Australia- Getting ready for Christmas and New Year

Quite a treck for this next journey as we envisaged that getting to Newcastle was going to be a challenge  and were right in our judgement. It was not just having to cover  the 1000 km and arriving there before Christmas, but the fact that we had heard all the accommodation gets so busy as schools have now started their Summer/Christmas holidays.

We stopped off at Hervey Bay which is famous for  being the  whale watching capital of the world, this is also the place where people take a ferry to Fraser Island, known for being the largest sand Island in the world and having the largest Dingo colony.  We just stopped for one night here as there was still a fair few km to do.

Our next destination was as planned, which was Moolababa.  As expected yes it was busy.  We certainly found out as we had to tour around the area for a while trying to find a campsite.  We were prepared just to camp and not go in the cabins, but we still found it difficult to get a place to stay as they kept saying there was 'no room in the inn ' even for a tiny two-man tent.  Eventually we found a site which reminded us of EL Delphin (a place where we used to camp in Spain on a yearly basis)  but at Christmas! It was absolutely packed with one small tent space left. The site was full of families, getting ready for Christmas they had got into the Christmas spirit with fairy lights hanging from their tents and  Christmas trees in their awnings. It was a nice atmosphere and was now making us feel a bit more Christmassy even in the sun. The site was full of teenagers going surfing with boards under their arms during the day and bottles of alcohol at night, but they seemed well behaved.  The first shock about Mooloolaba  was a bill for $50 per night for two man tent ouch!!, The campsite was situated on a surfers beach and the other side of the town was a really modern marina  with lots of shops bars and restaurants, so I suppose you pay for the locality and the fact that it is Christmas.  There were fire throwers on the beach and different types of entertainment such as jugglers practicing their skills.  We would certainly recommend this as a place to visit as it had fantastic holiday atmosphere and if you were a surfer it would just the perfect place. We stayed in Moolalba for two nights

Moolababa harbour

 Surfing at Moolababa

 Our next destination on the way to Newcastle was Armedale, where we travelled for the full day. We drove through Brisbane, not intentionally as we got a little bit lost in the centre, as you do without a sat Nav. We had no intention of stopping yet as we were going to visit Brisbane later on our trip, when we had a bit more time . Armedale is famous for being the highest town in Australia.  The weather here gave us a bit of a surprise as we left Mooloolaba at 6am where people were surfing very early in the morning, by the time we arrived in Armidale it was pretty cold and miserable. Apparently Armidale gets snow now and again but not enough to warrant ski slopes.  The ride along the highway from Mooloolaba to Armidale was quite interesting , we could see as British people why it was called the' New England High Way', the countryside was just like England but on a larger scale, bigger mountains and valleys.  

We stopped one night and had a pre -Christmas drink. Armidale is known as a city with a university, but only had four pubs and one night club. (poor students they must do well there as there is nothing to distract them from studying) One night stop over was enough for us.

We travelled quite early the next day as we were now behind schedule and would not be reaching Newcastle until Christmas Eve instead of the 23^rd.  We travelled for about 5 hours with half an hour to  reach our destination when we unfortunately ended up on a bit of a detour due to roadwork’s. We got directed to Hunters Valley which is a valley full of wineries approximately 1000 in total, wow all these wineries and possible tasting sessions with no time to stop.

We arrived in Newcastle about 6pm Christmas Eve, and had a great welcoming for our friends, Barry and Virginia who we met in China. They made us  so comfortable in their beautiful home in Lorn which was situated opposite the Hunter River.  The whole week was a fantastic experience for us, the hospitality was exceptional and Virgina was a fantastic cook as we had a full week of lovely meals and lots of nice wine.Barry was a great host too,informing us about many aspects of Australia and took particular interest and pleasure informing Steve and Iabout the poisonous animals !! We experienced the Ross Family Christmas and New Year meeting their friends and family.



Viv, Margaret and Virgina reminissing over China



Christmas at Barry and Virginia's House, Lorn near Newcastle Australia

The week flew by as we were kept busy.  Christmas in Australia was such a unique  and different experience for us as we had the chance to go swimming in their pool on Christmas day before 10am and then had a drink of champagne with strawberries prior to a beautiful Christmas dinner, which was nice and traditional.  

The day after Boxing day we did a tour around the Newcastle area, which is surrounded by eight beaches.  It was interesting as we kept seeing signs for Hexham, Wallsend, Neeth, Swansea, Gateshead, Stockton and others.  Unfortunately the weather had changed and we had to therefore remind ourselves that we were not in Newcastle in England, as it was very wet cold and grey..  It was strange to see people running around looking for shelter.  We had to change plans a few times due to the weather conditions, this was something we were used to doing as we explained to our Australian friends. We  had a great experience despite the weather, we got the jist of the Newcastle area and how it would look on a sunny day,  with so many nice beaches.  There was plenty to do in the area tooo however we ended up having lunch in a Murray’s Brewery.( The best thing to do on a rainy day.)

We also experienced a trip to Shelly Beach which was an absolutely stunning place,  it was about one and a half hours drive south of Newcastle. Shelly Beach had a brand new golf club house situated overlooking the bay, we had lunch at the Golf Club with some friends of Barry and Virginia’s who they met in Vietnam,the previous year  on their travels.

Shelly Beach

We also experienced a great day with Virginia and with another friend Margaret who we'd also met in China She also lived in a great house in the bush overlooking Hunter river and valley.  We had a great day out sampling some of the wineries in Hunter Valley. To our surprise it was free, not like in New Zealand where you had to pay for the tasting.

The variety of wineries was good, George Wyndam's winery was the first wine tasting session we had . All the other wineries  were in close proximity of each other we tried about 4 out of the 1000, a good excuse to go back?!  We could have sampled a few more , but Steve not really being a wine drinker and  was our designated driver  so we had to go home. (only joking four winerie s in one day was enough). It was quite interesting the amount of coach trips that had come from Sydney for a day out wine tasting, so you can imagine it was fairly busy..

Wine tasting

 

Newcastle Jets football stadium, which holds about 20,000

We saw the end of 2011 with a bit of sport during the day and went to our first live Australian game of football (soccer as the Aussies call it) the match was Newcastle against Perth Glory in the A league.  We have been to quite a few  stadiums and games of football in England and I would say this was a bit more civilised, families and all team fans mixed together, a similar atmosphere to a live rugby match in England.  We didn’t hear one swear word.

Steve shopping for alchol in  a liquor store, New Years eve, it turned his hair ginger !!

The evening we finished the New Year with a bang, Newcastle council put on a fire work display every year by the river opposite Virginia and Barry's house.  About 1000 people turn up to enjoy the firework displays and let in the New Year.  The families set up barbeque and picnics areas under their Gazebos enjoying the glorious sunshine. A bit different to our New Year weather which we experienced last year in England with all the snow.

Our first day of New Year was fantastic we went to an Oakdale animal farm near Newcastle and this was one of our highlights of Australia so far.  We met a lot of kangaroos and got a chance to feed them   They were so tame and friendly, as you can see from the photograph below Steve met a new a friend and bonded very quickly.   We also got a chance to stroke koala bears and was very lucky to catch them while they were awake as they normally sleep for up to 18 -20 hours per day. Apparently the reason for this is they basically poison themselves on Eucalyptus trees as they are full of toxins  when they feed.  This is the only food they like so it takes all their energy to digest the leaves.  (You learn something new every day).

The farm also had dingos, Emus, Steve’s favourite  bird of the feathered variety  Cassowarie s and lots of goats which followed us constantly around the farm.  This was a great place, we were very impressed as it was very open and free for the animals.

What a poser!

 

Our next destination was Sydney which took approximately about 3 hours south which included a bit of a tour around the centre of Sydney, again without a sat nav .Steve's London cab driver skills came in very useful ,especially when he was driving around Sydney's very own Kings Cross and Paddington !( We are starting to regret not purchasing a sat nav.).  We did well to find the hotel in the end  the hotel was on Broadway, approximately 15 minutes’ walk from the main centre.

Sydney is now one of the top cities on our list, it is very impressive. We spent our first evening around the harbor bridge and the opera house, sampling the fantastic views and enjoying the city atmosphere with live bands,  bustling bars and good wine, in the glorious sunshine.  We finished the evening walking around the area ' The Rocks' the first settlement of NSW and enjoyed the atmosphere of the oldest pub in Sydney called the First Fleet bar and Bistro 1828

Sydney

Sydney opera House

Manly

Many people suggested that whilst we were in Sydney it is a must to visit Manly.  We caught a ferry across to Manly which was half an hour ferry ride, giving us great views of the Sydney harbour and Bridge. Manly consisted of two beaches one which was a swimming beach with a shark  net and a surfing beach on the other side, patrolled by lifeguards. It was a town really well laid out as it lots of shops, restaurants and bars right in the middle of the two beaches, both beaches were pretty busy, especially the surfers beach.  The town centre was pedestrianised with a variety of shops, some quite reasonable, especially during the January sales. In fact we bought a couple of items of new clothes,  but Steve still won’t throw out his red his red shorts!!. The town had organised fountains both for drinking water and cleaning your feet, which is a good idea when surrounded by beaches and high temperatures.  Manly was the sort of place we would go back to and possibly stay overnight.  

Manly Beach

Manly

 We were sad to leave Sydney for now, however our next destination was to visit Woolongong, but we decided to de -tour a bit and go to Bondi beach, since it was a place we heard so much about. In fact this was where we told most people we would be spending Christmas, until our Australian friends invited us to their house for Christmas.  On arrival our first impressions was we felt Bondi Beach was overrated, massively busy and perhaps a little bit run down. We had been spoilt the day before in Manly.  We could see the attraction for the younger people and the back packers as it had lots of bars and once again a fantastic for surfing.

Bondi Beach

We continued down the Pacific Highway on the East coast and found a little place called Kiama.  The campsites were so full because of the school holiday period, we struggled after a few attempts at various campsites to find a place to pitch the tent.  We ended up in the middle of the town on a rugby pitch, which was used as a overspill for the Christmas period. Once again we could see why it was busy as Kiama was a picturesque town with lovely beaches with quite a rocky coastline and hills.

This was an area where we saw a lot of Cockateils

The weather changed whilst staying in Kiama and we certainly got to know about it especially on the cliff top where we were staying, it reminded us of staying at the campsite at Whitby Abbey in England. Prices for the pitch were still quite expensive as we were charged $32 for a pitch without electric.  It did have showers and a toilet, but no facilities for cooking etc like the other campsites.  We shouldn’t really complain as we were lucky to find a place on the coast at all. Some of the campsites charged $70 dollars for the same thing.

The next day we decided to go inland to Kangaroo Valley, this was a lovely drive through the bush and mountains.  We stayed on a nice campsite called Glenmack, the weather was great and the campsite very relaxing so we stayed for for a couple of days whilst meeting some really nice people.  Once again  we were woken up by cockateals, as mentioned on the blog before.  We think their job is to wake up all the other birds.  A bit early for my liking, but that is camping for you in Australia .

Our next destination is to get to Melbourne for the 21st Jan to see the Tennis open, via Canberra,the Kosciuszo National Park in the  Snowy Mountains and the coastline of Victoria so we are looking forward to the next part of our journey.