Sweett "Aussie" Down Under Trip

March 4/2013 - Today, we took a 2 hour river cruise down the Hastings River in Port Macquarie. Sun was shining, no rain in sight, waters were calm but very very muddy from the last 10 days of flooding etc. During our cruise, we saw many wild birds, cormorant, eagles, osprey, a couple of wild kangaroos and a monitor on the shoreline. The waters were high and covered many of the small sandy islands that are once home to many wildlife but for now they are all under water..... Very pleasant day, enjoyed the sun, the company and brought our own lunch........a good day, finally!

Left February 17th, arrived February 19th, what happened, missing some days here....we landed in Shanghai after 13 hours of flying, arrived to pouring rain, low fog cover and interesting airport..................3 hour layover and flew out at 8:20 pm Shanghai time to Sydney. Once on the plane, sleep crept up and we both fell asleep.... awoke to an amazing Aussie sunrise over the Blue Mountains and finally landed in Sydney after 11 hours......weather was sunny, warm about 28 celsius...picked up the rental car to remember that now we are driving on the left hand side of the road...interested concept after the long flights, but we managed to get out of Sydney and on our way to Gosford, about 1 1/2 hr away.

Arrived at our friends, Ray and Jackies' at about 2pm to a warm welcome, cold coronas and a beautiful outdoor deck area...Barry and other friends Margaret and David showed up for a true aussie welcome.....went for dinner at the RSO Club and quaint little place in the hills nearby, great food and drinks.......back to their house and.....we were given the guest house (Love Shack) in the backyard totally self contained......didn't take us long that night to fall asleep....woke up in middle of night to the laughing of the Cocoburra birds and the bats dropping fruit on the tin roof....................

Well, we have been in the land down under for 12 days now and it has "poured" with rain for 9 of the days.....it has been torrential rains, flooding and high winds..............we drove from Gosford to Surfer's Paradise in 11 hours, through the worst weather that Vic and I have seen....we had to pull off the road several times to wait the ain out to see the road...........there were between 200-300 mm of rain in 24 hours with winds over 120 kms per hour....roads were flooded over but we kept to the main highway (that they call the main road) we would call it a small 2 land country road with no shoulders!!!...................with speeds of 80-100kms per hr....some cars new nothing about the bad conditions and kept their speeds well over 100 +..................we made it to Surfer's Paradise, where the first day was beautiful, sunny true Australian weather....but only lasted one day then back to the rain..............we managed to visit a number of beaches, sights, restaurants, saw one of the funniest comedians ever at their local casino and Vic even found his "theme parks" - Warner Bros. Movieland and Seaworld.............which in the end were very good....!!! Stayed for one week here then drove south towards Port Macquarie..............which is about 3 hours north of Sydney and another adventure to behold.......check out the photos along the way.................

First entry on the "Sweett Aussie Trip" - February 14th, 2013 - It once was on our "Bucket List" but is soon going to be reality........our trip to Australia....!!! Hard to believe that we are leaving in 3 days to go "Down Under". Decided to start this blog, so you can follow our journey....over the next 2 months...we are now jumping on our suitcases to squeeze in as much as we can take for the 2 months.....and the rest we will wing it. We fly out Sunday, February 17th from YVR - Vancouver and with a stopover in Shanghai, then on again to Australia.....when we arrive, we pick up the rental car in Sydney and start driving towards the "Gold Coast" to our new found friends (we met 3 couples on our last Hawaiian cruise and told them we would come to visit)...not sure if they took us serious or not but here we are......heading to their place in Empire Bay, which is about 2 hours of Sydney. So hang on to your kangaroos, your little dingos, and your shrimp on the BarBy....as we are on the adventure of a lifetime and you get to check us out along the way! Cheers Matey!

March 2, 2013 - On our way from Surfers Paradise we decided to take a detour up through the Dividing Mountains to a small mountain top town approx. 8,000 feet up on top of a volcanic mountain. The road up was narrow, winding and covered with debris and raining off and on at times....we came upon several waterfalls, swollen rivers where trees are now leaning over from the raging waters and high water marks on the banks. As we climbed to 8,000 feet it was amazing how many cars we passed along the way.....once reaching the small town of Dorrigo we were greeted by an old heritage hotel from 1925.....spoke to some of the locals and they gave us some good info on things to see etc....We headed to the Dangar Falls, which was approx. 400 foot waterfall in the town....then off to the Skywalk at the Rainforest Centre....little did you know that the rainforest has some visitors that we did not welcome with open arms....they are "little black leaches" that fall from the trees onto you as you pass underneath.....we made our way to the skywalk and thought we were all safe until we returned to find Vic with 2 on him.....we striped down as close as we could be decent and left quickly.....i was so glad to escape those creatures and put my feet up on the dash of the vehicle...Vic swerved to the side of the road screaming you have one the Bottom of your Foot!!!............Yikes! i flew out of the car and screamed, scraped my foot till it was almost raw!................Gone now and so are we...never to hope to experience that again!!!! All and all it was an interesting day and we arrived at the Village Resort in Port Macquarie about 6pm that night to pouring rain, internet and TV...............aaaah! Good night for now....hope my dreams will not be of little black leaches!!!