Extreme real estating

Mirinda always likes to check out places we might want to live…all over the world. It’s a strange hobby she has which should never be taken seriously. Though if we were ever to move to another country, it’s nice to know the research has been done.

It’s with the above in mind that we hopped into the car and took off for various parts of the northern side of Sydney. This was not before eating a massive bowl of prawns that Bob said would go off if we didn’t have them for breakfast. This is possibly one of the first times I’ve had prawns for breakfast. It seems that it’s pretty much the same as having prawns for lunch…or dinner. Delicious.

Our first location, location, location was Belrose quickly followed by various addresses in Frenchs Forest (I’m not sure I could live in a place that is short an apostrophe). Both areas are very nice though somewhat hilly. Actually, everywhere we looked today was hilly to various degrees – except for those that were downright mountainous. Which is odd because we both don’t really like hilly – let alone mountainous.

Hilly though they be, Belrose and Frenchs Forest (I am so tempted to include the apostrophe every time I type that) are beautifully surrounded by glorious bushland in the form of national parkland. Of course we couldn’t walk our dogs because that’s not permitted in NSW. So much for Belrose and Frenchs Forest.

But they were never serious contenders because our next destination, various Northern Beaches suburbs were where Mirinda had her eye firmly fixed.

Before driving down narrow, windy roads at the top of Pittwater, we headed for Whale Beach for lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Whale Beach. It is seriously beautiful. Everything a Sydney beach should be. Slightly hidden away, dangerous surf, the promise of being swept out to sea, not too many people and a brilliant cafe disguised as a down market kiosk.

Lunch was a delight. Mirinda and I had a perfectly lo-carb avocado, ricotta, rocket and poached egg topped sourdough slice while Bob had an equally scrummy wrap. They had flat whites while I indulged myself with an amazing iced latte with ice cream (naughty, I know, but so totally worth it).

Having fortified ourselves with sustenance, we headed to the beach for a stroll.

Ignoring the various warnings scattered about the place, quite a few people were daring to indulge in the water and, as reported by Mirinda and her thermometer toes, the water was warm. It all seemed idyllic and the perfect way to spend a Sunday (religious festival or not) and the amount of family groups was nice to see.

As far as a viable place to live, Whale Beach has to be quite low on the preference list. The hills in and out are ridiculously steep. So much so that were one to stroll down to the beach from one’s vertiginous viewpoint home for a refreshing swim, one would be in need of another by the time one returned home. And forget driving down because the car parking would be horrendous, the closest being in one’s own carport.

Still, none of that makes it any less beautiful. Here’s a short video…

From Whale Beach we headed across the peninsular to Pittwater where we ended up in the dizzying heights and heavenly lows of Claireville and Avalon. Now here we could possibly live. Okay, the hills are still pretty extreme but a lack of surf means the area isn’t quite as popular and the houses a little closer to the water are possible contenders. Even I had to admit how much I liked the area…something that rarely happens without a lot of inducement.

And with the final realisation that if we did move to the Northern Beaches it would probably be on the Pittwater side, we headed back to Dural.

It was another restful day for us though poor Bob had quite a high level of adrenaline inducing driving to contend with around some narrow steep and twisty roads.

I finished the day by showing Bob how to access the ABC iPlayer on his smart TV.