Off my beaten track

It’s hard to believe I am 56, have spent the last three decades living in Sydney and have never visited any of the lovely little seaside towns above Wollongong … Thirroul, Austinmer, Coledale, Scarborough, Clifton …

I’ve also never been to Wollongong, but I’ll sort that omission out another time.

As my birthday present DD took me to Austinmer for the weekend to see Boom Crash Opera play at Anita’s Theatre in nearby Thirroul.

His uni friend Lorraine lives in Austinmer, so we scored a pre-gig dinner at her place: oysters with French 75 granita, followed by Recipe TinEats chilli lime fish …. yuuuuum. Then we headed to the gig.

Anita’s is a very cool spot. It was built in 1925 and called King’s Theatre. It operated until April 1965 when a downturn in patronage forced its closure. In December that year, it briefly reopened as a cinema.

In 1968 the building became a roller-skating rink until the mid-1990s. In 2003, Illawarra businessman John Comelli purchased the building and renamed it “Anita’s Theatre” after his late wife. It’s been a live music venue ever since.

Boom Crash Opera were their usual awesome selves – I love their uplifting songs and lead singer Dale is the poster child for being ultra cool at 70 years old.

The band had me dancing, singing and smiling up a storm.

We are now excitedly researching other gigs we want to see at Anita’s – there are some awesome ones coming up.

Our base for the trip was the Headlands Hotel at Austinmer, which is in the most fabulous location. We had a one-bedroom apartment with beach views.

Those views were gorgeous by day and gloriously starry by night!

But it was too wild in the surf for swimming due to the terrible flooding last week, so I had to be content with just looking at the water.

The next morning we joined Lorraine and her partner at one of the many cool cafes in the area – Earth Walker & Co General Store in Coledale.

DD had the folded eggs and bacon and I hooked into a brisket toastie as big as my head nestled in a giant swathe of seeded mustard aioli.

Afterwards we went for a drive north and were turned away from the famous Sea Cliff Bridge that curves around the coast due to a landslide. We had a stroll across a section of it instead, then explored the amazing Imperial Hotel, which we must return to sometime, stunning! But there was no room left in my belly for lunch due to the aforementioned giant toastie.

Then we adjourned to our holiday apartment to read the Sunday papers and admire the view.

Mid-afternoon Lorraine and her partner popped in for limoncello spritzes on our balcony before we headed to the Coledale RSL, which is a welcoming little spot run by volunteers. It was going to close down a few years back, so the locals stepped in to lend a hand behind the bar. A jazz band was playing during our visit, with a pizza truck serving delicious food and a rainbow appearing in the sky (you can see a glimpse of it in the main pic).

All too soon it was Monday morning and time to return to the real world. Very big sigh. DD is heading overseas on a business trip on Thursday so there are 10 long days of no him stretching before me.

PS Thank you to everyone who said I should keep blogging. You are all very kind.

Song of the day: Boom Crash Opera “Get out of the house”