Day 19 March 1st (Sunday)
We crossed into the State of New South Wal;es and this brought about a time change . We lost an hour (3:30pm now becomes 4:30pm). Today is another glorious sunshiny and hot day. We travelled off the Motorway to Tweed Heads along the Gold Coast with its beautiful sea green water and very expensive yachts.
Susan this is for you --- We arrived in Byron Bay and the traffic jam took us over 20 minutes just to get into the town. On a hot Sunday afternoon everybody and their brother were there and the sea was dotted with heads bobbing in the surf. The beach looks lovely but neither Eric nor I do well with crowds so we got out of town as quickly as possible. There was also a market on at the same town and the town was a zoo and no place to park.
We spent the day travelling off the main road and the scenery was great. We also stopped in Ballina for groceries. There is still alot of sugarcane and acres of farmland for the cattle, sheep and horses.
Stopped in Grafton for the night and it was laundry night.

Day 20 March 2nd (Monday)
It has turned cloudy and has gotten cool .
We travelled around Grafton this morning and it is 170 years old -- an old historic town due to the gold veins found in through here. The buildings remind you of the old west. We also were able to get my glasses fixed as I had lost a pin out of one side.
We then drove down to Coffs Harbour and got the hood of the can fixed. Eric wasn't able to open it up to check the oil and water which he likes to do each morning. We drove down to the Jetty and walked around the harbour stopping for fish & chips. (It wasn't the best tasting food in the world so we won't do that again anytime soon).
Throughout our travels so far we have noticed that nothing is built out of wood as it is either brick, concrete, steel or vinyl. Termites which build their nests in the forests are the problem.
We stopped in Forster-Tuncurry for the night. (No internet again tonight).

Day 21 March 3rd (Tuesday)
Another sunny day. We drove throgh Booti Booti Nat'l Park -- it is like Algonquin Park and the roads are like from Burks Falls to the Mag (Jim & Bill) . The main difference are all the white and black Pelicans. Arrived in New Castle and drove around looking at all the old buildings. It is a big steel city with higgly-piggly streets.
We stopped at Pelican Park at Swansea for lunch and were entertained by all the pelicans -- what a sight to see them take off and land. These off roads have resulted in some beautiful scenery and we saw lots of freighters today.
We arrived at our campsite about 4pm in just outside Sydney. As we set out for the mall we stopped and asked for directions and this kind gentleman ended up giving us a ride. Thank goodness as the mall closed at 5:30 and I had a couple of minutes to spare and managed to get the phone fixed as it was on silent ring. Now it rings and I can hear it. There is a nice cool breeze tonight and we are here for 3 nights. Also managed to get hold of Noreen & Ian to set up some time with them.

Day 22 March 4th (Wednesday)
We got the bus near the campgrounds and took it into Manley -- got a daytripper ticket (it pays for the ferries, buses and trains in and around Sydney) -- and took the Ferry into Sydney . It is cool and overcast today so our pictures aren't the greatest. What a thrill it was for me to see the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Bridge (2 key focal points associated with this city). I even got to walk around the Opera House and to walk inside to the lobby. We didn't take a guided tour of this. We had lunch in the opera district and then took the ferry to Darling Harbour. This was one of the musts according to Noreen. We disembarked at the Marine Museum which is quite something. We saw the replica of Capt. Cook's ship "The Endeavor". We then walked around to the next ferry stop by the aquarium and I went into the Wildlife exhibit. I saw all sorts of bugs, repiles, birds, butterflies and animals native to Australia. I finally got to see some koala bears sleepily eating their eucalyputas leaves. The Kangaroos were putting on quite a show as two of them were having a fight. You could hear the thuds as the hind legs connected on the other one. They can only stand on their hinds legs up straight for a short period of time . Also saw some more wallabies and the only difference between wallibies and kangaroos is the colour. I was also fortunate to finally see a cassowary which is as big as an emu and very colourful.
When I came out from the exhibit I was exhausted so we caught the ferry back to the Quay in Sydney. We got the ferry back to Manley and the bus back to the campground. What a great experience. 

Day 23 March 5th (Thursday)
It got quite cool during the night so we were cold this morning. "Winnie" isn't insulated so the drafts were coming in everywhere. However we managed to survive. On our way to the bus we were met by 2 couples from Vancouver and so talked to them all the way into Manley. We got the day tripper again today and it turned out to be benificial. We caught the ferry back into Sydney again and this time it is bright ans sunny -- great for pictures. Once we got to the Quay it was much warmer. This time we walked in the opposited direction from the Opera House. We started walking to the "Rocks" and all the old buildings and architecture . While having lunch at an outdoor cafe we decided to walk back to St. George's Street to see the Old Queen Victoria Building as Noreen said that we really should. I didn't realize how long a walk it was going to be but we made it and walked around inside. The stores reeked of money but the old clocks were something to see along with all the stain glass windows. The 4th floor has a very posh Tea Room (I just used the washroom).
Back out on the street we got the bus back to the Quay and walked up Argyle Street to climb the umteen steps to walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. What a view and the breeze was refreshing as it was hot today. This walk is approx. 2.5 kls across and we did it in half an hour stopping to admire the view. Even though my knee is very painful I am so glad that we did this. Eric got some great pictures.
We then took the train from Milsons Point to Roseville where Noreen & Ian picked us up and took us to their place for dinner. We sat out by the pool for a visit and I had an icepack on my knee. Their friends Kay & John came over and we had a BBQ . The food and company were just what the doctor ordered. Then Noreen & Ian took us back to the camp ground as they wanted to see our camper. They were impressed. Lights out didn't happen until after midnight and we were tired.  

Day 24 March 6th (Friday)
Weather is cool this morning and we are later than usual. We left the park at 9:30am and thanks to all of Ian's advice we sailed through the tunnels out of Sydney past the airport (which is huge).
The drive today was through farmland and the it becomes mountainous and lots of esses in the road. Eric said that it would have been more fun in his car. There are many Nat'l Forests around here.
The sun was brilliant all day . We also learned that this was a holiday weekend in Canberra and Victoria so there was alot of people in the campgrounds. We stopped in Nowra for groceries and then stopped in Batesman Bay for the night. We were greeted by a group of kangaroos -- they just sat there watching us and even let you pet them. It was apparent that they had adjusted to humans invading their territory. This campground is in the middle of two Nat'l Forests. There were alot of different kinds of birds and unfortunately I don't know what they are. There were some parrots and lorikets and you could here others but couldn't see them.

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Eric & Judy