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Day 97 started with the other 4 getting up at 8am and getting ready for a Wine Tour in the Hunter Valley. I wasn't to keen with this so decided to take a day off to myself and chill out. They were gone by 9am and I made the most of the quiet by having a longer sleep than normal. Once I had dragged myself out of bed, and showered, I went for a walk round the town. I soon realised there was little or nothing to do here. It really did seem like a ghost town, and even for a weekday, there was barely anything to see or do. I walked 30 minutes down the main road and then walked back a different way. The only consolation was the weather was scorching, 37 degrees it had said on the news. After the walk I sat in the room and watched the cricket from the comfort of the air conditioned room. It was a nice change to be on my own for a while and to just do nothing (not that I don't like the others or anything...) After lunch (left over Lasagne) I went for another walk round town and saw some people and even went to Woolies to buy some essentials. After my second walk I watched the afternoon session of the cricket and waited for the others who were scheduled to be back 5ish. I sat outside to wait for them, but after 30 minutes of waiting I was to hot so went in. I was waiting outside as I had the key to the building and I wouldn't be able to hear them knock from the room. I went out again at 530, 545, 6, 615, and then at 630 I bumped into them at the front door. There was a 5th member though, Eli, a friend of Luke and Burns from School who was on a holiday and was able to meet up with them for the day. He looked like a cross between Tommo and Dan Wall. Us 4 lads then went shopping to buy dinner, we got it wrong. We bought 24 cheapish chicken burgers, 2 bags of chips and beans. Eli was more up for buying us a crate of beer to drink. When we returned, Laura and Helen were not to impressed with our effort. Coops didn't have any of the chicken but Helen seemed to enjoy them. Eli enjoyed them so much he introduced us to the horseshoe challenge, where he ate as much of one burger with one bite to make it look like a horseshoe. After a few games of cards and beers I headed to bed, as Coops and Helen were already asleep. The other stayed up for a fair few hours and got to bed about 2ish.
Day 98 was another early start for the 5 of us plus Eli. He would get a train back to Sydney, while we would be getting a bus to Coffs Harbour. We got a bus from the Hanbury Lodge to the Newcastle Bus station about 9am. As soon as we got off the bus and found the greyhound bus stop, I realised. I didn't have my wallet. Disaster! I asked around the bus drivers at the station and luck would have it, our bus was waiting for changeover. I found the driver and he opened her up and low and behold my wallet was sitting on my seat. With a big backpack, day bag and food + drink bag I forgot it. As Eli said goodbye, we boarded our bus for Coffs, which would take about 7-8 hours. I had bought a pie for food as we didnt know if the bus would be stopping. This proved to be a bad move, as the bus driver soon informed us we would be stopping for his breakfast, and I also managed to spill my pie on my hoody. Coops, sitting next to me, was amused and commented how it looked like cat food. The journey was long, we stopped for food and drink twice, the we got Subways for lunch, and Burns also got some Wedges. Along the way I listened to some of the Ricky Gervais podcasts with Karl Pilkington being stupid as ever, and also found the Family Guy episode where Peter says 'Buttscratcher', not 'Backscratcher' which we kept quoting. At about 5 we arrived at Coffs Harbour where a Mini Bus picked us up and took us to Baracuda Backpackers. It seemed a good place, free internet, free pool, free tea / coffee, and a swimming pool. We dumped our bags, went and bought dinner, Chilli Con Carne, and then headed for the free internet where we booked ahead lots of accommodation and Greyhound Buses. After we cooked and ate dinner, we chilled out in the room where we played Articulate (the description game) and Helen was really getting into it. She can get quite competitive with games and Laura then informed us this was one particular game. One highlight of the game was when Coops guessed wrong one of my descriptions. I said, "He's the gay singer from wham". She said, "Michael George!" We are positive she has a speech impediment as she so often gets words wrong. Another classic was after I said, "Its a fruit, but its also a colour" Luke shouted (after hearing it wasnt Orange) "Green!". The answer was peach.
Day 99 and we all woke up hot and sweaty. Our 6 bed dorm was pretty crampt and only 1 fan which made it very hot. As a group, we headed over to the large shopping centre opposite our hostel. Burns and I had haircuts, while the others looked around the shops. Luke bought a new camera, as his old one has the cracked screen. After buying some food we had our bacon sarnies and made our way to the beach. The weather was pretty gloomy and overcast. As we walked through the trees to the sandy area, we saw a Kangaroo which seemed odd as it isn't a wild area. The beach was massive and largely empty due to the poor weather. We trekked it all the way down to the far end. We had to cross a small river which was rather entertaing as the current was strong and nearly swept us away. As a group we were thirsty so we had a beer in the Yacht club (or Yaught club as Luke spelt it). On the walk back, we passed some shops and then back through the river. It was much deeper now and only Luke went through, as us other 4 thought it was a bit to risky and walked round! We popped into Woolies to buy dinner, the girls wanted to cook Toad in the Hole. Luke helped the girls cook while Burns and I napped, though we didn't realise they were cooking so wouldn't have if we had known. In the kitchen the TITH wasn't going quite to plan and some scandanavian girls seemed confused as to what is was, "Sausages in Yorkshire Pudding??" they asked. It tasted good though. Afterwards we all sat around and did the usual sort of thing, go on the internet, watch TV, have a few beers. Luke, Laura and Helen all headed to bed and Burns and I stayed up watching rubbish Tele till 1am before we hit the hay.
Day 100 and we had reached our century of days away on our travels. Unfortunately, the weather was not playing ball as it was raining. I woke up at 9, everyone else was asleep, though Luke had already been for a morning run, madness. As a group we hadn't planned anything for the day, so we decided to go to 'The Big Banana' which is small theme park style place. It had an ice rink, swimming park and even a tobogan! We were keen on the tobogan but after being told where the ticket office was and walking there, we found the closed sign, due to a wet track. As a result of this we headed back to the hostel. Us lads were designated food shoppers so we went and bought some food for a fry up. We had a list and were very keen to make ammends for the last time the girls had trusted us with food shopping. Once back and after we had eaten, we spent the afternoon not really doing anything. The odd game of pool, browsing the web, and sorting out photos on the laptop. One of the guys who runs the hostel told us about a BBQ they were having (they do one every friday) so we signed up. Mid afternoon we played Monopoly, which Helen hates but played anyway. We all now know why she hates it cause she is rubbish at it. After a succession of trips to jail, and losing money left right and centre, she packed it in and read her book. By this time Burns had taken control of the game and was driving hard bargains. Tensions were running high. Luke was the first person made bankrupt, I was next to follow closely follwed by Laura. By 5pm we all started getting ready for the BBQ and going out afterwards. Us lads cracked open a few beers and were playing pool when the girls came down. Soon after 6pm, the punch was ready, and we all had a couple. It was basically wine with pineapple juice. The BBQ itself was awesome, we made the most of it eating as many burgers and sausages as we could. After dinner we got changed, Shirts, trousers and trainers were required which was a bit annoying as all us lads had shoes which are feet weren't used to. After a short taxi ride into Coffs town, we had a few drinks in the Coffs Hotel, which was basically a city bar. After a few hours drinking we headed home about 1am, with Kebabs, and got to bed soon after. Burns and Luke however stayed up a fair bit later drinking punch. Needless to say they would regret it in the morning.
Day 101 and we were all woken suddenly at 730am by one of the staff members. Yesterday Laura had enquired about horse riding but they hadn't got back to us. The staff guy camme straight in and shouted, "you guys wanna go Horse Riding??" in his slighly redneck accent. We were all pretty tired and slighly hungover but said yes anyway. We had to be ready by 915. I didn't realise how badly hungover Burns was until he had a shower and he staggered into the cubicle next to me. He claimed it was the worst hangover of his life. Luke was pretty bad to, and I was just about hanging in there. To make matters worse, we had to wear 3 quarters or trousers and trainers. We got picked up at 930 and had a 30 minute drive to the farm. As we got out the car Coops said she felt a little car sick and nearly chundered in the road! She thought it had passed but did however puke in the bush by the side of the road. Us lads all felt and looked awful. I was nearly sick in the toilet and Burns seemed to be drunk still. We agreed that of all the things to after a night out drinking, a 2 hour horse ride in 30 degree heat was the worst. After signing up and getting our helmets, we found our horses. My horse was called 'Real Deal', Helen had 'Tess', Coops had 'Zorro', Luke had 'Rocky' and Burns had 'Echo'. Once I was on Real Deal, it was such a weird feeling (I had never been on a horse before). He was quite lively and soon headed for some grass and started munching away. When the instructor told me to kick him and turn him round, he didn't respond, he just kept eating. After a few nervy moments where he got a bit angry, he eventually followed the rest out of the paddock and onto the trail path. Lukes horse seemed to be the best behaved, Laura's was pretty ignorant of her and Burns and Helen had slow ones, whereas mine was quite fast. Real Deal was very stop start and even when I was kicking him hard, he wouldn't move. One of the guides gave me a stick and showed it to the horse, and as soon as he saw it, he was off and doing as I asked. Once going it was actually really good, though when we were trotting and running it really hurt my legs and the aching was starting. Burns, who claims he is a pro jockey, was getting along fine, but slow. During the 2 hours I nearly fell off twice, once when Real Deal threw me into a tree, and another when he nearly fell over when going through a steep muddy patch. Once we got back to the Paddock and dismounted I could barely stand as my legs felt so weird. After a 30 minute drive home we had lunch and I napped while the others spent some time by the pool. At 6 i woke up and went for a quick dip in the pool before going to Woolies with Luke and Burns to buy dinner, Spag Bol. Dinner was excellent, the first dinner us 3 have cooked which went hitch free. After playing cards and not really doing much me and Burns were up at 1145 as we had a 3 game footabll marathon to watch. The others slept while we watched the games and we eventually got to bed about 6am when it was daylight.
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