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.