Easter Long Weekend

In Australia Easter public holiday includes Good Friday and Easter Monday, which makes a 4 day weekend. It's also a very popular time to go on vacation as the schools are on term break. For us, it was a time to relax and enjoy the holiday destination we live in.

Good Friday was also my birthday this year. Dave made an omelet for my breakfast. Zoe made and decorated a layer cake. We went to the beach for a swim. It was a lovely day.

On Saturday we went to Somersby falls. A destination we always enjoy visiting.

Dave and Tristan in the shade of a bottle tree.

On Easter Monday we went to Mt. Penang Gardens, a place we've never visited. The gardens were gorgeous. We especially enjoyed the water feature, the bamboo varieties, and the bottle trees. Stone sculptures from an art competition had found a home in the Gardens.

Dave with one of the stone sculptures in Mt. Penang Gardens

At the end of our garden tour, Dave suggested we have lunch at the WaterFall Cafe which overlooks the water garden of Mt. Penang. It was a beautiful location, and delicious food.

Somersby Waterfall Pics & Video

Somersby Falls Photos and Video (on YouTube)

We recently went to the Somersby Waterfall. While the kids were busy exploring, I took many photos and a couple of videos. Here are some pictures of the afternoon.

I uploaded one video to YouTube - click for link.

Wonderful, peaceful place. Also great place to play.

Somersby Falls

Dave and Neo at the foot of the Upper Falls

Zoe at the foot of the upper falls....

There are upper falls and lower falls.

Last weekend we went to Somersby Falls.

We love Aussie signs.....

The top of the upper falls are even with the parking lot. You can climb down a steep, narrow path to the bottom of the upper falls.

The path to the lower falls is steep and narrow with scary wooden stairs, but the destination was worth it.

Lower Falls

We enjoy going to these falls. The kids found tadpoles.

More lower falls....

There's also another, smaller, lesser known waterfall near Pearl Beach which I discuss on this older post.

Somersby Falls

On Sunday, 15 March, we were looking for a family outing. I had read about Somersby Falls and wanted to take the family there. Dave had convinced them that since there had been rain recently, there would be leeches, so no one wanted to venture out.


Dave and Tristan at the Upper Falls - just steps from Parking Lot





At the lower falls

I did the research and could see from pictures online that the upper falls area was just steps from the parking lot and on rock, so no leeches. I bet with Dave that there would be no leeches at the upper falls (I'll be collecting my dinner out later). The trail to the lower falls I couldn't guarantee. While the path was muddy in places, there were no leeches.


Zoe catching tadpole

We did find tadpoles - much to the children's delight. And Dave traveled even lower to another part of the falls while the children and I explored the level we were on. The Somersby Falls are the most photographed in the Gosford area, according to the bush trail book I got the idea from.


Only Dave explored this part of the falls - he said the path was very muddy



After we explored and played in the falls, we enjoyed a picnic lunch. A lovely day.