Epic Round The World Trip Adventures! Stunning Photos & Articles - A fascinating gap year travel journal covering every stop of their journey.

Port Macquarie - East Australia
Gap Year Travel Journal

Text By Jo & Photos By Mike

(7th May) Port Macquarie
We arrived in the dark here since we are well and truly into Autumn now. The sun sets at 5pm and it is dark by 5.30pm making our days that much shorter. It is slowly getting cooler the farther south we go too but we have been so lucky that we have had temperatures consistently in the high 20’s. Our campsite at Port Macquarie was right on the sea breakwater and in the daylight we could see that the huge boulders which make up the breakwater had each been brightly painted by people to commemorate either deceased loved ones, happy family holidays or just with random pictures. Mike thinks it’s just a load of graffiti so there’s only one photo showing one painted rock here! We walked right along the breakwater and as you can see it was a bright clear sunny day. We had coffee just on the square with the statue of a man in the centre and our view was the photo with the palm trees – not bad eh? The town is located on a river delta and there is lots of water around - hence the sea plane. There are also some canals here with houses built on the water’s edge with moorings in front. This seems to be a big touristy area with plenty of holiday accommodation but at this time of year it was quiet enough to feel very relaxed and laid back. Mike was really impressed by how many good quality coffee shops there were in the town and along the waterfront. Considering we only stopped here because we ran out of daylight to drive any further, we felt lucky to have enjoyed it at all!

Highlights of our gap year travel adventure:

Stop 1 - Capetown---> The City | Simonstown Penguins | Table Mountain Cable Car | The Waterfront Seals | Windsurf Action.
Stop 2 - West Australia---> Perth City | Perth Zoo | Cohunu Animal Park | Rottnest Island | Rockingham Penguins | Yanchep Park Koalas | Cervantes Pinnacles | Geraldton Windsurfing | Kalbarri Gorge | The Pink Lake | Coronation Beach Windsurfing | Gero Road to Cervantes | Carnarvon Jetty & Quobba Snorkel | Denham Lagoon | Monkey Mia Dolphins | Coral Bay Termite Hills | Coral Bay Quad Biking The Dunes | Exmouth Kangaroos | Mandurah Canals | Margaret River | Margaret River Wine Tour | Margs Windsurfing | Bunbury Windsurf | Bussleton Pier | Towns near Bussleton | Augusta Nature | Pemberton Camping | Pemberton Tall Trees | Cape D'Entrecasteaux | Walpole Tall Trees.
Stop 3 - East Australia---> Cairns Sky Rail Cable Car Over The Rainforest | Mossman Gorge | Cape Tribulation Rainforest | Port Douglas | Daintree Crocodiles | Captain Cook Highway | Beaches Near Cairns | Atherton Tablelands Fig Trees | Bowen Beaches | Airlie Beach | Whitsunday Islands Boat Tour | Great Barrier Reef Snorkel | Whitsunday Snorkelling | Town of 1770 History | Fraser Island Beach Driving | Tin Can Bay Dolphins | Noosa River | Australia Zoo Wombats | Sunshine Coast | Nanango Bush | Gold Coast Beaches | Byron Bay Beaches | Woolgoolga Beaches | Coffs Harbour | Port Macquarie Cafes | Forster Pelicans | Great Lakes | Nelson Bay Dolphins | Sydney By Day | Sydney By Night | Sydney's Manly Beach.
Stop 4 - New Zealand---> Auckland Revolving Restaurant | Rotorua Volcanic National Park | Lake Taupo & Waitomo Glow Worms.
Stop 5 - French Polynesia---> Tahiti Island Waterfalls | Moorea Island Water Bungalows | Moorea Shark Feeding | Bora Bora Island Buggying.
Stop 6 - Hawaii, Maui---> Maui Snorkel Videos | Maui Snorkel Photography | Maui Windsurfing | Maui East Coast Hana Highway | Maui North Beaches 1 | Maui North Beaches 2 | Maui West Coast Surfing | Maui South West Lava Fields | Haleakala Volcano.
Stop 7 - Hawaii, Oahu---> Kailua Beaches | Round Oahu Island Drive | Honolulu Pearl Harbour | Oahu Snorkel Videos.
Stop 8 - West USA---> Los Angeles City Tour | Venice Beach | Long Beach | Queen Mary Tour | San Onofre Surfing | Route 66 Drive | Las Vegas Casinos | Grand Canyon.
Stop 9 - East USA---> Miami Beach Art Deco.
Stop 10 - UK, HOME---> Back To Heathrow, Bringing To A Close Our Amazing Round The World Trip.