Weekend Manoeuvres
29th November 2006
Putting the disappointment of a shambolic yet wholly predictable English Cricket performance behind us (was Harmison really the number 1 bowler in the world only 18 months ago?), we headed out of Sydney on Friday evening, north to the coastal town of Port Stephens.
We hired a car for the weekend, and after a shaky start (it’s been a while since either of us were behind a wheel!) we battled our way out of the city traffic and onto the freeway towards……Newcastle! Yep, the Aussies, not content with pinching the Tyne Bridge concept and claiming it as their own, have also ripped off the Toon itself, and tried to make it feel at home by surrounding it with other North Eastern Hotspots such as Wallsend, Morpeth, Jesmond and Stockton. Thankfully in a rare display of good taste they drew the line at throwing in a Sunderland. Port Stephens lies about 100km north of Newcastle, and was recommended to us by some of the locals as a nice spot for a weekend break.
We arrived at our digs late on Friday evening, and checked into our beach bungalow, located in a protected area of bush, just back from ‘one mile’ beach. The bush was home to a local Koala population (which unfortunately we managed to miss all weekend!) but more alarmingly huge spiders (we saw our first huntsman!) and snakes (which thankfully we managed to avoid all weekend!).
The following morning we made our second attempt of our time in Oz for a Champagne sunrise breakfast on the beach. Despite actually getting out of bed this time and making it onto the sand for 5am, we once again missed the sunrise (and kept the bubbly on ice) after realising that it was actually us on the menu in our shorts and T-shirts for the pesky mosquitoes. Third time lucky perhaps?
Our next activity was a trip down to Nelson Bay, in Port Stephens, to book onto a cruise of the bay. The sun was shining and the scenery was spectacular, with a huge Port (bigger than Sydney’s Port Jackson) of crystal clear water, which is home to over 150 bottlenose dolphins. Up until now, our previous attempts to view dolphins have been of limited success (with the exception of the pink river dolphins in Bolivia….which seems a long time ago!), but we finally hit the jackpot, and spent the next couple of hours or so cruising around the Port with pods of dolphins playing around in the wake of the boat!
In the afternoon we braved a walk in the heat up to a look out over the Port and surrounding beaches which afforded some cracking views, as well as the chance to meet some more of the locals, including a 1m long Iguana. After a fish and chip supper, we watched the final of the rugby league tri nations at the local boozer, before heading back to our bungalow with our wine box tucked under our arm (classy!). The plan was to sit out on our veranda and enjoy a couple of classes of vino, until we realised that a huge Huntsman spider had similar ideas. There was only going to be one winner, so we placed the wine in the fridge and tucked ourselves up for an early night (after checking all the seals on the windows and doors!).
Sunday morning we began the trip back to Sydney, via the Stockton Sand Dunes (which stretch for 30 miles). We hired some Quad bikes and spent the next hour or so, flying round like something out of Mad Max. Despite the safety briefing with scare stories about helicopter evacuations, we acted like complete idiots chasing each other up and down the dunes, which was great fun! Charlotte managed to show her usual level of balance and poise, on a par with a baby elephant on ice skates, and took the only tumble of the day. Thankfully she managed to show the presence of mind to hold the quad bike up the sand dune above her with her legs to prevent it tumbling down on top of her!
We returned to Sydney by mid afternoon, picked up Donny and Jen and headed straight back out for the final stage of the weekend activity, a trip to watch the princess of pop herself, Kylie! We headed up to Kings Cross for a couple of pre gig schooners before jumping on the train to Olympic Park, where the showgirl tour was taking place in one of the Sydney 2000 Olympic indoor venues. The show itself was spectacular with some great dancers (including Jen!) and all the theatrics you would expect from a true pop legend. All in all it was a great night, and the curtain came down on a fantastic weekend to the beautiful harmonies of ‘especially for you’, not a dry eye in the house!
Tags: Australia, Chile, Fiji
Chris and Charl
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