Day 6: Sydney to Coffs Harbor, Australia

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Day 6 (7/15/02): Sydney-Coffs Harbor

Today's journey is the longest by bus. We started out after breakfast toward Coffs Harbor. We heard some Australian songs like Waltzing Matilda, the G-day song, Tie Me a Kangaroo Down Sport, and The Vegemite song. Everyone was quiet and sleepy during the morning. We took a break for snacks and lunch on the way. Some brought stamps, ate the local grub, and bought some food for evening meal.

A typical moment on the bus


Jessica Smith and Lauren Simpson with their new hats


After lunch, We had a music quiz on famous movie songs. I also found out some more information on our tour director Jonathan Johnstone. He was currently on break from the "uni" (university) and is studying to become a primary school teacher. We arrived at the Coffs Harbor at around 4:00 p.m. The hotel, the Opal Cove Resort at Coffs Harbor had a great pool and outdoor swimming facility. The beaches could be heard from the hotel room. It was too dangerous to go swimming at the beach because of the tide.

We took a few hours to enjoy the beach, get into the pool and have some down time. For supper, the kids decided to order pizza from the local pizzerias while the adults had the hotel's meal. 

Around mid evening, the power went off in the whole area for about an half an hour. People pretty much met at the main floor and stayed in groups waiting for the power. I got a chance to talk to some of the natives and some of the topics we talked about were:

1.    American culture and the affects it's having on Australia
2.      The republicans just came into power for the government and how the cuts they made hurt the less advantaged
3.      The September 11 tragedy affected the Australians (and New Zealanders) greatly. One couple
       commented that a lot of people cried when they read about and saw the tragedy
4.      Some of the school kids couldn't believe our students could have 10 weeks in a row off for summer vacation.



We also got a chance to see the Southern Cross in the night time sky. It was very beautiful to see and amazing to see the other new constellations that we don't see in Michigan.

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