We had a lovely break at the beach at Patonga, just north of Sydney at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River.
Our friends Pam and Steve had booked a holiday house on the Patonga estuary and spent Christmas there with lots of their family. After the family had gone we came along to stay for a quiet few days.
The weather was lovely – sunny and up to 30 degrees – and the company was great. We ate and drank lots. Jan and Pam walked lots and Steve and I were kept very busy fishing. (The results of the fishing were variable!) We did lots of swimming at the ocean beach which has an impressive view of Barrenjoey Lighthouse at the tip of the Palm Beach peninsula. The water was very calm in the mornings and a little choppy in the afternoons as the sea breeze came in.
Chris and his big fish.
The house had an expansive view of the river from the verandah. There was lots of bird life – lorikeets screeching as they fed from the flowering gums in the garden, egrets, herons, pelicans, eagles, magpies, cormorants and the usual cockatoos. Plenty of other creatures too – we said hello to a possum and also to a little diamond python who was well hidden in a tree.
Viv and Chris drove up to join us for a night and we all had a jolly good time.
There were fish, but few were enticed by my bait. I caught a couple of little bream and a flathead that was just a bit too small to eat. They all went back and swam away. I handed Chris my rod after fishing fruitlessly for half an hour and he caught a little bream in 30 seconds! That’s just showing off. Here’s a video shot on the GoPro. (Please excuse the occasional finger over the lens).
