Australia Day 2 (Sat 29 Nov: Port Stephens to Port Macquarie)

Weather - Cool & sunny, then cloudy, afterwhich passing showers in the late morning.

Checked out by 10am and left for town to look for breakfast. Nice little town centre. We bought coffee and some bakery items, then took our car to Shoal Bay. The Sydney custom officer said there was a fantastic lookout at Shoal Bay so off we went. We reached and found the lookout, BUT it was a lookout on top of a hill leh!! My goodness!!! I was expecting some breakwater lookout leh hahaha!! Anyway, it rained!! So we were stucked in the car and ate our breakfast in the car loh hhaha!!

Tomaree Lookout right at the top of the hill

The drive from Port Stephens to Port Macquarie took about 4hrs (we stopped for a rest at a small town called Bulahdelah). So, by the time we reached Port Macquarie, most shops have closed! (Weekend lah - they close by 4/5pm).

Town: Bulahdelah

Accommodation - Best Western Lord St Motel AUD99/night with continental room service breakfast. Room #105 - Ground floor, opp. the Reception.Room was great! Though small but modern. Very relaxing hehee.. Free wireless internet too! Very good value! Rating: 7/10

External view across the Lord St

Bedroom (can sleep up to 4)

After settling in, we drove out to nearby beaches for walks then went to look for dinner in the main town centre. Errr... by then, not many choices of food as well so we bought seafood platter. Aiyoh, very hugh servings! We regretted ordering 2! Haha!!

Our dinner

On our way to supermarket which was near the port, some guys were feeding pelicans with fish bones. Very big pelicans!! If you stretch the fellow from its head to toe, it'd probably be as tall (or short haha) as I am! Haha!

Pelicans feeding by the port

Australia Day 1 (Fri 28 Nov: arrive Sydney, then to Port Stephens)

Weather - Cool with sun, then passing showers in the afternoon and evening.

We picked up our car direct from the Sydney International Airport. We booked through vroomvroomvroom.com - cost AUD238 for 5 days without insurance. Being 1st time drivers in Australia, we decided to purchase the insurance that give max coverage at AUD35/day. This was more expensive than car rental itself but with this, it meant that we need not be liable for any damages hehe... We had ordered a basic compact auto Toyota Hatch (smallest in the category) but were told it was not available so they gave us a free upgrade to Toyota Sportivo! Great car, but tad too big for just 2 persons lah hahah!! Of course this meant more fuel consumption. Think a full tank would easily cost us AUD60-70!

Anyway, we took the car and relied on the printed map I had, and attempted to drive to my cousin's place in the suburb (Homebush Bay). Wah liao eh... by right, the drive should only take 35min but it took us 2hrs! KNS! Somemore, we didn't manage to find her place! We were going round and round some Highway, then managed to get near Homebush Bay but it was the business park. In the end, we decided to just stop and call for help! Hahah!! We called my cousin's bf (Zee, who just got off work) and he came round to find us and brought us to their place, which was only 5min away from where we were stranded! Sigh... Quite an adventure but a very stressful one! The signs in Sydney were really not enough to get you around if you are new. I'm not kidding!

Patiently waiting in the car for Zee's rescue at Bombay St

After a late lunch at 4pm, we headed up to Port Stephens, our next destination. Thank God for Zee and his GPS! It was our lifeline!!! We managed our way to Port Stephens but it was late.. almost 9pm (part of the delay was because of peak hours in Sydney + it was raining!). Though it was summer and daylight was longer, it wasn't a very pleasant experience driving in the dark (small roads without lamps leh...). We really thank God for keeping us safe! By then, we were too tired to do anything, not even dinner!

Accommodation - Marina Resort Nelson Bay AUD99/night. Room # 007 - Ground floor, 2nd room next to the Reception. Rating: 5/10Cheap accommodation so didn't expect much. Basic, and room is spacious but seriously need to be refurbished. Found 2 dying crickets in the bathroom haha!

External view - very old! Needs refurbishment!

Bedroom

Toilet

Australia, Australia, Here I Come!! (28 Nov - 16 Dec)

Yours sincerely will be heading downunder for 19 days! I need a good break lah.. hehe.. Anyway, many have asked where exactly I'm going. So, here's my itinerary. I will try to blog if I have time and if there's free wireless haha!!

28 Nov - Arrive Sydney, drive to Port Stephens (1N)

29 Nov - Drive Port Stephens -> Port Macquarie (1N)

30 Nov - Drive Port Macquarie -> Coffs Harbour (1N)

1 Dec - Drive Coffs Harbour -> Gold Coast (2N)

3 Dec - Fly Gold Coast -> Sydney -> train to Blue Mountains (2N)

5 Dec - Back Sydney to meet family (2N)

7-11 Dec - Family trip down to Wollongong and surroundings (4N)

11 Dec - Drive to Beechworth (1N)

12 Dec - Drive Beechworth -> Healesville (1N)

13 Dec - Drive Healesville -> Port Campbell (1N)

14 Dec - Drive Port Campbell -> Melbourne (2N)

16 Dec - Fly Melbourne -> Sydney -> Singapore ;(

Ok, that's it! Byeeeeee!!!