Week 29 & 30

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December 8th 2010

Published: December 8th 2010

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The Barretts

Port Macquarie

Finn riding along the breakwater wall

At the beginning of our 29th week we headed for Point Plommer. So did the rain. We camped in the Limeburners Creek Nature Reserve right by the beach. It was a great spot but the weather put a dampener on it – literally. After 2 days of wet weather and both PB and I battling a cold, we decided to move onto Port Macquarie. We managed to get a good look around the town with some sunshine before the rain caught up with us again. The boys had lots of fun riding out along the breakwater wall and at the playground, PB even managed to get a surf. We continued south to Seal Rocks and enjoyed a few beautiful sunny days. We were a bit hesitant to swim at the main beach due to the number of blue bottles we could see both in the water and on the sand. A walk in the Myall Lakes National Park rewarded us with a great view out over seal rocks. There were no seals but we did see a lone whale migrating south. Bypassing the city of Newcastle, we travelled onto Redhead Beach. Some friends, The Elliots, that we first met on the

Port Macquarie

The breakwater walls

West Coast had finished their trip around Australia and settled here. It was great to spend a couple of days with them. We spent some time at the beach and took a drive to Lake Macquarie. This of course meant more bike riding and playgrounds for the kids and a really nice walk for us. We said goodbye to our friends and started our journey for south of Sydney. We planned to skip past the central coast and the city and move onto Wollongong. We took the M7 west of the city and started the Grand Pacific Drive from the Royal National Park. The coastline here was amazing, particularly around the Seacliff Bridge. We decided with the weather being so great to stop the night at Coledale Beach. We stayed at a great little camp right on the beach, run by the surf club. We had a delicious dinner at the RSL and a peaceful night listening to the waves breaking on the beach. With only a short drive planned the following day, we started off slowly that morning. Stopping for a walk at Sandon Point, PB was itching to go for a surf. With Jack excited to finally see

Port Macquarie

main beach

his friend Solomon (who had moved from Perth last year), we pressed on to Shell Cove. The boys spent the next 4 days playing excitedly with Sollie and Hudson. We spent a morning in the pretty town of Kiama. After a picnic we took a look at the blowholes and the lighthouse. We joined our friends, The Beddows, at their community Christmas party. Along with saying hi to Santa, the kids got to pet the baby animals, ride a pony, ride a giant slippery dip, and dance to bongo music. After their festival food – icecream, popcorn and a sausage sizzle, we headed home, just in time to beat the rain. The weather remained bad for the next 2 days. Kerri and I ended up taking the kids to an indoor play centre – the first they have been to this year. We said a sad goodbye to our lovely friends and hope to see them back in Perth soon. After a muddy pack up we headed north to Sydney.

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