Port Stephens Holiday
A very unsuccessful attempt to organise a getaway trip for a long weekend was redeemed by the occurence of yet another long weekend in the space of two weeks, this time only the priviledged few get to enjoy it. Yes I speak of a public holiday created purely for the reason of a company Picnic Day, of which I have been told nobody attends, and probably doesn't exist. I don't really care, because I embrace every single holiday I can get my hands on.
Friday Night Movie: Howl's Moving Castle - Rated PG Scary Scenes
Being a newly-converted Japanese animaniac this year, I couldn't resist from watching this anime at an absolutely shocker price of $3. Directed by the same director for Spirited Away, this film boasts of dramatic, romantic and transporting visions. It's quite comical as well. But I must admit I was confused at some stage of the show and have yet to resolve that state of mind.
Sat-Sun Getaway
Destination: Port Stephens
In just under four hours, we reached Port Stephens with our first stop at a winery. We then proceeded to look for our accommodation, with grave fears bubbling inside as we drove along Thurlow Avenue. Some of the buildings looked pretty run down, others looked too posh for our single night stay at Nelson Bay.
My doubts were quickly extinguished as I stepped into our fully furnished two-storey apartment, with windows overlooking the sea, surround sound system encompassing the whole open plan living area, main bedroom with toilet ensuite, and this is the best part: Copies of pirated dvds and music cds with a little note stuck inside - "If you like this cd after watching/listening to it, feel free to take it. Just leave a $5 note under the dvd player when you leave." The landlord is Malaysian.
After lunch and a delicious sticky date pudding dessert, we visited a few beaches in Nelson Bay and realised soon enough that many of the beaches here are short in length. One was aptly named "Little Beach".
In the evening, we went sea kayaking. Strangely, my yellow boat had trouble moving as fast as I hoped it would be, with the other two kayaks racing ahead of me. My friend who was at the back seat was also scratching his head in confusion. Maybe we were using the wrong technique. Oh well, we'll get to our destination, slowly but surely, while enjoying the scenaries around us. We arrived at a small beachy stop after 45 minutes of kayaking, which was long enough as my arms and upper back were already aching. A nice drink of champagne by the sea was beautifully enjoyed with the presence of dolphins swimming near the rocks. We then kayaked back, letting the currents float us back most of the time. Just before we reached the mouth of the marine bay, another pair of dolphins appeared very close of us. At this point, I was trying to dolphin-talk. Not a good idea. =]
Kayaking out to sea
The champagne's all mine!
Soon it was dinner time and we wanted to dine in a highly-publicised Italian seafood restaurant. Unfortunately we were turned away by a snobbish waitress who said the restaurant only took bookings. I didn't mind the restaurant's policy, just that the waitress didn't have to put on an arrogant attitude. Thankfully, we went to another Italian place which was just as good. I had the most delicious veal steak, topped with smoked salmon, prawns and a special Brandy cream sauce. Brilliant!
The night had just begun, with the mahjong pieces in action, followed by chor dai di (Big 2). I was the biggest loser, drinking up shots of red wine followed by gallons of water. Grrrrrr! No pictures allowed here!
Surprisingly, all of us woke up by 8am the next day. Big breakfast was on the menu - bacon and eggs. We thought the kitchen had oil but we were wrong. It didn't matter in the end - frying the bacon oozed out enough oil to cook the eggs. We then took a nice relaxing stroll along the beach near our apartment. The overcast sky didn't look too promising at this time and we were hopeful to ride our sand buggies later in the arvo.
After playing beach soccer
We later found out that the quad bike outdoor activity was an all-weather affair, with bright yellow raincoats provided to keep us dry and happy. It's amazing how much sand and sand dunes there were as we rode our quad bikes up and down the sand hills, accelerating as much as we can to get the thrill. There were occassional hiccups where some of us decided to be naughty and got off-track, eventually getting stuck in the sand and needed rescue. Another too cleverly manouvered his bike and flipped over, with the 220kgs vehicle pressing on to his ribs and neck as it rolled over. Hopefully there's nothing serious there. And I had the most trouble with my quad bike, stalling all the time because I keep forgetting to continously press the accelerator when I stopped. I must say, we had the most fuss and trouble, and there were just the four of us, plus the tour guide.
My rebellious Quad Bike
The photo that needed "directing" four times. Finally it was "CUT" with an excellent photo
As we made our long journey back home, we were very happy with our holiday, albeit short, but enjoyed thoroughly. A dinner stopover for nasi lemak at Paramatta made everything complete.
Friday Night Movie: Howl's Moving Castle - Rated PG Scary Scenes
Being a newly-converted Japanese animaniac this year, I couldn't resist from watching this anime at an absolutely shocker price of $3. Directed by the same director for Spirited Away, this film boasts of dramatic, romantic and transporting visions. It's quite comical as well. But I must admit I was confused at some stage of the show and have yet to resolve that state of mind.
Sat-Sun Getaway
Destination: Port Stephens
In just under four hours, we reached Port Stephens with our first stop at a winery. We then proceeded to look for our accommodation, with grave fears bubbling inside as we drove along Thurlow Avenue. Some of the buildings looked pretty run down, others looked too posh for our single night stay at Nelson Bay.
My doubts were quickly extinguished as I stepped into our fully furnished two-storey apartment, with windows overlooking the sea, surround sound system encompassing the whole open plan living area, main bedroom with toilet ensuite, and this is the best part: Copies of pirated dvds and music cds with a little note stuck inside - "If you like this cd after watching/listening to it, feel free to take it. Just leave a $5 note under the dvd player when you leave." The landlord is Malaysian.
After lunch and a delicious sticky date pudding dessert, we visited a few beaches in Nelson Bay and realised soon enough that many of the beaches here are short in length. One was aptly named "Little Beach".
In the evening, we went sea kayaking. Strangely, my yellow boat had trouble moving as fast as I hoped it would be, with the other two kayaks racing ahead of me. My friend who was at the back seat was also scratching his head in confusion. Maybe we were using the wrong technique. Oh well, we'll get to our destination, slowly but surely, while enjoying the scenaries around us. We arrived at a small beachy stop after 45 minutes of kayaking, which was long enough as my arms and upper back were already aching. A nice drink of champagne by the sea was beautifully enjoyed with the presence of dolphins swimming near the rocks. We then kayaked back, letting the currents float us back most of the time. Just before we reached the mouth of the marine bay, another pair of dolphins appeared very close of us. At this point, I was trying to dolphin-talk. Not a good idea. =]
Kayaking out to sea
The champagne's all mine!
Soon it was dinner time and we wanted to dine in a highly-publicised Italian seafood restaurant. Unfortunately we were turned away by a snobbish waitress who said the restaurant only took bookings. I didn't mind the restaurant's policy, just that the waitress didn't have to put on an arrogant attitude. Thankfully, we went to another Italian place which was just as good. I had the most delicious veal steak, topped with smoked salmon, prawns and a special Brandy cream sauce. Brilliant!
The night had just begun, with the mahjong pieces in action, followed by chor dai di (Big 2). I was the biggest loser, drinking up shots of red wine followed by gallons of water. Grrrrrr! No pictures allowed here!
Surprisingly, all of us woke up by 8am the next day. Big breakfast was on the menu - bacon and eggs. We thought the kitchen had oil but we were wrong. It didn't matter in the end - frying the bacon oozed out enough oil to cook the eggs. We then took a nice relaxing stroll along the beach near our apartment. The overcast sky didn't look too promising at this time and we were hopeful to ride our sand buggies later in the arvo.
After playing beach soccer
We later found out that the quad bike outdoor activity was an all-weather affair, with bright yellow raincoats provided to keep us dry and happy. It's amazing how much sand and sand dunes there were as we rode our quad bikes up and down the sand hills, accelerating as much as we can to get the thrill. There were occassional hiccups where some of us decided to be naughty and got off-track, eventually getting stuck in the sand and needed rescue. Another too cleverly manouvered his bike and flipped over, with the 220kgs vehicle pressing on to his ribs and neck as it rolled over. Hopefully there's nothing serious there. And I had the most trouble with my quad bike, stalling all the time because I keep forgetting to continously press the accelerator when I stopped. I must say, we had the most fuss and trouble, and there were just the four of us, plus the tour guide.
My rebellious Quad Bike
The photo that needed "directing" four times. Finally it was "CUT" with an excellent photo
As we made our long journey back home, we were very happy with our holiday, albeit short, but enjoyed thoroughly. A dinner stopover for nasi lemak at Paramatta made everything complete.
my lil' fingers typed this @ 2:29 PM Wolly time
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