Following on from the previous post i’ve added some of the photos taken while in Port Stephens. All thats missing at the moment is a lot of a Kookaburra that was around the hostel and those of a Koala spotted while walking to the beach…

They can be found here!

After the week in the desert in Alice Springs and around Uluru I was back in Sydney for a few weeks. However I was starting to get a little bit bored so I came a few hours north to an area known as Port Stephens. This area takes in a number of small towns from Newcastle up to Nelson Bay. I’ve been staying in Samurai Beach Bungalows – I fantastic small hostel with little bungalows hidden among the trees and amazing hosts, Mark and Sandy.

It’s been a great place to escape the city with some fantastic beaches and activities from Sandboarding to Dolphin Watching. The people staying there are those you want to meet when travelling and most nights were spent just chatting about random things over a few drinks.

The highlight though was the night a group of us decided to abandon the comfort of our beds and head down to Samurai Beach to spend the night there. The idea grew during the day from just taking a couple of groundsheets and sleeping bags to having a campfire and cooking over it. Mark was great and gave us a lift down to the beach with all our stuff and we soon got the fire going and had a nice bbq before laying back under the stars. It was a perfect evening with no cloud and no lights so the stars were outstanding. A little later that night the moon started to rise so we were able to sit and watch that. Once the moon was up the beach was nicely lit so I went for a walk along under the moonlight before eventually getting some sleep.

One of those nights and places never to be forgotten!