Sydney & points north

After time with friends at St Georges Basin, we headed to Sydney for some time with family (Ric's this time). We spent a day with Joanne and David (Ric's 2 Sydney children) and an evening with them plus Geoff (Ric's brother) and his wife, Isobel and Cathy (Ric's sister). That evening we went to Geoff's son Alex's restaurant (Angels on Freshwater headland looking over the beach) and enjoyed a gourmet meal at the table next to Margaret Pomeranz the ABC movie critic. It was lovely to catch up with them all, the family that is. We stayed in Lane Cove National Park in Sydney, with the possums, bandicoots and lorikeets, who, as can be seen from the photo, were not shy, particularly when bread soaked in watery honey was on offer. I learnt that one from Currumbin Bird Sanctuary.

On the way to Myall Lakes for our next stop, we called in on Ric's sisters, Linda and Anne in Newcastle. After some good company and sustenance we headed off to Seal Rocks where Ric had a swim before we returned to find a more sheltered camp beside the lake. We set up camp at Neranie right next to the lake. What a beautiful and serene location (photo).

Our next stop over was at Crowdy Bay NP north east of Taree. We stayed at Kylie's beach campground for 2 nights. This area has the name Kylie attached to a few features in recognition of author, Kylie Tennant, who owned property here which she later donated to national parks. We did a couple of walks here, which exposed us to some amazing coastal and bush scenery. (photo)

We actually swam in that surf and it was very refreshing indeed.

We then headed further up the coast to east of Grafton and Yuraygir NP. We checked out Wooli and a couple of the camp grounds in the area before deciding on Illaroo Camp area near Minnie Water. What a delightful little spot - lovely beach walks and bush tracks to follow as well. (photo). We saw a ramshackle beach house on the headland here and thought it might be a great weekender for say $300k, but further investigation revealed it was being advertised for $1.1 million????

On our way , we were notified that Kristy, Sue's daughter, had gone into hospital to be induced with her second, grandchild number four for us. All ended well with Tana being delivered by emergency caesarian on October 23rd. Mother and son are both fine in spite of things happening nearly 5 weeks early. Nan and Pop are fine too and very much looking forward to meeting the little fella on our way through Brisbane in a few days time. In the meantime, we have a little bit more time to enjoy ourselves.