Yamba Day 7

The first departures took place this morning with Sue's niece Samantha and her brood (Lindsay, Doug, Murray and Lily) headed south for Sydney after a last hour or so on Main Beach. There were photos and hugs all round. The stayers beached on: Sue walking through knee deep water for exercise; Sam, Amy and Chris entertaining younger cousins Jack and Ava; Judy knitting beanies; and the rest engaged somewhere between conversations and coffee.

A group of us drove back to Maclean for lunch at the Ferry Park Gallery and Cafe, squeezed between the Pacific Highway and the Clarence River on the outskirts of Maclean. The food was good - I had pasta, as usual - and the art and crafts on display were of a pretty high standard. I had a purchase disallowed but nothing new in that. There's always space on my walls for a new art work.

The way home was via Gulmarrad, where the Lower Clarence Art and Craft Association were holding their annual show in the small public school. We have been attending this exhibition for the past four or five years as it always corresponds with our two winter weeks at Yamba. There was added interest this year as I was exhibiting six photographs. The standard of the painting and drawing was luck lustre compared to previous years but the textiles were of the usual high standard. The photography was a small but very high quality selection of which I was proud to be a small part.

The rest of our afternoon quickly collapsed into the sunset, which I took in from the breakwall. There to pick eldest son Chris up after he had been fishing, I took advantage of a beautiful sunset and snapped some lovely pictures to close the day. Drinks at the Pacific Hotel followed and then pizza and games with the Tamworth clan, the majority of which head home to the Golden Guitar tomorrow.