Road Trip - Part 1

  We took off again over school holidays, on a road trip this time.  Our first stop was about 2 1/2 hours north of Sydney in an area known as Port Stephens.  The port is home to nearly 200 resident dolphins, tons of White Pelicans, koalas, and lots of other wildlife.  With the weather not fully cooperating, we took a boat across the port our first day to the small town of Tea Gardens.   Some of the dolphins were nice enough to cruise with us briefly.

Entertaining himself while waiting for the return ferry.

 
The evening weather improved and we checked out a few sites.  With the clouds still there but sun coming out, we knew this rainbow was coming and waited for it.  Worth it!

We're amazed by how often we see rainbows here.

We've seen these huge flowers in Sydney but they were abundant on the drive up and in Port Stephens.  They stand about 10-20 feet tall and are called Giant Gymea Lillies.  They look fairly prehistoric.

The bloom is about a foot across!

A couple of  new cockatoos were nice enough to pose for a few photos. 

The Little Corella

Galah Cockatoo.  These are easy to spot flying because you mostly see the pink bodies overhead.

We ended the first evening up at Gan Gan Lookout, with a fantastic 360 degree view.

We saved the best scenery for last.  Just before heading out of town to continue north up the coast, we climbed up to Tomaree Headland Lookout.  The weather had cleared up and we had clear views all around.

Hiking up through the gum trees.

 

   A little balance is necessary, right?  So, after all that beauty, here's what the "view" was from the front door to our room at the resort where we stayed.  To be fair, the room was clean and comfortable, but we were surprised that they didn't bother to obstruct the lovely neighboring grounds.

   Port Stephens surprised us in that, for a gorgeous area, only 2 1/2 hours from Sydney, during school holidays, it was actually quite sleepy.  The streets were nearly deserted when we ventured out to dinner both evenings.  Other small coastal towns in resort areas have felt this way to us as well.  But, we found a lively spot the next night....