Berry Wet Again...Mostly

Yup, grey skies and rain everywhere. Didn't matter where we went. This was Gerringong.

I will keep today's post brief because we really didn't do much...

Back to Berry to buy more sugary treats was the first order of the day. This was followed by a brief trip to Gerringong. It was then time to retreat back to the house for lunch and to watch the cricket. Of course, this was the time that the weather remembered that it was actually summer in Australia! The sun made a guest appearance but by then the troops were settled and no one would move...

Dinner was at The Hills at Gerringong. Simple good food with great views. It was at least a lovely finish to our time Shoalhaven Heads. Onwards and southwards tomorrow! With more rain predicted...

Our first stop. It was at least indoors

Some of our loot

The Hills

The boys happy to have their own corner

Everything looks better with blue skies!

Berry Wet

The skies remained heavily overcast, however the rain held off after breakfast. We forced ourselves out the door to squeeze in a short walk. The walking apps suggested that the walk would be brief but the paths continued beyond their description. We weren't sure what the tide was doing but figured we must be there at the right time because we were able to walk around the end of the river just short of its entrance into the sea. This temporary land bar between the mainland and Comerong Island was a breeding ground for all sorts of local sea birds. It wasn't quite a minefield because we weren't the ones in danger, but we were still careful about not stomping in the wrong spot.

Change of scenery from the beach

Yes. We did it. We got to the end of the 1km track.

Bird sanctuary

Bird prints

Google says this is searocket. We think it was one of the "locally foraged leaves" we ate for dinner at Bangalay the other day...

Right on cue, the rain started at around lunch time. We settled in for pies and sausage rolls at home, with an afternoon of boardgames with the cricket in the background. We attempted to browse Berry in the late afternoon but it was just too wet. Dinner was at the Hungry Monkey before we called it quits for the day.

Berry wet...

Lolly purchases

Happy boy

Happy parents. $10 burger night! Bargain when there's 11 of you!! Yeah!

Southern fried chicken

When one is bored one buys ridiculous alcohol

A more serious purchase, quality tequila!

Time for more boardgames

Pocketful of Sunshine

Yes that is blue sky! And yes that is my mother on the phone 😂 social life doesn't stop just because you're on the beach!

The rain was predicted to pause today. As this may be our only beach day, we packed all our beachly possessions on to our poor little wagon and set it to work. Seven Mile Beach was a stone's throw away, and we managed to get everyone there before 9 am to enjoy the lack of rain and relatively warm temperatures. To our delight, the sun even made a few appearances! At one point, one may even say that it was too hot. Geez there was no pleasing this mob...But have no fear! We had in our trusty little wagon one of many lockdown purchases. The very handy Cool Cabana Beach shade was awesome. It was easy to set up, stable and kept the grandparents happy. 

The children kept themselves busy in the sand and surf. Boogie boards were put to good use both down the steep sand banks as well as in the water. The cricket set, as well as various other balls were also played with. After 3 hours at the beach, the sun was still out! We decided to have a quick simple lunch of pies from the local bakery and make our way to the river side of Shoalhaven Heads. This time, the kayaks from the Ong's rental house were put to good use, along with our fishing gear. Alas, no fish were caught.

Go little wagon go!

Cool Cabana. An awesome lockdown online purchase!

Sunglasses = sun!

Happy boys!

Seven Mile Beach - unfortunately a lot of erosion due to weather :(

Time for river activities!

And he's off with rod and bait ready

The non-water, sudoku puzzling crew

By mid afternoon, tiredness started to creep in and it was time to head home for a quick rest before Christian's birthday dinner at Bangalay Dining, a higher end dining venue which focused on native and local ingredients. The food wasn't too bad but the service was SLOW. They were obviously short staffed. We were the first to arrive and the last to leave! By the time we left, the sky was rumbling with hints of the predicted storms. Let's hope we do get some more rain reprieves in the coming days. Otherwise we will be watching test cricket which isn't a bad alternative wet weather activity!

Murray cod in Nasturtium flower, our favourite dish. Back left - smoked crocodile. Back right - cucumber with goat's cheese and pepperberry

Emu tartar

Oma and Opa still happy!

On The Road Again

Another trip, another covid-19 update...

Previously, ...on "Albany Trips Derailed By Covid"...we had our Queensland trip cut short due to an outbreak in NSW. Fast forward 6 months to today, the NSW delta variant outbreak had spread to Victoria and ACT, thousands have been infected, hundreds have unfortunately died, but as a result, we now have an excellent vaccination rate in Australia and the country has abandoned a covid-zero strategy. However, states within Australia have been fragmented, with tensions high between "Covid' states and those who have been "covid free". International borders are open to Australians in half the country but we are still unable to travel freely within Australia. In short, the country is a mess. And just when you think you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, enter Omicron! Curse you new variant...

We had cancelled our December trip to Singapore and Thailand in the face of so much uncertainty and so we find ourselves on the road again exploring the great state of NSW. Curse you Delta. Lara now can't come because her piano exam had to be rescheduled thanks to an unvaccinated child submitting a false vaccine certificate. Curse you covidiots. Hopefully, our planned trip to South Australia to watch the test cricket between England and Australia won't be affected by a nervous South Australian government. Fingers crossed...

It felt rather odd leaving Lara behind in the morning, but she seemed happy and relaxed with Moose and so off we went, for our traditional McDonald's breakfast on the road. We didn't quite manage to follow through on the "leave before light" tradition, due to too many Christmas parties on the day before! It was an achievement to have packed, load the car and tidy the house by 8:30am! We didn't quite bring the whole house this time around but somehow still managed to bring a lot of STUFF!!

Our first stop, to buy MORE stuff. Specifically, we had to buy more remotes for the Nintendo switch, as it was one of our rainy day contingencies, and the chance of rain was very high. Curse you La Nina. With the most important "to-do" of the day ticked off, we made our way to visit my Uncle Andrew near Wollongong. It has been a while since we have seen him, and the first time since his diagnosis of bowel cancer in June. Curse you cancer! My parents had driven down earlier to spend more time with them and deliver them Indonesian food from Sydney. 

It was great to see Oom Andrew in good spirits and good physical health. It was also nice to have Tante Chiko cook us Japanese food. Yum! We scoffed down our lunch, sipped and learnt about hojicha, and enjoyed apple pie biscuits from Coles. Can't get better than that!

Visiting Oom Andrew and Tante Chiko 

Along with my parents, we continued our drive down towards Shoalhaven Heads. We last came in winter and thought it would be a good place to return to in the summer. Fortunately, we had booked a house on Stayz well before the heated local accommodation booking craze, and the resulting price hikes. The rental was comfortable, had enough space for the extended family, looked as advertised, and was close to the accommodation of our friends, the Ongs. Elliot and Jonah made a bee-line for the skate park as soon as we arrived, making the most of the break in the rain.

Loving our new wagon! Courtesy of Nana and Grandpa. Awesome big wheels, great manoeuvrability, and takes 100kg!

Simple but clean and modern

Big backyard with fire pit. Moose would have loved it.

Excellent local skate park

We dined with the Ongs at their holiday rental on local fish and chips. The adults had wine and rocky road, the kids had nintendo time, and all was well with the world. We had to make the best of the situation. The forecast, unfortunately, for the upcoming days was rain, rain and more rain. For good measure, throw in a bit of cold, and then just to make sure...more rain. It was rather a shame, as we were right by Seven Mile Beach, a most beautiful and long stretch of beach. After a few messages to Lara to make sure she was ok, we settled in and called it a day.

Where Is The Rain?

We were beginning to think that the weather was deliberately teasing us. The bureau of meteorology had been predicted a severe storm now for days. We decided to graciously accept our good fortune and wandered back down to Seven Mile Beach. A morning stroll and another geocaching attempt were in order. 

As it was the last day of our mini break, the rest of the day was spent chilling with our own choice of activity ranging from reading, watching a movie, playing Nintendo and travel planning for trips that are unlikely to ever happen. 

Our last treat was dinner at Bangalay Dining, the onsite restaurant. The menu was inspired and influenced by Australian "bush tucker". We thoroughly enjoyed it. It certainly was a great way to end our time at Shoalhaven. By the time we finished dinner, the promised storm finally came. The temperature plummeted accompanied by strong winds and rain.

Glorious winter's day to be at the beach

Look at all the blue! Lara helping Jonah roll up his pants. In case you were wondering, they didn't stay dry for long

Evidence of the overnight rain

Now that we're no longer newbs, we find everything!

Inspecting the treasure

Of all things to choose, they chose to watch "IT"

Spanner crab with apple fennel blackened blood lime

Beef short rib, red cabbage, shiitake and pepperberry

Sourdough, burnt butter, buttermilk and golden raisin

Still Waiting For The Rain

The very scenic Butter Factory where we had lunch

Once again it rained overnight and once again, the sun was shining when we woke up. So once again there was no sunrise photo attempt...moving on! 

Today was "geocaching take 2" day at the Grotto Walk and this time, we had extra troops in the form of the Berlees. Fortunately for us, they were well versed in the art of geocaching. And this time...success! Not just once but twice! As we logged our successful find, we just hoped that the previous geocaching party was NOT from Victoria. I just thought I'd mention that even though the camera and the tripod haven't made any appearances this trip, they did get an excursion being carried all around Nowra.

Descending into the lower Grotto walk

How can we fail with 9 people looking for a box?!

Success!

Would you have spotted it?

We signed our names and lamented the lack of mini hand sanitisers to leave behind

The gang of 9 moved on to lunch at The Butter Factory. The restaurant was quaint and the setting scenic, but the service was very slow and the food only average. The rest of the day was spent back at the villa. We played boardgames until the Berlees had to leave at dinner time with only two rounds to go. We all just assumed that our plans would've led to ultimate victory. Our own dinner consisted of Chinese takeaway from the local shops. It was surprisingly decent! And once again on cue, the rains came in the dark...

Strawberry cider. Not that good. That's what you get for ordering a girly drink!

Squid ink linguine with prawns and mussels

The redeeming dish. Lemon panna cotta with raspberry jelly

Handwipes - the new boardgaming essential