From the thirtieth of January to the tenth of Feb; we made our way from the Blue Mountains to Bryon Bay. Starting off with exploring the Blue Mountains, we decided to leave the couple’s camper at the campground, while we all headed off to the viewpoints and hiking trails in Bruce. Bruce was the name of our car incase that was missed before. An Aussie name which Nia chose, it was fitting and it just stuck. The couple named their camper as well but I think it changed over the course of the time with them, so it never really stuck like Bruce.
The Blue Mountains get their names from the Eucalyptus plants which grow throughout. They let off a vapor which is not noticeable if you were to look at just one plant. However when you have a mass of them inside a National Park this haze makes an appearance, it is most easily seen in the distance when you are looking at the trees from a higher viewpoint. The three sisters are the main viewpoint here which everyone wants to have a look at and from here is where you can start multiple walking trails as well. You can take a trail which leads you down to Bride Veil falls, a walk I would highly recommend. Steeper on the way back up, please bear in mind, but once you reach the bottom, the falls are exactly as described, one long, tall, bridal veil; just stunning.
If you are wondering what we got up to in the evenings it was a mix of cooking our dinner, drinks in the campground, putting up the tent, possible Skype with family (if signal allowed), reading or watching a film on couple’s laptop. It was hotter as we were getting up the coast so the tent ended up being an oven. Nia and I were toiling with the idea of either opening up the tent doors and being bitten alive. Or exiting the tent in the morning looking like two roasted chickens. It was a tough call, but we usually just went for the latter.
The next stop after the Blue Mountains was Newcastle, this is where we started to head onto the coastline and from here we would pretty much see the sea the whole way up to Cairns. We stopped off at Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Lennox Head before getting to the interesting parts of Bryon Bay and beyond. If you are planning an East Coast trip yourself, I will be putting together a blog for this part of the journey in more detail on each stop, so watch out for that.
The East Coast of Australia is exactly what you can picture it being like, beautiful sandy beaches, blue sea; some beaches with waves for surfing and some perfect for swimming. The roads are large and run right along the side of the sea. Most drives are just stunning the whole journey. The sun shines all day from the time it’s up in the morning, to the evening, with blue skies as well so there are no shadow interruptions. Even in the evenings you could sit out until eleven at night sometimes with no chance of needing a jumper until later. In the end, I have to say the drives get very samey, but when you don’t mind looking out your window at all that above, then you’ll be fine. Being from the UK the sunny weather is definitely few and far between, even in the Summertime it doesn’t always shine. So knowing each day you are going to wake up to blue sky and warm weather was such a treat. I cherished every moment it was out. I guess that’s why so many Brits end up moving to Australia in the end, a lot of the time it’s the weather that will do it.
Sunny weather just gives you the opportunity to try all the Australian things to do on the coast. Shall we have a relaxing day on the beach? Or how about trying some surfing? A great idea until they mast up the shark flag on the beach and you see everyone scurry out of the water in the quickest time possible. Just another Australian beach day I guess. Everyone is still so happy, we met people at different campsites, bars, restaurants, sometimes Nia and I would go off on our own for a bit and see who we could find. Most other travellers were taking the Greyhound bus which is a hop on hop off bus the whole way up the East coast, where you could just choose on the day where you could get off and back on again. I think if I was a solo traveller this would be the best option as you would meet a lot more people. I don’t think anyone would want to stay in a tent and drive by themselves, how lonely does that sound? I suppose some people may love it I guess, again all about that personal travel style.
I’m sorry I’ve gone way off the storyline with my opinions of travel about the East Coast and Australia, let me get back on track. Nia and I shared the driving each day, one person would drive in the morning, the other in the afternoon and we would swap that each day, depending on whether one of us would like a pint with lunch or something. We really were the easiest people for each other to travel with. It was easy to decide what to do and see as we travelled up the coast. A koala bear sanctuary in Port Macquarie? Definitely. How about a day playing cricket ball on Rainbow beach? That sounds great. Shall we stay here another night and grab a box of wine on the way to the campsite? Hell yeah. We ended up completing all the walking trails we wanted to do, beach walks and waterfall visits, all the way from Newcastle to Bryon Bay. When we got to Bryon Bay it was time to plan the next few nights a bit more and it was nearly time to see my brother as well.
LEAH HANCOX 