The evening of 17th March it was time to start the next chapter of my Australian Adventure. Time to head up the East Coast. We have purchased a 3 month hop-on hop-off pass for travel from Sydney up to Cairns.
We left our family and jumped on the train to Sydney Central (which passed through Cheltenham) to catch the 7pm bus up north. We arrived at our first stop Port Macquarie at 2am, found our hostel and went straight to sleep.
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| Gloucester, Stroud and now Cheltenham |
Although the weather in Port Macquarie seemed to be against us for the duration of our stay here, we still managed to do some exploring, ableit with raincoats on.
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| Cheeky the hostel parrot decided to sit on my head. |
Around the town and suburbs of Port Macquarie there are decorated Koala Sculptures. One morning we wandered around the town centre and found 20 of them.
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| Some of my favourite Koala Sculptures |
That afternoon we headed for Port Macquarie Koala Hospital. The only hospital in the world fully dedicated to Koalas. We found some more koala sculptures then joined a guided talk and saw the koalas in the care of the hospital. Many were there due to issues arrising from catching Chlamydia. One had been badly injured in a bush fire with another being involved in an accident with a car to name a few. At this hospital, competely run by charitable donations, the koalas receive the treatment they need, as well as rehabilitation to become strong enough to be released back into the wild. For those who unfortunately wouldnt survive back in the wild they remain at the hospital for life with fresh eucalyptus leaves daily, trees to climb and sleep in and lifelong care. The guide also spotted a wild koala up in one of the trees above the hospital which was koalaty to see.
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| One of the poorly Koalas |
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| Another inpatient |
On the edge of Port Macquarie is a small rainforest centre with a boardwalk. On our walk around we saw lots of different vegetation, a long tailed eel, butterflys, lizards, birds, spiders and ants. We also found 3 more koala scuptures here.
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| Long tailed eel |
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| Strangler |
Once finished at the rainsforest centre we headed round the corner to Shelley Beach to eat our lunch. Munching on my jam sandwiches I saw what could be described as a mini dinosaur casually strolling across the path. By mini dinosaur I mean it was actually a goanna but between 1.5-2metres in length i've never quite seen anything like it. Despite its size it had a gentle nature to it.
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| Is it a wild dinosaur... |
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| ...or is it a Goanna? |
Lunch finished we followed the coastel path to Tacking Point lighthouse. It was a nice walk along the cliff tops and across beaches.
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| Tacking Point Lighthouse |
Our final day in Port Macquarie we went for a walk around Kooloonbung Creek. Full of animals we saw hundreds of fruit bats. They are soo noisey but they are weirdly cute and I love seeing them! We also saw many lizards, a crab, and spotted another wild koala. This time I spotted it all on my own quite hidden high up among all the trees. Me and
Jen had now seen 2 wild koalas in 2 days meaning we had bragging rights over our family in Sydney. They have been living down under for 8.5 years and have never come across a wild koala hahaha.
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| It isn't great koalaty... |
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| ...but it is definitely a Koala |
We also saw an Owl in the early hours whist we were waiting for our coach out of Port Macquarie
Overall I really liked Port Macquarie, a relatively small and quiet town but with some koalaty things to do.
Amester x
