A last minute trip to Nelson Bay
We got to go on a little holiday to Nelson Bay this weekend. It was the Anzac Long weekend, so Marty had monday off work. My father in law has just opened a new shop in a mall at Nelson Bay and lives in a rented house with 2 extra rooms with 5 extra beds!.
Marty had a few work related meetings to organise on the weekend so I did not bother organising anything formally so he could do what he had to do. Though, I did tell my FIL that we might come up just for 1 night on Sunday night. I was hanging in the hope we could at least go for 1 night.
Friday evening Marty came home and said that his meeting would be on Monday. So on the spot we both decided that we should go to dad’s sooner than later. Marty even thought about leaving Friday night, even though I had not packed or anything!.
Saturday 4am Ethan woke up upset and just would not go back to sleep. I was awake and had this eagerness to get ready to go to dads. I strapped Ethan into his high chair and started to do what I had to do.
The first thing I did was cook for church for Sunday because I was not going to be there. As I was doing that I fed Ethan the sausages I was cooking up. He then fell asleep in his high chair whilst eating his sausages. That’s one way to put him back to sleep.
I was awake and felt like a race car ready to go. I cooked the sausages, packed everything we needed (I mean everything - food, clothes, sand equipment, toiletries, first aid kit, swimming stuff, shoes, pan, gas burner, utensils) and I even managed to clean some of the house. At 7:30 Dylan and Isabelle woke up and I told them to get ready. Then I woke up Marty and told him that I had packed everything and we were ready to get going.
By 8am we were ready to go, we dropped off the pot of food to Sharon and then realised we had 1 problem. We had a bad tire, a bit dangerous to take on the road!. So we went up to the local tire place and got the front 2 tires replaced. That was going to take an hour, so we decided to go and have breakfast.
Usually we cook our own food when we are on the road, much cheaper and we enjoy it. But in this situation, we had already started our trip we decided to head to a local lebanese bakery… we had spinach pides and cheese pides. It was followed by coffee @ a cafe at the super centre.
We picked up the car and on the road we went. We stopped just past the brooklyn or mooney mooney bridge (I am not really sure) for a toilet break. We checked out the sights, played a bit of soccer (dylan is actually quite good at kicking the ball), it is a really lovely area to take a break. Heaps of boats get into the water from here. We thought we saw the Storm football team (but we aren’t sure whether it was them).
On our last trip, we had to stop here because Lachlan was car sick, so I was pleased that was not the case this time round.
We kept driving until we got to dads, he was surprised to see us as he was not expecting us until Sunday!.
Ethan loves poppy’s shop because there is so much to touch … like these wallets…. bags …. pictures … but all too much for mummy to handle….
So, we headed to the Marina where there was a new play area built, we spent a good 2 hours there! They had so much fun. Such a lovely place ……….
Check this place Martin and I discovered. Each level has a spa and on the top level there is what looks like a waterfall. Exclusive I am sure ……. and expensive!.
Here are 2 pictures of dad’s new place.
As you walk in there is the lounge room which flows into dining area and an outdoor entertaining area. The house has a internal garage as well. Upstairs, there is 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. He rented the house fully furnished and just had to move straight in. The place already had all the crockery, beds and matresses, lounge and everything you need. He just needed some bed sheets and a few odds and ends.
On Sunday it was raining….. it was anzac day …… we watched the march on TV and waited to see cath’s dad on TV. We thought the camera had missed him, Cath was so upset when that happened. But when Cath grabbed her phone she found a message saying that he was not marching ‘cause his blood sugar level was high.
Since it was raining, we decided to go shopping @ Salamanda Bay as the kids were in need of new shoes. The shops wasn’t opening until 1pm so we had 1/2 an hour to kill. We decided to go for a drive ….. I was happy because we found an oyster farm. I scored a dozen of oysters for Cath and I to share that night. They were very nice. I really recommend getting oysters from oyster farms as they are alot fresher and tastier.
Once the shops did open we had lunch and headed straight for the shoes. I feel like I grabbed a bargain 4 pairs of shoes for $46 at K-mart. Yay !!
That evening, the sun did come just for a little while and when it did we made the most of it. We headed straight to Shoal Bay Beach just 5 mins from dads house. It was magical … our family just love the beach. The water, the sand, the views, the breeze and just loving being together. I think the photos show just how lovely Shoal Bay Beach is. Surprisingly the water temperature was quite warm. The kids pants were all wet going back to dads.
The evening was topped off by a lovely roast dinner Cath prepared for us. She sure knows how to make a wonderful roast!.
and just some handsome pictures of the men…… hmm did something bite your bum?
We drove home on Monday …. bought a pumpkin on the way home. Weired tasting pumpkin it was yellow inside and tasteless. But here is the photo of the pumpkin paddock where they grew them. I have 3/4 of a pumpkin left in my fridge now and beats me what I am going to do with it!.
We went on a mini bushwalk which was lots of fun. It was only 10 minutes up a little hill. When we got to the top we watched the boats go by and was amused by a small boat which had an antenna sticking up from the front of it almost as high as the bridge.
Ethan was only pleased by chunks of rockmelon, dylan was eager to try any bush track (even the ones that end up at the end of a cliff) and Lachlan became a puppy dog for a while (you don't want to know!)
We hopped back in the car and headed home, kids watched madagascar, marty drove and I fell asleep!.
Tomorrow it's school for the kids and work for Marty. As for me it's unpacking, washing and sorting. Of course and some more blogging (not too much, just a little). I better go now Bye….
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