The Birds are Hungry!

We discovered the joys of feeding the birds today.  The rainbow lorikeets were particularly hungry!

Visitors to Umina

We have had a wonderful flow of visitors since we arrived in Umina.

Drew and Soph came down for the day:

Morgan and Hiraina drove all the way from Canberra to Umina to see us:

And Bushy came up and even stayed the night at the park to stay an extra day. 

This allowed him to share his specialist bush skills in Boomerang craft...

And jumping pillow entertainment...

Catch up in Sydney

We took a day on Sunday to drive to Sydney for a catch up with Justin's aunty Robbie, and his cousin Matt and Shirin, and their two boys.  It was lovely to see them all again.  The last time I had seen Matt and Shirin was at my wedding so we are going back a way now!

Drew, Soph and the kids came down too so we all went for a walk to the local park via the local lagoon..

Boys + Water + Sticks + Mud = Lifelong friendship...

Justin's other cousin Angus and his girlfriend Wendy also came in the afternoon but I forgot to take a photo.  DARN!!

A Tough Life at Umina

Well, Julia told us this was a great park and SHE WAS RIGHT!!  The kids have declared this as the best park ever!!!!

To be honest, it was always going to be a winner when we are camping with friends:

But the actual park is amazing.  We are between the splash park (yes that is Justin about to get drowned):

And one of the two jumping pillows:

It even has games room:

 Complete with Sega Rally!

And the beach is just on the other side of the jumping pillow..

And if the caravan park gets boring, we can always take our kids on their bikes 200m down the road:

To the mulitple parks, skate park, BMX track and footy oval down the road:

And if we want to take it easy, there are a huge number of ducks wandering around the park which provide endless entertainment (when they aren't having a time out under our clothesline!).

Wangi Wangi

We had a great catch up with the Wangi Wangi branch of the family, and fortunately Drew was still in town when we arrived.  To make it even better, Bushy came to visit while we were there as well.

As always happens at family gatherings, the older members of the family chat...

While the younger members discover (or demonstrate) the true joy that is XBox...

We were also lucky enough to have a ride in 'Blue', a local icon!

Nabiac

On the way south we passed via Nabiac where Noel and Dorothy (Nana and Pop) ran the Post Office and the switchboard for a few years.  So we found it and had a photo!

Matt & Gill

We went to visit Matt and Gill in South West Rocks. 

We rocked up on a Monday and they took the afternoon off and entertained us instead!  Matt and Patrick went out on the boat on a fishing trip with Justin and Jack.

Gill took Cooper, Lachlan and I on a tour of South West Rocks, and we spent the afternoon on the beach and climbing the rocks.

Then a BBQ for dinner.

Then it was time for a good, old-fashioned selfie!

Iluka

We went to visit Mark, Judy and Gabs at Iluka for a few nights.  It was lovely to catch up, and such a welcoming household.  It was great.

Unfortunately I didn't manage to take a photo of us and them.  So annoying!!  But I do have photos of the kids at the beach.  We had a lovely time watching the sea bird, making sandcastles and tunnels, and fossiking in the rockpools.

Visit to Movie World

Morgan and Hiraina came with us on our visit to Movie World.  It was a fun day.

I even went on a rollercoaster!

And there were loads of photo opportunities.

Morgan and Hiraina come to visit

We were all very excited to have Morgan and Hiraina come to holiday with us on the Gold Coast.

The arrived on the evening after our fire engine experience and were able to introduce Hiraina to the glory of caravaning - eating basic meals outside.

The following day we went to visit Nana and Pop.

And after lunch at the Surf Club near Rainbow Beach, then finished with pizza tea at Morgan and Hiraina's appartment overlooking the beach.  Gorgeous.

Fire Engines!!

We had a visit to the RAAF Amberley Fire training base and were allowed to see and have a ride in the fire trucks there.  It was absolutely amazing.

They gave the kids some appropriate safety gear:

And then they were each given a tour in the fire truck and allowed to shoot both the water cannons (the red one on the roof and the red one on the bonnet) using the joystick control.  It was awesome!!