Day 11 / Day 6: Coff Coff


$206.
That’s how much a fine is in Sydney for parking in a bus stop, just in case you wanted to know.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Kate and Alice went to pick up the rental car and then they picked Cherri and I up from the hostel. I was hungover and not in the best of moods. The girls wanted to check out this random store so we went there and found a park right outside the store. We were gone FIVE minutes. We came back to see that bloody piece of paper flapping on our dashboard being held down by the windscreen wiper. We were all fuming and it wasn’t a great start to our day.
Thankfully, I got a bit of shut-eye on the way out of Sydney. I opened my eyes two-hours later to the sight of a beautiful, golden sand beach in Newcastle. We all quickly forgot about our morning woes and instead “Oohed” and “Aahed.” The sun was out, sand was soft and non-shelly, and it was a Saturday afternoon yet the beach wasn’t very populated. We grabbed some lunch and after giving ourselves time to digest (not quite 40 minutes) we headed in for a swim. It was terrible.
Newcastle Beach
I found out why not many people were there. It was difficult to wade through the water because of the thick layer of ocean-grass growing underwater. It was very seaweedy. In fact, it was seaweed. Also, the water was ice, ice, ice cold. The waves were alright so I bodysurfed one. I caught a pretty good one too and I got up, pretty happy with my efforts. I looked down and had to quickly duck back under the water as I got an almighty fright from seeing bits of seaweed sticking out of my board shorts in a pubular (I made that word up) manner. GG Newcastle beach.
We spent the night at a hostel in Coffs Harbour. It wasn’t too crowded so we lucked out and got an empty dorm room for the four of us. I told the girls about Individual Group Chills (IGC) and I was delighted when they said they thought it was a good idea and that we should do it. So we sat in our beds doing our own things but together. It was a happy evening.
The coke ad campaign here is 'Have a coke with ____' and it has a random name. I found a 'Phil.' Here is me affording Alice the honour of sharing a coke with Phil.
In the common lounge at Coffs Harbour.
Peak: IGC
Pit: The fine



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