A trip Up North!

Last weekend was a bank holiday here in New South Wales. Not that they call them 'bank holidays' - but you know what I mean. Monday off work! Yippeeee.

We decided to make the most of it by hiring a car for a couple of days. The 2nd day was spent driving to Ikea, so I'll spare you the details of that. Needless to say there were billy bookcases and hot dogs. And a receipt as long as my arm. Same as in the UK.

Now - onto the exciting stuff. Our first UP NORTH here in Sydney. The north side of the harbour extends in a peninsula about 40km north, up to a point called Palm Beach. So - astride our trusty steed (a Hyundai Getz) we got up nice and early for a drive up there.

The drive got off to a good start as we got to tootle over the Harbour Bridge. And very nice it was too. Take a look...

Thanks to Mrs Weatherley on 'steady-cam' there.

As mentioned, the peninsula extends about 40km and is known as the Northern Beaches. A string of lovely beaches and coves accompany the drive. It really is beautiful. Now, for those of you who are fans of Australia's number 2 soap export Home and Away, Palm Beach is also known as Summer Bay. Anna was excited to see Alf's shack.

Alf wasn't in...

Palm Beach itself is absolutely beautiful. It's pretty posh, with the most amazing beach houses. Apparently it's where Sydney's great and good have homes. I don't blame them. Here are some snaps.

We had some lovely fish and chips there too. The first we have had since we got here. They were worth the wait. Mmmmmm.

Also - whilst pottering back to the car we stumbled across the best vehicle we've seen since we arrived in Oz. Now - it seems the aussies are in love with their Utes - just like in neighbours. I've started a new 'Ben's Top Ten'. This time 'Top Ten Utes'. There'll be a blog post about it at a later date - but here's a sneak preview of the current Number One.

After spending a couple of hours in Palm Beach we decided to drive back down the coast road and stop off at some of the other lovely beaches and coves. These beaches are all really famous with the surfer types as they each have their own type of surf. Apparently. Here's a selection of them:

Whale Beach

Whale beach again

Avalon beach and another one in the background

It was a bit blowy...

There were loads of other beaches that we didn't get time to explore. We'll be back when it's a bit warmer. Get ready for photos of me in my speedos!