On Friday we headed over the water to Manly which is one of the Northern beaches of Sydney. We spent a bit of time on the beach before walking around to Shelly Beach and out onto the point where we could look back across the beach. Unfortunately after lunch the weather turned on us so we beat a hasty retreat back to Sydney and headed to Paddy's markets to try and grab a bargain away from the rain. We then took the decision to leave Sydney a bit earlier than planned to try and get up the East Coast and away from the rain. On Saturday morning we were up at 5.30am (well Sara was!) and we headed to the bus station to get the 7am bus to Port Macquarie. The journey was uneventful, we watched Friends for a couple of hours and we arrived in Port Macquarie at about 1.30. We got a pick up from the bus stop with the park we were booked into and the bloke gave us a quick tour of Port Macquarie and then we went to the Park, it was a beautiful campsite out on the banks of the river that flowed into the ocean and we had a 4 bunk dorm to ourselves. That evening we cooked ourselves a meal and just chilled out watching Coming to America in the TV room!! Sunday was a day of rest for us (another one I hear all those working cry!! Our apologies!) we just kicked back and lazed about on the beach in the morning as we planned to go to the local Koala hospital on the afternoon. We headed up there at three in time to get a guided tour and watch them feed the Koala's, they're so cool!! It's an awesome life, they sleep 20 hours a day and the rest of teh time they climb tree's, eat, poo and get it on!! There was one Koala who whilst on the road to recovery had escaped from his pen to have his way with another Koala in the hospital!! It was a pretty cool tour and although you didn't get up close to the Koala's as they were sick they were really cute to see!! That evening we went to the Port Macquarie cinema to see the Da Vinci Code which was cool. The next day we had a bus to catch to Coffs Harbour, a stop which we took to cut the journey between Port and Byron Bay, the bus wasn't till 1pm and only took us 3 hrs, annoyingly there was a 40min food stop about 5mins from where we wanted to get off which we had to take!! Once in Coffs Harbour we checked into our hostel and were upgraded from a Dorm to a Double which was a bonus!! We then headed out into town which was absolutwely dead, there are two main area's and a 40 minute walk between them!! We walked down to the Jetty for dinner which besides a coupe of bars was absolutely dead! We then walked home through an electric storm which was exciting!! Tuesday morning we got up, checked out and dumped our stuff in the luggage locker before heading out to Coffs biggest attraction "The Big Banana"! It was an absolute let down and we were gutted we'd paid for a taxi to go there!! We then set off on a walk back as we still had about 8hrs to kill till our bus. We walked for about an hour along the beach which was really nice and then headed to the "Pet Porpoise Pool", an aquarium Sara had seen a brochure for. We were just going to see what the crack was and how much it was etc. It cost us $20 each to get in (about 16 quid!) and we were able to stroke and play ball with the Dolphins for half an hour. We then got a hug and a kiss from a Seal, a kiss from the Dolphin, watched the Seal and Dolphin show and then got to feed Penguins and the reef aquarium. On our way out the photographer who had taken a shine to us cos we were from England allowed us to go into the Kangaroo enclosure and we got to stroke and feed a Kangaroo which was pretty awesome!! There was also a crazy Wallaroo (Kangaroo - Wallaby hybrid) who was going mental and fighting the other Kangaroos which was a bit scary!! If you want to know more ask Sara about her time with the Wangaroo's as she likes to call them!! From there we got some lunch and the bus to Byron Bay. We arrived here last night about 9ish and just got some food and hit the sack. This morning we were awoken by a couple of people in our dorms snoring and after trying to get back to sleep we gave up and got up and made our breakfasts. We then headed to the beach and spent most of teh morning at the beach, I went snorkelling and saw some small tropical fish whilst I was battling the current!! This afternoon we went to Woolworths to do a shop for food for the next few days and then headed back to the hostel as it started to rain. Once it had passed we went back out to the beach and went for a walk. Tonight the plan is too cook chicken, baby potatoes and some vegatables with a bit of gravy but I have a suspision looking at the kitchen that it might be easier said than done and we might be enjoying Spaghetti on toast!! Hope your all ok and keep the messages and e mails coming please, it's always great to hear from you all. We're especially impressed with the messages from those who normally stay well clear of computers!! Lots of Love Ben and Sara xxx P.s. Come on England!! We're meeting up with Gillian and the Skipper in Surfers Paradise for our first group match and who knows where we'll watch the rest of them!! I'm calling Crouch for the first goal of our campaign, I expect to see the Robot Dance within the half hour!!