One Weekend in Port Stephens

Better late than never! A couple of weeks ago we went to Port Stephens for a weekend trip. This place is amazing! Only 3,5 hrs from Sydney by car and you have the chance to explore some of the best things the east coast has to offer.

In order to get to Port Stephens we rented two cars. One for the boys and one for the girls. Due to unavailability of the requested car, the boys were lucky to get a bigger car. Instead of a small Hyundai i20 we got a Mitsubishi ASX.

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Bedre sent end aldrig! For et par uger siden tog vi til Port Stephens på en weekendtur. Kun 3,5 times kørsel fra Sydney, og man får muligheden for at se noget af det bedste som østkysten kan byde på.

For at komme til Port Stephens, lejede vi to biler. En til drengene og en til pigerne. Drengene var heldige at blive opgraderet til en større bil, da de ikke havde flere i vores klasse. I stedet for en alt for lille Hyundai i20, fik vi en rummelig Mitsubishi ASX. Ikke et ord om stereotyper!

The boys car

Cédric chilling in his chair. The red car is the girls car

Leaving Sydney by car on a Friday equals a lot of traffic, which meant that the two cars got split up. Not having any plans for the day other than getting to our hostel, the boys car took a little detour to Morisset Park to see kangaroos. We didn’t say it to the girls, which made them quite jealous. But at least we saw some happy kangaroos, it was totally worth it.

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Trafikken i Sydney en fredag eftermiddag er forfærdelig! Motorvejene er fuldstændigt proppede og køerne lange. På grund af trafikken blev de to biler splittet op. Da vi ikke havde andre planer for aftenen end at tjekke ind på vores hostel, så besluttede vi i drengebilen at tage en smuttur til Morisset Park for at se kænguruer. Vi sagde det ikke til pigerne, hvilket gjorde dem en anelse jaloux. Men vi så nogle glade hoppende kænguruer, hvilket gjorde det det hele værd!

Just trying to take pictures with the kangaroos

Me and my new friend

Saturday was the day for having fun in the area. The first thing on our list was sand boarding at the Stockton Sand Dunes. For 17.5 AUD a company named 4WD Tours R Us took us to some fine sand dunes and provided us with boards. Now the plan was simply to slide down the sand dunes while sitting on the board. They wouldn’t let us stand up! It was fun at first, but sitting on your butt and sliding down gets boring, so we found a sand dune out of sight. Now the fun began! We stood up on the boards and even build a small jump. It might not have been the safest, but it was totally worth it! See the video at the bottom of this page!

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Lørdag var dagen til at have det sjovt og få set området. Første ting på listen var en omgang sandboarding i Stockton klitter. For 17,5 AUD (90 kr.), tog et firma kaldet 4WD Tours R Us ud til nogle gode stejle klitter og forsynede os med nogle boards. Nu var planen at gå op til toppen af klitterne og så rutsche ned på røven. Det var sjovt i begyndelsen, men blev hurtigt lidt kedeligt. Vi måtte ikke stå op på boardsene, men vi fandt nogle klitter, hvor de ikke kunne se os, og så begyndte det sjove. Vi stod op som var det et snowboard, og vi byggede også et lille hop. Det kan godt være det ikke var sikkert, men sjovt det var det! Se videoen nederst på siden!

After the sand boarding experience, we drove to Fingal Bay. It is a really nice place, and during low tide you can walk to Shark Island and do a half an hour hike to a beautiful lighthouse. We did the hike in two groups. When one group went hiking, the other group worked on their tan and some went swimming. And we saw a lot of humpback whales jumping on their backs! No need to pay for whale watching tour!

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Efter at have sandboardet, kørte vi til Fingal Bay. Det er et smukt sted, hvor man ved lavvande kan gå til Shark Island og tage på en kort vandretur til et smukt fyrtårn. Vi delte os op i to grupper, den ene gik ud til fyrtårnet, hvor den anden blev tilbage og fik noget sol. Bagefter skiftede vi. Ude ved fyrtårnet spottede vi også rigtigt mange pukkelhvaler, som havde travlt med a springe op af vandet. Det var et utroligt syn! Ingen grund til at betale for en hvalsafari.

Group picture in front of Point Stephens lighthouse

Fingal Bay – Beware of sharks

Selfie in front of Point Stephens Lighthouse

After getting tanned and a little bit of hiking, we went to Kingsley Beach at Boat Harbour. I heard a rumor that it was possible to cliff jump, so of course we had to go there! Because I didn’t knew how deep it was, I chose to only do a little jump. See for yourself! 🙂 Also included in the video at the bottom.

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Efter at have fået sol og gået lidt, tog vi til Kingsley Beach ved Boat Harbour. Jeg havde hørt et rygte om, at det var muligt at hoppe fra klipper, så selvfølgelig skulle vi derhen! Jeg kendte ikke forholdene på stedet, så valgte dog kun at lave et lille hop. 🙂

The last thing on our list for the Saturday, was seeing the sunset at Birubi Beach. It was beautiful.

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Sidste ting på listen for lørdagen var at se solnedgangen ved Birubi Beach. Det var smukt.

Camels with sand dunes in the background

Camels at Birubi Beach

Sunset at Birubi Beach

One of the must sees at Port Stephens is the sunrise. We got up at 5 o’clock up in order to get to the viewpoint of Tomaree Head before the sunrise at 6 0’clock. Luckily it was all worth it. While waiting for the sunrise we spotted several humpback whales and the view was breathtaking. And yes, someone brought muffins.

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Når man er ved Port Stephens, så skal man minimum se én solopgang. Vi stod op kl. 5 for at nå til et udsigtspunkt før solopgangen kl. 6. Det var tidligt, men det hele værd. Imens vi ventede på solen, så kunne vi nyde udsigten og holde øje med de mange pukkelhvaler, som var i havet foran os. Og ja, fik en god lille morgenmuffin.

Always bring breakfast!

Sunrise at Port Stephens

Shoal Bay before sunrise

After seeing the amazing sunrise it was time to head back to Sydney. We had planned a few stops on the way back, one at Cave Beach and one at Morisset Park (again). Cave Beach is heavily crowded, but it has some amazing caves you can walk through, which made it all worth it. Lastly we went to Morisset Park and saw some more kangaroos. They sure now how to pose for the camera!

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Efter at have set den fantastiske solopgang, blev det tid til at sætte kurs mod Sydney. Vi havde planlagt to stop på tilbagevejen, et stop ved Cave Beach og et ved Morisset Park (igen). Der er alt for mange mennesker på Cave Beach, men de imponerende huler gør det det hele værd. Til sidst var vi i Morisset park igen, hvor vi så endnu flere kænguruer. De er lidt for gode til at gøre sig til for kameraet!