Port Stephens

March 19, 2019

This weekend, I took a trip up the east coast to Port Stephens with three other girls. There were three Germans (Alex, Rebecca, and me) and a girl from Finland (Lotta), so we agreed to speak English throughout the entire trip.

On Saturday morning, we all met in Roseville, a suburb north of Sydney, where Alex was able to use her host family's car and was waiting for us. Unfortunately, the weather had been bad since Thursday and didn't improve during the 2 1/2 hour drive, so we decided to go to Newcastle first and sit in a café to figure out what to do. While we were sitting in the café, I realized that Alex is now the new au pair in the last host family of my friend Jana. It was a funny coincidence because I am also Jana's successor in my host family.

After we had a little snack in the café, we went to see the beach and the lighthouse in Newcastle and then continued driving to our accommodation, which Rebecca had booked for us. The accommodation was a nice bungalow in Mallabula that we had all to ourselves and had everything we needed. Some of the previous tenants had even left things like butter, yogurt, milk, etc. in the fridge, so we didn't have to worry about that. We also quickly discovered that there was a big box full of movies in the living room, so we decided to have a cozy movie night in the evening.

Before that, we went out again to buy dinner and snacks, and then went to a viewpoint in Nelson Bay and Lemon Tree Passage, where we were hoping to see koalas in the trees. However, the weather was still quite rainy and grey, so unfortunately we didn't have any luck with the koalas, which are already difficult to spot.

Back at the bungalow, we cooked together and chose a movie to end the evening with wine and snacks.

Fortunately, the weather looked a bit better the next morning. It was still grey, but the continuous rain from the previous day had stopped, so we were able to drive to Anna Bay, where sandboarding and camel riding were offered.

First, we went sandboarding. We were driven up the big sand dunes in a 4x4 vehicle. Once we reached the top, we could leave our belongings and were given boards to slide down the sand dunes. It was really fun and the conditions were probably optimal due to the rain the day before, as the sand was smooth and not too hot.

After we reached the bottom again, we signed up for the 20-minute camel tour along the beach and went on it. It was also very nice, especially since we were right by the water. It probably would have been even better with sunshine and not such a grey sky, but you can't have everything.

After the camel ride, we drove to One Mile Beach, but only to look since the weather was too bad for swimming. Then we started making our way back, stopping at a restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner.

I was back in Oatley shortly after 8 pm. Despite the bad weather, the two days were really nice because I got along very well with the girls and we still managed to make the best of the situation and see a few things. Maybe I will make it to a day trip to Port Stephens in better weather, but if not, it's not a big deal.

Finally, on Thursday evening, I will go to Melbourne, yay! I will report about it next week :)

- Nora