Saturday In Nelson Bay

Nelson Bay is a small town in the Port Stevens region of New South Wales. We found a yummy Thai restaurant Friday night and asked everyone who would talk to us, how we should spend our time. We started Saturday morning climbing Mount Tomaree in Tomaree National Park. I think we were the first Americans to reach the summit, that morning.
Here's a view of Zenith beach from above and

below.
The beaches aren't real popular in the winter, except with our inappropriately dressed children. Charlie was shouting at the water, "Enough!", then running after the receding waves. Ahh, to believe you have power...

We ate well on this trip, here the kids are trying some Australian Rattle Snake, the Starburst kind. Then, off to Red Ned's for some pie.

These are award winning savory pies, mind you. This is the open gourmet steak and potato - last one left by the time we got there. Charlie had a sausage roll and I went with a creamy prawn type. teak, potato, ham and cheese

Now we're slightly better prepared for the beach - Birubi beach, which is next to huge sand dunes, so, of course, there are camel tours. We passed on those but didn't resist the urge to try sand boarding. As I type, I'm sitting on a pillow to ease the pain of a bruised tail bone, but the three kiddos LOVED it. Even the little guy who masters waves carried his board up and down, up and down setting "world records".

I'm not sure the videos convey the wackiness of the the endeavor. Molly's face plant and "save face" jump at the end are impressive and Daniel was the dragon slayer, trying the tallest, steepest slope before anyone else.

After pizza (Aussie style with egg and ham) and a shower to get sand out of every crevice, the kids slept quite well and Mike and I tried to figure out the rules of AFL (Aussie Rules Football), or maybe it was Rugby, we're not sure. I am sure the announcers are not shy about insulting plays and players the don't like. Oh, and our accommodations (a 2 bedroom place we found on stayz.com, a version of VRBO) had a clothes drier, so we brought all our laundry with us and enjoyed the luxury of not needing clothes pins to get our socks dry :-).