When we last wrote we were coming to the end of the camper van portion of the holiday with a wonderful three days at Seal Rocks on the coast north of Sydney. We returned to Sydney to swap the van for a car for the final phase of our trip. Robin could quite happily have continued camping but Alimay was ready for a bit more luxury and company. Our first stop was Woonona to visit Ron and Julie, friends from Vancouver in the 60s. Even though we see them rarely, being continents apart, we seem to reconnect effortlessly. Julie and Alimay exchanged books as always and we spent our two days catching up with family news.
Then it was on to Broulee for 10 days around Christmas with the family. Robin’s brother, Don, had rented a huge house which was two blocks from the beach and had playgrounds nearby. It is a real holiday place and the people we met were very friendly and helpful in recommending good places to visit. There were eight of us altogether: Don, his wife Meg, their son, Matt and daughter Kirsty, with her son, Ned, 6 and daughter Isobel,4. We were last all together in 2018 when Isobel was born and have been trying to return ever since!! The kids absolutely loved the beach and on our first evening they just stripped off and headed for the water. We spent quite a bit of time at the local beaches but there was a superb beach (Shelly Beach) in a national park about 40 minutes drive away. It had everything – golden sand, gentle surf, warm sea and rock pools with abundant sea life. We spent two idyllic days there and Don created his specialty, a helter skelter sand castle cone to roll a golf ball down.
We had two celebrations, the first being Isobel’s 4th birthday. The guests were all adults but Kirsty provided all the necessities – sausages, fairy bread (white buttered bread with sprinkles!) and birthday cake. We played Pass the Parcel and Pin the Tail on the Mermaid and even got goodie bags at the end. A good time was had by all! The second was, of course, Christmas. Don had organized an amazing cold buffet seafood spread – lobster, prawns, salmon – cold barbecued turkey and assorted salads. For dessert, of course, we had Pavlova. It was a veritable feast, washed down by copious amounts of Australian wine.
All too soon our time at the sea was over and we all repaired to the Kangaroo Valley, about 170 km north and a little inland, stopping at Molly Mook beach for lunch. Our accommodation was a very elegant 5-bedroom mansion with high ceilings and very tasteful decor set in several acres of pasture . The only livestock in evidence were some hens, which, obligingly, provided lots of eggs that the kids could collect. It also had a swimming pool, which provided endless hours of enjoyment for both children who were very confident in the water. Again, on Hogmanay, we had a wonderful seafood feast. We celebrated New Year on New Zealand time which is 10pm Australian time!
All too soon, it was time to say goodbye which was SO hard. We may see Don and Meg this summer but whether Kristy and the kids would be able to make it here is much more doubtful.
We had one more stop to make in Orange in the interior of NSW, staying with Meg’s cousin Jan and her husband Dave with whom we have stayed and entertained here several times. They gave us such a warm welcome and catered to our every whim. It was such a satisfactory ending to a truly memorable holiday.
Now we are back in Victoria after about an 8-week adventure. It’s nice to be home but bittersweet as that was probably our last trip Down Under where we have so many good friends and family.