Nelson Bay Wharf (marina-thingy) about one hour's drive up from Newcastle.LOTS of fishies in the water!
Very good fish and chips - we had a selection of shark, perch, and bassa. The amount the Non ate had to be seen to be believed - perhaps it's down to the peculiar method she uses for chip-dipping (eats the dipped bit last).
You can just about see some of the fish in the water - vast numbers of them.
A nice playground there, and old sour-chops swallowing some marbles as usual....
One Mile Beach (usual deserted scene) and the Non and Daddy 'fishing' (with the rods from the duck-fishing game at home...)
Very firm soft sand here, and evidently a long shallow area (though we didn't go in that far!)
Hello lovlies – so sorry for the long absence. School holidays are nearly over… it’s just quite tiring to sort out all the gunk from the chaff with the Non all day – simply haven’t felt up to writing in the evenings, I’m so sorry, I really don’t have any other excuse. Apologies.
After a two-day bout of staying in and taking it easy, today we did our work early in the morning and then drove off a little upstream to Nelson Bay – with the express intention of eating fish and chips by the sea.
Which we did. With huge gusto and success. Have to say of all the eateries (and there aren’t many of them) I’ve tried in these parts, this produced the most satisfying results. The amount the Non put away had to be seen to be believed – she is truly a Tardis at the moment. It was a beautiful day, and there were loads of fish at the harbour – we even saw (for the first time) a very large and handsome cuttlefish disporting itself in the shallows for anyone to see… largish fish about the size of a hand in reasonable shoals, a few box fish finning it up to the surface amicably, and fish-fry-schools in their millions blanketing the entire quay – never seen them in such numbers.
We did have one upset – a complicated manoeuvre involving a bouncy castle, an inflatable slide, a recalcitrant Non, and a bungee-jump trampoline. It was loud, it was nonsensical, it was fraught – but eventually got ignored and onwards and upwards. We also went to the local ‘shell museum’ – actually it’s someone’s private collection (mightily impressive) crammed into the foyer and sitting room of a small bungalow. Well I was impressed, anyway.
Exiting the museum, the car suddenly clunked loudly as if it were dragging cans after it at a wedding. Hm. Stop, check. Nothing there. To be brief, the cycle of clunk and stop continued for a while, we still couldn’t see anything wrong, and after a while it seemed to go away. No idea what’s going on.
Third stop for the day was One mile Beach – and very pretty it was too. Nearing the end of the day now, long shadows playing on the gently-rolling cove, Non insisted on going ‘fishing’ with trousers rolled up and into the freezing water (some indulgent fathers followed her to the mortification of leg-circulation). I just sat on the beach and watched. Well she had a good time, and it was all very jolly.
In short, there we are. Dear me we’re both so tired with the unaccustomed fresh air I think we may be about to drop at any point – so I’ll just post this quickly before passing out. Lots of love to all of you xxx
SOOOO glad to see and hear all of you!All those lovely aquarium pics-and this is coming from someone who has tried and tried without success to take aquarium pics- never so lovely as yours, always blurred or crying going on somewhere. Not to mention on the beach- don't know which ones are more lovely, the one of you (spectacular!) or the picture postcard of Ian and Lara, the one of her running reminds me of Leo's (only I guess a bit of a heftier bump at the end) and Leo and Little LOVED the snake and spider (ALLIGATOR! said Nea)- seems like a lovely place, the harbor and all the lovely scenery... Have to download these at last and print some out for the wall, it's ridiculous how few pics I have printed out. Seems you7re havin' a fantastic time, Non looks happier than ever, sweetie pie! It's funny how Nea now reminds me of Non with her bangs up and the same hair-do, Nea's is getting a lot too long to handle and I have to take the scissors out sooner or later but can't quite bring myself to do it, she screams so much to have her hair washed it's something frightful and the other day got gum in it at the park ( I don't know, they should ban those things) a whole clump came out. Where was I... gradually getting the snots down to normal, hope that Leo won't get it now that Mexico is coming up, Leo is excited he won't have any work for a whole week!!! Ecstasy. (for me too frankly)
ReplyDeleteSo is it still cold in the house? Hope everything is well and hope to talk a tad before the end of July, I know you must be busy, give me a hint if you ever feel bored enough to chat! For this week we are just mooching around doing this and that, bit of car repair, beach, soccer and library, then next week Leo is off to his much waited for mad science camp, then we're off, everyone can't wait for a bit of change. Guess I'd better leave you here and thank you so much for the many enjoyable and lovely pics!
XOXOXOXOS and co