Kristy's Clip 2

Beautiful Anna Bay

From grapevines and mountains to beaches and sand dunes.  What a contrast.  We settled into beautiful Birubi Beach in Port Stephens.  So many of my friends had told me about this little piece of paradise but it has seriously taken my breath away.  Some things need to be seen to be truly appreciated.  Morning runs along the cliffs of Anna Bay with the sun warming my back, ahhhh almost enough to get me back into training for the marathon.

There’s so much to do here and the kids have just loved it.  To my gal pals at home I’ll let you know that I’ve ticked off one of those bucket list activities that I told you about.  Keep reading and all will be revealed (yes I took photos). 

After setting up the van we took a stroll down to the beach.  You wouldn’t believe that the beach was just 300m away and there’s a skate park on the edge of the beach.  As we wandered along the foreshore we came upon a cemetery.  Seriously, a cemetery with million dollar views of the cliffs and the oceans.  So you can get million dollar beach views but it will cost you your life. 



The view from the cemetary



We got back to the van and Chris suggested that we go for a drive.  We headed down the road and Chris saw the sign 4wd beach access.  “Let’s give that a crack,” he says. “Alright but if it starts to get tricky we turn around Ok.  Remember we’ve never been 4w driving before”, I reply.  Sharp left off the main rd., whack it into 4wd and hit it! 100m in, we’re cruising, 200m in, too easy, 300m in, “Oh dear lord, hold on kids”.  We were all laughing hysterically as we bounce our way through the deep sand with me urging Chris to keep flooring it.  Finally we make it out onto the beach front and we get to cruise along the beach, smiles from ear to ear.  Up in the distance a 4wd pulls over, as we pass he pulls back in behind us and begins to follow.  We note that he mustn’t feel very confident and has decided to follow us for added comfort.  Chris’ quote of the trip at this point, “Don’t follow us ya dickhead.  We got bogged in our own paddock”.  In the distance we can see silhouettes of people running up sand dunes so we figure there must be a way to get up to the back of the dunes.  We take a right and head inland.  That’s when we come unstuck, or should I say stuck.  We contemplated going over a dune but could see that it was going to be a challenge.  Sure enough we hit the sandbank and stop.  Thankfully we were able to reverse out on full throttle.  We all jumped out of the car and head off into the sunset.  The next day we come back armed with surfboards and boogie boards.  With a little more confidence we got the car over the dune and the adventure began.  Check out the amazing photos.  Again, seeing is believing.

I had told a couple of the girls at home the intention to knock a few items off my bucket list while I’m away.  This week I got to do one of them.  As promised, photos are available.  Yes I faced all my insecurities, stripped off and …….. Swam in a tank full of sharks.  It was amazing.  For all of you who think I’m foolish let me explain my rationale.  You see, I went in with my entire family.  I figured if the sharks were really hungry they’d eat the biggest person, bye bye Chris.  If they were a little peckish then they’d go for the smallest one, see ya later Taj. I figured I was pretty safe!  So straight into the big tank we went.  The big sharks were so relaxed and calm it was just beautiful.  Then I went into the small sting ray tank and had my toes nibbled on causing hysterical laughter and snorting.  Finally I got into the mixed tank with the 300kg sting ray, the Port Jacksons, Reef sharks, Banjo sharks and many many more.  It was amazing.  The sting ray was utterly intimidating, she kept swimming up to Taj and I and pushing on our legs to get us to loose balance.  Later when I got to feed her she pinned Ry, Tamsyn am I to the wall while trying to eat food off our tummies.  It was in this tank that the inevitable happened, a shark bit me on the butt.  Sadly it didn’t take a big enough bite; I’ll need to keep running to stay in my jeans!


Floating smorgesboard





I’m surprised as I write this to think that I got all this and more done in one week.  Funny enough it doesn’t end there.  Today we headed off to the Toboggan Park.  It was a morning of fun and giggles as all of us tried to catch Tamsyn on the toboggans.  She had one mission, get down fast.  Apparently the way to do that is to not use your break at all.  She flew at break-neck speed (seriously has anyone started taking bets on our first hospital visit). Ry, as usual was conservative while Taj tried to roll his by swinging it up to the sides.

Our final adventure at Port Stephens was to take a cruise out on the bay looking for dolphins.  Although the weather has been beautiful this week a strong gusty wind has chopped up the bay in a big way.  Chris rang the tour operator this morning explaining that we have a child who tends to get sea sck, “No worries mate.  It’s very calm in the bay”, was the operators reply.  If that’s his idea of calm it would take a tsunami to get him to rate it as choppy.  We board the boat with 40 Japanese tourists (not really the seafaring type). The tour operator brings on board a yummy box of fresh fish and chips for all the Japanese people (possibly not the best food for a boat trip) and set off in the hope of spotting some bottle nose dolphins.  45 minutes in and there’s 7 people on the floor holding their heads.  Every additional 5 minutes sees another tourist lay down on the floor.  Then the vomiting starts.  They’re vomiting on the carpet, in the toilet, off the side, off the back, it was hilarious.  Looking at my kids I felt a little proud, yeah I have kids with iron guts, kids who can stomach anything.  Then I think, mmmmm, where’s Chris.  Down the stairs he comes with Taj and they make a beeline for the couch, “Arghhh, just move, I’ve gotta lie down”, moaned my hulk tinged husband.  “Me too”, groans Taj.  So that’s the end of my bragging.  At that moment the captain announced that the dolphins were surfacing at the front of the boat.  With that, Tamsyn, Ry and I skip to the front of the boat for an unobscured view of the 7 majestic dolphins.  Taj was then tempted to come and watch, providing an instant cure to his sea sickness.  Chris on the other hand remained on the couch until the boat docked.