Hah! Serves me right for boasting in my last post about being back to civilisation with great internet access.
We went to lunch yesterday with Viv and Chris. Jan’s last big meal before the operation! She went into hospital at 6.30 this morning so is incommunicado at the moment.
It was still very hot yesterday, so we dined in airconditioned comfort at Fratelli in Majors Bay Road. We came out of the restaurant to find the cool change had arrived with some big wind gusts. Chris drove us home where we found a huge bunch of branches had fallen from next door’s towering gum tree into our drive. It had missed all the power lines, thankfully, but had snapped our
The offending limbs. Viv looks very cross!
broadband internet cable.
So now I’m blogging by using my mobile phone connection through my Mac. Seems to work fine. Telstra promise they will arrive on Tuesday to fix the connection. Fingers crossed!
We’re back home to 41 degrees in Sydney and our aircon going full blast. Sooty is very pleased to see us and is trying to dribble into the keyboard as I write.
We had a splendid evening meal at Tillerman’s yesterday – the poshest restaurant in Tea Gardens/Hawks Nest. The usual starter of cheese souffle for both of us, an amazing dish. Then barramundi for me and Jan had another starter – a charcuterie board with lots of super stuff on it including rillettes and pate.
The surf beach at Hawks Nest
We managed a final swim at Jimmy’s beach this morning. It’s a lovely spot with warm clear water and it’s usually calm in the mornings. We’ll miss the regular swimming. The previous day I spent ages watching a pod of dolphins through the binoculars as they swam up and down just off the beach, now and then lifting their tails clear of the water as they dived deeper – presumably to chase fish.
We packed everything, had a last brunch at the Boatshed, then drove back to Sydney. Light traffic and no bushfires, thank goodness. It was a very lazy, very pleasant holiday. It’s nice, however, to be back with a full complement of technology and instant web access. It certainly makes blogging much easier.
We are sitting in the Boatshed cafe having brunch. The cafe is a bit upmarket but is in a shack situated over the water on wooden piles.
Bacon, poached eggs and toast for me – Jan has haloumi and pea fritters. We had a lovely swim this morning- not too hot at 26 degrees. The temps are rising – forecast 45 degrees on Saturday!
The Boatshed
It was rainy yesterday so we went for a drive inland to Gloucester. Lovely scenery although there’s not much to do in the town.
A lazy holiday for me. No fishing, no golf, no boating. But that’s ok.
No phone signal and no wifi at the apartment so keeping in touch is a bit difficult. Which is why I’m blogging from the phone!
We’re up at Hawks Nest again, one of our favourite holiday spots.
We’ve rented an apartment with a balcony overlooking the surf beach. We’ve been swimming in the surf and at the much calmer Jimmys Beach on the Nelson Bay side. It’s been a hot 38 degrees but the water is lovely – 23 degrees.
It is out of season so the place is quiet – apart from the golf course which seems to have a seniors special week. The fairways are clogged with ancient wizened club-wielders, spoiling the game prospects for us young people.
Plenty of wildlife. A bunch of quail have been pottering around, magpies have visited to take food, there’s a lovely sea eagle that soars by and we’ve seen some birds with long curvy beaks, possibly sandpipers. Pelicans, of course.
Dolphins have gone past just a couple of metres from shore and we saw a pair of stingrays wandering along in the shallows. There was a big goanna dashing under the car at one place. No koalas yet!
We slotted in this holiday week because next Monday Jan goes into hospital for a hip replacement. She should be out again after three days, but full recovery may take three months. This involves a certain amount of home nursing by myself (should I get a uniform?) as well as plenty of cooking and cleaning. Sigh!
Still, I’m sure she’ll be a model patient and won’t make unreasonable demands.
We’ve just said farewell to my old Northampton Grammar School friend Martin Rowell and his wife Fiona who popped in to Sydney for a short stay with us. They were in Australia mainly to visit their daughter Catriona, husband Andy and their grandchildren who live in Perth.
They added in a trip to Brisbane to see other friends, came to see us and now they’re off back to the UK via Perth.
Viv and Chris hosted the six of us for dinner on Wednesday. We had a lovely evening, ate lots of good food, and caught up on lots of news.
The next day, at Martin’s request, we headed out for a fishing trip on Pittwater. I loaded up the fishing gear and we drove north through the lovely northern beaches to the quiet watery haven of Pittwater. Except it was blowing half a gale! We questioned the man renting out the tinnies about the best fishing spots. He cast some doubt on the possibility of catching any fish in the windy weather, but dutifully marked a couple of spots on a map and sold us some bait.
We boarded our tinny and headed off into the teeth of the gale. Splish-splash we were taking a bath as we smacked into the huge waves trying to reach our fishing spot.The crew wanted to press on regardless but the captain (me) decided that discretion was the better part of valour and, despite the prospect of a mutiny, we turned back and anchored. (I’ve had previous interesting experiences with boats in Pittwater). There were no fish biting at that spot. But at least the gale was abating, the sun was coming out and it was becoming a lovely Sydney summer day – and not too hot at 25 degrees.
We upped anchor and headed for The Basin. That was sheltered and pleasant, but not many bites there either. The bottom line – one small fish for Fiona, one tiny fish for me (sigh!). Still, it was a nice outing.
That evening it was the Minerva Book Club meeting, so Fiona joined Jan and the other girls over the road at Dean and Paula’s place for some literary discussion, and wine. Martin and I walked down to the Concord pub and tried their Thursday night special – $18 chicken schnitzel with free topping. Our choice of topping was pulled pork. It came with a layer of cheese plus some sauce on top, plus a side of fries. I think there were a few calories in there. We had a couple of schooners to wash it down.
Next morning we brunched at the Armory Cafe near the old armoury on the Parramatta river. It was good to catch up with old friends.
