Over the weekend,  we zoomed up the coast for a little adventure. One of the many reasons why i love australia is that you’re never short of things to do or places to see, even if it’s just a couple hours outside of sydney. 

In honour of Scott’s birthday, we took the trusty FJ Cruiser (That car we crossed Australia in from Perth to Sydney, which you may have read about in this post) and decided to trek up to Port Stephens, where the southern hemisphere’s largest mobile sand dunes awaited for some 4WD fun. 

Allow me to re-iterate: Fun.

Fun. Fun. Oh, so fun.   

Port Stephens

Just under 2 1/2 hours away from Sydney, Port Stephens is what I like to call the “Land Before Time”. Everything pretty much looks like what you would imagine Jurassic Park would look like IRL. Add in a few nudist beaches there, and some epic wildlife over here, and you’ve got yourself a really, really epic time. The white sand beaches seem to go on forever, and the water clarity is as good as you’ll ever see it(meaning you can pretty much see dolphins from whatever hill/mountain top you hike up to — who needs a drone?!). 

There are so many things to do/see/explore, all within a 10-15 min drive of one another. It’s like a giant playground for adults, and you don’t have to try very hard to find a spot all to yourself. 

A fun weekend with a life lesson to boot: I call that a Win-Win.

Cue Sheryl Crow’s “Every Day Is A Winding Road” (Yes, you know you love it).

Life’s ups and downs? Very much like driving up and down sand dunes. You’ve gotta learn to soften your edges (In this case it was tires, but you get the drift), know when to push harder, when to take a few  — or several — steps  back, all so you can take that hill on with a little more power and purpose. 

It’s all in the rhythm of life and how you navigate it. Sure, there may be a few sink holes and you might get bogged (thankfully, we didn’t) — but what’s life without a few curveballs along the way? Just remember that what goes up, must come down, and the view in between is oh-so-worth it. 

Or maybe it’s all just fun and games. Who knows, really. 

We even learnt a thing or two about driving on soft sand (thanks to the awesomeness of these guys — highly recommend if you’ve got yourself a 4X4 and want to know how to do this) and had rest of the weekend to hike (Tomaree National Park is amazing), swim, and just enjoy the magic of this little peninsula. Like I said, win-win. 

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