Our next destination is Port Macquarie. It began life as a convict settlement back in 1821, a place where the "worst of the worst" convicts were sent as punishment.
Our bus arrived at 1.30am in the city, which was covered in smoke and you don't see far or the smell was very intense. So we made our way to the hostel in the middle of this spooky atmosphere. Meanwhile we passed a petrol station where we suddenly noticed a man lying on the ground and suddenly crawled along the floor to get up. Fearful, we walked by the drunk man after we made sure he was okay. I was happy as never before to finally have a bed and be able to sleep. I shared the room with five other men whom I tried not to wake up when I arrived.
A the next morning we already moved to a different accommodation: a motel called Exelsior Motor Inn. Unfortunately we didn't have the best weather here either. But we wanted to see as much of the coastal town as possible. Destination one was the shopping center Port Central. Then we walked to the harbour, along the coast, where you can find some artistically painted rocks. Through the forest we went on to the next beach. But it got darker and darker and a thunderstorm was approaching. As if out of nothing it suddenly started thundering and raining like out of buckets. We found an apartment complex where we stood under a roof. After we stood there for about 10 minutes and the rain didn't stop, an older man asked us if we wanted to come inside. He looked very friendly, so we accepted the offer. When we entered the apartment we saw another man with only three teeth in his mouth. On the table were pills, tobacco, rum and rubbish. We were also offered a drink and a chair, which was covered with cockroaches. We realized that we had probably ended up in the home of two drug addicts. However, the conversation was very nice and the two were very hospitable. But as soon as the rain stopped, we left the house as soon as possible. After this unexpected happening we headed off to the Koala Hospital, our actual destination. The hospital cares for up to 250 sick and injured koalas each year. You can join a free "walk & talk" tour at 3 pm, where you can get more information about the injured animals and the places where they were found. After this eventful day we fell asleep quite early and the next morning we walked to the bus stop to drive further north.
accommodations:
I kinda have the feeling that I could tell before you that the older man was drug addicted