2007 Jan to June

As usual, during January& February we stay at Bays Holiday Park, Port Stephens Drive, Anna Bay. This is our “Home Base” whenever we return to the Bay area. It’s a nicely kept park, with friendly Owners and Staff. A time to catch up with friends and have the annual check ups, with Doctor, Dentist & Skin Cancer. We generally stay 5 weeks or more. It’s always busy at this time of year, so you do make a lot of friends among the other happy holidaymakers. A group of families that we met there, year after year, we fondly called the “Tent People”. The boys from the group invited me to join them on a Fishing Charter, off Port Stephens. I was happy to go and we had a terrific day out, with everybody catching fish. We brought back 10 keepers which the boys promptly BBQ’d that night, with my steak sizzling away in one corner of the BBQ plate. For those of you that don’t know, I don’t eat any seafood but I do enjoy catching them. Greg, Dianne & the girls came up for a short holiday, staying at The Anchorage. Jessica enjoyed having a Horse Ride at Sahara Trails, while Annaliese was only up to patting them. We all had a good time, swimming at Little Beach and taking in the local sights. We always enjoy visits from our family. We had a bad electrical storm, one night, and lightning struck a tree in the park, only about 30 metres from our van. It blew a large limb from the tree. There was a bit more excitement when, one afternoon, a 2 metre monitor lizard decided to pay a visit to the park, climbed a tree then waddled back into the bush behind the Park.

During February, we moved down to Parklea Gardens Caravan Park, in Sydney, for Steven & Greg’s Birthdays. Jessica & Annaliese came for a stopover, in our annexe. We bought kid size double bunks for them, which they loved.

We moved back to Anna Bay for the rest of February, while filling in time to go to Dunleith Caravan Park at The Entrance (Central Coast, NSW ). I enjoyed the earlier fishing trip so much, that I decided to get a group together myself. So with my Tenting mates, Robert & his son Cory and my youngest Greg, we had a group. We went with the same Charter Boat as the previous fishing trip, the seas were a bit rougher but we had a great day out and bettered our previous catch by bringing back 23 keepers.

28th.february we moved to Dunleith Caravan Park. This is our favourite place to stay and we always book the same waterfront site every year. We bought a 3 metre Tinny with an 8 HP motor & had a side loading boat rack fitted to the roof of the Ford Territory. Robert & Joan came down from Newcastle to help with the launching of the boat. Robert supplied & fitted all the floor & seat carpet. We normally spend 7 weeks here every year but this year Val has appointments in Newcastle and Belmont, for gum surgery and new dentures, which are being fixed by the mini implant system. This involves titanium pins being screwed into her jawbone, then corresponding housings are embedded into the dentures and fitted with very small o-rings. So this year we will stay until Val’s problem is over before we move on. This is a great spot for fishing, chilling out and enjoying visits from Friends & Family. Jessica & Annaliese had their first ride in the boat. I, personally, provided a lot of entertainment to everybody with my misfortunes while learning to handle the boat. The biggest incident was when, out fishing by myself, with the canopy up, a strong wind came up and as I was coming back down the channel on the way in, without being aware, I was blown sideways off course into the seaweed covered sandy shallows. I only had a paddle in the boat & no matter what I tried, could not get back out into the channel again. I was sitting dejectedly on the front of the boat when 2 guys came paddling by on their boards. They called out to enquire if I was OK. When the answer was NO, one of them tied the anchor rope to his board and towed me into deep water, under paddle power & then I was able to restart the motor and continue in to shore. Our caravanning neighbours, Gwen & Neil, gave Val all the “good oil” on catching the Blue Swimmer Crabs, so that became a favourite pastime for her. Jessica had a week long stay with us during the School Holidays. She soon had made friends and had a great time sleeping over with Nanny & Poppy. Early June was the start of the bad weather, strong winds and rain for days on end. The storms ripped the caravan awning and the constant rain, caused the water in the lake to rise and flood the surrounding areas. When the water rose to just under the height of the retaining wall, the Park Manager organized for all of us on the waterfront level to be moved to higher round. The following day the water started flooding into the Caravan Park and peaked at about 30cms above the retaining wall. After the water receded we did not move back to our waterfront site. Val’s new teeth were completed, so time to move on again.