Elaine's Birthday and a Long Long Weekend!

Twas Elaine's birthday on Sunday, and I'm sure she won't mind me broadcasting it was her 50th!  Still got all her teeth, a bit of a spring chicken really!

We had all sorts of plans for her 50th - as in big parties, hiring out a big house for a week, having a party on a nice boat etc. but in the end she said what I would really like would just the 2 of us to go away with the dogs!

So that was it ... a quick search on the internet and I found a lovely small converted barn on the south coast in a little town called Berry.  We decided to go down on Friday morning and come back to Sydney on Monday morning.

Berry is about 2.5 hours south of Sydney; it is a lovely little town surrounded by very green hills, the reason being  they have a fair bit of rain down there!

On the drive down we pass a lovely little beach with a railway station right next to it and the name of this place.....Bombo  (who we happened to name our dog, after the said place !)

Bombo railway station

When we arrived on Friday we decided to go for an 'explore' around the property but I ended up sliding down a hill in the mud so we had to go back to base to clean up!  On cleaning up my shoes, Elaine discovered a leach - which promptly disappeared - so we didn't think too much more about it and set off to the town to have a look !  On driving down the road, I felt a squelch between my toes and stopped the car, only to find two leaches in between my toes !  Elaine had never encountered leaches before and was (vocally !) horrified !  She then found a leach in her shoe and later in the day we found one in Bombo's mouth - poor puppy !  They seemed to disappear after those few appearances but they were enough to put Elaine off walking in the grass around the property again !

Anyway, I digress ... it just so happened that Friday and Saturday were the dates for the annual Berry show.  Country shows are .......click here for the best explanation.  I must add that it had been pissing down for the previous week, it stopped on Friday but it was very boggy and muddy ... we have always wondered how our little white boys would cope with muddy towpaths, but after battling the Berry bog we realized that they will be fine!

Big Bull

I really enjoy watching the wood chopping events, it is amazing how the old boys generally win, this chap was in his 60s and he was on the biggest handicap of his group!

60 plus woodchopper

This truck is the RM Williams mobile outfitters, the trailer opens out to become a fully functioning shop.   RM Williams is the iconic bush outfitter supplying quality Australian products, but unfortunately more and more of the products are Made in China :-(

RM Williams Semi Trailer (Artic)

The truck is amazing, the paintwork and chrome are absolutely spotless, the truck travels all over Australia to various country shows for 11 months of the year!  Elaine bought a nice top and I bought a shirt.



The Truck is a Western Star



The sun came out for the rest of the weekend so we took the dogs down to the beach which was 10 ks away.  Dogs are banned from all Sydney beaches but in the sticks they are a bit more tolerant, they are still supposed to be on a leash but as there was hardly anyone around - we thought 'sod it' !



Chasing on the beach

They go absolutely mad down the beach they just love it ...

Sam going full pelt

Bombo never chases sticks when we take him to the park but get him down the beach he goes mental for one ...

Just chuck the stick !

   

Me and the boys !



 Elaine's Birthday was on Sunday but we thought we would go to a nice restaurant on Saturday night.We went to the Post House which was the old Berry Post Office ...



Berry Old Post Office

We both ate and drank  too much but it was a good night!

 

Outside the old Post Office (Posthouse resturant)

The rest of the weekend we just walked around and went to the beach again plus we vegged out back at the Barn ...



Such happy boys !!

The Old Barn



We drove back to Sydney via through Kangaroo Valley which was also very very green ...

Kangaroo Valley 

We also went out for a late lunch when we got back to Sydney - we went to the Cottage Point Inn  which was very nice plus we sat outside with the dogs.

On the way back home we took the shortcut through Kuringai National Park which obviously dogs are banned from - but we weren't even allowed to drive through with the dogs in the car - the Ranger turned us around!!! Welcome back to Sydney!!!