Day 70 Port Macquarie

Ahhhh...no theme parks today and guess what...The kids slept in until 0630.  No amount of wishing is going to keep that boy in bed.  We had him up until nearly 10pm last night.  Oh well, at least he got his journal up to date.  
We eased ourselves into a nice relaxing day at Port Macquarie with plans only to go to lunch with family.  Lisa decided she wanted to go for a walk around the waterfront in the morning, and the kids wanted to go as well, so they departed whilst I took care of the blog, and prepared the car to put up the back row of seats.

In the end, we all met up at Aunt Gabby's house to have a quiet morning.  We spent a little time catching up on the Olympic results overnight, and the kids did some beading necklaces which kept them occupied for almost an hour. 

 Ashley brought his work of art over for our inspection, and held it up by one end of the string.  The beads all unceremoniously slid down the string and spread themselves lovingly across the floor.  Ashley was kept


busy for a while longer picking them up and replicating his master piece before tying off the ends and presenting it to us again for inspection.  He even offered to sell it to us for $7 million dollars, but we bartered him down to 20 cents before he gave up on selling it. I thought that was a pretty good savings to be honest.

From the look of the photos, the walk would have been quite pleasant.  Rowan didn't even fall off his scooter, although he did manage to break it.  (The scooter, that is) 

We were to meet up with Edith and Zsolt for a small luncheon at their house, but took some time out to have a look at the Port Macquarie sights during daylight hours on the way.  Everywhere you look around the coastline here is quite stunning and very picturesque.  I can see why Gabby has chosen to spend time here.

Our sightseeing trip took us around the coastline to the lighthouse at Tacking Point.

It was extremely blustery up on Tacking Point, but it was hard not to look out to the roiling seas and see a thousand oil paintings all at once.  There is a very serene beauty (Feel the serenity) to the beaches with the rocky cliffs and white sands stretching away.  The surf was way too big to be practical for swimming, but I imagine that is more a seasonal thing, and that the water could be much smoother without the 40 knot on shore gale blowing.

We left the beach for warmer surrounds, and landed at Edith and Zsolt's house for lunch.  As you can see, there was a small, yet delicious spread of food.  The pork fell apart whilst I was carving it, and Ashley was bragging that he had eaten 3 (Full breast) chicken schnitzels.

Not only was the food amazing, but it was lovely to catch up with family that I have not seen since 1982.  I think we have all changed a bit in that time, but we felt very welcome and had a lovely afternoon.

Gabby spoilt the kids and put on birthday cakes for the numerous recent uncelebrated birthdays, and we retired from the table way too full to move too much.



Edith and Zsolt spoilt our kids rotten with beautiful stuffed bears in police and cowboy / cowgirl uniforms, which they absolutely adored.   

Love this picture of the munchkins with Gabby and their Great Nan, Edith.  For all the grief they give me, some days you just can't help but feel proud of your kids and how they conduct themselves. 



All good things have to come to an end though and we were hopeful to show the kids the Koala Hospital whilst we were here, so we gathered ourselves, and waddled out to the car to keep going.

I hope I can claim to be a Great Uncle some day, but here are our three with their Great Uncle Zsolt.  We had a really fantastic time and thank you and Edith for your hospitality.



Our short drive to the Koala Hospital was a bit fruitless, as we arrived with only a few minutes to spare before closing.  We were able to walk around the pens outside though and were able to see a couple of the little guys snoozing in their trees. 

Gabby came back to our caravan later in the day, and we sat chatting and laughing over special coffees and Chocolate Liqueurs. 

Onwards to Sydney tomorrow, but it was lovely to see familiar faces.