Sydney, end of Jan 2012

January 21^st, Travelled to Sydney Gateway Holiday Park, booked in and put the Van on site. Connected the power and then took the Girls home. They were keen to see Mum and Dad, so they said, but we believe it was to see the new pancake maker that Dianne had bought while they were at Batteau Bay. It was “hello Mum, let’s make pancakes”. After a cuppa and catch up with Greg and Dianne we went back to the Park to set the Van up for our 10 day stay.

January 23^rd, We settled into the routine of Dianne dropping off Jessica and Annaliese in the morning and Greg picking them up after work. We will be looking after the girls until Wednesday, then Greg has the next 4 days off for the Australia Day break. It rained all day, so we had to play in-door or in-van games to keep them occupied.

January 24^th, At 7.15am I drove up to Power Ford, at Castle Hill, to put the car in for replacement ball joints. I took one of my Westerns to read and 1 ½ Hours later was driving back to the Park, appreciating that Ford had done that job for me as a recall, so no charge.

January 26^th, Australia Day. We went to Greg and Dianne’s for a great Lamb BBQ lunch with Karina and her 2 kids. They put on a huge spread that we all enjoyed.

January 27^th, Greg picked me up at 6am this morning and we took his boat up to The Hawksberry River, for a fish. Val was left to look after Jessica and Annaliese at the Caravan Park. We tried several spots during the day, even ventured out through the heads but it was a bit too rough. Unfortunately we didn’t find any fish, our only catch was an eel that Greg caught, and we had rain showers off and on all day, but it was still enjoyable out on the water.

January 28^th, Steven rang to let us all know that Margarets horse “Stompin” was racing at Ascot in Perth, so all bets were on. We went to Greg and Dianne’s place for lunch and to watch the race on their big screen TV. In the afternoon, Karina did acrylic extensions on Val’s nails, ready for our Cruise, then Dianne took Val and Karina to the Bonds Factory Outlet, at Wentworthville while Greg and I minded the 4 kids. At 6.30pm we watched  “Stompin” run a great race, just got pipped at the post to run 2^nd. This was still a good result for the gamblers, as they got place money as well as the quinella, so everybody came out in front.

January 29^th, We drove into the City this morning, to locate the wharf where we will be boarding our Cruise Ship on the 28^th February and to check on the parking facilities. Of course, I got stuck on a ramp that took us across the Harbour Bridge and had to then come back. It was the scenic tour of the City but we did locate the wharf and Val chatted to the Parking Security Guy and got all the info we needed. We then made our way out to The Buckland Hotel, at Alexandria, for lunch with Steven, Ed, Lute, Ilkare and their new baby. We had a lovely lunch and went back to Ilkare’s place for afternoon coffee and drinks.

January 30^th, Big pack up day today, I had to put the boat back on the car and pick up all the gear I stored in Greg’s garage and repack the car and van ready to leave in the morning for the Wallamba River Holiday Park at Darawank, just north of Foster/Tuncurry.