2009 Jan. to June

January 1st, Today we had a family BBQ, at Parklea Gardens Caravan Park in Sydney with Greg, Dianne & the girls, Jessica & Annaliese, Steven & Nikos, Mum and Candan (Nikos’s Mum). We all had a great day and the girls wore themselves out swimming & playing on the jumping pillow.




January 3rd, We left Parklea Gardens with Jessica on board, and drove to River Breeze Caravan Park at Moruya, right on the river. Jess soon made new friends and had a fun filled Caravan Holiday with Nanny & Poppy. Bike riding, Movies, Bateman Bay’s Carnival, Mogo Zoo and Swimming, just to mention a few.



January 16th, Drove up to Sydney, to take Jessica home & after a cuppa with Greg & Dianne, went over to Merrylands RSL to meet Mum for Dinner and Raffles. We stayed the night at The Formule1 Motel at Wentworthville and travelled back to Moruya the following day.





January 19th, We went to the Moruya Cup and had a winning day, coming out $200 in front. I hate to put a damper on our happiness but 3 days later , when reversing out of a parking spot, at the local shopping centre, I clipped a railing with the end of front plastic bumper of the Territory and tore it off and I’m up for the first $600 of the repair cost, bugger. The boat was in the river, so did a bit of fishing but did not have any luck with that either.



January 31st, Moved on to The Big4 Bungalow Park at Ulladulla and put the boat into Burril Lake.

Tried fishing with bait but nothing was biting for me, so on advice, from one of the permanents, we bought some lures and started trawling around the lake. It took a few goes at this before we learnt the correct speed to trawl at, to keep the end of our rod close to the surface of the lake and let out sufficient line. As always there is an art to doing things correctly. After all this we were both able to trawl and catch Tailor. Val was enjoying herself and liked the cooked fish also. The Park runs daily bird feedings, which was very entertaining, mostly Lorikeets. This was a nice and relaxing place to stay. After a week we moved on to Tall Trees Caravan Park at Nowra. We went to a local Bowling Club for dinner and Val won $500 on a 3up (Horse Races) and pulled $160 out of their Pokies, on the same night. On Sunday we took a drive to Berry, for lunch and Val had some retail therapy. Berry, in NSW, is one of Val’s favourite Towns, full of Craft Shops. I took the car to a local NRMA approved Smash Repair place for a quote and he simply booked it in for repair, very simple, I had to only pay him my $600 and the rest was billed straight to the NRMA. It was very hot in Nowra so we went for a drive out to Shoalhaven Heads and found it was much cooler and a nice sea breeze was blowing, so went back to Nowra and moved the Van out to Shoalhaven Heads Caravan Park and chilled out while the car was being repaired.



February 14th, We went to the Shoalhaven Bowling Club for a “Tribute to Shirley Bassey” Show, WOW, what a GREAT SHOW. Had some wet weather so we were glad that on Wednesday the sun came out so we did a drive into Gerroa and Gerringong. It was a nice drive and the scenery was lovely. Thursday we drove into Berry again and went to The Ice cream & Chocolate Factory. On the way home we called into Coollangatta and Mountain Ridge Wineries, for a tasting, and bought a few bottles to take home.



February 23rd, To-day we went to a twilight meeting at the Nowra Greyhound Racing Track. Bought a snack for Dinner and had an enjoyable night losing our money. The only excitement was a Thunder Storm that lit up the night and dropped a huge amount of water in a short space of time and delayed only one race.





March 1st, Left Shoalhaven Heads and travelled to Greg & Dianne’s place in Glenwood, Sydney. We were staying there to house sit and mind our 2 lovely Granddaughters, Jessica and Annaliese while Greg & Dianne went on a trip to America. We had been looking forward to this task ever since we were asked some months ago. The Girls still had to go to School, do their homework and Jessica had Netball & piano lessons to attend. That left plenty of time for fun, playing, going to the movies and generally being “Nanny & Poppy” spoilt. Fridays they were picked up from School by Nanny Sue or Mark and spent the week-ends with them. It was a great arrangement and gave us plenty of time to catch up with the rest of the family. Val did lots of gardening, with my help.



March 21st, Greg and Dianne return from their trip. Sue & Mark took the girls out to the Airport to meet Greg & Dianne and drop them home. After catching up and reporting on our stay we left to go to Dunleith Caravan Park for our annual holiday. I know, life for us is one big holiday now. We quickly caught up with our Caravanning friends, that are there every year, on a waterfront site, like us.We have arrived just in time to catch the Prawn Run, so the boat is set up for prawning. I bought and fitted a car battery into the boat for our prawning lights. First night I went out too late and only came back with 11 prawns, so next night made up for that with 1.7kg of prawns. Joan & Robert (our friends from Cardiff) came to visit and catch up, on Thursday. Our time here is taken up with relaxing and fishing, Val is sewing and generally not doing a lot. Sounds good to me.



April 2nd, Went to the Diggers Club with Gwen & Neal (next door neighbour and good friends) to-night for Dinner and raffles. Had a great night but didn’t win anything. On Tuesday, Sandra (Vals girlfriend, from Bluehaven) came down for lunch with us. It was good to catch up again.



April 8th, I drove down to Sydney to pick up Val’s Mum and bring her back to Dunleith CP for a holiday with us. Mum went out fishing with me, and guess what! She caught the first fish and the biggest. Says a lot for my fishing skills, eh? We took Mum to the Diggers Club for Dinner & Raffles. Easter Monday, Greg & Dianne came up with the Girls, left Jessica & Annaliese with us for a Holiday and took Mum back home to Sydney with them. They made lots of friends in the Park and rode their scooters, played in the boat and generally had a great time. We drove the Girls back home on Friday 17th and came back the same day.



April 18th, Left Dunleith for Bays Holiday Park at Anna Bay, our usual stopping place when we want to be on “home” soil. Stayed 8 days. Joan & Robert came up and Robert helped me sort and re-pack stuff in our storage shed. We then had dinner at Soldiers Point Bowling Club. It rained most days we were at Anna Bay. Val had a visit to Dr. Jim, while we were there, she needed all her scripts to travel with. On Saturday the 25th Steven & Nikos met us at The Entrance Pub for Lunch. Nikos had just come back from an overseas trip and had bought a new camera for us. It was a pleasant surprise when they gave us the camera to cover our Birthdays, Dads Day and Mothers Day gifts while we were away travelling. We planned not to be back in Sydney until December 19th.



April 26th, Moved from Anna Bay to Forster and booked into the Great Lakes Caravan Park, in Tuncurry, and stayed nearly 3 weeks. Val had a couple of visits to a local Dental Mechanic for a reline & o-ring replacement. $600 later we thought the false teeth problems were solved, but when Val was still having trouble with her o-rings we had to wait for more supplies to come from Sydney. I did a bit of fishing and generally relaxed. Did catch a few Bream but the most exciting was an 83cm Pike. It put up a good fight before I landed it. On Friday the 8th May, Joan & Robert came up for the day and we went to the local Club for dinner & raffles and both the girls won a prize. Val’s o-rings didn’t arrive so we will move on to-morrow and they will forward them on to our next stop.



May 12th, Moved on to Coffs Harbour and stayed at Park Beach Holiday Park. It’s a great Park, we have stayed there many times and it gets better every time we return. Val had an eye test and picked up new glasses from Spec Savers at Park Beach Plaza, visited her favourite retail outlet, Spotlight, had a night at the Coffs RSL and went to the Coffs Show. Val’s o-rings finally arrived from Sydney, via Forster on the 18th May.



May 26th, Travelled on to Evans Head Caravan Park at Evans Head and booked in for 2 weeks. This is a small Town where you can leave your car in the Park and walk to anywhere in Town. On the 3rd day we were there we went for an afternoon walk around the Town and back via the river, the beach then back into the Park. We were strolling along the road heading towards the Surf Club when Val FROZE (literally) and barely managed to tell me there was a snake about 30cms from her foot. When she couldn’t walk on, as I was telling her to keep going, I then had to drag her away. The blood had drained from her face and she was petrified. I don’t like snakes either and wanted to get away ASAP. It was about 1.5 metres long and about 12cm diameter laying along a fenced off bush area, on the road side. As we entered the Park, we stopped to talk to a group having Happy Hour. Val was still shaking, but we started to relay our frightening experience and one of the women said, “you mean that “dead” Carpet Snake that been down the road for the last 3 days”. Would you believe it, how were we to know that it was dead, it had us both fooled. I went back the next day for a photo.



May 29th, To-day is our 44th Wedding Anniversary, so I took Val to the RSL for Dinner and Pokies. The weather was cold, windy and showering but we still walked to the Club. The dinner wasn’t great and the Pokies weren’t paying, you can’t win all the time. Wednesday the 3rd we went to the Bowling Club for Dinner and to watch the 1st State of Origin game (Rugby League, of course), sadly we lost to Queensland but the meals were good. Val took me to the Bowling Club, on the 6th June, for my Birthday and once again had a great meal. It was a Saturday night so the Club had Entertainment on as well which made it a great night out.



June 8th, Moved on to Tweed Heads South, and booked into the Colonial Tweed Caravan Park. Spent a few days looking around before moving on to Brisbane.



June 12th, Left Tweed Heads and headed for Brisbane. Booked into the Nestle Inn Tourist Village at Tingalpa. Steven and Nikos came up for the week-end, wined and dined us and took in the South Bank Markets. We had a family BBQ at our CP with Brian, Julie, Rebecca and Nigel. Steven left to go home at 9pm Sunday night while Nikos stayed on working in Brisbane. We took Val to the Redlands Sports Club for her Birthday, on the 17th June. Everyone had a good time. Put Mum on the plane back to Sydney on the 20th, Steven will meet her in Sydney and see her home. Val went to a Dentist in the City with the idea that he would solve her ongoing problems with her teeth. He wasn’t much help. We finished up our stay in Brisbane with a night at The Redlands RSL with the family and left the next day.



June 26th, Moved on to Hervey Bay and booked into Big4 Fraser Lodge Holiday Park. Drove around town, looking at the sights, then had lunch at The Café on the waterfront. Had a look through the Hervey Bay Museum on Sunday and packed up to move on.



June 29th, Left Hervey Bay and travelled to Rockhampton. We booked into ?