Moving on to Yamba

7am start to go for a walk along the Newcastle sea front along the Memorial Walkway dedicated to those who lost their lives during the 1st and 2nd world wars. Then onto the Newcastle Ocean Baths where there were two outside seawater swimming pools, one 75ft, the other 25ft. Great to have an early morning swim but not like home in Donegal. So many swimming up and down the pools while surfers surfed on the open sea that roared! Not my cup of tea!

We were treated to coffee and banana bread afterwards and then the walk back home. We then packed up and set off after saying our goodbyes. Great to meet more of George’s Aussie family!

After some discussion, we decided to aim for Yamba, 520km away, so we could have more time along the Gold Coast before heading to Brisbane in 2 days time. So the first part of our journey, I studied the campsites that we could stay in Yamba (recommended by Sharron) and see if I could book online an unpowered site to stay the night. Found Blue Dolphin Holiday Resort along the Clarence River in Yamba. All booked, we coasted along the Pacific Highway. We drove past many creeks and bypassed many towns though the highway runs right through Coffs Harbour, so everyone slows down for a time. It was very busy so glad we didn’t choose that town 😄

We stopped off at a few places for lunch, to get petrol and a pit stop. We arrived at Yamba at 16:45 surprised that we didn’t feel worn out but I guess after Sydney traffic jams that we’d experienced the drive up was a breeze 😄

We familiarized ourselves with all the amenities and then came back to the van to have our first cuppa using the kettle and the van’s gas stove. Not bad! 😀

We went for a walk looking for somewhere to eat. Half an hour later, we called into a Mexican restaurant only to be greeted with “we don’t serve food after 8pm”. It was 8:02pm. So went across the road to Sassafran, an Italian restaurant. Pizzas only since it’s after 8pm. It did the trick 😋Read more