Two-Up and Sand Surfing

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Hi guys!

April 25th was a national holiday here in Australia called Anzac Day, which is a memorial day celebrating the ANZAC's (Australian New Zealand Army Corps) who fought in Gallipoli. It's a very important day in Australian history, and its also the day when everyone goes to the bar or the RSL (Retired Serviceman’s League) to play a game called Two-Up. We're not sure of all of the history, but basically two-up is game of gambling on a coin toss which is legal only on Anzac day.

What it entails is one person tossing 3 coins in the air and letting them land within a circle on the floor. Before the coins are tossed, the crowd makes bets amongst themselves by yelling "I have $10 on tails" and someone near by saying "I'll take the heads". The coins are then tossed, and the side that gets 2 coins (2 head or 2 tails out of 3) wins, and everyone exchanges their money with their betting "partner" for the round. It sounds, and it is, pretty simple, and you have a 50/50 chance of winning. Or so Heidi thought...but then she lost $40 pretty methodically and decided to give up.

Well, Two-up lasted a full day, and thankfully Anzac Day fell on a Friday this year, so we had a weekend to recover. We decided to rent a car and head north along the coast to an area called Port Stephens, where we stayed in a town called Nelson Bay. Thankfully they have a thing along the way called the "Driver Reviver" where you can stop and have a free coffee and cookie, so we made the early morning drive after 2-up without incident. (and with a tasty cookie).

Anyway, We arrived in Nelson bay, starving, and sat down to the most massive meal of fish and chips we have seen yet. After lunch, with full stomachs, we decided to take a recommended hike up Tomaree Head, which is the southern most opening point from the ocean in Port Stephens bay. The hike was really magnificent, with beautiful scenery on all sides. From the top you can look down south at a sequence of gorgeous beaches, or out west into the Bay. Looking north you can see the jagged coastline fading off into the distance.

The next day we got up early and decided to take a ferry ride across the bay from the town of Nelson Bay to Tea Gardens, a small fishing village. The old wooden ferry took about an hour to cross the bay, and along the way we saw dolphins swimming just in front of us! (Unfortunately we didn't get any good pictures). The ride was great and we only spent about 30 minutes in the fishing village getting some breakfast before heading back across the water.

After our morning ferry ride we made our way over to Holberts Oyster Farm in Salamander bay and picked up some fresh shucked oysters. We threw them in the car and drove back west to a place call Anna Bay, where we lay on the beach and ate our tasty oysters with some lemon and a bit of sand as well!

The amazing thing we found about the Anna Bay area was the massive sand dunes there. Apparently the areas has the 'largest moving coastal sand mass' on the southern hemisphere - and they were definitely the largest we have ever seen. You can rent 4WD vehicles and drive around the dunes, which we didn't do, but it looked like fun. What we did do is hike around the dunes making sand angels and sledding on peices of cardboard! It's was like being a kid at Christmas all over again (except on the beach in Australia).

Its hard to do justice to such a beautiful area in a short blog, so we hope you get the idea. Whenever you all make it down to visit, it’s definitely worth the 3 hour trip north to see the sights.

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Photos

Driver Reviver
Free coffee and a cookie anyone?