Umina getaway

After a hectic Christmas we took off up the coast to Umina, which is only about 1 1/2 hours north of Sydney, but feels like it's a world away. We've been holidaying up there since we were kids, originally camping at the local caravan park and then when Mum & Dad built the house, we upgraded. For those that haven't been to the house, it's basically a house built on poles. For most people it would seem like a big tree house and until we discovered on this trip that the big tree growing next to the house had mysteriously died, it pretty much felt like it was built in a tree as well. The house vibrates with every movement and there's no way anyone could sneak up on you, you can feel it in the house the minute someone walks onto the walkway.


We tend to forget how high the house is and it's only when we take new people up there, that we realise that it can be a little bit freaky to start with. Annette was a little anxious to start with, but I think like most people, after a while, you stop noticing the distance to the ground and just enjoy the view. This is a photo of a King Parrot that decided to visit us on the balcony. The native birds are abundant up here and we will often get visits on the balcony during the morning or evening. We even have bush turkeys running around along the driveway.

We took everyone for a walk to Mt Ettalong look-out. This is one of my favourite places up there. You can see 180o views of the coast. The view in the photo is of Pearl Beach, Lion Island and Pittwater. The other side of Pittwater is 'Summer Bay'.

There are a lot of places to just 'chill' at. We had to have the legendary Fish & Chips at Patonga, the mandatory shopping trip to Erina Fair during the post Christmas sales and dinner down at the Umina Bowlo. This photo of Maeghan was taken while we hung out at the beach while Derrick & his parents walked around the rocks to Pearl Beach and back.