Port Stephens

After suffering for a week with man-flu, Em and I booked in to a hotel in Port Stephens (2 hours north) for a couple of nights as Em had just also finished her nights. Weds morning, Em got back with a load of canulas as I had agreed to be Izzy's pin cushion as she practised inserting grey canulas as she keeps failing them. Just to picture it, a grey is a 16 gauge needle (roughly 1.6mm diameter) and looks pretty evil! Luckily, she got it straight in, and then with a bit of advise and assistance from Em, she got the plastic canula tube into the vein, and I have to say it didn't hurt a bit :-)
We then jumped in the car and headed north. As we got to Newcastle, it started to rain as we passed through a rain cloud. We got to the hotel about 4 and then went for a stroll around the place. It was right on the waterside, had a 90 berth marina outside, pool, beach - the works. We got back, got changed and then went for a couple of drinks in the bar before heading down to the restaurant for some food. Was excellent food, but the service was a little slow.
Thursday, we got up late and had breakfast and then Em spotted that there was a beauty treatment area in the hotel, so we wandered down there and both ended up having a half hour massage. After that we drove around Nelson Bay and walked up the headland beyond Shoal Bay. We made our way over to Soldiers Point for a late lunch and then went back to the hotel. Em wanted to make use of the pool, so we went for a dip (Em stayed to do 60 laps of the pool) before heading back to the room to get showered and changed. I challenged Em to a couple of games of pool which whiled away an hour in the bar before tea. We ate in the restaurant again, but the service was even slower than the night before. If we had stayed another day, we would have definitely gone looking for an alternative restaurant nearby.
Spent the Friday on the beach, and going to one of the wineries on the way home.
Was a nice break and was good to find another part of the central coast.