Look what we found in the old family photo albums at Jenny's

Visiting family is always an adventure. Sometimes it is awkward, but it is always worth it. One of my favorite things is looking through old photo albums. Jenny had a bunch, and she was excited to look through them as well. Some of these photos she hadn't seen in years and each one has a grand story behind it.

This is..... FIONA! Yes. 40 years ago, just a little younger than Cam and Cat and Rov now. This is on board the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner, the vessel she took from Australia to the UK. She was the ship's doctor. She had just completed medical school and was enroute to the UK for a residency/fellowship. She hadn't moved to the US yet. You can see where Cam, Cat, and Rov get some of their distinctive features from:

Wait. Is that a young Fiona holding a time-transported Baby Ada in her lap??!! No. That would be impossible, silly. That is Fiona holding ROVIANNE in her lap. Adorable!

If you have spent enough time with Fiona you will have heard about her old Lotus Élan. Well here it is, in all its glory, with Fiona proudly posing and looking quite elegant. Is this where she got her racecar driver habits from?

Here is Fiona and her brother Simon, riding bikes in Ashland, Oregon during a visit to Auntie Allison:

Before Rovianne was even a year old, she was brought to the mother country (Australia) and presented to the family. She was a super cute kid!

Ever wonder where Ada got her name? Well here she is: great grandmother Ada. Fiona's mother Ida's mother. Here she is with her husband:

Staying with Auntie Jenny in Sydney

Jenny is Fiona's eldest sibling. She is a total character and was really fun to spend time with. Here she is on the couch, fully engaged in conversation with Cam:

Here is the front door. Sort of a jungle opening. Jenny splits her time between this place in the Annandale neighborhood  of Sydney and a place "in the bush" in Barraba, NSW. Barraba is a 6 hour drive from Sydney:

I told you already that Jenny is a character. Now you get a sense of why/how. This is the ladder up to her room (where she sleeps) in the attic. Yes, in her mid 70s, she swiftly climbs the ladder like a fireman and comes down elegantly as well:

Getting the tour of the kitchen:

I spy a few tea kettles. A very Leigh kitchen:

Bullfighting poster leaning against the piano in the living room:

Jenny's son Bart lives in the Annandale house as well. He is a very bright and funny guy. We stayed up late talking about Australian politics, culture, and our life dreams and aspirations:

Jenny giving the tour of the back patio:

The toilet is outside on the patio. Now I get it:

Jenny raises sheep. She shears sheep for wool. She dies the wool. She spins the wool on her own spinning wheel. Then she weaves different objects and pieces of apparel. Then she sells those pieces at weekend markets where local and foreign hipsters buy her stuff like hotcakes. She is a vertically integrated wool baron! 

Here I am with a couple of her kettle warmers. Double fisting tea kettles. I am almost a pure blooded Aussie Leigh!

In keeping with her role as a 100% bonafide character, Jenny is part of a local uniformed brass band in Sydney. She plays the Cornett (a small trumpet). Here she is in full uniform. The night we arrived, she was playing in an outdoor concert a few miles away in Ryde, for their annual "Christmas carols on the lawn concert:"

Making our way to the concert venue:

This was not a small gathering. There were over a thousand people there:

Her band mates appeared to be characters as well:

Fairy floss is what Aussies call cotton candy:

This ice cream truck was pretty cool:

I enjoyed a few freshly baked donuts:

The band got up on stage as the sun set. They did a great job! They had non-uniformed singers in front of the brass band:

We had a great time visiting Jenny and Bart in Sydney. We hope to see them in te US soon...

Elizabeth Bay and Cellito

Still one day away from Sydney

on our southbound journey from Byron, we pulled into an area called "The Lakes Way." Just south of the sleepy retirement town of Forster, this area feels untouched and very uncrowded. As you drive south, you'll have a pristine lake on your right and an empty beach on your left. 

Just north of the town of Pacific Palms, we pulled into Elizabeth Bay and this was the scene:

Only a couple guys out. But it was a bit too small for us, so we went and checked out Boomerang beach, another killer setup with tons of potential.

After that, we went to a really secluded, hard to get to beach that Graham told us to check: Cellito Beach. At the end of an unmarked, unnamed dirt road, Cellito is a local's secret spot. On a big south swell, it's lefthand point break lights up. Unfortunately, it wasn't working for us:

Cellito beach is gorgeous, and empty:

Cam walked around the corner from the point, trying to see if there was a hidden righthander on that side. Alas, all there was were some beautiful rocks and tide pools:

This little stretch of coast was really special. I'd go back in a heartbeat. Just plug "Pacific Palms" into your GPS and go. Then take some time to check each of the many beautiful beaches!

Wild animal park outside of Sydney

We had a little time to kill before we had to drop off our campervan. We saw a roadside sign for the Australia Reptile Park and exited the highway.

We didn't know what to expect. Would it be cheesy and small?

We ended up being pleasantly surprised. It was the perfect stop to kill 90 minutes:

Here is a massive crocodile:

This is a desert monitor. It was about 5 feet long, and was walking all over his pen and sticking his tongue out like a snake. These animals live it the deserts of Queensland and Western Australia:

Big beautiful hooded chameleon:

Green tree python just hanging out in his branch:

King cobra. Not found in Aus, but it is a beautiful animal anyways. Little known fact: they only eat other snakes. You can put a live rat in the cage and it won't eat it. Put another snake in there and it is all over:

My favorite Aussie snake- the Death Adder. These things look so mean:

The snake with the most aggressive reputation in Australia is the Taipan. They don't just hold their ground and hiss. They sprint towards you and lunge. And their venom is one of the strongest in the world. They live in the sugarcane fields of Queensland:

Cam got to pet a big iguana. Check the tongue action:

They had more than just reptiles. The koalas were awesome. Very cute and apparently docile. They just napped in the trees the whole time we were there:

Up close with a kookaburra:

Kangaroo just wandering the park grounds. You can pet them if you want:

Galapagos tortoise:

Tasmanian devil, acting very un-devilish. Actually looked like a cute little bugger as he rolled around in the wood chips:

A dingo! These wild dogs were brought by the aborigines from Papua New Guinea some 10,000 years ago:

If I remember correctly this is called a yellow footed Wallaby. Really cool looking animal that is endangered and only found in a very small part of the Australian outback:

Here are more of those wallabies with a big cockatiel in the tree behind them:

Once a day they feed the alligators. They feed them kangaroo meat, and it is quite a show. Check the open jaws:

Crescent Head: So. Much. Potential.

400 yard righthand point breaks breaking over small river rock boulders and hard pack sand essentially describes most surfers' idea of heaven. This is the kind if wave Crescent Head is. Check this vintage surf magazine with Crescent Head gracing the cover. So epic:

Now look at the choppy, flat, onshore slop we got. We never even paddled out. But the moon and sky are nice, right?

The really cool thing is that the campervan park is literally right at the surf spot. This was taken from the tailgate of our van! Imagine how stoked you would be to stay in the park for a three day swell!!!!!!!!

Here I am, flipped 180 degrees, showing the van in all of its glory. Cam is working her magic on the veggie stir fry:

On our way to Crescent Head we pulled over to take a photo of some kangaroos. This is what the road looked like. We could live here quite easily:

Our mighty campervan, poised for action: