Day 1- Coffs Harbour

We've been on camping trips in northern NSW before but I really wanted to go to the Blue Mountains (with ulterior motives as you will later find out) and the girls wanted to see Sydney, which is about a 12 hr drive.

We left home at 5:30 in the morning so hopefully the girls would sleep part of the way. Our first stop for the night was going to be Coff's Harbour which is about the halfway point to Sydney. A seven hour drive...hence wanting to keep the girls quiet for as long as possible.

We stopped on the Gold Coast for a late BBQ breakfast and a swim (and climb)

then proceded on our way. I love the freedom of the road and the passing scenery which is so beautiful in northern NSW.  We got caught in some slow-moving traffic outside Ballina, but that's not really a hardship when you've got views like this out your window.

Driving down the highway we'd pass through these tunnels which are built solely for the purpose so that koalas and other native wildlife can have safe passage over the top from one side of the road to the other. I love that! They should have them in Qld.

We'd also pass under possum bridges (like rope ladders) for the same purpose.

Yay, it's the Big Banana at Coff's Harbour.

We're here....oh, our booked accomodation is a dodgy motel that smells like stale cigarette smoke. Dinner, at a pub, isn't turn out much better.

We were excited by the two for one meal deal but when our $14 steak burgers turned out to be a burnt, tough piece of steak on a miniscule bun with only some limp lettuce to brighten it, you can imagine we weren't happy. But true to form, we didn't complain or send it back. (Is anyway brave enough to do that?) And I guess, what else could you expect from a 2-for-1 deal?

Recommendations - avoid the Golden Glow Motel and the Lucky Grills Resturant.

But that's all part of the adventure, isn't it.