Beauty of the Bay

Where do I start? First, how is it midway through August of 2020! This year has been flying by. I've graduated with my masters degree, began full time at work, and oh yeah the world looks a whole lot different than it did a year ago with everything going on! It's the perfect opportunity to explore our backyard here in Sydney and appreciate where we live! And we could not have asked for a more perfect weekend getaway.

We chose to explore Pittwater Bay, about half an hour's drive north from our place in the Northern Beaches. Our airbnb host collected us by boat and brought us to what feels like a dream. You escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and enter this state of complete serenity. Kookaburras and cockatoos in every tree, wallabies running rampant in the backyards of homes, communal chickens that lay eggs for the local community and beautiful outlooks in every direction.

We began our one-night stay by enjoying a home-cooked lunch of our new favorite meal - BBQ Jackfruit tacos! It's a vegan meal that gives a similar sense of pulled pork and leaves you feeling nourished rather than heavy. We ate on the outdoor deck overlooking Elvina Bay.

Following our lunch, we chose to explore the local waterfall, accessed by a bush walk up the hill. We had no idea what to expect so when we reached the top of the waterfall, we were blown away by the view out over Lovett Bay. Scott actually had went ahead of me and saw the amazing view, ran back to get me and told me to close my eyes while he gave me a piggy back ride over to the waterfall.

He thinks it's funny when he pretends to throw me off the edge.

After exploring the top, we hiked down to the base of the waterfall. It was incredible how dense the vegetation grew and how nice the air felt with all of the moisture in it (maybe that is just my Floridian side talking).

To settle in for the night, we made dinner we packed (as there are no shops in the bay!) which was another vegan meal, sunflower bolognese, from our cookbook we bought a while back! (We aren't vegan by the way, we just enjoy incorporating some plant-based meals into our diet!) We sat at the jetty while the sun set and played articulate by the indoor fire. We went to bed early for an early morning wake up call, courtesy of the kookaburras outside our window.

We used the morning to go on another bush walk up a steep hill to find some ancient Aboriginal carvings in stone. We thought it should be called "Croc Rock" because the stone was tessellated in a way that looked like the skin of a crocodile! Our airbnb host later told us that the area had been underwater all those thousands of years ago and the water formed it in that manner.

With every turn, there are so many amazing lookouts from the ridge of the bushwalks. Colorful flowers lined the trail which made us think of the Aboriginal history and the energy of the land. It's a very spiritual feeling that you can't really describe, I imagine it doesn't come close to some of the other Aboriginal sites in Australia like Uluru in the red center. We picked some wildflowers on the way back down and stopped to look over the bay once more before finishing our weekend away.

I love taking something small from our trips and my wildflower bunch of pink flowers will be sitting in our apartment until I can dry them out.

Until next time, Pittwater. We will be back very soon!