Port Stephens
After a few weekends in Sydney, it was good to have a weekend up the coast and exploring some where new again. This time we were headed on a camping trip about three hours north to Port Stephens with some of our Manly crew...Melissa & AJ, Pat & Nicole, Lisa and Sam (some real Aussies), and Tom & Maxine. We camped on Fingal Bay and had an awesome weekend.
It rained on Friday on our way up and we were afraid that the weekend would not be so great. But after a rainy Friday night setting up the tents and enjoying a delishious dinner of lamb, salad, potatos, and tim tams, we woke up to sunshine on saturday morning. We spent the entire day on Anna Bay beach which was stunning...a massive beach backed by massive sand dunes as far as the eye could see. After our usual picture taking extravaganza, we laid out, played some beach volleyball, and went for a dip in the sea. By the end of the day everyone was nice and toasty from the sun.
That night the girls sat on the beach enjoying some wine while the boys did a little fishing. Little did we know a few hours had slipped by and it was time for dinner. Another great dinner was had. This time it was steak with some real american smores for dessert. Pat & Nicole brought these back from the states as the ingredients here is just not the same; the marshmellows are more like candy and there is no such thing as graham crackers.
Sunday was a little overcast but thankfully the rain held off until the evening. That day it was all about the sand dunes. Pat, Nicole, Jared and I all headed to do some quad biking across the dunes. It was actually pretty good as the tour guides let us ride around a lot on our own. After criss crossing the dunes, we went to the end of the beach where we checked out a local shipwreck. Afterwards we had some more fun on the quads before trying to clean ourselves up from the sand and packing in the car for our trip back to Sydney. It started pouring as soon as we were on our way. We had to get out in the rain a little when made a small stop over for lunch in Newcastle (a huge coal exporting town that is very pleasant). But other than that the rain had stopped before we got back to Manly to unpack.
Now we are just trying to clean up and get ready for the busy week ahead. At least we feel refreshed after such a great weekend with friends!
It rained on Friday on our way up and we were afraid that the weekend would not be so great. But after a rainy Friday night setting up the tents and enjoying a delishious dinner of lamb, salad, potatos, and tim tams, we woke up to sunshine on saturday morning. We spent the entire day on Anna Bay beach which was stunning...a massive beach backed by massive sand dunes as far as the eye could see. After our usual picture taking extravaganza, we laid out, played some beach volleyball, and went for a dip in the sea. By the end of the day everyone was nice and toasty from the sun.
That night the girls sat on the beach enjoying some wine while the boys did a little fishing. Little did we know a few hours had slipped by and it was time for dinner. Another great dinner was had. This time it was steak with some real american smores for dessert. Pat & Nicole brought these back from the states as the ingredients here is just not the same; the marshmellows are more like candy and there is no such thing as graham crackers.
Sunday was a little overcast but thankfully the rain held off until the evening. That day it was all about the sand dunes. Pat, Nicole, Jared and I all headed to do some quad biking across the dunes. It was actually pretty good as the tour guides let us ride around a lot on our own. After criss crossing the dunes, we went to the end of the beach where we checked out a local shipwreck. Afterwards we had some more fun on the quads before trying to clean ourselves up from the sand and packing in the car for our trip back to Sydney. It started pouring as soon as we were on our way. We had to get out in the rain a little when made a small stop over for lunch in Newcastle (a huge coal exporting town that is very pleasant). But other than that the rain had stopped before we got back to Manly to unpack.
Now we are just trying to clean up and get ready for the busy week ahead. At least we feel refreshed after such a great weekend with friends!
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