We decided that we had seen as much of Sydney as we wanted with Liam so we spent the morning cleaning up and having a look at Dee Why beach.
The drive up to Newcastle caused no problems. As usual we missed the turn off that our instructions told us about and had to approach Deb and Neil’s place from a slightly different direction.
No problems and we arrived mid afternoon. Good to see everyone, the kids have grown so much in 13 years (strange about this). Anika is working at the hospital as an ocupational therapist and Isaac is finishing school and working at Pizza Hut. We also met Anika’s boyfriend David, brave girl to introduce us straight away. (22 years later, Bruce realised that Anika married David).
The next day we went for a drive to Nelson Bay, Port Stephens and Fingal Bay. The area was quite magnificant and the weather was superb, as usual. Nelson Bay is a really pretty bay with what amounts to an island just off shore that is connected to the main land mass by a sand bar. You still get a small swell coming through the opening which would allow for a bit of surfing. Liam started off a bit cantacorous but improved as the day progressed.
On our last day in Newcastle, we went for a drive out to the Hunter Valley wine region to see how it compared to Margaret River. Strangely it was very similar except that it was even more commercialised, if that is possible. There were cheese factories and chocolate factories along with lots of restaurants. Many of the building were relatively new with a lot of on going development.
We tried some champagne at Hunters and then onto McWilliams before having lunch at Mount Pleasant. Debbie was enjoying the trip but Liam was pretty miserable, not exactly his idea of fun.
Neil hasn’t changed much and would have been happier riding his bike.
2025 Update
