Newcastle! 13th-18th March

Newcastle. Now I don't want to start off by saying it was boring howeverrrr because we had just spent the most action packed 9 days in Sydney it did feel a little on the quiet side. We also decided to try Air b'n'b, which is where homeowners either rent a room in their house/apartment or rent out the whole place. In this case we rented out a room. It actually works out cheaper for us as a couple, and it's very nice to feel home comforts again such as a clean non crowded kitchen and a TV. Though the downside of doing this is that you don't get the social aspect, in this case we feel if we had the social side then Newcastle may have had more to offer.

Newcastle is a very friendly, quiet quirky town however there is not much to see. We spent most of our days at the beach, (which I have to admit were lovely) sunbathing and attempting to surf. Adam managed to persuade a local hire place to rent us a surf board for 3 days for only $35 dollars, however after just 3 hours on the board he ended up going back to swap it for a body board. Surfing is one of those things I would love to be able to say I can do and enjoy, but the harsh reality is I am rubbish and it is hard. I also made a very rookie mistake of falling asleep in the sun and I have definitely learnt my lesson about applying sun cream on after not being able to sleep comfortably for a week.

After researching what we could do in Newcastle we came across Blackbut Nature Reserve, which was only a bus ride away. So we hopped on and upon arrival we did not have high hopes as the place seemed deserted, but as it it turned out we were just on the wrong side of the reserve. So once we actually made it there we were pleasantly surprised to see a lovely mixture of animals. It really is one of my highlights so far as it is where we saw our first cute cuddly koala and kangaroo!!

So after 4 nights in Newcastle we decided to move on to Port McQuarie, by taking our first greyhound bus! Newcastle for us was probably not somewhere we would visit it again, but I have to say it would make for a lovely day trip as the town is very friendly and unique.

Sumer x