Returning "Home" to the Central Coast

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The main reason we decided to venture down under again this summer was to visit with friends who we haven't seen in nearly 5 years. We got lucky with the winter weather and enjoyed our trip "home" tremendously.

Alex continued to be a wonderful world traveller and woke up singing, "it's plane day!" We grabbed a leisurely breakfast, then loaded the car for the airport. Alex enjoyed the quick flight (an hour) and we managed to track down our rental car fairly easily. One of our best purchases of this trip was the GPS. We navigated through Sydney without incident and made our way north to the Central Coast. Alex grabbed a quick nap while we enjoyed the familiar scenery. We knew we had arrived at our friends' house when we were greeted by a Kookaburra waiting for us. Thanks so much to Ian and Bev who were our hosts for 4 days while we used their home as our own.

On Thursday, we started the day with a visit to CCGS - the school where we taught in 2006. There have been a lot of staffing changes, but we did have the chance to chat with many friends from the past as well. We walked around the grounds and introduced Alex to the Lorikeets that clean up all the students' food scraps. Lunch was spent at the nearby Ken Duncan gallery along with two of Sarah's friends from Year 5 and their young sons. Alex crashed late in the afternoon and Sarah enjoyed reading on the deck. She was joined by a large, friendly kookaburra who was looking for an afternoon snack. We had a relaxing evening with Ian and Bev.

Friday's breakfast was near the beach in Terrigal, followed by a trip to the Reptile park. Alex got to pet a tegu lizard and a crocodile. He saw his first sleepy bats and came face-to-face with a Tawny Frogmouth. We even got to hear the cries of the Tasmanian Devils at feeding time! We joined Ian and Bev for sunset at the Gosford Sailing club.

Saturday was spent exploring the local beaches. We returned to Copacabana where we lived in 2006 and had breakfast on the beach. We walked the beach and Alex had fun finding shells and wading in the rock pool. He enjoys drawing in the sand with a stick, and almost always has one in his hand. Alex did not want to leave Copa, but we wanted to explore the rock shelf at Avoca as well. We made our way down the road and had a great time walking the rocks and watching fishermen. Alex became very good at rock hopping and climbing. Saturday evening was spent with friends from the Maths department, all gathered for a BBQ at Ian and Bev's. Alex was absolutely fantastic throughout the evening.

Sunday morning saw us say goodbye to good friends and our second home. We enjoyed a beautiful breakfast on the back deck before catching the train to Sydney.

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Photos

Copa Beach
with MacMasters in the background. We wish we could have walked to the far end, but it just wouldn't work with Alex.

Friendly company
The kookaburra joined me without being asked... and without a scrap of food nearby!

Alex's "A"
He is getting very good with a stick!