Labour Weekend in Oz

This year there was no September long weekend. No Thanksgiving. Our first and only long weekend before the Christmas holidays would occur on the Oct 1 weekend. As this was our only short break, we decide to take an extra day off and leave the city for the entire holiday.

Choice of destination: Port Stephen's.

Located about 2.5 hours north of Sydney, this getaway town is far enough to feel away from the noise and congestion of the city and intimate enough that only locals inhabit this small port town (which also means no backpackers). The weekend went as such:

Day 1: we had our own one on one encounter with Australia's most lovable animal the Koala. Not only did we see it up close and personal, we were lucky enough to feed it and hang out with it for a good period of time while everyone else got to envy us from up top

Day 2: our own personal tour guide (luck was on our side today) take us through the Stockton sand dunes which are the largest sand dunes in the country. It stems for over 65km long. The sand is actually exported out to Hawaii's Wikiki beach twice a year. As you can see we were fortunate enough to go sandboarding in this natural wonder

We then take a hike across a spit that connects an island to the land during low tide. It's amazing as we crossed back we saw the ocean connect once again as it erased what was once our path and separated the island once more

Day 3: Today we spent the day swimming with dolphins. As great as it sounds, they weren't as close as we would like and our swimming consisted of sitting in the boomnet of a moving boat. The evening was truly an ozzy experience as we were situated in a campsite where every single site had a TV as they were watching the Rugby League Finals (equivalent to the Superbowl)

Day 4: As we head back into Sydney, we decide to end the weekend off with a trip to Manly beach (our first home) and catch the last bit of the Jazz festival.

Truly a nice weekend to get out of the city and experience what locals do when they have a few days off.

- lone asian