Day 281 - Friday 6 October - Checking out the Central Coast

Day 281

Friday –

6 October 2017

Toowoom Bay – The Entrance – Umina – Kincumber

Gosh it is Friday again! We were awake early and happy enough to get up at 8am and go for a long beach walk. This time we walked north along the sand watching the waves roll in. They were far more orderly today than yesterday afternoon, where it was washing machine like.

There were a few early risers out catching a wave and even more oldies out swimming in the calmer waters.  As far as I was concerned the water temp was still quite bracing and there was no way I would be going in.

We ogled the large mansions that lined the beach, there own private stair cases leading to the beach, we figured no one was a teacher. I am glad people can’t build like this back home preventing the general Joe the ability to enjoy the water.

We decided not to walk back the way we had come and instead duck up into the suburbs where the mansions just continued. There were no footpaths to be seen, so we had to walk on the road, luckily it wasn’t overly busy.  By 9.30am we had made it back to the van.

Paul went off for a shower and I organised breakfast between attempting to get on to the net, which was proving impossible. I went for a shower, after breakfast and when I returned we packed up lunch and made our way out for the day.

I sent us to The Entrance, where we did a quick drive over the waters via the bridge and back, before parking and going for a walk along the water’s edge. There were a few fishing and others just enjoying the view. It wasn’t the best of mornings though, as the cloud cover had come in and it was quite chilly.

We continued our walk past the old carousel and fair ground before making our way up the main shopping strip and back eventually stopping for a hot chocolate and baklava.

When we had completed our treat, we returned to the car and I set the GPS for Umina, the town we had stayed in when we were here in 2003. It took about 30min to follow the coast before we pulled in at the main beach. It was blowy and cold so we didn’t stay outdoors for long.

We followed the main route towards Mt Ettalong, winding our way up through the dense forest of eucalypts and down the other side to Pearl Beach. This side of the coast was more sheltered from the weather and was not as windy. We did a quick look along the beachfront before returning to the car and the lookout at Mt Ettalong. 

We parked the car and then took off through the forest to the two lookouts, one gave a great view of Pearl Beach, while the other looked back over Umina and the caravan park we stayed at previously. We remembered this lookout from 2003 and the cars that had been pushed or driven over the edge. There weren’t any cars there today though.

It began spitting as we returned to the car, but it didn’t hang around. We made our way back to the main beach and found a picnic bench to sit at and eat our lunch before continuing our drive to Kincumber. Thankfully we had completed our 15000 steps so Paul was free to go to a brewery, this time Block n Tackle.

We found the brewery in an industrial estate and wandered in, making ourselves at home at the bar with the owner. Paul took in as much info as he could about the brewery before tasting their range.  An hour later we were all done and ready to return to the van.

We arrived home just after 4pm, noting we had new neighbours after Yogi and his family went home this morning. We sat in the van eating cheese while completing our computer homework.

By 6pm it was time to get out and go for a walk along the beach. We made our way down on to the sand and proceeded to walk as far as the surf life saving club, glad to see your steppers kicking over the 20000 mark. Hopefully that will negate the cheese.

We walked for about 40min, watching the sun disappear to the west and then returned to the van just as dusk set in. We weren’t in the mood for dinner so had a light soup before we sat about in the van passing time. Paul rang a few people back home but most weren’t answering. We then sat back and read before finally heading for bed.