Port Stephens: Day Six
This is an abridged diary entry until I get a bit more time. We are leaving Port Stephens today and meeting Jude and James in South West Rocks up the coast. More soon. Bye..........
There may be some delay with posts but they will come. Bandwidth is limited but I will post when I can. So here is the real day six. Oh and the pictures will dry up too as they take hours to upload.
..
Suddenly the trip north to Port Stephens came in a hurry giving us only a short amount of time to get all we needed to do, done. First of all we had to get Hero to the doctor. Since the flight she’d had a bad chest cough that had got worse. So we wanted to get her seen before heading into remoter parts of Sydney. In truth they are not that remote but we still wanted to be reassured that she was okay. Apparently, just bronchitis so we were ready to hit the road.
While the girls saw the doctor Cassius and I went to pick up the hire car from, don’t laugh, Manly Rentals. I don’t know if a white Toyota Corolla could be described as Manly but the idea made me smile.
We picked the girls up outside the doctor’s and drove back to the flat to load up the luggage. Once we were all back in the car Katy took control of the map and we set off across the North Shore in search of the Pacific Highway also called Route 1. This takes you from Sydney to Brisbane a total of about 1000 km or 50mm on a map of Australia. I remember thinking when we flew over Australia for the first time how enormous the country was, as it took about 4 hours to get from one side to the other.
There is little to comment on, on the Pacific Highway itself. Well, other than the road signs which we found quite amusing. Our favourite is ‘Wrong Way. Go Back’. The one that keeps the kids entertained is ‘Kangaroos and Koalas next 8 km’. We didn’t see any but it kept them occupied.
After three hours in the car (Tip: If you hire a car make sure it has A/C!) we arrived at Port Stephens, the centre of whale and dolphin watching in NSW. The whales have all migrated but in season they travel past the coast in there hundreds.
We arrived at about 3 and checked in to the Shoal Bay Beach Resort - a complex of apartments next to the beach. Other than the hotel there is little in Shoal Bay: a baker, pizzeria, a newsagent and chemist. Oh and a pub full of men with arms like my waist. I better be careful with my 'Manly Rental' which is emblazoned across the boot of my car.
The beach itself is crescent shaped and looks like something from a Bond film. The sand is golden and the water aquamarine with just a smattering of small fishing boats. The beach is largely deserted.
The resort has good facilities for kids. The big attraction is the kids pool and fountain. We dumped our luggage in the apartment and headed for the pool. The kids both loved running in the shallow water. There is also a small stretch of sand to play in too just next to the pool.
After a play we had kids tea in the bar. This was kids tea, Aussie style. The rugby was on and the food was piled high so that the 2 years old around us could one day turn into giants.
We saw Matt and his Dad on the front who had just returned from an unsuccessful fishing trip. A seed had been sown in Cass’ mind and we WOULD go fishing the following day.
In the evening Matt, Caroline, Katy and I had takeaway fish and chips in our apartment, sampling more local wine for the benefit of you - the reader. That night it was Oyster Bay (actually from New Zealand) Sauvignon and Chardonnay. p.s. I can’t remember whether I said that I used work with Matt, he married Caroline (an Australian) and they a baby boy called Louis who is a month younger than Hero. Night, Night.
There may be some delay with posts but they will come. Bandwidth is limited but I will post when I can. So here is the real day six. Oh and the pictures will dry up too as they take hours to upload.
..
Suddenly the trip north to Port Stephens came in a hurry giving us only a short amount of time to get all we needed to do, done. First of all we had to get Hero to the doctor. Since the flight she’d had a bad chest cough that had got worse. So we wanted to get her seen before heading into remoter parts of Sydney. In truth they are not that remote but we still wanted to be reassured that she was okay. Apparently, just bronchitis so we were ready to hit the road.
While the girls saw the doctor Cassius and I went to pick up the hire car from, don’t laugh, Manly Rentals. I don’t know if a white Toyota Corolla could be described as Manly but the idea made me smile.
We picked the girls up outside the doctor’s and drove back to the flat to load up the luggage. Once we were all back in the car Katy took control of the map and we set off across the North Shore in search of the Pacific Highway also called Route 1. This takes you from Sydney to Brisbane a total of about 1000 km or 50mm on a map of Australia. I remember thinking when we flew over Australia for the first time how enormous the country was, as it took about 4 hours to get from one side to the other.
There is little to comment on, on the Pacific Highway itself. Well, other than the road signs which we found quite amusing. Our favourite is ‘Wrong Way. Go Back’. The one that keeps the kids entertained is ‘Kangaroos and Koalas next 8 km’. We didn’t see any but it kept them occupied.
After three hours in the car (Tip: If you hire a car make sure it has A/C!) we arrived at Port Stephens, the centre of whale and dolphin watching in NSW. The whales have all migrated but in season they travel past the coast in there hundreds.
We arrived at about 3 and checked in to the Shoal Bay Beach Resort - a complex of apartments next to the beach. Other than the hotel there is little in Shoal Bay: a baker, pizzeria, a newsagent and chemist. Oh and a pub full of men with arms like my waist. I better be careful with my 'Manly Rental' which is emblazoned across the boot of my car.
The beach itself is crescent shaped and looks like something from a Bond film. The sand is golden and the water aquamarine with just a smattering of small fishing boats. The beach is largely deserted.
The resort has good facilities for kids. The big attraction is the kids pool and fountain. We dumped our luggage in the apartment and headed for the pool. The kids both loved running in the shallow water. There is also a small stretch of sand to play in too just next to the pool.
After a play we had kids tea in the bar. This was kids tea, Aussie style. The rugby was on and the food was piled high so that the 2 years old around us could one day turn into giants.
We saw Matt and his Dad on the front who had just returned from an unsuccessful fishing trip. A seed had been sown in Cass’ mind and we WOULD go fishing the following day.
In the evening Matt, Caroline, Katy and I had takeaway fish and chips in our apartment, sampling more local wine for the benefit of you - the reader. That night it was Oyster Bay (actually from New Zealand) Sauvignon and Chardonnay. p.s. I can’t remember whether I said that I used work with Matt, he married Caroline (an Australian) and they a baby boy called Louis who is a month younger than Hero. Night, Night.
posted by Rob at 11:30 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home