'hippies' relocated to many years ago and the town is still a place where people go to 'chill out'. There is an organic supermarket, lots of little independent shops selling various styles of clothes and therapies, and we still saw those same 'hippies' walking about the town albeit older looking ones.

We spent our first day away from the beach (although the bay is beautiful) and large shops and had a look in the arcades that were full of the shops mentioned above, bookshops and the like. We wanted to get a feel for Byron Bay as it is talked about rather than the new version which in its defence is still a nice place, it's just that like many other places along the east coast it has adopted the many surfers.

Our very big, very new and very modern hostel had deals with various local bars in the town so we were pleased to be given wristbands that would get us a cheap meal and a drink at 'Cheeky Monkeys'. The $2 meal meant saving money on our shopping bill, excellent. We arrived, ordered the vegetable curry and, yes it was free, yes it was hot, but no, a bowl of food barely big enough to feed Tom Thumb wasn't what we were expecting! Their free meal was tiny which in hindsight we should have anticipated. As we left with still grumbling tummies we spotted a cinema across the road. As there was a film we wanted to see we decided we would fill up our tummies with a nice healthy offering of popcorn and coca cola. However, with cinema prices being extortionate we did it the budget way. We rushed to the supermarket, bought a bottle of value coke and some microwaveable popcorn, went back to our hostel on the other side of town to heat up the popcorn and get a large bag (to conceal our loot when entering the cinema), and then all the way back across town to the cinema. There was just one problem. In all the rushing around Andy had manage to lose the $30 that were in his pocket which was going to pay for our tickets, and the rest of our money and cards were locked in our room. With 10 minutes until show time, Andy had to do the round trip once again all the way back to the hostel to grab some more money and back to the cinema - this time running. So our free meal and great idea of filling ourselves up with budget snacks at the cinema actually turned into our most expensive night out so far! Oh dear.

On our second day here we did head for the beach where we spent the majority of the day. Andy rented a body board so that kept him entertained whilst Nikki sunbathed. Body boarding surprisingly isn't as easy as it looks but after a few tumbles and missed waves Andy got the hang of it and was being pushed by the waves all the way into the sand. Success! Not quite as cool as all the surfers but it's a start!

For our final day, we don't know what we were thinking but we embarked on the 5km round trip walk to Byron Bay's lighthouse. The lighthouse is the most eastern in Oz and is also the most powerful, it's light extending a ridiculous 40km out to sea! The walk was actually very nice in terms of scenery. We started by walking parallel with the beach and then around the headland and up onto the rock faces which gave us some beautiful views of the bay and of the water crashing against the land below us. The lighthouse of course is rather high up so there were many steps and inclines to undertake to get there which was very demanding on our legs. Andy was excited as he managed to spot a swamp wallaby hopping in the undergrowth which is quite rare as there aren't many left around the towns and they usually only come out at night. Another highlight of the walk was that around 3/4 of the way up toward the lighthouse we found ourselves at the most Eastern point in Australia. Of course we posed for the obligatory photo opportunity next to the sign which stated this fact. Once at the lighthouse you couldn't go in it but it was just a nice achievement to have made it all the way up there (which wasn't helped by the midday sun), and of course the views it gave us of the whole curve of Byron Bay were well worth the effort.

Port Macquerie - We stopped in the smallish town of what the locals call 'Port' in the hope of seeing some koalas in the wild. Unfortunately we didn't but we still had a great time here and did something that wasn't planned at all.

We were pleased to see that the area was still offering whale watching trips and for only $25 (about £15). The trips weren't for as long as the ones offered in Hervey Bay but still, a 1 hour jaunt would do us fine. We were booked on an 11am boat and were pleased to find that the customers returning from an earlier trip had seen whales - brilliant news! We were just about to put on our life jackets when we were told that there would be no further trips as the sea was getting too rough. Disappointing but fortunately we had another day in Port so we rebooked for the following morning, and the earlier slot.

After missing out on whales this first morning we headed off for a walk through Port's 'Kooloobung Creek and Nature Reserve' to look for animals a bit smaller, namely Koalas. There are still areas that are thick with eucalyptus leaves so it's a place where they still have koalas living up in the trees. We spent a couple of hours walking around with our necks in pain from constantly scanning the trees but no luck, we didn't manage to spot any. We did however see our first Kookaburra who let out a very loud laugh like squawk when he saw us coming. We also saw without exaggeration, thousands of fruit bats (they call them flying foxes over here) hanging up in the trees. We couldn't believe the sheer volume of them, they were everywhere we turned and they aren't small either! That was a nice highlight of our walk that day.

The following morning we were up nice and early for our 3rd attempt (if you include Hervey Bay) at seeing some whales. We arrived at the boat and were told it was safe to head out into the water. Our vessel was a speedboat that housed 10 passengers and we all had to sit facing forward whilst straddling our seats (almost like riding a horse) so that we could stand slightly to brace for impact should we hit any big waves. Well, hit them we certainly did as our boat went literally jumping through the water as it rode up and over and up and over the incoming surf. A couple of minutes after departing we got word from another boat that there were indeed some whales so we were happy to endure the ride so as to get out to them as quickly as possible. We arrived at the spot and slowed to a crawl whilst we all scanned the water for any sign of life. The skipper spotted them first but even after saying 'over there at 2 o clock' it's hard to see anything when you're bobbing up and down a good metre or so in a small boat! Luckily one surfaced again in the same spot so we all caught our first glimpse! They were humpback whales, a mother and a calf heading back south to their home in the Antarctic. They were about 100m away from us and we would just catch a break in the water's surface every now and again as they came up for air. The calf was acting very playfully as we would see his fins sticking out of the water and then one half of his tail as he rolled around. Luckily this made it easier for us as when he was on his back (he was most of the time!) we would see his bright white belly just below the surface. We got to see the mother use her blowhole as she surfaced which was cool, and we were also treated to one last sight of her tail coming out of the water as she dived down a little deeper. We were probably only watching them for 5 or 10 minutes but what we did see really was amazing, and the fact we saw all the things you'd wish to see (blowhole and tail) made it special even more so. It's quite a feeling being able to see animals so huge out in their natural environment, definitely another highlight of the trip for us. The only thing that would have beaten it would have been if they'd strapped a tank on us and let us jump in!

The trip itself from start to finish only lasted an hour so we had the rest of the day to fill. We headed back to the hostel and rented out a couple of bikes so we could see everything else we wanted to. First of all we rode along the coastline next to their break wall. The thing that makes this one stand out is that over the years people have written messages on the rocks and in some cases painted them entirely. It's quite different to see all these coloured rocks along the coast and it's done in a way where is doesn't just look like graffiti.

Next we rode over to the koala hospital. Port used to have a large population of these little marsupials but as humans move in and develop, these guys lose their houses, food source and ultimately their lives. A kin to the koalas at Australia Zoo, all koalas are killed or hurt by domestic dog attacks or from being hit by a car. The very small non profit hospital was set up here due to the sheer amount of injured koalas in the area. It isn't very big at all and isn't really a tourist attraction but they welcome visitors to wander around the pens where they are recovering. Their 'cages' are four fences, but there is no roof and they each have their own fully grown tree so they can still climb and live as though they would in the wild rather than feeling as though they are trapped. We can also now claim that we have seen the world's oldest koala as she is a permanent resident, and at the grand age of 24 is more than content with living out her final years here. After a nice cycle back in to town we had completed our loop and our time here came to an end. No wild koalas but being compensated by seeing humpbacks when we thought whale watching season was over more than made up for it.

Newcastle - Australia's version of Newcastle was a surprise entrant in Lonely Planet's newly released 'Top 10 cities in the world to visit 2011' book and sits proudly at number 9. Most people we told about this seemed to be baffled but we can see why it was included.

The city was where all the worst convicts were located to so has a rich history as they were all put to work in various industries that then helped shape the land. It has a huge cathedral that sits high up on a hill, and the city itself is full of amazing architecture with buildings of all different shapes and sizes and from different eras sitting side by side.

Our first day, as always, involved a lot of walking. First we walked to the 'Convict Lumber Yard' which was excavated in 1987 and is one of the only places in Oz where tools and buildings that housed the original settlers have been found. The artefacts aren't actually on display (it wasn't a museum, literally just a piece of land like a park that you can walk through) but using steel beams they had recreated the shell/shape of the buildings that once stood here. There was also a well that had a glass panel covering the top so you could look down into the ground, but it had kindly been smashed to the extent you couldn't see through it so we had to miss out on that part.
Next we walked up the ridiculously steep road that led to the cathedral. Inside there was the large main altar area but also smaller chapels around the edge. One was the 'Warriors Chapel' which was dedicated to those from the area who'd died in World War 1. They also had a book that other than the pages inside was made entirely from gold. The wives, mothers, sisters, and grandmothers of the soldiers that gave their lives in the War had donated rings that were melted down to create the book cover, with the pages inside listing the names of everyone who died. There were a lot of Union Jacks as the country hadn't claimed independence from us back then, so it felt a little odd being so far from home but at the same time feeling a connection with the place due to our flag being displayed prominently.
From here we walked down to the extremely windy coastline and headed for the 'Bogey Hole' which fortunately is nicer than it sounds! The commander in charge ordered prisoners to carve him a pool into the rock face for him to use as his personal bathing area. The cliff was carved into, and then down to just above sea level at low tide. From here they excavated to form a pool that would fill with sea water when the waves crashed against the rocks and at high tide. Quite clever, but a lot of backbreaking and dangerous work for the convicts ordered to carry out the work. It was psychologically punishing too as they weren't even told why they were spending day after day creating a hole in the rockface or what it was they were creating.
From the 1700's to the 2000's in a few minutes, we then left the history behind and walked back into the city centre where we had a little browse of the shops. It was nice even if just to escape the freezing cold wind that was sweeping in from the sea! We weren't safe for long as a huge downpour descended, leaving us stuck in the rain for the walk back to our hostel. Thank goodness everywhere in Oz has hot water as without it we definitely would have been ill, we were freezing!

For our second day in Newcastle we sat out the morning rain and when the skies finally cleared we planned to go to a reserve just outside the city that had various walking tracks along with Emus, Koalas, Kangaroos and lots of species of birds. Unfortunately our hostel had given us the wrong information as to which bus we needed to get and they weren't very regular. After waiting at a bus stop, getting on and being told it was the wrong bus and we needed to go somewhere else, meant that by the time we would have found the correct bus stop and gone to the reserve we'd have run out of time to walk around and see it. So as we've done many walks during our trip and have now seen Koalas and Kangaroos we decided it wouldn't be worth going. Instead we caught the free bus back into the city centre and spent our afternoon wandering around the various shops. We put aside half an hour to sit at a local bakery where Nikki had a rock cake (we're having withdrawal symptoms from yours Ann!), it didn't matter that we'd stopped at the same place for the same snack the day before!

So we didn't get as much done as we'd have liked but we dis have a very busy first day where we managed to see a lot of the sights. As it is architecturally pretty, just wandering the high street and shops wasn't a waste as it was the buildings themselves we were admiring, not the items for sale.

We were up at 6am the following morning for our final trip on the Greyhound (totalling a spot on 48 hours of coach travel) to the iconic Australian city that is Sydney.