Legendary Pacific Drive, Australia

In Brisbane we'll pick up a campervan by the company Jucy. We first noticed the Jucy when traveling out west. It's a mini-van turned campervan, includes everything you need for camping, including the kitchen sink. No toilet, gotta use the campsite toilets and showers, but includes everything else. A cooktop, all the linens, plates, pots, the works. Really convinient when flying in and not wanting to carry all this gear with ya. Okay Jucy, here we go! We'll pickup the campervan in Brisbane, which is pretty central in the country along the Pacific Coast. The Legendary Pacific Drive will take us all along the coast from Brisbane down to Sydney. It's about a 10 hour drive and 920 kilometers (571 miles). Roadtrip here we come!

Day One:

We pickup our Jucy. Um, smaller than expected, but we'll make do (right?). We pickup our Jucy, hit the grocery store, stock up on goodies, find a picnic spot and make the plan for our first stop. We'll head to Gold Coast, it's about an hour drive and camp near the beach. Gold Coast is known for their golden beaches and surfer's paradise. Can't be bad right?

Flying in. I finally got a window seat. You'd think after 10+ flights that I could get a window seat...but with all these boys, they are hard to come by!

The Jucy folks reach us how to raise our "Penthouse", the upper bunk. There are two double beds, one in the penthouse, the roof of the car, and when where van seats are that fold down to a bed. Both pretty comfy actually. A bit of a burden to make and unmake these beds each morning and night, but comfy sleeping accommodations.

Boys are happy. Will we ever get them out of the penthouse? Lordy.

Gold Coast, yup, gold and pretty and goes on and on. We check out the beach upon arrival and then set to make dinner.

Dinner. Taco night! Inside the van it folks down to our beds, works as seating while driving OR serve as our dining room table. We ate in here the first night and preferred picnic tables everywhere else. The weather is nice, so why eat inside a minivan?

Day Two:

We check our Gold Coast, see the beach, head hiking and then towards Byron Bay, our next destination.

We awake to meet our first critter. There's no racoons around these parts, instead we get these black and white stork looking bird....he's not afraid of people and looking for any ole scrap it can find. We found out he's an Australian White Ibis and we continued to see him campsite to campsite.

Selfie with Conner on the Gold Coast beaches.

Beautiful and they go on forever. Reminds me of growing up in Miami and heading to the beaches with friends. The beaches here are really nice and so easily accessible, just right along the campsites and pier. No long walks or overcrowded parking lots.

Surfers Paradise and yes, we saw plenty of surfers.

Not a bad spot for a picnic.

Hiked along Gold Coast beach.

The top! It wasn't very far away, but steep enough to feel a sense of success in reaching the top.

After Gold Coast we drove to Bryan Bay, popular for its light house and the hikes throughout. Our first welcome to Byron Bay, this critter! A big ole lizard.

Conner on our hike to the light house. Neat hike as you have to walk through water on high tide.

Ah, such pretty views, blue waters and more surfers. We got our fill of surfers driving down the Pacific Highway towns.

Whales. We have never been lucky in spotting whales. When in Maine, we spent hours and hours on a ship looking for whales. I got sick as a dog and fed a many fish and never saw a whale. Today the times have changed, we saw plenty of whales. Momma whales breaching with baby whales. Blow holes and dolphins leaping. It was awesome.

The coastal hikes in Byron Bay. Beautiful day with blue skies and abundant wild life.

Hiking around the light house in Byran Bay.

Reached it, the most Easerly Point of Australia. And whales danced all around to show it off.

Our Jucy reminds us....I like this. Reminds me to enjoy slowing down, getting lost, laughing and just being in the moment. That doesn't come naturally to me. I'm a planner at heart and it's nice to chill and enjoy and go where the wind takes us.

Steve shops at the bottle-o for grownup beverages and the boys and I enjoy window shopping. We've picked up a few of our favorite Aussie terms. Bottle-O is one, basically a liquor store. There's also the telly, for television. Takeaway is used in England, used to that. Boys are finally calling the restrooms, toilets. What else, OH! "How-You-Going?" That's how you're greeted, not our "How You Doing?". More will come to me, it's been fun.

Day Three:

On day three of our camper van we wake up in Byron Bay, again with the same White Australian Ibis birds eating all the food left behind by campers.

Our campsite had a nice water park and jumping pillow-trampoline-thing that the boys enjoyed. Now we set off to Coffs Harbour.

Roadtripping. There's these kangaroo crossing signs throughout. Also spotted koala crossing and wombat crossing. We haven't seen many kangaroos (yet), eager to change that. I found a site on Emerald Beach, where appartently you can see kangaroos on the BEACH. How cool would that be?!?

Stopped in Cordino beach, just north of Emerald Beach for a picnic. Immediately attracted to all these pebbles on the beach. Let's just say we added extra weight to our luggage with this stop. The boys and I really enjoyed collecting our favorites.

We stopped at Emerald Beach to hike the Headland Walk in hopes of spotting kangaroos on the beach. I read a fun blog that talks about how this is a great area to spot kangaroos. Upon parking we saw a collection of kangaroos! The hike proved more and more success as we continued to find more kangas! We even saw a few mother kanagroos with joeys. We saw wallabies, big kangaroos, little ones, joeys, and boy do they hop! The big ones are really big! It was a fabulous hike. Towards the end you can see all the surfers down on the beach from the cliffs of the hike. It was rather wonderful!

Signs alert you to the dos and don't of the hike as you most certainly see kangaroos! What's kinda wild is how normal this is to the locals, jogging, walk, strolling with kids, bike riding and meanwhile you're surrounded by kangaroos.

Aiden gives this guy a thumbs up!

Look at all of them. They are just hopping all around us.

Father son moment. Steve and Conner.

Aiden managed to walk right up to one while still on the path. Oh, I should warn you that there is kangaroo poo everywhere. Best to stay on the path to prevent stepping on kangaroo poo. One of the neighbors mentioned that he's always collecting it off his lawn.

Kangaroos along the beaches. There are surfers down there in the water.

Driving into Coffs Harbour next. We tried a hike that often spots koalas, but found none. Called it a night and checked into a campsite intown. Tomorrow we'll check out the Big Banana, which is a popular theme park with the Aussies.

Night night. In our Jucy camper van.

Our campsite for the night. The Clog Barn has a Dutch theme. Cheesy and met all our needs, plus good kitchen.

Day Four:

We wake up in Coffs Harbour ready to hike around Muttonbird Island and check out Big Banana.

Muttonbird Island, great views. Whale spotting! We're so happy with all the whales we have managed to spot. We never did see a muttonbird.

A look at the port of sail boats. Lots of whale watching tours take off here. We enjoy spotting them from the island, close enough for us.

There are whales out there people, and the coasts here are all so picturesque.

Aiden finds a caterpiller. No matter where we are, what there is too offer, how much we pay, how far we travel...kids always find the greatest pleasure in the little things, caterpillers, lizards, a cardboard box. Yet, another reminder, that less-is-more and that I should slow down and enjoy the moment and really just enjoy being with them. They don't need all the over-the-top stuff. Camping in a campervan playing a game of cards and eating spaghetti for dinner is just about the perfect evening.

The Big Banana here we come. The Big Banana is voted a must-do destination in Coffs Harbour. It's pretty simple really, they offer tabagon, giant slides, ice skating, etc, plus lots of banana treats, including banana splits and milk shakes.

Aiden learns a lesson on value... He wasn't thrilled with his tobagon experience. He was expecting more for the cost. He paid for two rides and on his second ride he got caught behind a really slow woman and hated the experience. He wasn't happy AT ALL. I decided to let him struggle this one out and learn from it. Sometimes you lose, sometimes things aren't what you expect, sometimes things aren't worth the cost. Huh, it was tough, he cried it out and managed to dust himself offAiden learns a lesson on value... He wasn't thrilled with his tobagon experience. He was expecting more for the cost. He paid for two rides and on his second ride he got caught behind a really slow woman and hated the experience. He wasn't happy AT ALL. I decided to let him struggle this one out and learn from it. Sometimes you lose, sometimes things aren't what you expect, sometimes things aren't worth the cost. Huh, it was tough, he cried it out and managed to dust himself off. Using his own money again (we gave them each a budget to work with) he bought himself a milkshake that made him feel a little better. What I thought was cool is all the banana trees on the site, he was tobagoning down banana fields.

The banana split. Conner saved his money to go over the top on one big banana split instead of partaking on any rides.

Giant slide. The came for free. Lucky kids, someone leaving donated us their one big slide tix. This made Aiden feel a lot better and I tried hard to incorporate it into being thankful, not sure how much got through to him.

After The Big Banana, we set off on another attempt to find koalas in the wild. We were obviously lucky on the Great Ocean Drive, as we saw so many of them....but haven't gotten as lucky on the Legendary Pacific Drive as we haven't spotted one yet. I read that Bongli Bongli National Park has a large population of koalas, so we set off to search, plus it's on the coast, so a little more time on the beach doesn't hurt.

Lunch on the beach. The kids took off, leaving their mugs behind. Hmmm....

The Eucalyptus tree lined hike...but not a single koala in sight!

Lots of signs that koalas should be here...but we didn't find any. HUH! Time to hit the road, I was hoping to visit Dorrigo National Park, but we need to head and we decide we need to make some headway on our drive towards Sydney. Off we go.

South West Rocks is voted a great small town, and we're ready for it. I find a campsite RIGHT ON THE BEACH, so we're quite happy. Some cheap local camping beer and score.

Enjoying the moment. South West Rocks, Australia.

South West Rocks. This is our CAMPSITE! Right on the beach, literally it's the first and last sight I see as I crawl in and out of our campervan. I'm putting the small town of South West Rocks in my top favorite places on this trip. It's a small town, with beautiful beaches, great walking trails and just quiet and peaceful (except maybe for the extremely loud Rainbow Lorikeets, that chirp like crazy at sunset and sundown. What's up with them!?!?! Thankfully it only lasts about 20 minutes).

I've lost count on how many sand castles these boys have built. Check out that sunset. What a great spot on the beach...I'm loving it.

Day Five:

Starting off with sightseeing in South West Rocks, we head to Port Macquerie next. Sleeping in Newcastle this evening.

I squeeze in a morning walk around South West Rocks, along the coast for some more great views and the boys look so peaceful and happy on the beach. The closer I get the more bickering I hear and then see them throwing sand at each other. Hmmmm, decide they look better from a distance, so I continue to the other side to enjoy that side of the coastal walk. LOL.

We check out Arakoon National Park in South West Parks and what a treat. More kangaroos and rock formations on the beach. There's a sandbar that the boys play in for a bit and the rocks are really neat.

Aiden looks pretty cool jumping off these rocks. I really like this picture.

Our next stop of the roadtrip is Port Macquerie. We start with the coastal walk where the rocks are all painted by families and organizations. The rocks line the coastal walk which goes for kilometers.

A look at the painted rocks. We spot a few kids on the beach, painting the rocks along the beach as well. Reminds me of the Krog Street tunnel. Some rocks are dated, the dates appear to go back to 2007.

With little luck spotting koalas we know that the Koala Hospital is a good stop while in Port Macquerie. It's a precious hospital too with lots of good information and facts about koalas, plus you can see them upclose. The ones we got to see are injured and can't safely be released to the wild. The staff here learns more about koalas to rescue more and stop the destuction of Eucalyptus trees.

Cute as ever. Look at this guy!

200! That's the answer, 200 poos. We, of course, have the family discussion on what counts as a poo, is it the individual turd, or just the one movement. LOL. I'm sure the folks around us really appreciated our conversation. No one wanted to ask the staff, so we'll be left wondering.

Another cutie up in the tree! Koala you are so precious. Also we learned that koalas as not bears, but marsupials instead. The koala is more closely related to a wombat... Wombat! Another Australian animal we haven't seen. We love wombats, having the book "Diary of a Wombat", the kids grew up loving this book.

Back on the road. Our warning sign of koalas in the wild. Yet, no wild koala sighting... We are setting off to Newcastle.

Day Six:

Waking up in Newcastle we haven't seen much as we arrived at night. We set off to the beat, coastal walks and to discover the fort. This afternoon we'll head over to Hunter Valley, an hour drive away, to visit wineries!!!

Look at my beach jewels! There are patches of just bare sand, then patches of loads of shells. The way the waves crash in they wash up and wash away different jewels.

Here we go, a giant collection of great shells.

The boys play in the sand while Steve and I walk down the pier. We're camping in Stockhon, a ferry ride to Newcastle. It's quiet and residential over here and we enjoy the small town. Decided I really prefer the small towns, over fighting the crowds and places to part of the bigger cities.

Fort Scattchley. Fort Scratchley, a former coastal defence installation, is now a museum.

Fort Scratchley. Near Nobbys Beach. The kids are impressed with these giant cannons.

Time for our ferry ride back. We head into a restaurant for a Flat White (our favorite Aussie espresso drink), but instead I notice this $3 Champagne sign. It's 11am and I'm thinking OKAY. We are heading to wine country this afternoon, I might as well get a head start! Yippee!

The ferry ride. With a champagne glass in me, I'm a happy bug. The ferry ride is literally 5 minutes away, it's a short one folks.

HUNTER VALLEY, we have arrived. I downloaded a book tape (audio book, I know) for the boys on my iPhone. They love a good book, and they especially love a book being read to them. Pendragon 3 and they are happy as can be in the campervan...so we leave them in the campervan, listening to the book while we hop around checking out a few wineries. Here is a Sauv Blanc from Brokenwood, our first winery.

Next is a little red....

Meera Park is fun, our server certainly is! I liked this rose. We also visited Tempus Two (for second try), and I loved it so much, I forgot to take pictures, that was our biggest score on favorites. Tempus Two has silver and copper labels, and really great wines, I will be looking for it from distributors back home to add to the JavaVino wine list!

Ending our wine tour of Hunter Valley at Scarborough, who wined and cheesed us. Nice, royal treatment at Scarborough...plus KANGAROOS in the wineries. Love it. We saw sheep in wineries in New Zealand and kanagroos in wineries in Australia, I'm feeling pretty complete now. The sun set here was bliss.

Day Seven:

Time to return our Jucy. Our camping trip has come to an end. From Hunter Valley we drive to Sydney, about a 2 hour drive. We bonded, we slept snuggly, we cooked a lot of meals, saw amazing beaches in Australia, enjoyed wild life, especially the kangaroos...but we are happy to return the Jucy for space and private bathrooms, showers and full sized beds that don't require folding and unfolding. Ahhh...we welcome a spoiled trip to Sydney. I cash in points with IHG and check into the most amazing Holiday Inn in The Rocks neighborhood of Syndey. YAY!

We call an Uber. Decide to save money and take our chance with a regular ole Uber and not go XL. We had to cram ourselves in! Check out Aiden snuggling with a luggage on his lap, because we completely ran out of town. I have a few backpacks on mine and Conner has our travel cooler. It's a squeeze, friends, a squeeze in our Uber. Our driver is great and gets us safely and swiftly to our very wonderful Holiday Inn in the best part of town.