Woonona - Day 2

Day 2 of Woonona stay was lots of reading, coloring, and napping. And we also fit in an afternoon trip down to Bass Point Reserve to spend some time in nature.

First though, I took a couple hours out of the morning to drive 10 minutes into the next coastline village, Thirroul. Thirroul is a little bit bigger than Woonona, and it was definitely home to more weekend getaway visitors.  I walked around the little town for a bit and popped into a few shops just for fun.

Then I headed down to check out Thirroul Beach. It seemed pretty popular with surfers, but not so good for just swimming. That didn't stop me from jumping in the water to cool off for just a minute though!

It was a lovely beach and soooo deserted compared to Sydney beaches. It was really weird to be on a beach with so few people, but really nice!

I just stayed in Thirroul for a little bit because our afternoon adventure was waiting on us! So after a nice lunch at the apartment, we headed out to find Bass Point Reserve. Bass Point Reserve is named after George Bass who explored a lot of Australia. 

Within the reserve, there were two areas we wanted to check out. One was an overlook of the coast called Fisherman's Point. 

Fisherman's Point also doubles as an evacuation route in case of a bushfire. These are the things that I wouldn't usually think about but are really necessary when you live in Australia. I would hate to be stuck out on those rocks waiting for rescue from a fire, but at least someone thinks of things like an escape route!

Our second stop was Bushrangers Bay, which was a quiet little bay. There were a few clusters of families there there, camped out to celebrate the Australia Day weekend. 

Bushrangers Bay also happened to be perfect for some snorkeling, since it was very protected, so I definitely had to do spend some time in the water!

It was a pretty perfect way to end our stay in Woonona. 

Woonona - Day 1

It was Australia Day weekend this past weekend, which meant that we got Monday as a holiday. So I decided we should escape to the tiny little burb of Woonona just an hour south of Sydney.

Although that meant we'd be missing some of the Sydney events, like the ferry race, the cannon salute, and the Royal Australian Air Force flyovers, I was OK with that since we got the full-on experience last year. Also, I've been spending so much time at work, I decided it was time to relax a little bit. So I booked us an airbnb apartment away from the beach and with no TV - this was my best effort at forcing myself to slow down and recharge over the weekend. 

The drive down south was quick and easy. At the very end, the route parallels the Royal National Park and quickly descends down to the coastline, so we had a good view of the area that was to be home for the next couple days.

Day 1 was spent hanging out in the apartment: I read and worked on a coloring book, and Toby wrote.  I also started going crazy after a few hours of that so I went for a long ramble to explore the town and find my way to Woonona Beach. 

The beach was basically deserted compared to beaches closer to Sydney! It was a lovely day and a lovely beach. The surf was pretty heavy and so there were lots of surfers out in the water. 

Woonona Beach is also historically significant because it's the place where Captain Cook first tried to come ashore in Australia.  Looking at the rocks that jutted out in various places from the beach, it's not surprising that they weren't able to make land. 

My afternoon walk led to an afternoon nap. I was pretty proud of myself and all the relaxing I was forcing myself to do!

We drove into Wollongong for dinner that night. The restaurant we found was at the edge of a park on the coast with wonderful views.

My favorite part of dinner? Watching the skydivers come in to land in the park next to the restaurant. Three waves of them came in while we were eating, and it never got less than fascinating. 

It was a pretty wonderful Day 1 of the holiday weekend!

Scenes from work

I've been working a lot this week, so I haven't had much time for activities and blogging. But there were a few interesting things during the workweek.

First was the location at an offsite meeting I attended. The organizer had booked the function area in the Australian Museum for the meeting. I've not been to the museum yet, even though it's always lurking in the back of my To Do list. I think my procrastination paid odd, though, because not only did I get free tickets to come to the museum itself, but our meeting was held on the top floor of the museum. There was an amazing view of the city from up there.

The CBD with the fountains of the Cook and Phillip Aquatic Centre in the foreground

Looking toward the harbour across the Domain

My second interesting/funny thing was in the form of a coworker at Friday night drinks. Brad is just about as Aussie as they come. He was pretty pleased when I told him he looked like someone from East Tennessee and was more than happy to be in a picture for me.

Posted with Blogsy

34 degrees? Go to the beach!

This past Saturday was nice and hot. So hot, in fact, that the only rational thing to do was go to the beach! I decided to go back up towards Manly since the last beach trip there had been so nice.

I passed some time waiting for the ferry at Milsons Point. I really don't know if I will ever get tired of this view.

Then it was off to catch the big ferry to Manly. 

 

Heading out to the harbour

Before I headed out to the beach, I wanted to stop by a couple of the fun beach shops in Manly. Luckily, it was still pretty early in the day so they weren't too crazy yet. So the Corso was nice and relatively quiet, which is an usual sight for a sunny Saturday. 

The Manly Yacht Club was busy with lots of people getting ready for a sail.

There also happened to be some markets on, so of course I had to stop and take a browse!

It was getting pretty hot though, and down in those tents there was absolutely no breeze. I don't know how people could stand it all day: I had to get out of there and to the beach!

It was so beautiful and hot - it was my ideal beach day!

The water felt great too. Like everyone else at the beach, I was in the water half the time staying cool.

Yup, not a bad day!!!

A very happy Aussie birthday

The only bad thing about my birthday was that Holly had to leave right before it. But besides that, it was a great day!

On Friday, Toby and I went out to dinner at one of our top places, the Buffalo Dining Club. It's an Italian restaurant that specializes in cheeses, which they have flown in from Italy a few days a week. It's hard to eat anything but the cheeses there because they are so good, but this time we also got a pasta. They serve it in a cheese wheel so you can imagine how deliciously cheesy it is! It was a fabulous dinner!

I love, love, love having my birthday during a warm month! And even though my birthday Saturday wasn't particularly sunny or hot, I was determined to go to the beach for my birthday. So we did.

I chose Collins Flat beach, which is just near Manly. I picked this beach because it's one of the quieter beaches to Sydney: you have to walk to it through a short trail so it gets less traffic. We saw this big guy on our walk in.

The beach is also set back in a cove so the waves are pretty calm and it's excellent for snorkeling. Little penguins also nest there. I kept my eye out for them, but didn't see any, sadly. Oh well, it was a long shot!

The beach was pretty much deserted when we got there: just like Toby likes them.

We had a birthday skype on the beach. These cute people decided to match us, even though it was nighttime and freezing cold back in Tennessee.

The beach day was mainly reading and hanging out on the sand. I did a little snorkeling, but it got pretty overcast and cooled down, so I didn't stay in the water too long. That was OK though, it was a good day for chilling out. Here I am, hanging out in the tent. This is T's preferred way to enjoy the beach. =)

This guy came by a couple times to sell ice creams from his boat. What a great job!

We closed out the birthday celebrations back home with takeaway pizza and a picnic down by the harbour. The rain came in right as we finished up, so we walked home in the warm rain - what a great day!