Lighthouse birthday treat

In which G takes T on a mystery tour for her birthday.

He said we were going away for 2 days.
He said it wasn't very far.
He said we would eat out!
And we would go walking.

So here is where we ended up -

Well, not actually in the lighthouse, 'cus that is in use, but in the lovely lighthouse keepers' cottage just a little bit down the hill, but still with spectacular views.

From the back of the cottage we could see this -
(which possibly also includes our house!)

and from the front we could see this -

The next day we were lucky enough to have a tour of the lighthouse with our breakfast chef extraordinaire and host Pat.

Then we walked.
There is a 10 km track through the bush to the gaol at Trial Bay but we just did part of it.
It is a lovely walk, a bit steep going down the track to Green Island lookout but well worth it.

You can see our house from here!

Food-wise it was a mixed bag.
Breakfasts in the B & B were amazing - Whisk and Pin muesli, huge fruit platter and yoghurt, followed by eggs, tomato and toast.
I thought I was going to explode!
We didn't need lunch, but we did manage to fit in late afternoon nibbles and champagne.
Dissappointingly the Boatshed at South West Rocks is closed and no-one knows why.
Being a Wednesday in off-season not much else was open, only the pub and that was, you know....pubby.

Anyway, it was the most special, wonderfully surprising couple of days and I think that G is the bestest person in the world for organising it.

Cycling and sculptures

In which we combine lunch for two birthdays, getting some exercise and finding our sculpture for the garden.

We met our friends P & D down near the boatshed on the river at The Rocks (South West Rocks).
Unfortunately the rather pleasant cafe down there has closed. Don't know why.
But we pedalled out along the breakwater -

 where we could see our destination at the other end of the bay -

It's such a great view from the park in South West Rocks.
Some hardy souls were enjoying the water!

We had lunch at the lovely kiosk at Trial Bay which is perched on the hill overlooking the campground with a glimpse of the bay.
"Kiosk" doesn't really do it justice! It is a very comfortable restaurant.
It is highly recommended if you are ever in the area.

The nearby old gaol is a superb setting for sculptures.

As I said we have been looking for "something" for the front of the house, something sculptural, something unique, hopefully something handcrafted.
Would we find it here?

Aha! You'll have to wait and see!

There are also works by the local schools, which were set in some of the cells.

This was my favorite and got my vote -

These pieces were inspired by the inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci.
Love them!

The Rocks - as we call it around here!

If you live in Sydney then The Rocks is THE Rocks, so we were a little confused when we heard people around these talking about going to The Rocks for something - turns out they mean South West Rocks.
Now we are locals we can say The Rocks and know that we only have to drive about 40 mins to get there.
There is much to recommend The Rocks - a very nice cafe down by the river (The Boatshed), lovely north-facing beaches, Horseshoe Bay which is perfect safe swimming for kids, another lovely cafe overlooking Horseshoe Bay (Malt & Honey), and a more than reasonable Thai restaurant (Thai on the Rocks), it has a cinema (The Roxy, of course), and there is camping right on Horseshoe Bay.
I'm sure we'll discover more of its charms in the weeks to come but this is for starters.