Port Macquarie & Bonny Hills

Our last week of the trip is spent in Bonny Hills with Aunt Denise, Uncle Jim, and cousin Daniel. We finally packed up all our stuff at uncle Ian's house. He sent us off with a lovely bbq with friends, good food again, and we hop on the train. We have a lot of stuff. We are not really suprised. We spend a few evenings at the club, and on Saturday, we go to Port Macquarie to go Dragon Boating. A little back info: on our first train trip to Brisbane long ago, we meet Anne and Gail who have been Dragon Boat Racing for Breat Cancer during the Chinese New Year festivities. They tell us about racing and invite us to join them, when we are in the area. Three months later, we call Anne and ask if we can come check it out. They have training/practice runs at 6am, and a few times a week, the 8am run is for beginners. We are welcomed, armed with lifejackets and given oars and a brief lesson. We stretch, which is smart. A Dragon Boat has twenty people, a coach bangs a drumand keeps the rythm (during races) and a "sweep" at the back steering. Our coach does not have a drum as he is teaching all the new people like us what to do. Alison and I are sitting right near the front, and our buddies explain better techniques. We start slow, go faster and after a bit learn the sprint start. These ladies are hardcore, and awesome, and most of them tiny, tiny like I can fit them in my pocket. They saw we paddle well, or strong at least. We appreciate the compliments. I splash water on the woman in front of me a lot at first. We have a really wonderful time, and Anne takes us out for coffee afterwards. We meet Aunt Denise later in the evening for Champagne at the club with her friends and tell them all about how we are already starting to feel sore. Sunday we wake early to play golf with the Bonny Hills Golf Club with Aunt Denise and the ladies, we play three man ambrose, like leapfrog taking the best shot of the players. I like golf like this, and suprisingly turn out to be not a bad player. Unfortunately this is not the case for Alison, whom does not play well at all. She paddled much harder than I did at Dragon Boats and is much more sore. We get a write up in the local paper. On Tuesday we go with Denise's friend Jenny to see the new Indiana Jones with the local movie club, and go for Thai afterwards. We spend our days with Daniel, who is recovering from knee surgery, he drives us around to see beaches, and lookout points, as well as the Koala Hospital. We have dinner together and drink wine, and Alison and I cook Greek one evening. We walk around Town Beach, and Rainbow Beach which has colorful stones all over it. Port Macquarie and Bonny Hills are filled with wonderful people and beautiful sights. We repack, and head to Nana and Grandad's again, that much closer to home.