Australia : Newcastle & Sydney
Posted by stuandamy on June 12, 2008
Amy :
Newcastle/Stockton – (7th Feb to 12th Feb)
After many people advising us to stay clear of Newcastle as it was just another big city we decided to take Pud’s advice and donder over to see what it was like.
As we’re not big city people we opted for Stockton which was a little island off Newcastle and could be reached by the Ferry. This was one of the nicest places we’d stayed. We hired a bunkhouse in a campsite and had a wonderful few days there. We took in the local sights, the main trip being a 12km walk along the beach and sand dunes to an old ship wreck. Gaging a distance of a two hour walk from Stu we thought no problem at all, some water and a banana each would do. Boy were we wrong this almost took 5hrs in the blistering heat (see attached photo). We did see some amazing marine life, some odd typical Aussie fisherman and some posh dudes getting their 4×4 stuck in the sand which was amusing.
Newcastle itself wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be either. There were loads of wee places to catch a nice lunch or drink and everyone seemed very friendly.
And to keep Stu happy the beaches were pretty awesome as well.
I felt like I had a small child with me when we went to the beach as I couldn’t relax until I knew he was safe ont he sand again. The waves in Oz are massive and I always worried that one would take Stu away. Unfortunately they didnt…LOL…
Sydney (12th Feb to 15th Feb)
This was our last stop before heading back to NZ and what a great time we had. We climbed the Sky Tower. Got a bit history on Sydney. We also did an awesome jet boat ride. This took us round the harbour and further afield, bouncing off gigantic waves. It got too scary that one couple had to be dropped off at a bay until we finished the ride. They just couldn’t handle the pace!!!
It was quite a sad time in Sydney as this was where our Oz Journey had begun. Neither of us could believe that when we arrived back in Sydney our big adventure would come to an end. The whole three months of travelling about just flew by. What a great time we’ve had, it will be one we’ll never forget.
Especially leaving Sydney airport as the check-in staff weren’t going to let us leave as we didnt have our terms and conditions of our Kiwi visas!!! I’ve never been told that you cant leave the country even although our Oz Visas were at an end?!? go figure.
Well all I have left to say is, if you want to travel you should. It’s a life changing experience and one you’ll never forget. Thank you Stu for making our trip away so fantastic….where to next?????
