So, enjoyed a couple of weekends exploring now that Daire is back on firm ground!! Weekend before last we went down to Jervis Bay which is about 3 hours drive south of Sydney in a little place called Huskisson, here we camped 5 minutes from an amazing beach! I was collected from an afternoon of fundraising for breast cancer at a Pink High Tea at the Sir Stamford and ‘whisked’ down on the Friday night by Ken and Daire, collecting Sam on the way. To say we were snug in the back seat was an understatement of the highest order!? RAMMED IN!! Thankfully some people had gone on ahead and had put one tent up for us as it was around 8.30pm by the time we got there and in near darkness the boys put up the smaller tent whilst Sam and I emptied the car and put together a rather nice salmon, fried potato and salad dinner which we eventually ate at around 10.30pm. Thankfully we’d picked up a crate of beers en route to keep our strength up!!! J The rest of the party came to check out our tent situation – late night supper and super dupa gas light (Ken’s a pyromaniac) – obviously not so jealous as they soon retreated to their cabin of proper beds, showers and cooking in a kitchen! Woke on Saturday morning to the sound of the birds after a good sleep – needless to say both Daire and I were pleased that I’d managed to convince him to at least buy us a blow up mattress to sleep in our sleeping bags on. On this particular morning the birds were pretty load but we dozed through it...waking finally around 9ish. The boys went off for a bracing dip in the sea...Sam and I showered and dutifully go on preparing breakfast so the boys could concentrate on ‘cooking’ it on the bbq upon their return. Breakfast: fried egg, bacon, tomatoes in a sandwich with left over fried potatoes. (Damo...typical Irish...spotted us girls trying to chuck them out the night before and salvaged them!)
We all chilled out on the beach but it was a bit blowy so got whipped (stung) by the sand whipping against us. Daire and I went off for a walk along the beach and collect coffees for the crew. Upon our return we settled in next to the pool where we stayed chilling, drinking, eating and playing Ken’s ‘name-that-tune-to-the-80’s-playlist’ game until sundown.
Sam and Ken disappear to get more beers so Daire and I clean up and prepare the million sausages that Daire had bought which included classic pork, Italian, South American Chorizo and Merguez!! Massive feed and red wine saw us wriggle into our sleeping bags by 11ish. Sleep was blasted to smithereens by 40 fighting beautifully coloured birds that were load the previous day....Daire’s earplugs were penetrated by the noise!! We all went for a ‘dip’, after which the boys took the best part of an hour to scramble some eggs, bacon and left over sausages!! Thankfully I had brought a goody bag from the High tea so pre breakfast snacks of scones helped us out.
We left at lunchtime – this time with the boys snuggled in the back! We travelled back along the beautiful Grand Pacific Drive, stopping to see a blow hole that wasn’t blowing and a micro brewery that...well, wasn’t brewing!! Home late but great chilled weekend – if Ken and Daire had their way we would be going camping the next weekend, I ‘found’ something in the diary we had to do!
Last Tuesday was the prestigious Melbourne Cup – both Daire and I picked winners so celebrated at our favourite local Japanese restaurant. He also went to see the podiatrist, who gave him an instep for him shorter right leg – hopefully now he will find running more comfortable. On Thursday we both went our separate ways from drinks – Daire for beers in the City after a session pumping iron in the gym with Ken and I went to a nice place called the Winery in Surrey Hills with the girls for some nice Pinot Noir!
This last weekend, Friday was chillout night. Watched ‘UP’, pissed ourselves laughing! Saturday I went to aqua aerobics early, we went out for breakfast and made our way over to a Backpackers Adventure Expo to collect our Australian travelling information. Next onto Manly to check out the Festival of Surf...live music, a walk and finding a micro brewery with a great view of the sunset made for a relaxed afternoon. In the evening we headed back into town and ‘Churrasco’ a Brazilian BBQ house...all you can eat amazing steak, sausage, chicken, lamb, pork belly and more....we were thankful for our walk home! Sunday we caught up on the all the rugby that had been played overnight then made our way to Newtown Festival – a free one day festival of markets, food, booze, music etc etc. Despite it raining initially the sun came out and made for a nice afternoon.
Home and bed: shattered. Monday tomorrow....
