Many people take an over night bus from Brisbane to Sydney, or stop only at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast and Byron Bay. We decided we didn’t want to be like those people. You know us, not conventional. In hindsight, I think we should have stopped on the Gold Coast, as quite a few people have said how much we would have loved it. When we return to Australia on another holiday (who knows when) I think we would like to spend some time around the Gold Coast, more time on the Sunshine Coast and head into the Outback and Uluru. But, that’s another trip.

So what did we decided to do? There is one bus that runs from Byron Bay straight down to Sydney, so we decided to take that bus, but stop twice catching the bus again the next day. Each time was meant to be for 24 hours (more on that later). Yamba had been recommended to us as a pretty little seaside town and so had Port Macquaire. The other option was Coffs Harbour, but everyone said Port Macquaire was nicer.

We arrived in Yamba at 2pm on a Saturday. Mistake number 1. 90% of the shops, cafes and bars shut at 1pm on Saturday and don’t open again until Monday. On arrival at our hostel (the YHA) we felt like we were in prison. We heard a woman getting a royal telling off by the lady on the front desk for apparently climbing out of her window, onto the roof and smoking a cigarette… not very plausible. There were signs EVERYWHERE that said we were liable for a $1800 fine if the smoke alarm goes off by mistake for any reason (these reasons included: using hair straighteners, having a too hot shower, spraying bug spray, spraying deodorant.. list of ridiculousness went on.

I had heard about a free walking guide that is produced by the museum so I downloaded that and off we set for coastal walk number 2, in as many days. The map told us the walk was a 3km circuit, with some hills and would hit some of the highlights of Yamba on the way. We walked along the marina and the Clarence river which was very pretty.

We saw a very large pelican.

After this the walk took us around to a board which told us all about the history of the local breakwaters. I had to drag Simon away… I had no idea he was so interested in them. Yawn! We saw a few pretty beaches around here, before seeing the area that had been quarried for the breakwaters.

Some people were staring out to see, so we asked what they had seen and they told us there was a pod of dolphins. YAY! We will never get tired of seeing whales and dolphins in the wild.

We walked up to the lighthouse, which was a little underwhelming in comparison to the one in Cape Byron, but provided some lovely views out over the area.

Our walk then carried us along the coast, past a few more pretty beaches and a cenotaph. All very lovely, but honestly… that was it.

I don’t know what it is about Yamba, but we both weren’t feeling it. We returned to town to try and figure out what we were going to do for dinner. Our options were severely limited!!! We ate scrambled eggs with bel peppers, sweetcorn and packet pasta. Oh my… it was weird. I promise you all, we have been eating REALLY well for most of our trip, but that was a low point. The kitchen was a state as well, people were just leaving washing up everywhere and the sides were dirty. Not ideal.. AT ALL!!!

The next day, we woke up and went back to one of the beaches to catch some sun and read our books before our bus. We had a lovely smoothie back at our hostel just before the bus came and off we went.

Here’s some history about breakwaters for anyone who’s interested before I move onto Port Macquaire:

Our next stop was Port Macquaire. The trip was meant to be 4.5 hours on the greyhound, but turned into 6.5 hours due to a head on collision on the motorway about 5 minutes up from us. The last we heard, both people were alive, but in a critical condition. Here’s hoping they’re ok!

We arrived in Port Macquaire quite late, too late too do anything except find food. We found the best deal in Australia. $5.95 for a large pizza at dominos. That is an absolute steal over here! We devoured our pizzas and had a lovely chat with the people in our hostel. Every single one of them was just so friendly and chatty and we spent a good amount of time enjoying everyones company. Already wishing, we had come a day earlier so we could have attended their Halloween party.

We went to bed and got up to do, guess what?!, a coastal walk the next day. This one, I was super excited about though. I can’t say why, I just was already enjoyed Port Macquaire more than Yamba and there seemed to be a lot more going on here. I was right to be excited.

We went down to the start of the walk, Town Beach, where we enjoyed a smoothie to start off the walk. They were EXCELLENT!

From here the walk began. I won’t go into all the detail, as you will very quickly get bored of my coastal walk ramblings, but I’ll show you some of the highlights.

It then rained pretty badly and we had to hide under Gum trees for about 20 minutes.

Our final stop, was guess what?! A lighthouse! A very cute little one this time.

The walk was 9km, so we decided to take the bus back to town from this point, as we had a date with a koala hospital!!! 🙂 🙂

The koala hospital in Port Macquaire is the only one of its kind in the world, and it’s free! They take in koalas that have been found by locals, rehabilitate, treat and release them if possible. We arrived at 3pm so were there for a free tour of the hospital and it was so good! I would recommend this to anyone who visits this area.

The first thing I was surprised by, is how many koalas are infected with Chlamydia that come into the hospital. The strain of Chlamydia that affects them, primarily affects their eyes and can cause blindness in many.

The hospital is completely funded by donations, receiving nothing from the government. However, they have managed to save and now have a koala ambulance! Isn’t this the cutest thing!?

We went around the park with a British lady, who has been living in Oz for a long time now, and heard about all the koalas that are now living permanently in their care. We were unable to see the koalas in rehabilitation as they needed as minimal contact with humans as possible during their time in the hospital.

This little guy stood out to me. His name was Xavier and he is now completely blind. He struggles to eat and has to be syringe fed soya milk a few times a day as a supplement. Most koalas are lactose intolerant and receive all of their nutrients from the eucalyptus they eat.

We saw lots of other koalas on our way around who had been in road traffic accidents and were blind through severe chlamydia infections. Here’s just a few photos of the many I took.

We just loved it here. The centre is made up of 170 volunteers and they are all doing such an amazing job to look after these amazing animals. Well done!!

After this, we popped into the Roto timber house next door, which is a house that has been preserved in the area that used to be inhabited by the Flynn family. It was interesting to see a house from 1891 and see the style of living at the time. The volunteer who told us a bit about the house was from Whitby, but had been in Australia for 48 years now.

We walked back to our hostel, ready to catch the greyhound bus to Sydney and our 22 hours in Port Macquaire were over.

So… 24 hours in Yamba vs. 22 hours in Port Macquaire. I think you can see where this is going. We loved Port Macquaire and didn’t love Yamba. There was just so much to see and do in Port Macquaire and the feel of the place was just so much more positive and welcoming. We could have easily spent more time here and explored more of the local area whereas in Yamba we had done it all after our 3km, 1 hour walk. My advice would be, stop in Yamba if you have you own car and can get out of there after a few hours, but don’t stop if you are relying on public transport and never ever EVER visit on a Saturday or Sunday.