The Menagerie

Our last stop on the east coast tour was to visit one of my dive students. 

Last December I spent a few weeks down on the island of Kadavu, south of the mainland, at the Matava Resort. While there I met Julie and Dave, and taught Julie to dive. A very fun and generous couple, they had offered to host us whenever we came to Oz... luckily they actually meant it!

Dave drove down to North Avoca to pick us up. And after a short trip to check out a barge for sale (he's setting a marine business) he drove us up into the hills near their home to give us an idea where we would be staying.

It was a gorgeous day and the views were incredible!

In the distance you might just make out the southern end of Lake Macquarie... it's a huge winding lake that runs out to the sea.

Checking out the view with Dave (Lindsay hiding behind the camera as usual!)

Afterwards Dave drove us around the grounds a local psychiatric hospital...

where a load of Roos run around wild... so cool!

Momma Roo with little Joey in her pouch

A quick stop at the house to say hi to Julie (who had to work that day), we swapped the car for Dave's little runaround speed boat.. and headed off for lunch at the yacht club.

A fun little ride!

Back on the water!

We ran the length of the lake and came back as the sun was setting

Then back to the house to meet the menagerie... 3 HUGE dogs and I don't actually know how many parrots... some of the wildlife was rather friendly!

And our food tour was by no means over... Dave used to be a chef... so Julie says she had to learn to cook well... and she's definitely cracked it! Fantastic stuff she whipped us up !!

The next day Dave and Julie took us up into the wine country  and treated us to some amazing tapas and wine at one of the wineries... oh my!! Sooo good.... soooo fulll!

We were sad to leave our wonderful hosts, but by Easter Sunday it was time to head back to the airport and back to Fiji... probably a good thing and going by this picture we were starting to see the effects of all the amazing food on our food fest of a holiday.

Thanks again Julie & Dave!!!