Banjo's at Bundabah

Our destination was Banjo's House in the small town of Bundabah, around two and half hours north of Sydney. Banjo, as we were to read when we arrived, is the owner's dog. The house, which Niall had found online and had previously stayed at with his missus and hound, is a three bed wooden affair on a good size block with a good size garden that leads down to the waters of North Arm Cove, part of the waterways of Port Stephens. Bundabah is a small collection of houses and a boat ramp and not much else. The nearest shops are in Tea Gardens, around 12km away. To get into Bundabah you drive a small stretch of unsealed road that adds to the away-from-it-all feeling.

As you'd expect I'd not taken he address with me so we drove a lap of the hamlet, passing by a largish, strayish (though I am sure it was not stray, merely local) dog. The homes of Bundabah are spaced enough and the trees tall enough and abundant enough to give you a bit of a Deliverance moment, a reference that may or may no be correct - I've not seen the movie. There is hardly any evidence of gentrification or weekenderification to Bundabah, rather it looks as though people actually live there. That said, we saw very few of them in the time we were there, so who knows. I had the wrong access code for the door to Banjo's House and it was raining when we got there, so everything was shaking up nicely for me to have one of my moments.

A couple of phone calls to the owner, George, and we were in. Not long after we were unpacked and getting acquainted with our home-away-from-home where we would spend the next few days. The indoor accommodation was better than I'd expect for a holiday rental. Open plan living-dining-kitchen, a wood burner, decent tele with foxtel which would be fine ordinarily should it rain, but as I have a no-tele-for-AJ rule it would not be of much benefit on this trip. The view from the back was down over the waters of the cove, where the boys would be able to swim. Damn fine view too, hardly any buildup around the cove, some mangroves and oyster beds, a couple of small yachts. Picturesque.

There was a good deck with a good BBQ but no decent cover, so I had to get some clear plastic from a shed and rig a shelter for the dogs who would not be sleeping inside. Once that was sorted it was a matter of getting a couple of mattresses to create a play zone for Alex and then it was time for me to begin dwelling upon how bored I was going to get over the next few days. I'm funny like that.