I’m in Coffs Harbour now, well actually the next town round the coast, Sawtell. This is where my sister Louisa and her husband are living and working and surfing lots.
Everyone in the hostel in Sydney said Coffs is a quiet retirement town…big sis is obviously ready for the quiet life! Actually it also claims to be the adventure capital of NSW so I’m sure there will excitement aplenty for me!
Louisa picked me up from the airport and took me straight to the beach to go surfing. I wore boardies, a bikini and a rash vest to keep the sun off. I’m mentioing my attire because in England I normally surf wearing wetsuit, rash vest, booties and gloves, all summer long! I haven’t actually surfed for three or so years as Louisa is the usual catalyst for me to get into that big wet salty thing and get knocked over lots.
It was rather lovely, although left me a touch battered feeling, hopefully I’ll get the hang of it again! No dolphins today but the promise that they are often around and play in the same waves as the surfers is probably enough to entice me out into the sea again. Temperature was gorgeous and the sand was soft and golden!
This morning started at 5am with me waiting outside the hostel in Sydney for the airport shuttle bus. I was sat on my rucksack wearing trainers and trousers and a big hoodie, so was somewhat surprised when a guy stopped and asked me if I was ‘working’. I answered that no, I was waiting for the shuttle bus, upon which he walked away fairly fast. It wasn’t until he reached the corner of the street that the penny dropped. Kings cross, Sydney at five in the morning suddenly felt a little sinister so i gave up waiting for the shuttle and jumped in the next taxi that came along!
The past two days I spent at the Blue Mountains, based in Katoomba. The weather was truly nasty, more like Wales than Australia! I bought a raincoat and slept in my fleece! Did some hiking through the fog, made friends with an Icelandic girl who was also wandering around in the fog then went wine tasting and out to dinner and to two films with her. We watched ‘The Edge’ which was an Imax movie about the surrounding area which is the oldest rainforest in the world! With my ecology hat on it was great as there are several species of fern in the Blue Mountains that have for example evolved to live in the spray of four particular waterfalls, and some ancient trees that were thought to have become extinct thousands of years ago (at an undisclosed location!) There is also some pretty incredible rock that merits climbing up too!
We then watched Bond and ate kangaroo, both good and pretty tasty!
The second day I now had someone to hike with and the weather actually cleared half way round our 10km hike, through rainforest, down a giant staircase (my thighs are unimpressed today!) and up in a cable car.
I actually passed up the chance to go climbing with a random but very nice chap I met in the outdoors shop (called Diego). Mostly turned down his offer because I wanted to see more of the area than a day at one rock face would afford me, plus the weather was still gruesome when I woke up and I can climb in weather like that any time I like at home! It was a great sample of how friendly the people here are though!
I’m going out for dinner tonight with another British friend who is also staying with my sister, nice to have some company while Mike and Louisa are at work, as they are both working the afternoon/evening shift.
Feeling much safer now I’m back with family, but my little venture into the world of backpacking has shown me just how confident I am at talking to new people, I have had a job offer (babysitting) and several offers of work experience in vinyards just by talking to friendly people!
