Shoal Bay, Fingal Beach, & Nelson Bay

A week ago (Saturday 3/23), we rented a van with our friends Andrew, Elizabeth, Jackson, and William and drove 2.5 hours north of our house in Sydney to Shoal Bay. Here's Rick and I on the balcony of the suite we all shared. 

Rick and Andrew in the kiddie pool.

And here's Sylvia talking to "the guys" from a deeper swimming pool. The place we stayed at had 8 pools (!) of various types and shapes, and half of them were for adults only.

After everyone had a dip in at least one pool, we headed out to the beach. And who should greet us on the path to the ocean but:

a rainbow lorikeet.

The lorikeet was feeding on these palm flowers. 

Do you see the other rainbow lorikeet tucked away behind the blossoms? Believe it or not, we usually hear these parrots first, and then look to see them. In New England they would be very noticeable in the vegetation, but here they tend to blend in extremely well with the trees in which they eat and perch. (BTW, Rainbow lorikeets are also called Blue Mountain parrots).

I think of Aussies as generally laid-back. But you would never know that by their beach signs:

We managed to avoid all the hazards.

And we had such a good time at this ocean beach that we came back again the next day. (The pictures with the brighter light are from Sunday morning). At Fingal beach we found:

seaweed,

(But unfortunately Sylvia lost her favorite googles which she'd had for three years -- 1/3 her life.)

hermit crabs,

waves

(Here I am coming ashore after body surfing. It's impossible not to be happy when body surfing, in my opinion.),

almost-white sand and great conversation,

and warm, salty water. (That splash on the left is Jackson who'd gone underwater. He's an impressive swimmer).

Sometimes clichés are apt: A good time was had by all.

We went back to our hotel when the sun started to sink behind the dunes and had dinner on "our" balcony.

Sunrise the next morning at Shoal Bay:

After once again enjoying Fingal Beach the next morning, 

we drove to Nelson Head where we had lunch at the tea room:

We felt like we could look at this view forever.

                                                                  And we were serenaded by magpies sitting in a plumeria tree under the café's awning!

                                                                                                         This is the sign by the cash register where we paid. I love that it's in pink - somehow pink seems like a visual oxymoron with "grouchy." (And, it's hard to see here, but at the bottom, it says tax is included.)

And look what floated by as we were eating: 

Actually, it just looks like they're floating; they're really being pulled by a motor boat.

And because we all wanted to enjoy the view as long as possible, everyone ordered dessert or a fancy coffee drink.

 I think the pineapple banana cake really caught the spirit of the place.

                                                                                   Right next to the tea room is an active Marine Rescue Radio Base. Here you can see the radio tower. You can go in there and see all the controls and talk with the volunteers who man it 24/7. The volunteers we talked to said there's about one rescue a day and that running out of gas is very common. 

For those of you you like maps, this was on the wall at the Marine Rescue Radio Base:

If you look closely, you can see Shoal Bay and "you are here" at Nelson Head (the little point above the words, "Little Beach"). This whole area is called Port Stephens and the red and green lines are lights that boats can see and use as a guide into the port from out in the ocean.

After putting on massive amounts of sunscreen, we boarded a "dolphin cruise." We had actually seen some dolphins when we were swimming at Fingal Beach, but had already planned on this boat ride and wanted to get closer to them if we could.

Sylvia and Jackson unexpectedly shrunk once onboard. 

Luckily, they later reverted to their normal heights.

Okay, I have a fabulous video of the dolphins swimming, but I cannot upload it. So, consider this mediocre picture a "placeholder" until I can figure out this uploading glitch.

It was a delight to see the dolphins. A few of them even played with the boat. 

One the way back to the dock, the crew lowered a net at the back of the boat. 

Anyone who wanted to could go down a tornado slide into the net. 

Needless to say, the net was mostly filled with kids, but Andrew and I tried it too.

Here's Sylvia at the top of the slide.

At the back of the boat.

 Our friends.

I certainly never would have predicted that when we met in a Music Together class in New Haven when Jackson and Sylvia were three-years-old and William was a baby, we would become friends and see each other years later in Australia.

All that was packed into a single over-night trip! And to top it all off, when Andrew was driving us home, we saw a possum! (I'm sure many of you know the enchanting picture book, Possum Magic by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas -- both Aussies. Here's a clip of it being read aloud.)