Umina Renovation - July 2026

After 20+ years of ownership, we decided to give our Umina Beach house a major renovation. 

I didn't take a before pic of the front but this is downloaded from Google. In fact it didn't look this good, because one tenant had put pebbles down over the grass and over time it had been let go so it looked pretty bad. The only thing we had done to the house was replacing the roof, which we did 20 years ago when we bought it...

We had the house 'wrapped' which gives it a much more modern look and should mean it will never have to be painted. I subsequently painted those poles and gutter, and cleaned up the garden...

We had a merbau deck built out the back which looks great...

There was an out of control Bird of Paradise at the front...

So we had it taken out...

I planted these down the side. I took them from my Pymble garden...

The back garden had really been let go...

We had it turfed and all the pebbles removed. It was a big job...

We had that tree removed, along with several others...

These are the remaining pebbles in this existing garden so not sure what we will do here...

Back garden looks great. Probably will add some plants over time...

The third bedroom...

Bathroom before. That window really dates the house...

And after. That window was surprisingly expensive but it allowed us to have a solid wall for the mirror...

Kitchen before...

And after...

That room at the right was a small 4th bedroom so we removed that wall you can see to create more living space...

We had the boards polished and new lights installed. You can see the wall has gone...

The second bedroom...

The front lounge room...

The concrete slab for off-street parking was the last thing to be done...

This is a better pic of the house after the slab is down and the garden has been tidied up...

Sydney - June and July 2026

The month started with Eliza's birthday and we tried a Lebanese restaurant in Crows Nest... 

Nice to be back in the routine after two months of travel. I cooked spaghetti bolognaise one night...

Loving my new sunnies that I bought in Madrid...

Heading to the gym - Planet Fitness at Tuggerah...

The Umina house renovation is coming along nicely. This is what the house used to look like, but it got worse after one tenant put pebbles down over the lawn and then it got neglected for many years...

And after the renovation. I still need to do some work on the garden and a concrete slab needs to go down for some off street parking...

See separate post for more photos.

A cold but spectacular day #nofilter. The flooding hasn't subsided in spite of a couple of days of no rain...

I like the shadow in this pic...

I am going to a new cafe in Long Jetty now. It has a bike rack right outside...

Getting ready for a visit by Eliza :-)

Full moon...

One day I loaned my car to Jacqui. So I drove it to Pymble, and got the train back to Tuggerah. It's a nice ride and the hour passed quickly. This is the Hawkesbury River...

Passing through Tascott... 

I cooked Pad Kra Pao one night which is one of my favourite Thai dishes...

Hong Kong - June 2026

Quick trip to Hong Kong. Flew Qantas on Monday.Easy flight and on arrival I caught the A21 bus to Cordis Mongkok where I have stayed before.

I inadvertently booked an Executive Room for three nights which was good as I got a large room, lounge access and breakfast included. I had breakfast in the Executive Lounge the first day and tried the main restaurant on the second day.

They had one of my favourite things...

And some of my favourite treats...

The weather is very rainy so I stayed around Mongkok the first day. On the second day I had some meetings in central and went for a walk through Tai Kwun...

The next day I caught the A21 back to the airport for my flight to Da Nang (see separate post).

Arived back on Friday afternoon and got the Airport Express/MTR to Taikoo as I'm staying at East Hotel this time. I got a nice room on 20/F looking over to Kai Tak.

I went up to the rooftop bar, Sugar where I had been 10 years ago. I had a complimentary drink voucher.

This is the view from my room the next morning. Looking over to Kai Tak...

The next day was Saturday and I didn't do much. That night I met friends in High Street, Sai Ying Pun which used to be a regular haunt of mine. I couldn't believe how quiet it was...

Afterwards, we walked down to the harbour and then back to Central...

The next morning I went to take a look at the pool, but I didn't swim as it was raining...

That evening I went to Central to meet my friend Olivia for a drink. I was very early so I had food at Central Market thenn had a drink at my old haunt, Bella Lee...

The next day I decided to go for a hike before checking out. As I was in Quarry Bay it was an easy walk to the start of this hike, which I had done part of before...

I walked back to the hotel, checked out and went across the road to Cityplaza for a coffee and snack. I then picked up my bag and headed to the airport. I went to the Qantas Louge as t was near the gate and then moved to The Deck which is right next door.