Patrick and Sophie's Birthday Celebration

 The annual celebration of Sophie and Patrick's birthday was delayed a little this year until after the exam season.  That way everyone could enjoy themselves.  Sophie produced a magnificent cake for the occasion.

This was one of the only occasions when we have had to deal with a little rain at this event, but Adam and Kate's organisational skills ensured it was short lived.

As usual it was a very relaxed event when we had a chance to catch up with the Altis family as well as our own.

Terry & Tricia Move In

 Terry and Tricia sold their house to move into a retirement unit.  It was a difficult decision for Tricia to leave her house but having finally moved they are looking forward to their new situation.

Their apartment is about 2km away from us and has only just been completed and some of the facilities are currently incomplete but they have a very comfortable three bedroom suite on the ground floor.  Their boxes arrived yesterday and so the unpacking has just started.

Even so, they were sufficiently organised to give us a cup of coffee.

Year End Approaches

 Jack has finished his exams as had Cooper so we attended the formal celebration with Lisa and Mark last night.  It was evident that everyone was looking forward to a more relaxed holiday period!

Windows Installed

 The heavy double glazed windows for the Lake House required a crane to move them into position.  The Operator had to bring her rig up from Melbourne to do the job.

Now the windows are in place, the waterproofing membrane has to be applied to the external walls.

The next task is to set up the solaar panels to charge the battery bank.

Lake House Gets Rooms

 While we were away and unable to supervise, Mark started on the internal walls of the Lake House.  The internal walls are now complete and await additional panels and plasterwork.

Heading Home

 We took the inland route up the Newell Highway on the way to Urunga but decided to take the quicker coastal route via Sydney on return.  The locals had warned us of the traps to avoid using the toll roads so the trip through Sydney was surprisingly rapid.  We stopped at Mittagong then headed for Wangaratta on the second night.  At a coffee stop we made a new friend, a Blue faced Honeyeater.

The Wangaratta Park on the banks of the Ovens River was large, green and quiet, perfect way to finish the journey.

Then less than 3 hours to get back home and unpack.

Bellingen

 Although it isn't Nimben, the area around Urunga has its share of hippies and there are a lot of them in Bellingen.  We happened to be in the area for the monthly Market Day and it was huge.  The town was packed and the Market was one of the biggest we have seen anywhere.

Although we did not find a lot to buy, it was a full workout getting around all the stalls so our recovery option was a delightful lunch in the town.

Around Camp

 A couple of major attractions of the local area are the Boardwalk to the river mouth and the Urunga wetlands.  The Boardwalk starts close to the Caravan Park and crosses some mangrove areas and leads to a lookout over the river mouth.

The wetlands are an area behind the coastal dunes reclaimed from a closed antimony mine that has become a refuge for waterbirds.

Local Lunches

 The area around Urunga is rich with delightful lunch spots.  So the important activity for the day was deciding on a lunch location. Valla Beach was just down the road and had a pharmacy/restaurant that was excellent.

At Nambucca, the Island Restaurant in the Golf Club did excellent lunches.

and we had a good look around Sawtell before an excellent meal in a street restaurant.  Sawtell has a wonderful streetscape that has developed over many years.  In 1950 this was the street.

The same street today looks like this.  The Moreton Bay figs are massive.