Bonny Hills, New South Wales, Australia 🇦🇺 🌊 🦜 🪨

Here's a map to show you where I've been & where I'm going in Australia.

This map screenshot is a little pale, but it has the areas where I'll travel.

• I flew into Sydney and then went a little south to Kurnell and Cronulla, about a 45-minute drive.

• Then I went to Wamberal, about halfway between Sydney and Newcastle.

• Next, I went to Forster, a little south of Port Macquarie

• From Forster, I went to Bonny Hills, a little south of Port Macquarie.

• I will continue North to Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay, Noosa, and Agnes Water/1770, then South again to Brisbane.

Monday, May 6:

On Monday morning, Andy drove me from Forster to the home of his Uncle & Aunt, George & Susie Watt, in Bonny Hills.

George and Susie call themselves “Old Salts”, folks who’ve been involved with Christian surf ministry since before Christian Surfers officially became an organization.

George Watt (notice the hat)

George showed me surf movies he helped produce in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s, and we looked through the photo version of Brett Davis’s Groundswell book (history of Christian Surfers) and found a photo with Joe in it!

First Christian Surfers Internationnal Conference in Hawaii in 1996

The second from the left in the middle row is Joe!

I'm pretty sure the guy in the red tank top in the front row is Michel Junod

I also found a photo of Mitch and one of his family

George also produced and is featured in this surf movie filmed in New Zealand more recently, in 2012.

Susie and I went for a drive during the rainiest part of the day to visit some shops, and I got to see some of Bonny Hills. We went out to the Supermarket later, and visibility was better.

This is their backyard. Susie said they used to have koalas pass through.

Tuesday, May 7:

I went for a walk while George & Susie went to take care of their granddaughters.

I finally found a Mobile Home park! Many Australians don’t know what I am talking about when I say that I live in a mobile home.

A lovely wooded path to the beach

A lizard

Beautiful river that leads to the ocean

The river goes along the beach, blocking access from this part

The cutest dachshund!

After I crossed this bridge, I got to walk on the beach

I am blown away by all the grassy parks next to the beach, with parking lots! 

(although they call them “car parks”)

The parks have Barbecue grills free for use, which the city even comes to clean

These  amazing little balls that the crabs make are all over the beach in cool designs

Some local architects were here before me

The sand is so beautiful!

Unfortunately, I have not seen any koalas crossing (yet!)

Later, George picked me up and drove me to his son’s house. Then he & I went for a walk near their house in the Lake Cathie (pronounced "Cat eye") area.

Back to the son’s house with the granddaughters

Chris with Alayna, Susie & George, Chris's wife Sage with Maggie

Wednesday, May 8, Another AMAZING DAY!:

George invited me to be a guest at the Men’s Prayer Time at 6 a.m. at Rainbow Beach.

The waves were really good, and I saw the best surfing I’ve seen yet in Australia that morning

Many of the beaches have these Surf Life Saving clubs with a nice clubhouse and a café

Later in the morning, Susie and I went to a Mother’s Day Open House at her granddaughters’ amazing preschool!

It’s a huge preschool with state-or-the-art facilities

They had special activities for the kids to do with their moms (or grandmas), like making bath salts, painting a picture, massaging her back and hands, coloring a bookmark. 

Here, Nanny Susie is painting Maggie’s nails.

Maggie and Alayna

A portrait area was also set up

I plan to do a whole post on how I have seen indigenous cultures respected in Temuco, Chile,

New Zealand, and Australia. It has really impacted me! Even the uniforms of the preschool workers were made of fabric with indigenous designs printed on them.

On the way home, Susie took me out to lunch, and we went for another drive.

I got a close-up of a Rainbow Lorikeet in the parking lot

North Haven beach

How’d you like to sit at a cafė with a view like this for lunch? There are lots of them in Australia!

🪨This was the first of many “anniversaries” that I will be acknowledging, in remembrance of my now-in-heaven husband. May 8th was the first day he had symptoms: constipation, gas, and abdominal pain. He ended up being diagnosed with kidney stones and had 2 surgeries. At that point, we thought he would get well, although I suspected something else was going on because he had developed body tremors, “brain fog”, extreme fatigue, and other symptoms not associated with kidney stones. I had decided ahead of time to remember this day by throwing 7 stones into the ocean and saying something special I remember about him as I tossed each stone. I skipped some of the rocks, because Joe loved skipping rocks. I got one bounce!

Susie prayed for me when I walked back up the beach. It was a special and memorable moment, though an emotional one.

Look at the clouds reflecting on the water!

We walked on the breakwater that keeps the river in its place out to Pilot Point

Pilot Point is directly across from where we had lunch. Notice the trees,

which are the same one as in the photo 2 photos up.

The other end of the breakwater

Walking back to the car

We walked up this lovely boardwalk through the forest to a Dunbogan Lookout

The two mountains you see in the background are two of the “Three Brothers”, which come from an indigenous folktale. These are South Brother and Middle Brother

The walkway to the lookout platform

One of the vistas on the way home

In the evening, I went to dinner at the home of Bruce and Marsha Blackwell, who were missionaries in Peru for 7 years when their children were young. Bruce knows Nathan Anderson through Surfistas Cristianos, Chile (Christian Surfers). It was fun to share stories with them. They had a Water Python that belongs to their son in a crate in their garage.