On an impulse we booked ourselves into Best Western Charlestown for a weekend, we didn't even have the time to truly 'plan' the trip. Saturday was upon us in no time at all and we decided to not bother to cook anything and after a quick breakfast we headed off on our vacation. Tu was as excited as us, since the only thing she registered was we were gonna beach hop....and hop we did!
The last 3 days of the week it was like all the pigeons of Wentworthville ganged up on our car for a free 'let loose' session. Our car was literally head to toe in their poop!! It was the most disgusting thing ever and funnily enough we never once parked under a tree...no idea what was attracting them to our car. So the morning of our trip as we pulled out of our garage it was the most embarrassing thing ever as people gave our car that disgusting look! We pulled into 3 car wash places only to be told we were too early for a Saturday morning...!! Finally somewhere close to Pennant Hills we found a Caltex with a car was we could drive into! What a relief, even as the grub washed away AJ and I finally felt like life was coming back to normal as we sat in the car and washed the foam all around us. Tu squealed away to glory as this was her first in-the-car-wash experience...!! :D
Soon we were on our way to Newcastle and we drove straight to Nobby Beach with only one stop at a playground near Lake Macquarie where we saw a bunch of hand gliders surfing....amazing sight that.
Tu and I even broke into a twirl as we watched these surfers! :D AJ couldn't stop gushing "How cool is this??"
We had our pre-packed lunch here and thereafter Tu had just dozed off as we pulled up at Nobby Beach, so I got out of the car for a stroll to the beach and boy was I dazed..this was one helluva beach! Vast stretches of soft sand leading up to a light house...it was like the beach itself was twisting and stretching to get a hand on the light house.
Varying shades of turquoise blue/green waters surrounded the beach, I could see a ship or two making their way into the port even I took this breathtaking sight in. On the pathway leading up to the beach I could see several dog owners walking their pets. Some pelicans, gulls and terns lined the shore as well.
I got back to the car so AJ could take his turn walking around. After another 30 mins Tu stirred in her car seat and soon thereafter followed a barrage of questions "Where are we?" "Why have you stopped here?" etc. When I told her we had stopped to show her a beach a volley of excited and garbled up words gushed from her mouth and soon she was running to the beach- her feet in garbled up thongs! Left on right and right on left...not that it deterred her in any way!! As we reached the beach we found a ladies toilet in which I changed her out into her swim wear and off she raced to the soft dunes on the beach!
As she ran into the water we realised it was cold water gushing at us from the sea, it took a minute or two to acclimatise to the water. Soon Tu was digging up sand and collecting shells even as AJ and I took a stroll on the edge of the waters- the waves came curling into the beach almost like they we ready to give us a nice warm hug! :-) White soft sand beneath our feet making us feel like we were walking on a bed of talcum powder life couldn't be better on a warm sunny Saturday afternoon! :-)
After playing in the waters for an hour or so we were all hungry. The time was already 4:00 pm and so we hurriedly got out, showered and changed before heading to the cafe. it was gorgeous little one on the beach with some fabulous views. The sour dough and avocado sandwich was a bit of a let down, the hazelnut coffee was good, so was the generous serve of peppermint tea. Above our head was a swallow's nest, Tu and her dad enjoyed watching the mom and dad swallows visit the nest frequently with food in their beaks. Amazing how at every turn you see animals of all kinds going through their parenting journey... even as we watched there were several instances we were amused and bemused at the common parenting woes we all entail ;-)
We grabbed what was left of the fries and headed to the car. Soon we pulled into the Best Western Hotel on Pacific Highway.
Even as we entered the room allotted to us we could smell smoke, a quick investigation revealed cigarette butts all over the balcony floor. When AJ went back to the reception to complain they upgraded us to a better room free of charge and the manager escorted us there. He even mentioned that the previous tenants of that room would probably get a hefty fine...! I thought the cleaning teams should get penalised too for leaving it all in there before we were shown into the room...but didn't say anything :-P After all it was no longer our problem. This hotel had a pool which was all that Tu was interested in..so her dad and she went running down to the pool...but it was not clean and had some feathers and dry leaves in it and looked rather unused. So they got back and filled the bath tub to sure Tu had some water play fun. End of all of this it was already time for dinner!! We headed down to the Babbington restaurant only to be told they had no place to accommodate us!! :( So we ordered room service and headed back up. Food was served within 15 mins and it was good so we ended up finishing all of it. By 8PM we were all asleep...!
The next morning we headed down for breakfast having already paid for it. The spread was pretty decent. After we had our fill we packed up and checked out. From here we headed straight to Blacksmith's Beach.... what a beauty! Some 9 miles of soft sandy beach.
We had to stop at the small Fish and Chips cafe outside the beach to get some icecream (A raspberry stick for Tu, some cookies and cream for AJ and a english breakfast tea for me- ironically I was the only one who didn't have a sore throat in this party today :-P)
As we got to the beach some spring blossoms were in bloom even on the sandy shores, I couldn't help but stop for a click!
We saw a bunch of kids training to be lifeguards and as they swam in the seas up and down AJ, Tu and I were transfixed watching them and admiring their fitness! Tu very calmly said "When i grow up I am going to be like them" :D Sure hope so is what AJ and I thought!
We built a lovely sand castle and decorated it with the several beaut shells we saw on the beach! Then with the promise of more beaches to come we dragged a very reluctant Tu off the beach into the car.
It was already 12PM and so we stopped at Ma Thai in Swan Sea for lunch.
I asked for veg steamed dumplings, some flat noodles and rice with veggies and cashew nut sauce. The dumplings gave me a scare as I couldn't find any veggies in there and something sure looked like chicken to me. But the owner ran up quickly and explained it was tofu and not any form of meat...phew! The noodles was nice but Tu didn't want flat noodles, so we ordered a bowl of 'normal' (thats what she called it) noodles for her. She ate it with gusto. Once done with lunch we headed to Caves Beach- this is another amazing beach....water and sand stretched as far as the eye could see.
I don't think even this panorama shot has done any justice to it.
We posed to take some pics with this wonderful azure backdrop!! Heavenly sight this, Tu just couldn't take her eyes off this glorious beach!
Again spring blossoms lined the path that lead to the beach making for a beautiful sight.
The cave itself is easy to reach and very safe for kids to walk in and explore. the sea often throws up some very nice rounded rocks onto the beach and this made for an excellent afternoon task for Tu.
At one point she even fought with a gull to pick up a whole dead fish, her face steely set upon 'releasing the fish back in the sea'. that was one helluva priceless moment!! We couldn't stop laughing! =)) Soon, AJ and Tu were busy 'running away' from the waves and jumping up and down some rocks! All in good fun!
By around 2 PM we got out of the beach, showered Tu out of all the mud she had gathered. Changed her into new clothes, she just had no energy left to climb back to the car park. So AJ did "thooki thooki" which is carry her all the way on his shoulders. Once we fastened her seat belt she was out in a flash. So we didn't drive to Murray Beach and instead decided to drive back home.
It had been another wonderful break- the oceans and sands have a way of making you come down to earth with a feeling of calm and serenity. Even as waves rhythmically weave in and out of a beach they remind you of how life is just that- the act of living between the rhythmic sounds of a breath or a heart beat. At every turn is a beautiful scene that makes your heart race or makes your breath go faster, but eventually you sit and gaze at the horizon where the blues of the water merge with the blues of the sky reminding you that boundaries are only fleeting in existence....after all breath and heart all beat to the tunes of life.... With these thoughts running through our minds we bid Newcastle goodbye! It had been yet another weekend getaway to cherish making us want to live form one trip to another...adieu for now!
The last 3 days of the week it was like all the pigeons of Wentworthville ganged up on our car for a free 'let loose' session. Our car was literally head to toe in their poop!! It was the most disgusting thing ever and funnily enough we never once parked under a tree...no idea what was attracting them to our car. So the morning of our trip as we pulled out of our garage it was the most embarrassing thing ever as people gave our car that disgusting look! We pulled into 3 car wash places only to be told we were too early for a Saturday morning...!! Finally somewhere close to Pennant Hills we found a Caltex with a car was we could drive into! What a relief, even as the grub washed away AJ and I finally felt like life was coming back to normal as we sat in the car and washed the foam all around us. Tu squealed away to glory as this was her first in-the-car-wash experience...!! :D
Soon we were on our way to Newcastle and we drove straight to Nobby Beach with only one stop at a playground near Lake Macquarie where we saw a bunch of hand gliders surfing....amazing sight that.
We had our pre-packed lunch here and thereafter Tu had just dozed off as we pulled up at Nobby Beach, so I got out of the car for a stroll to the beach and boy was I dazed..this was one helluva beach! Vast stretches of soft sand leading up to a light house...it was like the beach itself was twisting and stretching to get a hand on the light house.
Varying shades of turquoise blue/green waters surrounded the beach, I could see a ship or two making their way into the port even I took this breathtaking sight in. On the pathway leading up to the beach I could see several dog owners walking their pets. Some pelicans, gulls and terns lined the shore as well.
I got back to the car so AJ could take his turn walking around. After another 30 mins Tu stirred in her car seat and soon thereafter followed a barrage of questions "Where are we?" "Why have you stopped here?" etc. When I told her we had stopped to show her a beach a volley of excited and garbled up words gushed from her mouth and soon she was running to the beach- her feet in garbled up thongs! Left on right and right on left...not that it deterred her in any way!! As we reached the beach we found a ladies toilet in which I changed her out into her swim wear and off she raced to the soft dunes on the beach!
As she ran into the water we realised it was cold water gushing at us from the sea, it took a minute or two to acclimatise to the water. Soon Tu was digging up sand and collecting shells even as AJ and I took a stroll on the edge of the waters- the waves came curling into the beach almost like they we ready to give us a nice warm hug! :-) White soft sand beneath our feet making us feel like we were walking on a bed of talcum powder life couldn't be better on a warm sunny Saturday afternoon! :-)
After playing in the waters for an hour or so we were all hungry. The time was already 4:00 pm and so we hurriedly got out, showered and changed before heading to the cafe. it was gorgeous little one on the beach with some fabulous views. The sour dough and avocado sandwich was a bit of a let down, the hazelnut coffee was good, so was the generous serve of peppermint tea. Above our head was a swallow's nest, Tu and her dad enjoyed watching the mom and dad swallows visit the nest frequently with food in their beaks. Amazing how at every turn you see animals of all kinds going through their parenting journey... even as we watched there were several instances we were amused and bemused at the common parenting woes we all entail ;-)
We grabbed what was left of the fries and headed to the car. Soon we pulled into the Best Western Hotel on Pacific Highway.
Even as we entered the room allotted to us we could smell smoke, a quick investigation revealed cigarette butts all over the balcony floor. When AJ went back to the reception to complain they upgraded us to a better room free of charge and the manager escorted us there. He even mentioned that the previous tenants of that room would probably get a hefty fine...! I thought the cleaning teams should get penalised too for leaving it all in there before we were shown into the room...but didn't say anything :-P After all it was no longer our problem. This hotel had a pool which was all that Tu was interested in..so her dad and she went running down to the pool...but it was not clean and had some feathers and dry leaves in it and looked rather unused. So they got back and filled the bath tub to sure Tu had some water play fun. End of all of this it was already time for dinner!! We headed down to the Babbington restaurant only to be told they had no place to accommodate us!! :( So we ordered room service and headed back up. Food was served within 15 mins and it was good so we ended up finishing all of it. By 8PM we were all asleep...!
The next morning we headed down for breakfast having already paid for it. The spread was pretty decent. After we had our fill we packed up and checked out. From here we headed straight to Blacksmith's Beach.... what a beauty! Some 9 miles of soft sandy beach.
We had to stop at the small Fish and Chips cafe outside the beach to get some icecream (A raspberry stick for Tu, some cookies and cream for AJ and a english breakfast tea for me- ironically I was the only one who didn't have a sore throat in this party today :-P)
As we got to the beach some spring blossoms were in bloom even on the sandy shores, I couldn't help but stop for a click!
We saw a bunch of kids training to be lifeguards and as they swam in the seas up and down AJ, Tu and I were transfixed watching them and admiring their fitness! Tu very calmly said "When i grow up I am going to be like them" :D Sure hope so is what AJ and I thought!
We built a lovely sand castle and decorated it with the several beaut shells we saw on the beach! Then with the promise of more beaches to come we dragged a very reluctant Tu off the beach into the car.
It was already 12PM and so we stopped at Ma Thai in Swan Sea for lunch.
I asked for veg steamed dumplings, some flat noodles and rice with veggies and cashew nut sauce. The dumplings gave me a scare as I couldn't find any veggies in there and something sure looked like chicken to me. But the owner ran up quickly and explained it was tofu and not any form of meat...phew! The noodles was nice but Tu didn't want flat noodles, so we ordered a bowl of 'normal' (thats what she called it) noodles for her. She ate it with gusto. Once done with lunch we headed to Caves Beach- this is another amazing beach....water and sand stretched as far as the eye could see.
By around 2 PM we got out of the beach, showered Tu out of all the mud she had gathered. Changed her into new clothes, she just had no energy left to climb back to the car park. So AJ did "thooki thooki" which is carry her all the way on his shoulders. Once we fastened her seat belt she was out in a flash. So we didn't drive to Murray Beach and instead decided to drive back home.
It had been another wonderful break- the oceans and sands have a way of making you come down to earth with a feeling of calm and serenity. Even as waves rhythmically weave in and out of a beach they remind you of how life is just that- the act of living between the rhythmic sounds of a breath or a heart beat. At every turn is a beautiful scene that makes your heart race or makes your breath go faster, but eventually you sit and gaze at the horizon where the blues of the water merge with the blues of the sky reminding you that boundaries are only fleeting in existence....after all breath and heart all beat to the tunes of life.... With these thoughts running through our minds we bid Newcastle goodbye! It had been yet another weekend getaway to cherish making us want to live form one trip to another...adieu for now!
