A Well Deserved Holiday - Avalon Beach, NSW

Greetings all,

Okay, so I'm going to give blogging a go again.  My posts will probably evolve into a different style as I'll mainly be posting shorter 'episodes' from my iPad.  One of the main reasons I stopped blogging was that it was just so time consuming.  It would take me a full day just to choose the pics, re-size them, upload them, caption them and then write the actual text for the blog.  So I went over to Facebook because it was just quicker to upload pics on the go.  I'm trying to find a way to post to the blog which will be something in between.  Meatier than Facebook, but probably a lot less in-depth than my previous posts.  Please bear with me while I find my blogging feet again. 

Scott and I hadn't been on a relaxing holiday lasting more than a few days since 2006!  We were in desperate need of a little R&R to recharge our batteries.  Canberra had 2 long weekends in a row, so by taking just 4 days' leave, we ended up with a great 10 day break.  I booked us into a great little apartment in Avalon village - just a couple of beaches north of our beloved Mona Vale in Sydney.

Besides a spectacular lunch in the Sydney Tower, we didn't do any classic style Mupersan Adventuring.  This really was just a relaxing break with plenty of reading, lazy lunches, some surfing, tanning, more reading, afternoon naps, leisurely dinners, sleeping late....  The weather wasn't great, but that didn't stop up doing what we needed to do - just chill out for 10 days.

Heading out early Saturday morning for Sydney with Scott's new mini-mal (somewhere between a sml board & a long board) surfboard.

Stunning sunrise over Lake George on our way out of Canberra

We stopped at a great little bakery in Gouldburn for brekkie.  No more service station stops on our way to and from Sydney - this place is way better!  Even a warm fire for those chilly mornings.

Delicious sushi at Rainbow Sushi in Mona Vale - couldn't take a trip up there without a few stops here!

An afternoon nanna nap on the couch

Avalon Beach in the morning.

Lunch at the Chelsea Tea House in Avalon - awesome spot!

Reading at Avalon Beach

The apartment had this tiny little braai - yes it's charcoal-driven! We picked up some great boerewors at the butcher in St Ives and snacked on it for days.  Here's Mr Smokey Robinson himself!

We were so lucky to have our friend from the Gold Coast, Kerry, join us for a night.  Kerry & Scott playing with one of the locals on Mona Vale beach.

Kerry & I at the Newport Arms for a couple of cold ones.

Kerry & Scott at Avalon beach for sundowners - even though we're on the East Coast and the sun sets behind us....  Any excuse!

Pure indulgence at The Cupcake Bakery in Sydney.

Lunch at 360 Bar & Dining in the Sydney Tower - yip, a revolving restaurant at around 300m above the city.

The food was superb!  My tuna starter

Kerry's chicken liver pate.

Scott's goat curd - sounds odd, but it was absolutely divine!

 The views were truly spectacular!

The conversation lively!

Even the bathrooms were amazing!!!

 Me with a camera in my hands & waves splashing over the tidal pool wall - an irresistible combination for Scott!

Totally soaked!  But look at that grin...  

 Scott was given this awesome surfboard by friends who run The ACT Rugby Union Club (affectionately known as The RUC).  This was his first time out at Palm Beach.

 And he's up!!!!

VERY happy Scott!

The people next to us at the beach had our board's big brother.

 And Scott couldn't do anything fun without an injury....  1 x broken toe!  This actually looks quite good - it went a very ugly purple colour.

Chilling out at Avalon's South headland

Morning coffee at the beach

 Absolutely beautiful!

Great shot Scott!

 Rugby World Cup quarter final - Wallabies v Boks.  Newport Arms - the perfect setting for a nail biting game.  Great outcome though!

 We were joined Ange and Michael for the Kiwi v Argentina game.

Simply stunning!