Family fun in the sun ...

Dad and Rob in charge of the BBQ

On Friday evening, I headed to Canberra to join Dad and Carla in celebrating the end of their time in Canberra with an epic BBQ marathon (11 hours of eating and drinking) on Saturday.  My brother, Rob, joined us from Melbourne as well.  We were super lucky with the weather and Saturday was just perfect for sitting in the sun (well, in the shade for many of us) and enjoying Dad's BBQ skills - the self-proclaimed BBQ King - with a few drinks.  It was sad to say goodbye, not knowing when I might see them again.

Even BBQing in the rain!

Rob explores the rocks in Sydney Harbour

Rob and I caught the train bus back to Sydney, which was a more comfortable experience than we had anticipated, since we were expecting to be on the train.  Yesterday, we went kayaking in the Sydney Harbour, which was my Christmas present to Rob.  We spent four hours on the water altogether, exploring a few of the little beaches around Manly.

Q Station beach

Waterfall on one of the tiny beaches

Our first stop was the Q Station beach where the old Quarantine Station is housed.  This is where diseased immigrants had to remain until they were cleared and able to enter society in Sydney.  We had a look around the small (and fascinating) museum before heading back out onto the water.  Our favourite beach was Store Beach with its long, empty expanse of white sand and warm, clear water.  We stopped here for quite some time, eating our picnic lunch, swimming and napping in the shade of the nearby trees (a beach with shade is my kind of beach!).

Heading into Store Beach

Relaxing on Store Beach

The second part of Rob's Christmas present is a Stand Up Paddling lesson tomorrow afternoon.  Photos to follow.  Tomorrow, I'll get back to the Tassie adventures.  Have a good week everyone!

Happy Christmas Rob!

Heading back into Manly