Maz NZ and Oz

After spending a few days in Brisbane with Kim and Troy (thanks for looking after me, guys :) ), I made the journey from Brisbane to Sydney because MWH had kindly offered me a job in their Sydney office. I'm a very lucky girl to have gotten a two week temp assignment with the company in Christchurch last August I can tell you! After having a think about it, I decided not to fly from Brisbane to Sydney, as that would have involved getting myself and all my baggage from one side of Brisbane to the other, then arriving in Sydney airport and having to struggle to find my way around that city too. So, I got on the phone to the nice people at Avis and asked them could I borrow one of their cars to drive from Brisbane to Sydney please. They said "yes, certainly" and quoted me a rate that was so much cheaper than any of the other rental car companies that I thought it was a joke. But no, I had just gotten lucky and they needed some cars brought down to Sydney so there was no one way fee. So on Thursday the 17th of August, I set off on the road to Sydney.

My first stop was Byron Bay, where I had lunch at a german bakery reccommended by the Lonely Planet. It's a nice spot, but I was a bit cranky about moving to a city where I knew practically no one so I probably didn't appreciate it as much as I should have. That night I stayed in Coff's Harbour and so, as it happened, did Sinead O'Mahoney, a girl that I went to college with. It turned out that she had also spent the past year in New Zealand, she was teaching in Massey University in Palmerston North. So it was nice to catch up and meet a familar face. Before hitting the road south again, I had a walk around Coff's Harbour and decided that it definitely deserved to be on the list of 'places I'd like to visit again'. There are some lovely walks there, particulary this one out on to Muttonbird Island where the view of the harbour is just stunning.
That night, I made it as far as Newcastle and stayed in the YHA there. It's a lovely old building that used to be a Gentleman's Club. So it's dark wood panelling and leather furniture as far as the eye can see.