The trip is over so let’s count how much this cost us!
Remaining costs are:
- $7.85 for ginger beer, rekorderlig and gaytime ice cream
- $3.85 for hot chips
- $19.25 for beer and dinner consisting of pizza and broccolini
- $2.60 for travel home
Sub-total = $33.55
Trip total = 121.60 + 33.55 = $155.15 per person!
I’m astonished that the total came in lower than my estimate of $160, to be honest. We did buy some drinks, ice cream and hot chips that we never planned to, but I guess it helps that Sundays have a cap of $2.60 for all public transport travel. We definitely need to use that to our advantage more often.
Broken down into categories:
- Travel cost me $12.70
- Accommodation was $70 for two nights
- Food and drinks were $72.45, which works out to be $10.35 a meal for three lunches, two dinners and two breakfasts
The food is on the expensive side because it includes drinks, snacks and the two restaurant meals we had.
I honestly can’t complain, though, because we had such a lovely time and we didn’t feel like we were depriving ourselves of anything.
Putting costs aside, we had a massive day two at Shoal Bay. After breakfast, we made our way up Mt Tomaree to see the views. And oh my god they were amazing views!
Shoal Bay, you can see the little town lining up around the middle of the bay, some boats and water sports on the water.
Some secluded beaches, like Zenith Beach in the foreground, and Fingal Bay in the background. We wanted to cross that sandbar but the tide had come in by the time we got there.
Hawks Nest on the other side of the bay.
The climb itself only took us 70 minutes up there and back. It’s not the most difficult of climbs, with good tracks and steel stairs making the climb very friendly for novices like me. Definitely worth going for the views.
After this we headed down to Zenith Beach to have a swim.
It is a great beach for jumping waves and surfing, if the swell is good. There’s even a little section to the south called the Kids Corner, where a natural sandbar has created a shallow pool suitable for kids to swim in (with supervision of course).
We spent some time swimming and jumping waves. The water was cool and so clear.
After this we decided to head on down to Fingal Bay to see if we could cross to the other side. From Zenith Beach we took what we thought was a walking track south, but the track was hilly, with lots of pebbly rock and no good views. In short, not a great walking track.
So we got off it and started walking along the road until we got close to the Fingal Bay walking track. At the crossroads there was a sign that pointed towards a walking track one way, and a bike track another way. We took the walking track and ended up having to scale up a sandbar that seemed to be at a 45 degree slope. It was a real struggle, let me tell you. At the top of it we found this:
Amazing, yet again. You can see in the photo how the tide has risen so there’s not a clear path over to the other side anymore. We decided to go have a look anyway.
On the left hand side looking towards the ocean, the waves were crashing in like mad. On the right hand side in the bay the water was relative tranquility.
Like at Zenith Beach, the water around here was beautifully clear and sparkled in the sun.
A nap, some refreshments, some exploration of Nelson Bay town centre, hot chips and A LOT of walking later, it was dinner time, and most importantly, Australian Open Women’s Finals time.
We settled into the Shoal Bay Country Club as planned and watched an exhilarating match between Halep and Wozniacki, number 1 and 2 seeds respectively, both vying for their first grand slam win. That was a three hour back and forth arm wrestle between two amazing players.
It is always a bit of a tradition to watch the tennis around this time for my birthday. I’m glad we could keep it up this year.
And so ended an amazing, jam packed day.
This morning we got up early to go for a final swim at Zenith Beach and take our first dip at Shoal Bay. It no doubt won’t be our last.
We checked out of our Airbnb accommodation, and took the five hour transit back home. It’s actually funny how the five hours haven’t seemed long or wearing at all. A long nap and a movie later and you’re pretty much in Sydney already.
This has been a great long weekend and birthday trip for many reasons. I can’t wait to plan to next one 🙂
Dot of all Trades 