Sydney day 1

 The famous bridge

 The opera house in lovely sunshine

 The skyline of Sydney

 View from Mrs Macquarie's point

 Bondi Beach...a bit smaller than we thought it would be, but great to see.

 View from Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour

What a lovely day it has been, we started early after a good breakfast and took the Citibus tour (same as London Bus) and went around the whole of Sydney taking in all the lovely sights.  The city is a complete mixture of old and new.  They have kept their Heritage sites and they are surrounded by skyscrapers.  There is so much Colonial history here and the streets are so different.  There are a lot of London and Scottish names here and a lot of the convicts came into Sydney (and their generations have done really well!).

We changed over the route and went to the famous Bondi beach. It was one of those 'to do' things and I am glad that we did, but it was really a lot smaller than we thought and was extremely crowded.  But glad we came to look.  The bus then took us into the heart of Sydney and we then went to Darling Harbour.  What a great place to hang out.  Lots of lovely people all dressed well (there was us in our shorts and t's) and lots and lots of hen and bucks parties.  There was even a wedding party walking along the bay, bride and all...We sat and took in all the views and watched the world go by.  We are now back and looking forward to tomorrow when we go to the Blue Mountains (another 'to do').

Sydney

We have arrived safely in Sydney and first impressions are great.  The concierge at the hotel has given us lots of information on where to go in the four days that we are here. We have walked the tourist part of the city and have managed to find UGG boots half price...guess who bought a pair?  Things are looking a little better now, but still no news from our agents, so what happens after Sydney is in there hands.

We shall be taking lots of pictures from tomorrow as we are red bussing it around all day and then we are off to the Blue Mountains on Sunday and then David does his Harbour Bridge walk whilst I look at the Opera House and find some good coffee houses!  So looking forward to doing lots of things.  By the way the sun is shining and  hopefully the weather has now turned the corner.  Here's to tomorrow!

Hunter Valley Resort

Our own chalet and two happy smiling faces, before the wine tasting..

The drive today was pretty straightforward but the weather closed in and we went through some very heavy rain.  We stopped for a break at a roadside cafe and then found our next destination.  By this time we had left the rain behind and were very surprised to have been given another upgrade when we arrived (all our own doing not the travel company) and we have now got or own chalet, amongst the vineyards.  We have already sampled the wine and tomorrow we go on the tour proper, should be fun.  We then intend to drive down the valley which is full of different vineyards, some we recognise and some not.  Hopefully the weather will be fine.  They are still evacuating some of the areas around here and unfortunately a lot of vine yards have suffered badly, especially the pinos noir.

Heres to a good stay..

To Port Macquarie

 A view of the bay

 A pair of pelicans, there are hundreds of them here and boy to they make a noise! But lovely to hear.

 Brother Mountain in Lauriton near to Macquarie, the place where hang gliders launch! A small piece of green and then infinity...

 Two views from our shore side room (our upgrade)

This is one for the travel company..evidence that this place is in ongoing refurb!

We have said enough about our accommodation but the staff here were absolutely fab and the food was great. They bent over backwards to make our stay a good one.

An Evening in Coffs Harbour

 The harbour bay at sunset

Playful parrot

Coffs Harbour to Port Macquarie

We stopped at a cafe on the way and had the worst egg and bacon roll we have ever tasted.  We couldn't even chew the white!!!

When we arrived at the next location we were greeted by a motel/hotel and it was under renovation.  We were also put into a standard room overlooking the road.  I was in tears and the kind receptionist/manager upgraded us for free to a river view which was much better.  We got in touch with the agents here and also had long conversations with our agents in London who were most uncooperative and informed us that we had read the itiniery and we knew what we had got.  Well we thought for our vast amount of money paid that we could at least expect some luxury, but no, they expect us to pay up front to any upgrade.  A standard room in a 4 star hotel would be ok but a standard room in a 2-3 star is unacceptable.  Well thats us a bit stuffed.  David and I think that the Australian people are very helpful and the hotel/motel staff really try to do everything they can to help improve our stay.  Good one Tropical Sky, we wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

We have telephoned our next location and they have upgraded us without a problem and were pleased to do so at no extra cost! This is what we are going to do from now on.

Hope next blog will be more positive.  Look in the Australian news for all the dreadful flooding.  Hopefully we might miss it.

Coffs Harbour

 Not too noticeable from photo just unrepaired ceiling in first hotel room

 A resident

 View from second room

Well our journey to Coffs was very straightforward and we decided to go straight to the Hotel and book in.  Well were we in for a surprise.  After the Byron this was certainly a come down.  The resort seemed to have spent all its money on the outside and none on the inside!

Our room was a disgrace and dirty and badly in need of decoration.   There was a lot of people at the hotel because of a private party and they seem to have taken all the 'good rooms'. The approach to the room was like going through a tenement block in South London...all dark and dreary concrete. The room had an unrepaired ceiling, dirty walls and skirting boards and badly chipped and yellowing doors and walls.  We were not impressed.  Today we couldn't leave it so we went to reception where we had the'smile' and they changed our room.  Although still fairly shabby at least it is clean and we have a fantastic view, instead of looking at concrete...

Coffs Harbour itself is very nice with lots of bays and lots of surfers.  Although dull with showers the youngsters were still out there.  The weather looks better here but we still have the flooded areas to contend with as we travel south.  We have been in touch with our agent in England and they are getting in touch with the agents here.  Hopefully we will be able to skirt the areas, but its pretty bad in NSW.  Tomorrow is another day....