Easter at Larnook

 Easter at Larnook is a time of year that Steve and I eagerly look forward to. The weather is usually lovely and mild, the four day holiday means that you can really start to relax, and, we get to share it with good friends. This year was no different. Our friends, Graeme and Simeon arrived on Thursday in their kombi, from the Central Coast, bearing a huge wicker basket filled with all kind of delectable goodies, which we still haven't finished enjoying. Warwick arrived on Friday afternoon and soon slid into the spa with a glass of champagne. We had a fun night but then Warwick had to drive to the Gold Coast airport for his flight home to Melborne the next morning.

 Leaving Steve to have the house to himself and get on with making costumes for Metropolitan Players (Newcastle) production of Phantom of the Opera, I took Simeon and Graeme along with Kev and Antonin to one of our favourite places, Bald Rock, just north of Tenterfield. It is a bit of a hike, and three hours there and back didn't really suit (French) Kev's tummy, as he gets car sick, but the Rock itself is worth it. The walk to the rock takes about 40 minutes and it's a delightful stroll through eucalypt forest strewn with huge boulders of granite.

 Once on the rock itself the sense of scale becomes apparent and we spent a good hour or so clambering over it, having lunch, and watching colonies of Cunningham's Skinks, bask in the sunshine. The day was mostly cloudy so the view wasn't as spectacular as when we visited last August with our friend, Ryan, but the softer light revealed the colours of the rock much more readily.

 Two Kevs on a Rock

 Easter Sunday was lots of fun - and we had a full house, with the arrival of Glen and Vaughan for lunch. Lots of champagne drinking (thanks Antonin for the champagne cocktail), great food, followed by an easter egg hunt inside the house and a game of bocce outside in the gentle rain. One of the intense pleasures for Steve and I is to welcome so many old and new friends into our place at Larnook and enjoy the great times that are created. Oh and we had a game of hide and go seek on the Friday night (inside the house) which was a hoot, as well.

Kev and Antonin having a friendly hit on Graeme and Sim's totem tennis they brought up with them, in the late afternoon Larnook light.