Went to Salamander Bay with the family for a sort of long weekend, we took the motorbike up and stayed at the Oaks Pacific Blue Resort which was really cool.
We stayed in a 3 bedroom townhouse which had a private plunge pool although the entire resort was surrounded by a man made lagoon with little spas and beaches around it, we’d highly recommend staying there if you ever go up near Port Stephens.
We also hung out at the beach and found an awesome beach with dogs that chewy would have loved.
The place was really very comfortable, it had laundry stuff so we could wash our towels during the day. Me and Andy got the bedroom with the TV and balcony which was nice.
We had buffet dinner there the first night which wasn’t as nice as it should have been because they stopped making food while we were there and we had to keep asking for stuff and the dessert was all gone by the time we got to it. Word to the wise, never arrive late to a buffet.
We took Putty Road on the way home which had heaps of motorbike danger signs, it’s nice and windy so it’s popular with the bike hoons. Thanks goes to Mala and Andrew for the awesome short break from work (and working on the house).
1 Comments:
pics look awesome guys!!! we should go there again. and somewhere else for dinner =p
We were invited down to Terrigal recently to stay at a beach house with Simmy, Jonathon and some of their friends (including Eric from Ruse and Angela who works near where I do – small world!) Angela and Simmy were the organisers and the house they picked was pretty flash with a great kitchen, nice big TVs and plenty of beds.
The traffic wasn’t too bad – the drive down was far too short, it’s only an hour or so away from Syd but that’s perfect for a short trip.
Fun was had by all on the beach (Simmy and co made a…mountain!? with a…moat??) and in the town, mini golf in Mingara, Tumbi Umbi was great even when it started raining at the end and the pizza place we went to was delish. Hopefully we’ll get some pics from the mini golf later.
Me and Andy (mostly Andy) made chicken schnitzel one night but we were under a lot of pressure to measure up to the other gourmet meals the others had made earlier! Speaking of which, Simmy and Jonathon’s Japanese Takoyaki balls were very nicely done. The mini-trip ended annoyingly when the car was bombed while we slept with flour and eggs. The gloop was really tough to remove as it had baked on pretty hard in the sun. Tip: use the pan from a plastic dust pan to scrape it off.
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It would have been nice to stay for longer as we were having a lot of fun (even with the people we’d never met before! Those of you that know how socially awkward me and Andy are will be amazed by this) but yeah we had to get back for the Fernando Family Christmas Party and help prepare. Stay tuned for pics of the Christmas festivities and possibly New Years pics if we remember to take them.
~Andy and Smily
2 Comments:
Wow that looks like a great little break. I’m jealous. All I have been doing lately is working working and more working.
Hey I wanna see a pic of where you put your chrissy present!
Have a great new year,
love and miss ya MWAH
Day 3 was all about the relaxing, we spent some time hanging out at the pool, playing chess and table tennis and in the evening we all sat around the balcony area and had some wine and a chat. I tried horse riding while Andy did who knows what. Unfortunately the guy me Amila, Khris and Malisha went canooeing with last trip wasn’t around this year.
Day 4 was our last day at our favourite hotel. Heritance Kandalama was by far the best hotel we’d been to, it was beautifully designed, the service was exceptional and the food was exquisite. We drove to the nearby Dambulla cave temple ruins and hung out with the monkeys while we looked at ancient carvings of Bhuddas commisioned by various kings of the past. When we got back to the hotel we relaxed and then went on an elephant ride through the nearby lake. The pictures say it all. That night was another awesome buffet dinner, highlights include Andy wearing his stylish sarong.
Day 2 was a lovely day, we hung out at Kandalama during the morning and in the afternoon we set out to Sigiriya Rock also known as Lion Rock which we climbed . It’s supposedly 1000 steps to the top so me and Andy must’ve done 999. It was pretty tiring but well worth the views, on top and all around the rock are the ruins of an ancient palace complex, built during the reign of King Kasyapa (477 – 495 AD) and it is one of the 7 World Heritage Sites.Â
The history of Sigiriya Rock Fortress: King Kasyapa murdered his father King Dhatusena by walling him alive and then usurping the throne which rightfully belonged to his brother Mogallana. Mogallana fled to India to escape being assassinated by Kasyapa but vowed revenge. In India he raised an army with the intention of returning and retaking the throne of Sri Lanka which was rightfully his. Knowing the inevitable return of Mogallana, Kasyapa is said to have built his palace on the summit of Sigiriya as a fortress and pleasure palace. Mogallana finally arrived and declared war. During the battle Kasyapa’s armies abandoned him and he committed suicide by falling on his sword.
as promised,heres the first lotta pics! Edit: ok here is the latest set of pics, we’ve only managed to upload upto day 6, there’s about 12 more days to go up! We’ll send out an email once its all done.
The above pics are from day 1 where we hung out at the airport and drove a long way to Kandalama Hotel. We passed a lot of rural areas, we spent most of our time in the country hence the overly rural pics. Highlights along the way included watching the driver narrowly miss the crazy tut tuts (3 wheeled mini taxis) that seem hell bent on destruction, Andy noticed freshly made asbestos being transported on trucks and Sue (one of the sisters who joined us on the trip) pointed out the scarecrow like figures people put up to scare evil spirits away from newly built homes. For lunch we stopped by a nice little touristy rest house. Once we got to the hotel we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.
2 Comments:
Wow how cool, hope you are having fun. Andy, did you go horse riding? You havent done that in years!
Back from Ettalong Beach this morning after the Easter long weekend, we have fresh pictures to share! We drove up via the F3 just past Woy Woy to Ettalong where we stayed at the “Mantra”. It was a very posh kind of place that surprisingly didn’t have the best service we’d ever experienced despite being the most expensive place we’ve stayed. The breakfast buffet was good however (as all buffets are!)Â Andy still believes its an “eyesore”, you can make up your own minds:
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On the way there we stopped by at The Entrance (which was actually further away) and had an expensive prawn basket for lunch which we decided never to have again…
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Check out the latest map of where we’ve been here on Google My Maps.
While going for a walk along Pearl Beach which is a few minutes drive away from Ettalong Beach, me and Andy decided to kick it up a notch and have a Picnic on the beach. Get it?!?!
We also got to check out some pretty nice scenery while we drove around:
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We had a really nice Easter weekend, it all felt like a holiday while on holidays. Check out more photos on our Albums page. Seeya in the next post!
Well…it was a long drive to Berambing in the heart of the Blue Mountains but we finally made it just in time for Dean’s (Sumali’s boss) wedding to Brooke. The weather was nice, the chapel was small and cosy. It got nippy at times but the sun warmed us up nicely. Alfred (Sumali’s colleague) forgot to videotape the first part of the ceremony, if it wasn’t for Andy’s quick thinking Alfred would have missed the whole lot. The reception was nice, each table got a few cameras to take snaps of each other with and we got to draw other people at the reception on pieces of paper and other strange/fun things like that.
We stayed in a 3 bedroom townhouse which had a private plunge pool although the entire resort was surrounded by a man made lagoon with little spas and beaches around it, we’d highly recommend staying there if you ever go up near Port Stephens.
 
 
Yeah its good to take a short break every now and then if you can but soon you’ll be having a huge long one!
pics look awesome guys!!! we should go there again. and somewhere else for dinner =p
Comment by mal — September 28, 2009 @ 11:15 am