Boating

We took Mom for a trip in the boat while the Kids were in Nursery and Pre School.

It was a nice day for boating as the sea was pretty calm.

We took an esky with food and drink and stopped the boat in the middle of the estuary, dropped anchor and had a little picnic. I pumped some Yabbies from the beach and we all had a fish. The Blue Swimmer crabs are just hatching so the beach was teeming with them.

On our return we saw two dolphins swimming.

Cowarra Dam

Just inland a few Kilometers from Port Macquarie is a town called Wauchope (pronounced Warhope). On the way we took Mom to a Dam called Cowarra.  There is a lovely little picnic area here which is always empty and has four BBQ and seating areas with views of the Dam.

We had a little picnic here and were completley alone and undisturbed during our visit.

Mom's visit continued

We took Mom up to see a view of the area from North Brother Lookout. It is a 5km drive up a steep twisty road which takes you to a couple of lookouts. One from where you can see Dunbogan, Laurieton and up the beaches toward Port Macquarie. The other side, you can see over the lakes to Crowdy Bay and Diamond Bay.

On the way to North Brother, we visited Lake Cathie (pronounced Cat Eye) and Perch Hole which is a Salt water lake flowing into the sea at Cathie. We have been fishing there a few times and it is very tranquil.

While in the area, we popped to Diamond Head and Crowdy Head camp areas to show Mom the Beaches and visit the tame Roos and saw a couple of Frog Mouthed Owls having an afternoon nap in a tree.

 

Moms visit

After travelling up to Port Macquarie and a good nights rest, we took Mom out to explore.

We took Mom into town for a gentle stroll up the breakwall toward Town Beach. The rocks along the pathway have been painted with messages by visitors and are all individual. Some people have spent a lot of time decorating them and it's quite interesting to see.

We had a coffee at my favorite cafe and the weather improved to the degree we needed a sunshade to stop us getting burnt.
We showed Mom a few other of the local beaches which are all beautiful as they are all different. We managed to see a whale from the lookout next to the lighthouse at Tacking Point.

Mom liked the boardwalk down by the little rainforest at Shelly Beach

Another visitor from Blighty

On 21st May, my Mom arrived in Sydney from the UK. Mom was obviously a bit dubious of the long haul flight but after travelling for almost 24hrs she seemed remarkably fresh and happy.
It was great to see my Mom again after almost a year apart. We speak practically daily via Skype but It's not the same as face to face contact.

Mom had had a great journey over and taken it all in her stride. To think before my Dad passed away, I don't think she would have entertained the idea of solo travel, let alone the other side of the planet.

I had booked a room at the Holiday Inn located at Darling Harbour for the night, so after a good nights rest we set off to explore the "Big City"

We had a wander around darling Harbour and then took a ferry round to Circular Quay travelling under the bridge to the wharf. We went round the Opera house and then to "the Rocks" where there was a street market selling lovely hand crafted items.

The weather unfortunately wasn't too kind to us but didn't dampen our spirits.

I took Mom to the Queen Victoria building and round some of the main streets before we set off on the five hour return journey to Port Macquarie.

Rachel's weight update

Since we arrived in Australia I've managed to lose 20kg (a total of 36kg since October 2008 when Jessie was 3 months old). I've still got more to lose, but at last it feels achievable!!!!

Boys weekend at Diamond Head

Both Will and Ray have boys about the same age as Jacob. They decided to have a "boys" weekend at Diamond Head.

Diamond Head is a National Parks camping ground about 30mins from our house near Laurieton. It is a lovely little spot, in the middle of a clearing with camp spots where you can have a fire and pitch your tent surrounded by tame Roos. There are clean toilet blocks and a beautifull horeshoe beach where you can drive your 4x4.

The boys had an awesome time. The kids rode around on their bikes and went bodyboarding at the beach. The adults went surfing and took Rays car for a drive on the beach.
The water temperature was about 20 degrees Celcius and the weather was beutifull all weekend.

Ray showed his bush skills by cooking a rabbit stew in the camp oven which was delicious. Unfortunatley the Roos decided to rifle through the bags while we were at the beach and ate the fresh bread to accompany it!!!

Diamond Head is definatley a spot we will be returning to very soon.

Camping at Easter

Through our friends Will and Mel, we met Ray and Kylie.

Ray and Kylie have a son Jacob's age called Jesse and twin boys Liam and Ethan aged two.

Ray is also Nige's new surf buddy.

Ray and Kylie invited us to spend Easter with them at Kylie's fathers farm. The farm is located at Nulla Nulla which is a couple of hours from Port.

We had no camping gear whatsoever and due to go in a few days. Our neighbours who have also become good friends Colin and Karen; lent us an Ice box, water containers, and lots of other goodies. We borrowed a big tent which we have now bought from them and Nigel hurridly bought a cooker, gas lantern and other items to allow us to camp comfortably. Nige borrowed a trailer from work and we packed it all and set off on our trip.

We had an absolutley awesome time at the farm. We had wonderful weather after the forecast were so sketchy, all the days were lovely.

We camped in group in a field at the top of a hill near the farm house. Kylies father cut down a rotten tree and left us the task of burning all of it over the weekend which gave us a terrific camp fire. The old horse bundy came around to visit and was promptly saddled and ridden around the paddock with the children first and then Nige took a ride on him which was his a new experience.

There was an old Ute which ferried us all around and down to the river, the kids loved travelling in the back of that!!!

At the end of the lower field, there is a river, the river is quite shallow with little rapids. The kids jumped on body boards and surfed off down the river loving ever minute of it.

Will and Nige, decided to check the crudentials of their 4x4's and went off playing climbing hills and ruining the grass. Oops!!!

Easter morning, the kids had an easter egg hunt and consumed great amounts of chocolate.

We made some great new friends at the farm and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The kids had a wonderful time too and got on great with all the other children there.