Xmas Kempsey trip, Day 9

Rach is just lovely, and she understands that a visit to the beach is incomplete without a sandcastle!

Day 9, Friday 29th December

After waking up to a nice sunny day, several cups of tea and a walk in the garden with Feifei and Gam, Richard and Priscilla arrived and we discussed what to do with the rest of the day. The 'kids' were all in favour of a visit to the beach at South West Rocks, while my aunt complained that she'd suggested a beach visit yesterday and no-one wanted to go. I wanted to point out that was because they'd dragged our arses to Hat Head the previous day when it was grey and cold. She also complained it was 'too late' to go to the beach (it was midday).

Richard, Priscilla, Rach and Gam and I decided we'd go anyway, and got ready to head off. Before we knew it, everyone else had decided they were coming too. It was a beautiful day, and the scenery on the drive to the 'Rocks is always so pretty. It was easy to enjoy it because Richard's driving style doesn't lean towards the psycho, like my Dad's (I'll admit he's tried to tone it down a bit these days) .

When we got to Trial Bay the sand was warm, the water sparkling clear and the beach not overly crowded for this time of year. We had plenty of spots to choose from and we eventually dumped our stuff about ¾ of the way from the camping area to the surf-ski hire place; our nearest 'neighbour' on the beach was a cranky old bitch some 20-30m away who yelled at us to go elsewhere. She had skin the colour and texture of old leather, and was busy roasting herself. Gam dubbed her 'The Walrus'. It's times like these I wish my parents hadn't drummed a policy of politeness so firmly into my head as a child, because that lady deserved a rude response and didn't get one. Dammit.

I wanted to build a sandcastle. Gam wasn't really too enthusiastic about the idea, but he and Uncle Richard helped me out by digging a channel to divert water as the tide started to come in and lap at the walls. Then Rachelle showed up; Rach knows all about the importance of a sandcastle on a trip to the beach and we both got stuck into digging while Gam took pictures and Uncle Richard set about digging a hole in the sand. Rach and I made a pretty good fort that we both fitted into, but the inevitable soon happened and the walls collapsed on top of us. So we went for a swim, partly because the water was so inviting and partly because we'd both got our swimmers full of sand when the fort collapsed on us. We discussed whether to hire surf skis, but no-one did. There was almost no swell at all, meaning there would be no waves to enjoy. As it was, we were happy just enjoying the water. It was great fun.

We stopped at the Fredo Pie Shop on the way home for pies. The last time I went to the Fredo Pie Shop was a couple of years ago with Gam, and before that with my friend Sachi. The first couple of times I was impressed, but the Fredo pies have really gone downhill, I'm afraid; I got several lumps of fat and gristle in my pepper steak pie, and only about 2 lumps of meat. I'm not one to fuss about lack of meat in a pie if it's got a great gravy, but the gravy was mediocre and not at all peppery. To be honest I wasn't too fussed about the pastry either, although everyone else thought it was good. Richard and Rach both said that there was no steak in their 'steak, bacon and cheese' pie; Priscilla enjoyed her beef stroganoff pie, but didn't exactly rave about it. I'd say we all enjoyed them simply because we were ravenous after our trip to the beach. When we saw Uncle Richard, Leslie and Ben all enjoying ice-creams from the shop we almost went back in to get some for ourselves before thinking better of it as they were only Peters ice-creams, and we had a big tub of Peters lined up at home to eat with the chocolate pudding I'd made, so we decided to head home instead.

My verdict on the Fredo pie shop? It's nowhere near as good as Muzza's Pies in Brisbane (can't remember which street, but it's in the city). Muzza's make an incredibly good pepper steak pie and a very good spinach and cheese pasty. I think we'll have to make another pilgrimage to Muzza's when we get back to Brisbane. The only thing wrong with Muzza's is all the bloody smokers and traffic fumes interfere with my enjoyment of their pies. Grrr.

Gam cooked roast lamb for dinner (we'd put the legs of lamb in a marinade before we went to the beach), and did his thing with microwave-cooked potatoes chopped and tossed with fresh thyme, rosemary, garlic and sage along with some butter and olive oil and then roasted in the oven until brown and crispy. There were only 10 potatoes for 15 people, and I'm sure none of us got enough. They were absolutely delicious. I forgot to get Gam to cook the pumpkin until dinner was just about ready to be served, so we missed out on roasted pumpkin. D'oh.

Getting started.

My arse did squash the rear wall of the fort, but the front wall was more important anyway.

Somewhat stupidly, I failed to take into account the fact that the tide was coming in, so Uncle Richard built a trench to divert the water. I told you he was an awesome uncle!

As Gam said: "great photo, except for the half-naked man in the background!"

Leathery old bitch who hates other people having fun is visible in the background...

Rach and I are flogging these to the Australian Defence Force... putting on an American accent worked wonders for our sales pitch.

This is probably about as big as it got.

All good things must come to an end (as the cliche goes)

Not happy, Gam!

He wanted to bury me up to my neck!

Uncle Richard had a more efficient method of digging...

Room with a view

Crappy view of the Fredo pie shop from across the highway

Some of the beef pies available at Fredo Pies.

Gam, Richard and Priscilla outside Fredo Pies.

My pepper steak pie

Shame it wasn't either peppery or steak-y...