A weekend at the beach

I had the day off on Friday so we decided to make the most of it, and go camping.

We headed off Friday morning to Port Macquarie, then took the ferry across the Hastings River. We could either drive on the beach or on Point Plomer "Road", but since we hadn't gotten a beach permit nor had we checked the tides (small oversight), we decided to take the road.  At first I was disappointed as it was just a well graded gravel road but after a while it deteriorated and it was great fun - driving on sand, rocks, and very uneven and bumpy.

Our plan was to camp at Point Plomer (the boiling billy book said it was good) but when we got there it was packed, blowing a gale and there was no shade! No thanks.

We kept going and arrived at Delicate Nobby Campground. It too was packed but the sites were separated by bush / trees and it also had real toilets and hot showers. 

Not the cheapest campground - $50/night for the 5 of us but by now it was 2pm and we wanted to set up camp.

The beach was right across the road and we had a fire each night. The only drawback was the bus load of foreign backpackers that were SO LOUD! so much for the campground rules about curfews! Also having to queue for 45 minutes to get into the shower.

We visited Crescent Head and climbed to the top of the heads and I saw some whales. 

We also investigated a couple of other campgrounds nearby - Racecourse and Goolawah National Park - both looked to have brand new toilets and outdoor cold showers. Both were packed but had some shaded spots, and easy access right onto the beach. The beach was really nice - very flat and safe looking for the kids.

Overall it was a nice little get away - the boys enjoyed the beach, playing in the sand and we went for a really long walk and they met some super cute dogs.

There were plenty of interesting pools of water to splash in (if it had been warmer).

The boys enjoyed climbing on the rocks.

These dogs were on a walk too, they were so cute I couldn't resist taking a photo.

Christmas card with a twist

I have been very neglectful of my crafts lately - I just seem to be so busy that I haven't had time to do anything.  This week I made an effort to do some cardmaking.  Over at the Stampin Up group, Linda posted a challenge: make a Christmas card using non-traditional colours. I decided to use completely different colours to those I would normally choose.  

Here is my finished card:

I used the following Stampin Up products:

Summer Starburst, Night of Navy and Very Vanilla cardstock; Summer Starburst ink; Baja Breeze ribbon, Tiny Tags stamp set, Easy Events stamp set, Big Shot, Egelits die, Apothecary Accents framelits die and Window Frames framelits die. 

I also made a couple of birthday cards, including this one:

I've used the Mixed Bunch stamp set and matching punch and the same edgelits die (I quite like it) - very quick and easy but very effective I think.

To order any of the products or a catalogue delivered to your door, email me at bestml@bigpond.net.au.