On Saturday 30th August Tony and I celebrated 22 years of marriage. We usually try to mark the occasion by doing something special together (and without the kids). This year we decided to check out the quarantine station at North Head, near Manly.We found a special on the web and book our weekend escape. I booked a Winter Special at the Q Station. Dinner, accommodation in a harbour view room and a show.
We dropped the girls off in late morning at my sister's (thanks!) and headed into town. We stopped in Manly for a quick look (oh oh - only 1/2 hour parking) and I got a peek at the art and craft markets, where I bought a gorgeous crystal and bead necklace. I wanted to do some more shopping, but our parking time was up. Bugger!
We then found our way to the quarantine station. They have done up the old accommodation and it's now quite sleek and stylish. We had to park our car at Reception and get an electric shuttle cart to our room. The verandahs were lovely and wide and we had a couple of comfie chairs and table outside our room.
After we put our bags in our room we wandered around to explore and take lots of photos. Tony has being buying SLR (film) cameras and lens on Ebay and he took the opportunity to play, even though it was cloudy and overcast.The room of Middle Harbour was lovely. We watched ferries go past from Manly to Circular Key and watched rabbits hopping around on the grass below the verandah. We made a quick trip back in to Manly for supplies and then whiled away a pleasant hour on the verandah sipping champagne and enjoying the view. How hard is that?!
Dinner was down the hill in the old boilerhouse, that's been renovated into a classy restaurant. We enjoyed antipasto, delicious main courses and the yummiest lemon and lime tart for dessert, along with a bottle of wine. the tables were all on a mezzanine level and the kitchen was open on the bottom floor, so we could watch dinner being cooked. Great entertainment.
After dinner, we were booked in to Defiance, a moving and inspirational immersion theatre production. True stories of life in quarantine were amazingly portrayed and there were a few tears. My grandmother nursed her family through what she called the plague in 1918 (though far away from Sydney in a tiny community near Mildura), and there was a part of the production about that period in our history. I found it fascinating and really well done.
After the production we caught a shuttle bus back up the hill to our rooms, and snuggled down for the night - with no children :-) We were woken in the early morning by the rain pounded on the roof and a slow leak in the ceiling that drip, drip, dripped.After check-out in the morning we headed back to Manly to find the markets cancelled because of the rain :-( even though it really was starting to clear, and why couldn't all those stall holders see that and come on down and open up just for me? Was I being unreasonable? Back in the car after a little, and retail-wise, disappointing wander, we headed home in a round-about way. Oh, we did remember to collect the kids on the way through. They had had a great time. My sister, her hubbie and our mum had taken them to a South American circus with lots of performers.
Everyone had had a great weekend :-)
