Port Macquarie and BluesFest at Byron

From the farm we headed to Port Macquarie for 2 nights where John and Rae caught up with Rhonda and her husband Chris.  Rae was bridesmaid for Rhonda and they've known each other for over 40 years.  

 Look at Rae's gorgeous locks!  

 Tess, John and Ted

The purpose of going to Byron so soon after our trip up there at Christmas was to visit BluesFest which is a large musical festival held every year over the Easter long weekend.  It is exceptionally well organised and very family friendly so we thought it would be a great introduction to live music for Tom and Tess.  We went for 2 days and our favourite acts were: Jack Johnson, Ray LaMontagne, Paul Kelly, Julia Stone and David Grey.  We have made a mental note to go again as it was so much fun.  

I was determined to get this shot using the iPhone timer but found it so hard to set up I was near hysterical by the time I got the darned thing to work!

 BluesFest

 Looking the part in our Blundstone boots!

The weather wasn't great but we managed lots of surfing, sunbathing, long walks and, of course, eating!  

Tom on a wave at The Pass

 Ted using Tess as a pillow - he loved sunbathing! 

 Tom got his own back

 A rare photo of Tess - she didn't know I was taking it!

We had an amazing dinner at The Italian and Tess wore her new outfit.  She looked gorgeous! 

John and Rae's good friends, Frank and Hilary, drove down to Byron to meet us for breakfast and to take John and Rae up to Caboolture for a couple of days where they caught up with some other friends from the 70s.  It also saved them the long drive back to Sydney.  On the drive home Tess and I listened to my mother's Desert Island Discs and the tapes that she recorded giving the story of her life.  It was fascinating for me to listen to again after so much time and I think Tess got some real insight into her grandmother and me as a result of the tapes.