As my last week in Australia counts down, I am relishing the opportunity to spend time with some very important people – my family.

As has been tradition over the past 17 odd years, my parents and various extensions of the family convene for an annual holiday in Boambee Bay, near Coffs Harbour on the north coast of New South Wales. While work commitments have usually precluded me from joining this event, I am elated to have the time now to partake before I head offshore again. It is especially nice to be able to spend some valuable holiday time not only with my parents, but also my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It’s all too easy to forget sometimes how valuable something as simple as ‘time’ can be and that regardless of how busy life gets, you never want to regret missing out on these opportunities. So I am grateful for both the time and the opportunity right now.

There is plenty to keep us amused here, between tennis, fishing (also pre-requisite ‘yabby-ing’ beforehand for bait – for those not familiar with this pastime, see the pics below),  golf, paddle-boarding, canoeing, bbqs, running on the beach and lazing by the pool. Am hoping for some diving later in the week (at one of Australia’s top rated sites – Fish Rock Cave), but after the recent weather in Australia the dive shops have been confined to dry land. Nevertheless, I am on standby with the possibility it will be a go by Thursday.

Foodwise, I have to also highlight the Fredo’s Famous Pie shop we called into on the commute to Boambee Bay – while I am no stranger to the good ol’ aussie meat pie, this was a new experience with every weird and wonderful flavor of pie you could imagine. Their signature pie is ‘crocodile’ however you can also enjoy other aussie delicacies such as kangaroo and emu (yes we eat our coat of arms), as well as the more exotic flavours such as chilli beef, lasagna, beef stroganoff , thai chilli pork, macaroni and cheese etc.  I settled on ‘beef beer and chilli’ (three of my favourite things) and was not disappointed. This was followed by a childhood classic dessert (and still one of my favourite ice-creams ever), the ‘Golden Gaytime’. Mmmmm am in Aussie food heaven.

something for everyone – even good selection of vegetarian pies…

one of my favourite ice-creams!

my first try at standup paddleboarding – doing ok… managed to stay dry!

Dad paddle boarding

on the hunt for yabbies

the contraption for extracting yabbies

our catch of yabbies

low tide….

Mum and Dad in the canoe – no room for me so I had to swim….