May 31-June1, South West Rocks & Port Stephens

As planned, we continued to head south to South West Rocks.  Shortly after we left Byron Bay, we came across The Macadamia Castle.  The girls were really excited to take a photo with the giant knight, so we quickly pulled in.  We enjoyed a breakfast of Carmel Macadamia Pancakes (stacked pancakes with macadamia ice cream, macadamia nuts & carmel drizzled over it all); Macadamia bread toasted with yogurt, fresh fruit and macadamia nuts; Canadian pancakes with bacon, sausage & maple syrup.  Yum!  The girls didn't choose to check out the play castle, petting zoo or the outdoor playground, so we continued down the Pacific Highway :)

Our next stop was at the Giant Banana at Coff's Harbour.  More photos and a chocolate banana muffin, frozen banana on a stick covered with chocolate & nuts & a banana blizzard later, we were on our way.  No time for the ice rink, playground or a banana plantation tour :)

We then chose to turn into Nambucca Heads where we bought some paint to leave our mark at the 'V Wall'.  The pier is lined with large stones where for years people have stopped to paint something on one of the stones.  We painted a Canadian flag with our last names, the year and Ont. Canada Eh!!!  and Joe's signature happy face.  We were all so glad we took the time to do it :)

We finally arrived at South West Rocks were we got out of the car and were almost deafened by the sound of the birds!  Courtney, who just loves birds...not!, had to record some of it so that everyone would see how brave she was.  I have never heard birds that loud before...even in a zoo!  We checked into our room at the Heritage House Bed & Breakfast.  Our hostess Trish was very nice, and we ate at the SeaBreezes Grill & Pub after enjoying another awesome sunset on a beach!

The girls then chose to watch 'Finding Nemo' (on VHS!) as it was set in Sydney (I had never noticed that before!)  That night, we were hit with an amazing wind and rain storm.  It rattled the windows and things were banging outside.  I heard it and was able to fall asleep again...I figured that the house we were in was built in 1867 and it has survived this many years, so we would be just fine.  In the morning as we drove to the Smoky Cape Lighthouse, we drove over many small branches in the aftermath of the storm.  

Our drive to Port Stephens was really quite uneventful although we drove through our first real rain since we've been here.  So far most of all the rain that has fallen has been at night.  When we arrived at Mitchell's Bed & Breakfast here at Soldier's Point, the sun was trying to come out, but the wind was still blowing pretty hard.  Anke & Tony are wonderful hosts that welcomed us with some loaf and tea.  Because of the choppy waters, we were not able to see any dolphins off of the deck.  Normally the waters here are home to hundreds of bottlenose dolphins which can normally be easily seen.  We went into Nelson Bay and walked around the shops a little and had some grilled fish and rotisserie chicken for dinner.  The evening was busy with showers, free wifi and Lina & Courtney enjoyed playing cards.

Tomorrow we are having a 7:30 am breakfast served by Anke, and then we head to Baulkham Hills when at 2, Brittany and her band will be performing for their second time this term.  I am so excited that we get to be here for it!!!  Pray that she is ready for it...since we hi-jacked her weeks' plans by showing up, she hasn't had a chance to practice in about 2 weeks.