G'Day!!

So we've come to the end of our first week of the road trip and are having a brilliant time despite the rain for the most part of this week!!

The journey began with the terrifying experience of trying to get out of Sydney with it's maze of 1 way streets and heavy traffic but the wagon, by the name of Lou Carpenter, proved to drive like a dream and I don't think any of us want to go back to manual now!!!

So we got to the Blue Mountains and stopped at Gordon Falls lookout which was breathtaking - there really is a blue mist, amazing! It was a perfect day for it aswell, really clear. So, the plan was to set up camp and then walk to Echo Point to see the 3 sisters, good plan yes, that lasted until we got the tent out to find the car hire hadn't given us any poles or pegs!!! DOH. Despite Louise's enthusiasm and insistance that we didn't need pegs or poles (ahahaha) it appeared we needed to go in search of a new one.
What followed that drama was possibly the coldest night any of us will ever experience!! A very clear night in the winter of the mountains with summer sleeping bags which shouldn't be used in less than 10 degrees which, it definately was! We survived it though (obviously), and it was another beautiful day to see the 3 sisters which lifted spirits.

Onto Newcastle for a funfilled weekend curtesy of Mel and Jarred who were brilliant hosts. They tried to help me out with my aussie accent (still not sure I've quite got it though!) and showed us the Newcastle nightlife after first filled the house with a smoke machine and lighting sparklers and making a crazy kind of punch. Next day we played netball with them which was really fun - Sally would've been proud and we're thinking we might advertise ourselves as subs! We went to see the famous Giant Penis which was unfortunately closed so we couldn't climb it but there were dolphins in the harbour so watched them play for a bit - never gets boring!

Onto Port Stephens where we had a beach day and played cards in the evening and then to Port Macquarie where we went to the Koala hospital - so cute you would not believe! We couldn't hold them there as they get released back into the wild. It then poured so we went to the chippy and the cinema to dry out after pitching the tent in terrential rain!! (Not that I'm dramatic)
Coffs harbour followed where we wondered around the town for a bit - bought loads of cheesey cassettes for the car from a charity shop that I don't think Mat is too impressed with but really they're genius - Phantom, Elton, B*witched, Love songs.... haha

So now, the interesting bit which will make Mum and Dad so proud!! You might want to skip the next paragraph!! haha

Yesterday we arrived in Byron Bay to sunshine - we could not have been more excited and it took us all of 10 minutes to get onto the beach where a rep for 'cheeky monkeys' offers us free entry, $10 champagne and food platter and competitions all night - 1 being wet tshirts, yep, a prize of $300 cash to be won - who would say no?!
We arrived promptly at 7.30pm for the champagne and were offered massages for a donation so the 4 of us (Mat opted out of the evening entertainment for some reason! lol) sat in a bar having massages, random!
We decided with 4 of us entering the wet tshirts competition we'd be in with a good chance of winning and could split the money between Louise's and Lucy's birthdays and petrol, silly not to enter don't you think.
In the process of getting nervous about that competition, Lucy, Louise and Naomi then decided to push me on stage for the hula where the guy totally took the mick making me compete with about 15 people for a surf lesson and then a girl who competed once won it!! Rude. Fun though.
The time came for us to join the 3 Canadian girls back stage for free champers and to get ready for our performances - 45 seconds on your own to dance to the music of your choice while a couple of topless guys pour water all over you! Sorry we don't have any photos of this!
Naomi was up first to work some magic and show us how it's done followed by the sexy Louise and then Lucy took to the stage for very sexy dancing...in her pants!!!! And then... 19 year old Georgina from Spain (could I look less Spanish!! haha) - I felt I needed a role for this and with a loss of anything else to do decided to break dance for the crowd.
Lucy proudly won the competition for us and I came in second closely followed by Louise and Naomi, come on UK! Apparently there was a bit of a scrap between some girls who thought I should've won because I did the caterpillar! Haha
After all that we found ourselves on a massive high and in disbelief at how much we'd enjoyed it! Lucy then got kicked out and driven back to the hostel by the staff. Haha. The club was brilliant though, there's no dancefloor so you dance on the tables!

Mum and Dad can read again now! Today was a lovely hot sunny day again so we hired a couple of boogie boards and hit the beach. Think tonight will be a quiet one! We're staying another 2 nights before heading to Nimbin and Surfers Paradise.

More updates next week, Lots of love

Deb and Lu

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