The Big Catch-up!

Last school holidays we took a trip up to Port Macquarie to visit some dear friends. They had moved up to this lovely spot back in January and this holiday with them was much anticipated, especially by Bridget who missed her little friend Molly. On the first morning we took the girls to a local play centre because we thought they would enjoy some fairy time. I love this photo (thanks Leah and Nigel)

Port Macqaurie is such a great place to take the family for a holiday! Who knew?? We didn't! Now we do. We loved it and had a great time. Wish we could have stayed longer.
For those of you who haven't been there; there are some great walks you can take along the water and also in bushland close to the coast. The above photo shows Bridget and Rob sitting along the rock wall on the Port. For what seems like kilometres are these large rocks at the top of the Port wall beside the cement path and they have all been painted. Some by individuals. Some by families. Some are commemorative, some celebrating love. Bridget had her first decent bike ride on her new bike which was wonderful...except for when she fell off and then refused to get back on again. Granted she was very tired but still I wish she was a little less......fragile. *sigh* but anyway.

It was also the holiday where Bridget got to go to the beach for the first time. The evening before this photo was taken, I think when we were on our way back from the rack wall walk, we decided to just pop down to one of the beaches for a look. Bridget was SO excited. She thought the waves coming in were awesome and managed to get herself totally wet (picture two 3 year olds running around the car park starkers) so I was pretty keen to get her down to the beach the next day in her swimmers proper. The above two photos are of Bridget and Molly sharing a quiet moment building a sand castle. They spent a bit of time collecting shells and trying to see the little crabs that were sunning themselves on rocks.

We also visited the Billabong Wildlife Park. It was fantastic for little kids! The girls loved it. There were great displays of reptiles and snakes, birds and little mammals. At the back of the park is a big open area where kangaroos and wallabies hop free and can interact with humans. The bigger kangaroos were enclosed but there were a lot of juvenile kangaroos and wallabies that were eating the grass or having a snooze. At the front desk you are able to buy a cup of food for them to be fed. I thought Bridget would balk at that but after seeing Molly having a go she dived right in. She loved it! I was so proud of her.

She also got to pat a koala!

We went on an evening cruise around the Port to watch dolphins. It was amazing and fun! We saw plenty of dolphins, drank wine and ate chips. The two big girls had a great time mucking about and eating cheezels. On the way back to the marina the pilot had to speed up quite a bit to allow a waiting ferry to come across. Bridget, Molly, Leah and I were up the very front on the prow holding on for dear life! The wind was whipping our faces and hair, we were catching a bit of water spray and Bridget was laughing and whooping her head off the whole time. She thought it was crazy! Little thrill seeker!

Elke had a great time too! The highlight of her trip was the cheezels LOL Afterwards we had fish and chips in the park near the marina and listened to the parrots chattering away, and watching the fruit bats fly out to feed for the night. It was lovely. Below is a picture of the two big girls having a swing. On a BIG swing! Molly was yelling "Higher higher" and Bridget was yelling "Stop stop!" hehe. So much for being a thrill seeker.

Little Elke didn't feature much in the photos but she had a fun holiday too. As always she was her happy self and was very easy going during the whole trip. Below is a photo of the happy traveller.

We will definitely be heading back to Port for another holiday next year, if Leah and Nigel will have us.

Cheers x