2008 Jan to June

Still at Wangi Point Caravan Park. This is now another favourite place for us to stay. It’s a Council owned Park and the Managers are a nice , friendly couple who do keep the park & amenities very clean. The outlook over Lake Macquarie is very relaxing and my tinny is in the water. Joan, Robert, Kirrie & her 2 kids holidayed in a cabin next to our Van. We had a great time but even with Roberts help, we could not catch a fish. However, the best part of our fishing exploits was that I reeled in a fishing rod fully complete with line, sinker and hook, my only catch of the week.

January 13th, Greg, Dianne & the girls came up from Sydney, for the day and Jessica stayed with us for a week of the school holidays. Annaliese went home with Greg & Dianne, as she had Daycare to go to. Jess soon made friends with the other kids in the park and we took in the “movies in the park” (Babe & Waterhorse), put on by the manager, for the school holidays. Went to Sydney for the day, to take Jess home and had a nice BBQ lunch at Greg & Dianne’s. Nikos came over to catch up with us all.

January 22nd, Our new Van went down to Alan Grahams for a few Warranty repairs.

January 26th. Went to Joan & Roberts, at Cardiff, for an “Australia Day” BBQ lunch with their family.

January 30th, Went to Sandra’s at Bluehaven, for lunch and a catch up. Val & Sandra have been close friends for 30 odd years. We met a nice guy called Roger at the park. He had just updated to a Wildcat 5th. Wheeler and was setting himself up. He was unattached , so Val tried to set him up with Sandra. To us they looked like a good match but unfortunately it didn’t strike any sparks between them.

February 5th, Moved to Bays Holiday Park, at Anna Bay, so we could have all our check-ups with Doctor, Dentist & Skin Cancer Clinic.

February 8th, Went to The Winery for lunch with our good friend, Doreen Cotter. It’s a great place to eat & sample their wines.

February 27th, Went to Wests Leagues Club, in Newcastle, to see The Barbara & Frank Concert. What a great show, they looked and sounded like the real thing, thoroughly enjoyed our night out.

February 29th, Moved to Dunleith Caravan Park at The Entrance (NSW). We spend 7 weeks here each year on the waterfront, site #20. We arrived to the Council Dredge working on the lake directly in front of our Van, but within a few days they had moved on around the bend.

This year Val stopped making Jewellery and went back to Quilting, so had to lug her very heavy machine around with us. While we stay at Dunleith our time is filled in with fishing, crabbing, entertaining our friends and family, when they visit, and generally relaxing. We also catch up with the regulars who, like us, are there every year at this time. This year I provided entertainment for Neal & Gwen as I was still learning the art of boating, in my Tinny, and had many an unpleasant experiences. I still have the photos of my very bruised hip, a result of trying to load Mum into the boat and when she fell I ended up with her on top of me, in the boat.

March 9th, Went to Sydney to meet Steven, on his return from Canada. Our whole family and some of Steven’s closest friends were at the Airport, to welcome him back home, after 2 years away. We all lunched in Town and we headed back to The Entrance.

Jessica came up for a weeks holiday at Easter and as usual, quickly had a group of friends to play with and had a great time.

April 19th, Moved down to Parklea Gardens Caravan Park, in Sydney, for a few days and caught up with all our Family. Then it’s time to travel again.

April 21st, Heading north on our way to Stuarts Point Caravan Park, we spent a night in Taree, at the Twilight Caravan Park. Stuarts Point is a small community on the coast, the Park was on a river and we liked the look of it. I put the boat in the water and booked in for a week. No luck catching fish but I always say it’s always nice to be out on the water. On Anzac Day we went to the local RSL and I played 2 up, for the first time in my life. We were having a great time until the game was stopped by a blackout and unfortunately the power did not come back on in time to carry on the game.

April 29th, Travelled to Yamba and stayed at the Fishing Haven Caravan Park, on Palmers Island. This park was on the Clarence River and I soon found out that the current is strong. The banks of the river are built up with rock to stop them washing away. I put the boat into the river and was able to tie it up along the edge. I wasn’t having any luck catching fish in the strong current, so one day I ventured into a small offshoot and caught a 48cm Flathead, which is the biggest flathead I’ve ever caught. On another day out fishing I hooked my first Stingray, not big but was a surprise to me and I was happy to get him off the hook and back into the river. We enjoyed our stay here and would come back again.

May 13th, Arrived in Brisbane and booked into The Redlands Caravan Park at Birkdale. We are in Brisbane for our niece, Rebecca’s marriage to Nigel Dennis. I was asked to be Emcee, which is quite an honour and I accepted readily. Tomorrow we pick Mum, Dianne & Greg up from the Airport and get them settled into their accommodation, ready for the wedding.

May 16th, The weather was good and the wedding went off without a hitch. Rebecca looked lovely, as Brides do on their special day, food was great and everyone had a good time.

May 17th, Present opening & BBQ at Brian & Julie’s (Parents of the Bride).

May 18th, Took Mum, Dianne & Greg to the Airport to fly back to Sydney. We went to The Treasury Casino, had dinner and left some of our money with them, as usual.

May 19th, Left Brisbane for Tin Can Bay Tourist Park (Top Tourist). Nice Park with a great pool. We watched the State of Origin at The Country club, with NSW winning 18 to 10. Went for a drive to Rainbow Beach and looked at Frazer Island from the mainland beach.

May 26th. Moved on to Gladstone and stayed at Barney Beach Caravan Park.
Took Val to the local Club for an Anniversary Dinner, 43 years, wow. I went on two of the Councils free Tours, Rio Tinto Smelter and Electric Power Plant. Both were very informative.

June 4th, Moved on to Emerald and stayed at Lake Maraboon Tourist Village.
Launched the boat into Fairburn Dam and went 22klms into Emerald to buy Redclaw Traps, only to find out that all shops were closed for Show Day. So we went to the Show and I had to come back the next day to buy the traps. Caught plenty of Redclaw but no fish. Val took me out to the Restaurant at the Caravan Park for my Birthday, on the 6th. Val went to the weekly Bingo at the Camp Kitchen and was very happy to feed the Lorikeets and other wildlife. This is another of our favourite Parks to stay at.

June 16th, Travelled on to Longreach and stayed at The Discovery Holiday Park. A sister park to Lake Maraboon at Emerald. For Val’s Birthday, on the 17th, I took her to Banjo’s Outback Theatre, it was a blast. Real outback building, food and entertainment & not to be missed. We took in The Stockmans Hall of Fame, which included a display of working dogs, horses and sheep. I went to the Qantas Founders Outback Museum. Both were very interesting and not to be missed, when you visit Longreach. We both did the Billabong Boat Tour, which included a river cruise on the Paddle Steamer, The Thompson Belle, followed by a campfire dinner. Our Guide was the Boat Captain, Cook and the after dinner Entertainment. It’s hard to beat the rustic approach of our outback folk.

June 23rd, Left Longreach and stopped for lunch at Winton. Very interesting Town with a Banjo Patterson Museum, which I didn’t have time to look at on this trip. We stayed overnight at the Blue Heeler Roadhouse at Kynuna. They were full but made room for us by taking a power lead from the toilet block. This was our first experience with a Roadhouse and we were fascinated by the amount of paraphernalia hanging off the walls & ceiling. The meals were great also.

June 24th, Travelled on to Mount Isa, with a lunch break at Cloncurry. We will stay at Cloncurry for a longer stay, next trip, as plenty to see. Stopped for a photo opportunity at the roadside memorial of Burke & Wills. Won’t need to do that again. Booked into the Argylla Caravan Village in Mount Isa, for a couple of nights. We had a look at the “Outback at Isa” Display, at the Information Centre. I did the Hard Times underground Mine Tour, excellent tour and also went to look over the Tent House, which is the type of housing used for the miners back in the early times. Caught up with Linda ,Paul and the girls for dinner at the Buffs Club.

June 27th, Left Mount Isa for the Camooweal Roadhouse for lunch. Crossed over the border into Northern Territory to reach our next stopover at Barkley Homestead Roadhouse.

June 28th, Travelled on to Tennant Creek, with a lunchbreak at the Three Ways Roadhouse. We booked into the Outback Caravan Park in Tennant Creek. Drove around Town and was aware that this was an aboriginal settlement. We had a bush tucker man called Jimmy put on a show at 7.30pm. He was a story teller, bush poet and up on all the bush tucker. He cooked witchetty grubs and kangaroo tail in his campfire. It was a very interesting show. Val tried the grubs and I tasted the Kangaroo meat.

June 29th, We went to the Information Centre at the Battery Hill Mine. I decided not to do the mine tour, so we were content to drive around some of the closed down mines and had a look at the Mary Ann Dam, which didn’t have a lot of water in it.

June 30th, left tenant Creek and took a lunchbreak at Wycliffe Well. Known as the UFO Centre of Australia, as it has the most reported UFO sightings. The walls of the shop were covered with newspaper clippings. As we were getting back into our car to leave, Val was asked for $5, to buy lunch, by one of the aboriginals sitting around the front of the shop. I thought that was a reasonable request but Val didn’t agree with me and so he got nothing. We travelled on to the Ti Tree Roadhouse for an overnight stop before moving on to Alice Springs to-morrow.