Left Byron Bay fairly early - up at 8am on Thurs 4th with Dan feeling a little fragile from the booze and me feeling like I had been run over after the surfing and like I had thrown up all night....oh yeah I had! Nice. Packed up our stuff and checked out before heading to the bus stop via Subway provision for lunch :o) The 7 hours didn't go speedily but did manage to sleep and had a few stops too. My appetite even managed to resurface long enough to force down half a foot long Subway! ;o) Arrived at Port Macquarie just gone 5pm and were greeted by the manager of our hostel, a very friendly and keen bloke called Tony who drove us back to Port Macquarie Backpackers and gave us a guided tour. Really nice place and we were two of only 4 people staying there! (off peak season and Port Macquarie not a hot spot for backpackers....!) "Planned" what we wanted to do over the next few days before going out for a look around - made it to the main central area but not much going on and too dark to really see much of the beach! Came back via Coles for my dinner (pumpkin soup and french bread in an effort to reconcile with my tum) and Dominos for Dan's (Meatosaurus pizza, ever the health conscious!) As we were staying at this hostel we could get any large pizza from Dominos for $5.50 or less than 3 quid so decided to take full advantage over the next few days!! Ate in the kitchen and checked the free internet, otherwise had a very lazy evening in the TV room and I was asleep by 10.30pm!

I would like to say the next morning but in actual fact after a 13 hour or so sleep it was pretty much afternoon on Fri 5th! We got up and dressed before going for a mooch into town, around the shops and look at the river/beaches. Finally bought a Rough Guide for New Zealand and had a look at some clothes but managed to resist. Headed to the waterfront where there was a really long breakwater with beautiful views, cool painted rocks and most excitingly DOLPHINS!! Loads of them! There were a couple that were really showing off - jumping out really high and flopping over, so cute! Walked all the way along to Town Beach which in comparison was quite boring and just quite beachy. Went back to the Port Central shopping centre for lunch - Dan satiating his noodle drought and me still being kind to myself with the healthy option, boring. 2pm by this point so we went down to the Koala Hospital! Read all the information boards and checked out their current residents on the admissions whiteboard before a volunteer man appeared to give us a free guided tour. Saw 5 koalas in varying states of health - one poor koala had been in 2 car accidents (not driving apparently) and lost sight/an eye each time! Mostly dog attacks that bring them in though they tend to be fatal apparently :o( And lots with STDs! which we learnt about in graphic detail! Cutest little one had been hand reared after her mum was killed and was currently being prepared for dehumanisation before being released back into the wild. Really informative although I missed the end as had attempted to pass out (probably all the STD chat!) Had more Dominos and a quiet evening where we dehaired Dan finally! :o) and watched Hell Boy.....weird!

Have to be honest, Port Macquarie was not on our list of must-sees on the East Coast and actually picked as it meant we didn't have to endure a 15hr bus journey from Byron to Sydney - it is pretty much half way between the two so meant the journey could be broken up fairly well. Surprised us though, as we had a really good time, saw some amazing things we hadn't yet seen and just had a relaxing (detox!!) few days :o) Turned out to be quite a hidden gem!