EASTERRRRR!!!!!!!! and pics.

Firstly I have to say “HAPPY EASTER ALL”!
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Guys, I really hope you all had a safe and happy Easter break cause I gotta tell you, I sure as hell did! Holidays come and holidays go, sometimes you spend them at home and sometimes you go away. Sometimes when we go away we don’t enjoy it at all, but sometimes we do! Ani and I said goodbye to the girls who flew back to Brisbane last week to see their mother for the break and then packed ourselves up for our anticipated trip to the coast.
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Normally we would head down to Bega on the south coast and stay with Alan (Ani’s Dad) but this time we arranged to go camping with a group of our friends who live in that area too. Jodi and Rossie have been mates of Ani’s for a VERY long time, infact the two girls grew up with each other. Something however that I was so looking forward to was meeting up with Rossie and his brother. I should mention that the two blokes are refered to as “black fellas”, the correct term actually is “Coorie”. They are native Australians and most of you would know them refered to as “Aboriginals”. At any rate they are awesome people and I learned a lot about them over the weekend. One of the things I was looking forward too as well was giving Rossie the mirror I promised him I would make. When he was last over our house he commented on the palm leaf mirror hanging on our dining room wall. So, after he suggested he would make the following trade, I jumped at the chance. If I made him a mirror, he would make me my own “didgeridoo”, not just and “Didg”, MY Didg! It’s a huge honour to have a native make one just for you and I can’t wait to get it!
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The mirror turned out fantastic and I really think it’s one of the best I’vedone to date. Rossie’s family name is Thomas and I cut that into the top. Under that is the animal of his tribe, the black duck, followed by the ocean, then “Uluru”, known as Ayers Rock and finally the Aboriginal flag. I stained it in jarra and mounted the mirror to the back, he loved it! There are a couple of pics below.
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We finally arrived around 1.00pm on Easter friday to see the most awesome setting you could ever imagine. Gillards Beach is about 5 kilometres out of Tathra, a popular beach town near Bega NSW. Once you get to the sign post for Gillards, you drive at about 10 kilometres an hour along a steep and badly maintained dirt track, surrounded by trees around 5 kilometres long. The drive is stressful and long however nothing can prepare you for what you feel when you reach the end! There may be no running fresh water, and there may only be a pit toilette, but other than that you are in paradise! The first thing that you notice is the abundance of wildlife. Kangaroo’s, rock walabies and goannas crawling around, peacocks and wild birds, and the occasional wombat give the setting of being right in the heart of the bush! The next thing you see is the surf! The campsite was less than twenty metres from the rolling waves and I mean WAVES! The average hight I would say was around 4 foot.
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We joined about 7 families consisting of around 40 people including kids and although there were a lot of people there, we all had our own little place that was still private. Ani, the boys and I were over in one corner with our own fire pit three foot across and a perfect view of the beach. As the girls wer’nt here it was only Ani, Tai, Morgan, Jack and myself so the old Coleman cabin tent was perfect for us. Guys, it has this awning that comes out the front and we managed to get our cookers, tables and chairs safely out of the sun in the cool breeze. The fire never stopped burning and the kids were gone the moment they stepped out of the car. Tai was seldom seen with clothes on and got himself into everything that was’nt tied down lol! We ate fresh oysters over the hotplate that were harvested from the local rocks and chowed down on a seafood feast friday night. 
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There is something wonderful about just sitting in the silence of nature reading a book and sipping away on a beer while you listen the the radio down real low. I was in heaven and became so relaxed I did’nt want to go home. Ani and I char grilled beef over the hot coals of the fire pit and stayed up late staring up at the stars. On the Saturday night I took a beer down to the beach with me and lay there on the sand in the dark with my eyes closed listening to the all too familiar sound of the sea. If there was any other place at that moment I wanted to be it was back there the next night. 
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There are some beautiful places to see in this world, but if I never saw another again, Gillards will be enough to last me the rest of my life. God I loved that weekend, I really, really loved it! I learned a little lesson about life and that is that all the times I used holiday time to get things done around the home did one thing, they robbed me of the time to have a holiday. In future we will be using the time to do what it was designed to, have a holiday and re charge.
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Love you guys,
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Luke xoxoxo
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