The first of April is our wedding anniversary. Today is the day of our 27th wedding anniversary.
Jacinta and I, drove around our favourite spots in Terrigal and Wamberal and took selfies. It was heaps of fun! :)
We passed the main thoroughfare in Terrigal and smelled food. It smelt good so we stopped and had dinner and a few beers at the Crown Plaza Terrigal beer garden. The food and beers were great.
Back home, we opened up a bottle of Moet and watched our wedding video while eating chocolate.
This was john's first ride since his injury and he went well on the flats and eventually the small hill climbs.
It was a great morning with a few highlights :-
On peddling out on one of the piers there were seagulls and terns roosting on the railing all the way along. As we cycled along the pier, the seagulls flew off in a sort of formation to the left and the right. It looked pretty cool from my vantage point behind John.
We watched a teen girl doing all sorts of tricks on her bike in the bike park. Amazing to watch! She was so good but alas, the footage didn't turn out as I turned the go pro off rather than on. She said she had been practising for a few years and learned watching the older boys.
People saying hello and good morning as we cycled pass them.
Cycling along the piers. We met a young guy fishing at the end of one jetty. He had no luck fishing but he enjoyed the solitude and view.
A play in the two bike parks though I was wasn't near the young girls standard, I still had a good time and felt inspired to do better.
I checked a few beaches for a surf but the tide was low and at most beaches the waves were closing out.
I went to plan b which was a bike ride. I drove to Bouddi National Park and parked at the carpark at the top of Maitland Bay Drive.
I peddled in the direction of the Strom Lookout. The track was wide as it also is a rarely used service road.
On the left, I noticed a small track and followed it. It was windy and fun and a little damp from the recent rains. It ended at a culvert that ran beneath the road. Water was running out of the drain and into a small pool which flowed a short distance to a cascade over a sheer drop. I inched towards the edge but it was certainly an intimating drop. The mosquitoes at this stop were horrendous so I didn't stay long.
I back tracked and followed the main trail. I came across another track which meandered narrowly for a short distance before rejoining the trail. Half way along this track there was another track that lead downhill. I will have to try this one next time I'm here.
I followed the trail till the end then backtracked to the Strom lookout turnoff. This was a short track that ended in a fenced lookout area with a vista over Brisbane Water from Hardy's Bay to Ettalong.
A fun 2.84 km ride with side tracks and not fun mosquitoes.
The weather was cloudy with the possibility of rain.
I pick up John and we went to Avoca Lagoon for a kayak. john is currently recovering from a leg injury also. he dropped an angle grinder on his leg... pretty gruesome injury... anyway this was his first kayak for a long time.
It was very still on the lagoon and a very pleasant reflective kayak. A few birds around - peahens, egrets and ducks - but it was mainly the quietness that was so appealing. Spent a bit of time watching the fruit bat colony.
The return paddle was in light rain... pretty. 2.13 km.
John's leg was fine.
We had coffee at Terrigal Haven and I suggested a bike ride next!
Berowra Creek is about an hour drive from home, so hoping for a quiet start I drove off in the dark and reached Berowra by first light.
It took awhile to find a parking and launching place. The tide was low and there was a big drop from road to water and most of the access points were on private land. Luckily, I found a spot though it was very slippery on the rocks leading down to the water's edge.
I paddled past some small marinas and reached the Berowa Ferry. I had to wait till the ferry passed and the cables of the ferry were underwater before I could paddle past... no drama.
After a short distance, I paddled around a bend and there were no more boats or houses just mangroves and still reflective water.
The paddle was for 3 hours plus. The best parts were the small tributaries.
One was narrow and ended in a dripping waterfall. I wandered around carefully on the slippery rocks.
Another tributary went under a walking track bridge and ended when the water was too shallow for the kayak. I paddled back to the bridge and walked around the area and onto the bridge which was a part of the Great North Walk. There was a very pretty saltmarsh on one side of the creek that was dotted with spider webs on the top of the tall reeds.
Another tributary was bounded on one side by sheer cliffs with huge sandstone overhangs that overlapped the creek. One day they will fall but not today. Further along the creek, were some rock obstacles to paddle around with the creek finally ending for me in a tumbling spread of body size rocks. The sunlight was filtering through the trees and highlighted certain rocks and vegetation in the bushy area.
It was a hard 10 km kayak as I was paddling against the tides in both directions. Still, it wasn't that hard.
Checked the surf but it was messy and I thought looking elsewhere would be a waste of time,
chatted with a few friends at the beach and had coffee at the Terrigal Haven Beach.
Not much enthusiasm but cometh the late afternoon, I felt an urge for a bike ride.
Off to Kincumba Mountain for a ride.
I haven't been for a few weeks as I have been concentrating on improving my surfing so it was a hard going...muscles burning on the grinds, breathing like I was a bellow and sweating profusely... a fun ride :)
We watched a young guy surfing on what looked like close out waves to me but he just kept getting the most amazing barrels I've seen in a long time... a barrel master.
I drove over to Blue Bay looking for waves but it was crowded and getting more crowded.
It was a bit of a drive but over to Ocean Beach I went.
Amazing a lot of sand was gone from the beach. Usually, I walk down the sandy path to the beach but at the moment there is a very steep drop of about three metres to the beach proper.
The waves were small, about 1/2 metre but there was a nice right hand wave bank with one SUP on it.
The waves were fun and some went quite a distance with nice shape. There were heaps of waves to catch but eventually, the waves petered out to very small and in I went.
The last few days have been very wet so I didn't get a chance to do anything special.
The rain eased today and I took the opportunity to look around for some waves to surf. No luck with the surf but I did have a pleasant quiet walk along the beach at Toowoon Bay.
The sand was soft and wet, the waves broke lightly on the shore, the sun flickered across the ocean and all was quiet except the sound of the wind and waves breaking.
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