We’re back from a lovely week’s holiday in Hawk’s Nest, just a two-and-a-half hour drive north of Sydney. Jan and I joined Viv and Chris in a rented holiday house – the same one we had last year.
It’s a lovely contemporary house with five levels, a small rooftop pool and a lift. It overlooks the Myall river and is about 150 metres from Jimmy’s Beach.
Viv feeds prawn heads to the pelicans.
This year it was our turn for the master suite – a huge bedroom with a standard ensuite plus an outdoor shower with an opening louvre roof.
We did our usual holiday things. Swimming in the sea, sunbathing, fishing, lazing about and lots of eating and drinking. As usual, we had Jimmy’s Beach to ourselves most of the time.
Eunice plus Sue and Stan joined us for a couple of days, which was good cos they brought loads of food and booze. Stan made a special Hawaiian raw fish salad as a starter – lovely. He then followed it by barbecuing some excellent marinated pork – prepared by Sue. We ate very well in the local restaurants, including Tillermans and The Boatshed.
We had some very hot days – 35 degrees plus – and some rain. Rainy days were good for doing the Times crossword and reading books. Fishing wasn’t too bad – total bag of about six whiting, a baby flathead, a puffer fish and a medium-size stingray. They all went back unharmed – the whiting were a bit small to make a meal for all.
Jan turns into a lizard after forgetting to use sunscreen under her holey swimsuit!
The bird life was spectacular, lots of pelicans and cormorants, plus the usual silver gulls. We saw the local dolphins several times, cavorting in the bay and wandering up the river.
One day we explored some of the little out-of-the-way waterside places – Pindimar, North Arm Cove, Tahlee and Carrington. There are million-dollar homes on the waterfront in these hamlets with luxury yachts moored in front. But there are also some tumbledown shacks away from the beaches with upside-down tinnies stored on the front lawn.
You could retire to one of these places – but it would be very, very quiet. Too quiet! You might go mad after a while.
A pelican arrives for Viv’s prawn leftovers.
