The East Coast Drive to Sydney

We were driving back to Sydney for New Years Eve with 5 stops along the route. We had a good flight and we had now our fourth time zone! We were staying at the very posh Palazzo Versace.

Although nothing special from the front it was lovely inside - set on a marina with a fantastic pool where we were shown to our room – really spacious with a large Jacuzzi bath, separate shower and toilet and a view over the pool and where we both received a bottle of Versace perfume and aftershave.

After a relaxing afternoon by the pool we showered and changed for a meal in the hotel.

Another hot day so after breakfast we went down to the pool to read and laze. By about 2pm it was still warm but it was trying to rain so we decide to go for a drive as hubby wanted to see where he had holidayed 20 years ago when he came with his Mum. We couldn’t believe it but we managed to find the hotel he stayed in - Beachcomber resort.

We had an early breakfast wanting to make the most of this lovely hot weath so headed down to the pool again by midday it was trying to rain so decided to have a wander round the marina found some great little shops next door.

We packed up and headed off to Bryon Bay a 1½ hour drive – we arrived there about midday and were given the keys to our room it was a lovely spacious studio apartment with double bed, wardrobe area, bathroom, lounge, and kitchen with washing machine as well as balconies with mozzie nets.

We quickly changed and headed to the pool for lunch.

The pool area was lovely with great loungers and a nice pool, so we chilled by the pool for the rest of the day.

We changed and then decided to have a drive and see some of the beaches we went to the fabulous Watego beach and had a wonderful evening meal at the famous Raes restaurant.

After another lazy day we were attending a carol singing evening hosted by the hotel which made it feel more like Christmas. Elle McPherson came to support the evening being very good friends of the owners.

On Christmas Eve we got up at about 6.00 am to have a walk down to the beach – it was beautiful a wide wild expanse of beach like many along the whole of the east coast.

Byron Bay is beautiful and defintely worth a visit especially if you take a drive out into the counry - why not call at Bangalow. With rolling green hills and trees you could be in the UK!!

It was really strange to spend Christmas day on the beach - espeically seeing Father Christmas.

We left on Boxing Day to go to Coffs Harbour a 3½ hour drive. The speed limits are really slow compared to the UK as most of the roads are like our B roads it takes ages to get anywhere, but I must admit you feel much more relaxed by the time you reach your destination.

We were about 20 minutes from our hotel so decided to stop and have a look at some of the beaches we had a look at Emerald beach and Moonee Beach which was beautiful with an estuary running into it.

We then had a drive up to Dorrigo National Park, the drive up was amazing with fantastic views across the rainforest – finally we got to the top where we had a walk along the sky walk to look over the forest.

We then stopped at Dangar Falls and headed back through a place called Belligen very similar to Bangalow.

We were up early today as we had a 5½ hour drive ahead of us. By 8.30 we had left our hotel on our way to Port Stephen. We made good progress and stopped at Port Macquarie for a pit stop by the beach.

We arrived at Port Stephen a gorgeous spot right on the marina overlooking the ocean.

A great must do is to go to the Tomaree National Park where we decided to climb to the summit for the headlands viewed a 1.0 kilometre climb definitely worth it as the views were magnificent – looking over the different bays at beautiful coves one after another all the way along the coast and in the whale season you can see the whales pass by.

We’d booked into the Point Restaurant at Soldier Point a lovely little restaurant over looking a small marina.

Today we'd booked to see the dolphins and boarded “Imagine” a large catamaran seating about 30 so not too crowded compared to some of the boats that were going out. We had good seats at the front of the boat – we managed to see a shoal of dolphin just off the coast and followed them for about 15 mins .

Next day we were off to Hunter Valley we had a good journey and arriving mid morning. we did a great tour of Tyrells winery.

Finally today is New Years Eve and we are off to Sydney for the celebrations.

We'd booked on to one of the Captain Cook Cruises. So at 7pm we made our way down to Circular Quay. What an amazing night - if you eve get the chance- DO IT!!

We had a lovely day just relaxing and doing a bit of shopping. We met one of my husbands colleagues who was also holidaying out there. We had a great meal at at Woolloomaloo Harbour.

Other Great things to do - Bridge Climb - Back Stage Tour Opera House, for great beaches Jervis Bay south of Sydney, Blue Mountains.

A great journey!!