Nelson Bay

Nelson Bay,

After leaving Peter, Steph and our little furry friends we headed north towards Nelson Bay to see our Canadian friends Dave & Bev, stopping briefly en-route at a little café in Turncurry for a “Bacon & Egg” sandwich for lunch, which I managed to drip all over me.  More Washing!!!!!  We were also lucky to find that they had free WiFi, very unusual unless you are in McDonalds, enabling us to check the emails and the bank.  Unfortunately, there were no miscellaneous deposits, just the usual withdrawals.

We forged on to Nelson Bay to Dave & Bev’s finding them looking fit and well.  Their apartment was lovely, huge and had an enormous verandah that overlooked the bay.  We had our own bedroom and bathroom, what luxury.  We so enjoyed seeing them again after three and a half months of no Friday night get-togethers. 

Dave and Jim got right into the cribbage and when we left it was six games all.  Jim just managed to catch up at the end after Dave had taken a sizable lead.  To be continued on the boat coming home.  Each morning they went for a swim in the ocean and played golf at Dave’s local club on Thursday morning.  Bev and I went for walks, toured the shops, had coffee and did WiFi at the coffee shop.  Everyone knows Bev in Nelson Bay and everywhere we went they were welcoming her back.  It is a very friendly little town and we understood why they like to winter here, even if they hadn’t come to see their “kids”. 

Every evening we were treated to a myriad of birds in the large trees outside.  There were Australian magpies, rainbow lorikeets, sulphur crested cockatoos in such numbers the cacophany was deafening at times.  They would even visit us on the balcony.

Jim, Dave & Bev at Robert's

The little church at Robert's where Stephen & Jaunita were married

Bev & Barbara

The Restaurant at Robert's Winery

Bev waiting for lunch

Dave doing the same

The Living Room at the Cottage, Roberts

The Dining Room at the Cottage, Robert's

Spoonbill on the Pond

Dave & Jim battling at Cribbage

Sunset from the Balcony at Dave & Bev's

View over Nelson Bay from the balcony

Lorikeets in the tree outside Dave & Bev's

Roos on the course at Nelson Bay Golf Club

Barbara, Dave, Bev and Jim having Valentine's Dinner 

On Wednesday they took us to the Hunter Valley, Australia’s very famous wine region.  The valley is very beautiful with exquisite vineyards.  We were going to stop at one for lunch and unbelievably at 1:30pm, on a Wednesday, the restaurant was completely full and it was not small.  Carrying on we found a sign for Robert’s and Bev immediately recognized it as the place where their son and daughter-in-law, Stephen and Jaunita, were married.  Luckily, they made room for us and we had a wonderful lunch accompanied by a fine glass of wine from the valley.  The buildings are very old with lots of antiques and the grounds magnificent.  It was like stepping back in time.  After being rejuvenated we travelled a short distance to the Hunter Valley Gardens.  Unfortunately, we did not have sufficient time to visit the gardens but we were able to tour around the quaint little shops.  We then made our way back to the apartment where Bev cooked us a lovely dinner.

Thursday was Valentine’s Day and Dave and Jim treated us to a lovely meal at the Golf Club.  The food was scrumptious and we had a wonderful table by the window enabling us to watch the Roos roaming through the course.  It is quite different from the Elk or Deer in Canada.

Sadly, Friday morning came around too quickly and we had to bid our farewells and drive onwards to Coff’s Harbour.

See you in April Dave & Bev……………………..