Ray of Light

Shoal Bay at Easter, NSW, Australia

At just after 6am on a very Good Friday, 5 figures left the Lane in cars. They had packed tents, sleeping accessories and plenty of food, drinks and object d'amusement.

After some early morning coffee’s they were fired up and blasting along the highway North of Sydney. The intrepid travellers made good time beating a lot of Easter weekend traffic, and arrived in Shoal Bay, Port Stephens; home to several family resort bays and a campsite, that they would call a home away from home for the next few days.

I decided to give the guys a good lesson in tent erecting, and knowing how easy it is to put up a tent, to show off I put mine up from the inside out! There wasn’t much faith in me, but I made it work :P With inflatable mattresses pumped, sheets and pillows in, it was time to fire up the BBQ and kick back for the long weekend. After lunch we took a trip around the area to Nelsons Bay where the boys bought fishing gear; they swore they would catch bigger fish than each other…

We got back to the campsite and then headed off to a recommended fishing spot, of course, I was happy hooking in the pictures rather than fishes. As Aaron and Jarrad practiced their skills, I was off snapping the landscape as much as I could. The sky was overcast and I figured the shots would look pretty crappy, but I still managed a few nice ones… at least according to the back of my camera.

Meanwhile A & J were ramping up their big to catch *something, and so had moved from a rocky point to ankle deep beach water. Aaron flanked out left, while Jazz decided the tactic would be best formed fishing in the open wash. A few beers on, a shout! I turned my head to see Jazz yoinking in a marine animal of some description. As it rose from the water, it became apparent it was a Ray. Jazz plonked him down on the wet washed sand and referred to his “Fishing for Dummies” book, as to whether it was legal to catch them or not… I never did find out the outcome, but we eventually got the hook from it’ mouth and threw him back in. Despite another couple of fish trips, that little fella was as much as the Chambers managed to bring in that weekend. Into the night and another BBQ with beers finished us off nicely.

Saturday welcomed us in with some rain, which set a tone for a very slow day. The sun eventually came out and we made it down to the beach for a swim. The night led us out to the local sports bar place, where we threw some cash in to the “WWTBAM” machine, and won nothing.

Inevitably, the JagerMeister came out when we got back to the camp site, and so it really wasn’t a surprise that the drinking games came out – I blame Em and Lauren to be honest, they just wanted to see the guys in pain. I also got to experience ‘Chew’ a delicacy Aaron had brought back with him from India. It was just plain WRONG. But hella funny all the same.

Easter Sunday rolled in Egg-stravagent style. After we played a game of throw the giant oversized easter-egg until someone (Em) drops it, we headed off to the sand Dunes to rip it up on Quad Bikes! The surprise package was little Macca who cained the living daylights out of her bike to beat all and sundry in a race around our freshly invented sandy circuit!

On the way back from the Quad biking, the bumpy 4x4 tour bus took us by Tin City; a small town made of, well you guessed already. I figured I should mention it in here, even though it wasn’t really that interesting…

The 5 of us spent the afternoon recovering from the mornings excitement in different ways, myself and Lozza heading over to Finkle Bay for a wander about. The Sun set on a thoroughly enjoyable Easter Sunday right before we headed out for a delish fish and chips meal.

Monday morning came the time for us to take out place in a queue of traffic stretching from Port Stephens to Sydney… and so it was, our Easter weekend, over for another year. I wonder if after last years Southern highlands adventures, and this years Northern adventures, if I’ll be West or East next Easter?

*Anything