Ozzie Pozzie - Port Macquarie / 17.12. - 19.12.2018

At 2 am we finally arrived here, luckily we were able to go to our rooms and slept until around 7 am, even though we barely slept on the bus ride. I think our sleep schedule is really messed up.

We started the day with a fruit yogurt made from bananas, apples, and frozen berries. Jule and Michi also always had this for breakfast and shared it with their followers on Instagram, so we decided to challenge them to a Fruit Bowl Battle on Instagram.

Afterwards, we put our dirty laundry in the washing machine and took a walk around the Ozzie Pozzie YHA in Port Macquarie. The hostel was beautifully decorated with colorful wall paintings, such as abstract turtles, retro campervans, and a very aesthetic map of Australia and New Zealand. There was also a TV room with over 700 movies, a cute reading room, and a nice pool area with hammocks and comfortable sofas - we relaxed there until Jule and Michi finally woke up and greeted us. But then they had to start working and were busy with cleaning supplies, they even scrubbed the bathroom walls - but it looked really clean compared to other hostels.

After a while, Linni went back to bed because we were all tired from the lack of sleep, but I stayed in a hammock for a bit. Eventually, Jule, Michi, and I sat down at one of the outdoor tables next to a table tennis table and played a few rounds of UNO. I had almost forgotten how fun it was to conspire against one person, and we had a great time. We also started looking for a cool restaurant for our Christmas dinner on the 24th, since we would all be together in a hostel in Sydney. We decided to go out to eat with Anna. Interestingly, we ended up choosing a German restaurant called Munich Brauhaus, because we were craving a delicious schnitzel. After Linni joined us a few hours later, I made a reservation.

Since Jule and Michi had plans with the other hostel workers, Linni and I went out alone in the afternoon to visit the Growers Market, a local farm market with lots of fruits and vegetables. We bought some peaches and a delicious half watermelon. We also took a walk along the Breakwall, a path along the sea. The rocks on both sides were beautifully painted with pictures, quotes, and names. We took our time reading each one and were amazed by how many families had left their mark here, coming back every year to add the current year or to pay tribute to loved ones. We saw some cheesy quotes, like 'If luck is a raindrop, I'd send you a shower, if hope is a minute, I'd send you an hour, if happiness is a leaf, I'd give you a tree, and if you need a friend, you'll always have me' and 'maybe you're the lighthouse in someone else's storm' with a lighthouse in the background during sunset. From here, we had a nice view of the beach on the other side, as there was a small bay. The waves were big and crashing against the rocks.

Of course, we took some pictures, although it felt a bit strange to climb on the rocks since they were artworks created by other people and were connected to their memories and stories.

As it was almost sunset, we sat on a bench next to a cool skate park and listened to Christmas songs. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the sunset along the east coast because the sun set behind mountains or trees in the west, but we could still see some beautiful orange tones and rays peeking through the houses.

When we got back, we made rice with some chopped carrots and a weird sauce that we didn't really like, but it's always good to try new things. We had a nice conversation with Marion, a very friendly Italian girl from our room who can speak German because she's from South Tyrol. Then we went to bed early because we were still tired.

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On Tuesday, we laughed at Jule and Michi while they were cleaning from our hammocks and cut a third of our watermelon. In the afternoon, we wanted to visit the Koala Hospital, which is the only one in all of Australia. There was a free tour starting at 3 pm, but we had to walk 3.5 km from the Ozzie Pozzie, so we started an hour earlier. Marion joined us and I regretted forgetting my worn-out cap because the sun was shining hard and it was humid. Along the way, we passed a small forest and saw thousands of large bats hanging in the trees, some even looking our way! I had never seen anything like it before.

Later, we arrived at a small building surrounded by eucalyptus trees, but we still had a few minutes before the tour started. From the outside, we could see into a treatment room through a large glass window, but there were no koalas being treated at the moment. There was also a huge whiteboard listing all the patients, including the reason they were here and other details. The names of the koalas were interesting because they were a combination of the street name where they were found and the name of the person who made the emergency call. One example is Ocean Summer, named after Ocean Road.

At some point, a caregiver walked around with a wooden stick with a koala fur ball attached to the end, and we were all allowed to touch it. It felt surprisingly soft, even though many people say koalas have rough fur, but it was also a bit curly. Then the quick tour started, which was just a small walk around the different enclosures, with the caregiver sharing the story, condition, and disease of each koala. The stories were fascinating but also depressing, as koalas face various sad situations, from severe car accidents to the terrible disease chlamydia, which affects their vision or bladder. Some koalas can never be released back into the wild, for example, if they have mutilated claws from wildfires and cannot climb anymore, or if they have a leg amputated from a severe fall from a tree.

It was beautiful to watch the koalas being fed because they moved around a lot. One koala even made some noises that sounded like a mix between a pig grunt and a motorcycle, which was hilarious. After the tour, we explored the well-designed exhibition room, where we also found information about other Australian animals.

Afterwards, we walked for fifteen minutes to Flynns Beach, which was relatively small but looked really nice with some large rocks in the water. Unfortunately, the water wasn't as clean and clear as usual because there were many small reddish-brown algae floating in it. Nevertheless, we sat on the beach for a while, and I even took a short nap.

In the evening, we were able to sleep well again because we had walked quite a distance. Going to the Koala Hospital was definitely worth it!

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On the 19th, we checked out in the morning after having our delicious fruit yogurt, as we would take the bus to Newcastle the next night. It wasn't too bad here because there were cozy places to chill everywhere, and we also wanted to use the TV room again. We went shopping for Newcastle, and for dinner, we had salad and the rest of our watermelon. We had some funny conversations with Jule and Michi, and later we couldn't stop laughing. I was getting more and more excited for Christmas with them and especially with Anna.

Afterwards, we watched Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire together, and it made me want to watch the last part, where Harry finally defeats Voldemort, because Voldemort is just a horrible person who killed Robert Pattinson.

In the evening, it started raining, and almost everyone from the hostel played Werewolf together, which was really cool because I had only played it in German before. The rules were the same, but strangely, the werewolves always won. Later, when everyone had to leave the outdoor area, we waited in the TV room until it was time to slowly walk to the bus station at 1 am. Luckily, it had stopped raining, but I wasn't very motivated for the journey. We would arrive at 5 am.

Song of the day(s): Hallelujah by Theory of a Dead Man, because it's a cover version that I didn't know yet, it's a Christmas song, and it was played by a guy named Roy in our room. Plus, shoutout to all the hallelujah-worthy people, I miss you.