A weekend in Port Stephens

Just for the heck of it, we decided we needed a weekend away. It’s good to have a break every now and then, even if we are retired!

We headed off up the F3 on Friday afternoon, and got to Nelson Bay around 3:30pm, to pick up the keys to our accommodation for the weekend. It turned out to be a quite nice 3 bedroom place, right on the water at Corlette. We could sit in the lounge room and look out at the water and the boats – a relaxing view.

We got unpacked just in time to watch the sun set.

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, and windy, with quite a chill in the air. So we rugged up and went for a walk along the beach.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, reading, watching the world go by, before the Smiths (friends from Maitland) arrived in time for afternoon tea. More relaxing, but this time accompanied with catching up with the Smiths, before heading out for tea in Nelson Bay.

For anyone wanting somewhere to eat in Nelson Bay, the Rock Lobster at d’Albora Marina is worth a try, as long as you don’t order the chicken (Les was less than happy with his meal, but when the waitress noticed and asked what he thought, and Les told her, it resulted in him getting his dessert for free!). One thing, though – expect to pay Sydney prices for the meals.

We said farewell to the Smiths on Sunday morning, then spent the rest of the day doing pretty much the same as we did on Saturday – walks (in the other direction, and admiring the “sculpture”)

reading, playing Rummiking (Les won), and waiting for yet another lovely sunset.

Monday morning, just for a change, we went for a walk. But this time we challenged ourselves to walk to the top of Tomaree Headland. Part of the way up there are some gun emplacements from WWII.

We kept walking all the way to the top of the headland. It was steep and tough going for us old folk. But the view was worth it.

We even saw a whale! (No photo, as it was too far away.)

After our exertion in the morning, it was back to relaxing in the afternoon.

Tuesday morning dawned bright and clear again, but unfortunately it was the end of our weekend away. Driving back into the Sydney traffic, we could feel all the hectic pace of living in the city, and are looking forward to our holiday in August.

Joy's Weekend in Melbourne

A Girly weekend and a bit of pampering – gotta love it!

My friend Cathy and I (this is Joy) headed down to Melbourne to visit our long-time friends Sally and Sandy. The aims of the weekend were to catch up with what has been going on in everyone’s lives, eat good food, drink good wine, and help Cathy use the generous gift she received for her birthday last year – some pampering at the day spa at the Sebel in Yarra Valley.

The weather wasn’t that nice, but who cares when you are in a day spa!  The atmosphere in the day spa was very quiet and relaxing – I don’t think we were their usual style of guests!

Just a bit too exuberant.

This is us all ready for our treatments.

We each had a foot and hand treatment, and a lovely facial. Cathy was very generous to ask us to share her gift with her. We were all relaxed, with lovely silky smooth skin at the end. I don’t have any “after” photos, so you’ll just have to believe me.

After the day spa, we had to find somewhere to eat. Word had it that the Abbotsford Convent in Collingwood had food, and nice gardens to wander around.

Are we supposed to be mature? Or just old?

Sally did a good job of looking after the “good food and good wine” part of the weekend. We pretty easily cleaned up any food put in front of us.

Another aim for the weekend was to introduce me to the wonders of scrapbooking. I had been resisting for some time, as I felt I already had enough crafting obsessions. But in spite of myself, I quite enjoyed it – just as well I’m retired so I have the time to do all these things.

Cathy and I got back to Sydney having had a lovely and enjoyable weekend.