The morning saw Jen and the Martin kiddies descend upon some old guy, proffering gifts in celebration of him becoming just that bit older. After breakfast, and to the groans of the children (fans of combining nature with exercise), we prepared to set out for Minnamurra Rainforest for a spot of bushwalking.

Despite Jen’s failed audition as a GPS replacement (we DID get to see more of the Kiama region than intended) we eventually made it to Minnamurra Rainforest, where we were met by an abrupt, yet friendly park ranger who pointed out where we should park with gestures akin to ground crew working with taxiing aircraft.

The walk set out from the Visitor’s Centre and snaked its way across the creek, providing plenty of opportunities for suspension bridges to the delight of the kids. 

There was an optional Falls Walk (some 2.6 kilometres in addition to the teeny 1.3 kilometres of the Rainforest Loop), that would somehow require an hour to get there and back. More moans ensured from the Martin children. It turns out that the additional hour accounted for the near vertical gradient that the good people of the Minnamurra Rainforest somehow managed to get pavers to adhere to.

We eventually made it to the falls themselves (Lily threatening no one in particular that they’d BETTER be impressive), took some happy snaps and turned to make our way back down the paved cliff-face. 

The tranquillity of the rainforest undergrowth broken by Joshie’s spontaneous rendition of the Violent Femme’s Blister in the Sun. We made it back to the Loop proper, and rewarded ourselves with some scones and shakes.

All sugared up, we made our way to seek out Cathedral Rocks, once again taking several wrong turns and inadvertently discovered some secret surf spot of the locals (if the annoyed yet impressed glares were anything to go by). 

Despite Kiama Downs Council literally blocking our path, we managed to finally locate said Cathedral Rocks, although we needed to scarper across a number of rocks in the face of an incoming tide to get a photo.

Our adventure wasn’t complete it seemed, as we spotted a boat ablaze out in Kiama Bay on our way back to town. Curious (aka inappropriately nosey), we drove over to take a peek - as did the entirety of Kiama it seemed. According to the local news later that evening, the two people on board managed to jump from the boat without injury (although no word on whether the 3 resident Bull sharks gave them a welcome party or not).

The kiddies were finally able to access the Park pool (despite the overcast 19 degree conditions), which they got to share with a number of ‘delightful’ children (one maniacally beating the surface of the water with a pool noodle for no apparent reason for a good 15 minutes, and another covering about a third of the pool with what appeared to be the largest inflatable flamingo in the southern hemisphere).

We set out for a night on the town, ending up at Ritzy Gritz, the local Mexican Restaurant. The serves were huge (not flamingo-sized, but pretty big all the same), and were delicious.