Fingal Head

Fingal Head is a village on the Tasman Sea coast in the far northeast of New South Wales, Australia, about 5 km south of the New South Wales and Queensland border. The village is often just called Fingal. The headland and the small off-shore Island (Cook Island) were first sighted by James Cook about 17:00 on 16 May 1770 (log date and time). Thank you Wikipedia

And it's jaw droppingly beautiful.

Cook Island

How is it that we've been driving past for so many years, and have never explored here before?

Fingal Head Lighthouse

Such a lovely area to wander through here, an easy walk too.

The walk around this area has a feeling of going back in time, yet most of it has been restored by dune care from an old sand quarry.

Dreamtime Beach Seriously, if you're in the vacinity, take the time to drive in, stop off at the Sheoak Shack - click here to visit their facebook page for something to keep your spirits up. (Thursday to Sunday at present best check)

The Sheoak Shack is a delightfully quirky arty farty cafe. It's very laid back, think Byron 30 years ago, for service and style.

Lovely food, some good tunes playing in the background and they have music on the weekend, think it's Saturday, again best check and BOOK. I heard a lot of tables being booked when we were there the other day.

AND you can bring your family member with you.

The doggie lounge area.

A tiny look around inside.

Tea Towel wisdom by Nadine Sawyer

The Queensland Border is Open

"Restriction creates yearning, you want what you cannot have."
Portia De Rossi

The border opened for Queensland on the 1st of October. So that means we can travel to Northern NSW again. House sitting is once again open for us, in one of our favourite areas. Gosh we've missed the simple ability to go into NSW, there's nothing like restrictions to make you feel stuck. Or is that just me?

Whatever you do, don't try to invade Queensland right now, it could be very expensive. I'm wondering how they come up with the fine amounts.

Not my lock but I did indeed leave part of my heart in Lennox Head. View from the top of the headland. We had a lovely walk up from the Point Cafe all the way to the top of Lennox Headland. We saw whales but sadly, it was a bit sobering to walk up there and see all the notices to call lifeline.

Anyways, we've been down to NSW a couple of times now and have had some wonderful explores. Places we've never been before, now taking time to simply take the road less travelled and we're finding some gorgeous places.

The first weekend the border opened, I thought it would be a nice getaway for Kevin's birthday to travel down the coast. I tried to book into Lennox Head, but as that was already booked out. So I looked further afield, and found a gorgeous air bnb at East Ballina. It turned out even better than I'd imagined and we'll be going back again.

View from the back patio at our Air BNB at East Ballina. Here's the link if you're travelling through, tell Steve you saw this post on our blog. It was so peaceful, I didn't want to leave. Here's their info:

The home is set amongst tropical gardens in a quiet neighbourhood. The bird life makes more noise than the neighbours! Guests enjoy a spacious bedroom and separate lounge area, a bathroom with shower and bath and a separate toilet. There is a large undercover area where guests can relax and look out over our saltwater pool area and the adjacent river. River views are from most rooms. Guests have private access via a side path.

Waterfront Oasis click here.

SWELL 2020

It was such a gorgeous day to visit the Swell Sculpture Festival 2020. We headed down to Currumbin to see this year's offerings, and we weren't disappointed. Click on any of the images to see a larger view.

All of the sculpture is for sale so if something grabs your attention, contact Swell - click here.

How gorgeous is this sweetie pie? We had to have a pat.

A welcome stop at Currumbin Surf Club, for a coffee with a spectacular view, great coffee and really wonderful staff.

This is such a gorgeous beach to wander, and take in the beauty of the beach.

A House Sit in Positano - sadly not this year.

"Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you get there, and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone." John Steinbeck

2020 is the year of, 'oh about now, we would have been in Greece'. And 'oh about now we'd have been on the Amalfi Coast'. And, 'oh about now we....'. And so on and so on. Instead, we've been watching videos of places we had planned to travel.

But to my absolute delight we have found the next best thing. Nicki Positano's vlogs from Positano. For the last couple of weeks each day we watch one of Nicki's delightful posts from Positano and pretend that we are tramping around the mountain side, kayaking, looking at beautiful scenery, touring through wonderful ceramic and other art shops not to forget and eating at delightful cafes and restaurants.

If you like the idea of a soulful life with great food, a gorgeous homey home overlooking the sea, growing your own vegetables, having an adorable little dog, then I'm sure you too will love these vlogs.

I don't know why it's taken so long to find Nicki's vlog, but I am so glad I have. Here are the first two videos from Nicki's Positano Diaries Series... there are quite a few that will keep you busy for a while, we have been rationing ourselves so we don't binge watch too many all at once.

Click here to visit Nicki in Positano the YouTube channel

So until we can travel again, Positano will have to remain a dream house sit, and I'm sure as John Steinbeck says, it will be a place that bites deep.

August 2020 - Dreaming of a Canal Trip In France

August already, no travel to speak of this year, but at least we can still get out and explore the local area. And listen to some lovely music on Classic Drive. There are a few house sits coming through for Queensland, and there are still a lot of overseas ones advertised, we can't visit, but we can dream of new places to visit one day, hopefully in the not to distant future.

I've been watching the Sailing Magic Carpet videos, and have been delighted to see all the gorgeous French towns that Maya and Aladino have been exploring. They are motoring their yacht up the canals in France, so when I feel too Australia bound, I turn on their videos and escape for a while.

In case you'd like a slow trip along one of the canals in France too...

Ah France, we miss you.

If we can help you out with a house sit in Queensland, please get in touch. We simply adore dogs and look forward to our next time away.