Bye Byron and Happy Birthday Tom, Sanctuary Cove

I am pleased to say that Wednesday night's beef swirls were a hit.
Thursday the 7th of June, was a relatively quiet day, we were all just happy to hang out and have Richard home, on our last day in Byron Bay.
We went shopping for ingredients to make a Gluten Free cake for my nephew Tom and to make some lolly bags for a cousins party. We would be arriving on the Gold Coast on Tommy's 6th birthday.
We then went shopping for Tom's birthday present... we decided a wetsuit would be the way to go.
The rain continued to fall throughout the day.
By evening, Richard and I decided to have a drink across the road from the caravan park while the kids watched their favourite show, Deal or No Deal. They then met us for dinner which was at Hog's Breath Cafe.
Friday morning the 8th of June, I got up early and went for one last walk up to the lighthouse, the sun was shining almost taunting me because I was leaving... I soaked in the rays regardless and then stopped to watch the morning surfers catch a few waves. I felt sad to be leaving.
When I got back to the caravan everyone was awake and it was time to get the packing up into full swing... so we all did our bits and before long, we were done.
We then went across the road to a little cafe for breakfast before heading back and moving out....

At Why Not cafe for brekky

All hooked up and ready to move on

Goodbye Byron, what a great place!

On the road again, and before long we were being welcomed into Queensland and greeted by a traffic policeman and his gun, WOW!! Welcome indeed! Luckily we weren't speeding.

We arrived in Sanctuary Cove around midday to a welcome sign created by Artists, Tom & Lola, too cute!!...

Artwork by Tom & Lola Bennett

The house was vacant, so we set to work decorating Tom's birthday cake and organising lolly bags for when he got home from school....

Tom's birthday cake

When Tom walked in the door and we sang happy birthday, he was so overwhelmed he ran and hid. It wasn't quite the reaction we were hoping for, but eventually he came around.

Jack gives Tom a big birthday hug

Lola can't miss out on the action

It wasn't long before the cousins were deep in play... first face painting....

Some artists at work

Now it's Lola's turn

Two little gremlins and Harry

Nina then decided a green gremlin wasn't for her, so I did some of my own artwork on her and Harry....

From a gremlin to a butterfly

Harry the Vampire

The birthday boy then tried on his new wet suit only to get a few surf lessons from the expert surfing dude, Harry....

Tommy gets a surf lesson from Harry

And if all of that didn't make enough happy times mess... it wasn't long before the birthday boy started a water balloon fight. That would have been fine, except Huggie's (Richard's Mum's) kitchen probably wasn't the appropriate place and even more inappropriate was that the adults joined in. It all came to a halt when Richard dropped like a tonne of bricks on the tiles....

Oh oo, here's trouble

A water balloon fight in Huggie's kitchen

There are no winners

No harm done but lots of fun, it was time for the clean up operation. If you are reading this Huggie, your kitchen is now back to normal...(sort of)!

The girls mop up

Happy Birthday Tommy.