Sydney, Bateau Bay, January 2012

January 7^th, Arrived back at Sydney Gateway Holiday Park for a 7night stay. Our pleasant task for this period is to look after Jessica and Annaliese while Mum & Dad are at work. Dianne drops the Girls off at the Park Gates every morning and Greg picks them up after work. I off-loaded the Tinny and stored it and as much gear as we didn’t need, in Greg’s Garage, until we leave Sydney on the 31^st.

January 11^th, Jessica and Annaliese have been having a great time with us in the Park, with Swimming, games, riding their scooters, swing park, making new friends. Unfortunately, the Jumping Pillow is closed down for major repairs, which was one of their favourite activities. We went to Ed’s place at Glebe, for Dinner, with Steven and Margaret. This is now my favourite place to visit, as at the back of Ed’s Townhouse is a strip of land, currently not belonging to anybody, where I was able to park the car. You would understand my elation if you have ever tried to Park in the inner City of Sydney. Ed took us on a tour of his Townhouse, which was a very impressive and nicely furnished home. Ed went to a lot of trouble to prepare a beautiful 4 course Dinner. After we had our appetizer and entrée courses it was off to the Local Pub and the TAB. Margaret’s horse was running in Perth and was favoured to win, so led by our most avid gambler (Val) were encouraged to not only put $10 each way but to take “Stompin” in a Quinella with the entire field. You can imagine the excitement, in the Local on a quiet Wednesday night, when Stompin, from a slow start from an outside barrier, blitzed the field and won in a photo finish for all places. Let me say that 5 people created an uproar as we celebrated and congratulated Margaret on her horse’s win. We then went back to Ed’s to continue Dinner, with Margaret, Val and Steven all $191 richer and Ed had his $20 for a place so was $78 up. Val had passed the Tip on to Greg and he had $20 e/w so was the biggest winner in our family with $290. The main and dessert were delicious, topping off a very pleasant evening. We drove Margaret and Steven home to Centennial Park before heading back to Parklea.

January 12^th, Dianne organized the tickets for the Girls and myself to see “Alvin and The Chipmunks” at Castle Hill Plaza. We all enjoyed the show, while I had a choc top ice-cream and the girls devoured a medium box of popcorn and a drink each. Greg and Dianne came to the Park for a BBQ, after work.

January 14^th, Dianne dropped the girls off this morning, with their holiday luggage, and we headed for “Blue Lagoon Beach Resort” at Bateau Bay. Jessica and Annaliese had such a great time at this Park last year, that they chose to come here again this year. We called in to Express Canvas at Calga, on our way, and ordered an Annexe which we will pick up on our way to The Entrance on 25^th February. After booking in and setting up, the girls were into the Pool and soon found a new friend. After dinner we went to the Caravan Park Hall and watched a movie, Mr. Bean as a Secret Agent, very funny. We were impressed with the kid’s activities available at this Park, starting at 8am each day, right through to 8 or 9 pm.

January 15^th, Carole and Rob came down from Charlestown with their 2 grandkids, Darcy and Sophie. We had a nice lunch and the girls had a great day, playing together. This being Sunday there were no organized activities at the Caravan Park.

January 18^th, So far everything was running smoothly, the girls were doing all the activities they could and having a great time. The 2.45pm activity today was a 2km walk to Bateau Bay Beach, collect some natural spring water and return to Blue Lagoon Beach, so I went along for the walk. The spring water was just running out of the rock face, very clear, good tasting and so we all filled up our drink bottles and headed back. As we were going over the rock flats a photo opportunity came up. Gavin, our Activity Co-ordinator, had picked up a crab, so the girls needed their ipods to take a photo. Annaliese was last to get hers out of the backpack and running through a water puddle, slipped over. She quickly picked herself up and went to take her photo and then she saw the blood on the rocks coming from a cut under the heel of her foot. I sat her on a large rock, grabbed the towel from around her shoulder and mopped up the blood then applied pressure, to stop the bleeding. It took a while to calm her down and assure that she was not going to lose “all her blood”, as she put it. I used my 2 handkerchiefs to make a covering over the wound then “piggy backed” her to the Park. Val took over and dressed the wound, but at the mention of the cut needing a stitch, Annaliese went ballistic, screaming “don’t stitch me just put on a band-aid”.

January 20^th, Annaliese had a quiet day yesterday but seemed to be recovering well, so was able to do some of today’s activities. Apart from the cut foot, I think the Girls enjoyed their holiday at Blue Lagoon. We leave for Sydney in the morning.

Wangi Point 2011

December 29^th, We moved to Wangi Point Caravan Park this morning and set up for our 9 day stay, including taking the Tinnie off the car. It was good to be back at Wangi Point, we had forgotten how good it was at this Park. Waterfront, on Lake Macquarie, great views and was packed for New Year. We were up the back near the Amenities Block, but that was our own fault because when you leave it to the last minute to book during a holiday period, you have to take the last and only site left. We have decided to save some money this year for our trip to Tasmania next year. We want to take the Caravan over on the boat and take 2 months to look around. We will look at the possibility of staying at Wangi for the winter.

December 30^th, I set the Tinnie up and towed it down to the boat ramp, well! It serves as a boat ramp. It’s really a large slab of rock face that suits the purpose. I found a shoreline tree and chained the back of the boat to it and had an anchor out front. I knew from our previous experience that that pointy end had to face out, as most of the wind comes from that direction and a lot of seaweed packs up on shore. I am now ready to go out fishing when the weather improves, very windy today.

December 31^st, We had 2 invitations for tonight, to bring in the New Year. Carole and Rob got in first, which we had accepted then Joan and Robert called to do the same thing. Our compromise was to call in to Joan and Roberts on the way to Carole and Robs, so it all worked out well. We caught up with all the Ravlen’s at their daughter, Kirri’s place at Macquarie Hills near Cardiff then it was only 5 minute drive to the Lawrence residence at Charlestown. We had a lovely BBQ Dinner and played tiles for the night, with a short break to watch the Spectacular Sydney Fireworks on TV and bring in the New Year. We headed home around 2.30am and got to bed by 4am. I had to set an alarm as Carole and Rob were coming over at 11am tomorrow.

January 1^st, Carole and Rob arrived on time and after lunch I went out fishing with Rob. While we were out fishing, Carole and Val went to the Office to see what sites were available for a long stay, starting after Easter. We still plan to do our 14 day Pacific Island Cruise with Holland America, at the end of February. Then we have 5 weeks booked at Dunleith Caravan Park at The Entrance, which takes us up to our intended move to Wangi. The girls were given 8 sites to look at and decided that site 8, With a water view was the best. Val confirmed a booking for 5 months from 14^th April. Rob and I came in from fishing, having only caught 5 throw backs but still enjoying being out on the water. The wind came up making it was very choppy and we were both drenched, so straight to the showers to get rid of the salt water. Val filled us in on their afternoon activities and told me I needed to pay a deposit on our booking, in the morning. As you can see, I have to do all the ”important” things in this relationship. We all had a walk around the Park and watched a bit of the kids waterfront Disco before going home for dinner and some Tiles.

January 3^rd, We drove into Toronto today and did a big Supermarket shop and had a look around. The place hasn’t changed very much over the last few years. Val was thankful that she got a Vacuum Sealer for Christmas and that allowed us to fit all our meat and frozen items into the freezer.

January 5^th, I went out for a fish yesterday and again today, catching 2 bream yesterday and 3 today, all between 26 and 27cm. After filleting, Val vacuum sealed them and put them in the freezer.

January 6^th, In-between showers I packed up the car with our chairs and tables. The rain eased up after lunch so I pulled the tinnie out of the water and loaded it onto the car. We leave for Sydney Gateway Holiday Park in the morning, ready to look after Jessica and Annaliese on Monday, when Greg and Dianne are back at work.