Blacksmiths Beach, Jan 2013

December 29^th, Greg, Dianne and the girls came to the park to see us off. Greg helped me load the boat on to the car and finish packing up. We had a good run up to Blacksmiths beach Tourist Park, even though there was plenty of traffic on the road. After we were set up on our site, I took the boat off the car. It will be a useful storage place and allows me to get the car into underground parking, at the big shopping centres.

December 30^th, Val got started on sorting through the garage sale boxes that Ed had given us. That was a full days work and we wanted to go up to our Storage Shed as soon as possible.

December 31^st, We went to Carole and Rob’s place for Dinner, Tiles and to bring in the “New Year” with them. We had a great meal, an enjoyable evening and after watching the Sydney Harbour Fireworks on TV, carried on playing tiles until 2.30am.

January 1^st, very hot today, we put on our washing and generally recovered from our late night out.

January 2^nd, At 9.30 we left for our Storage Shed at Salamander Bay, loaded up with the boxes for the Shed Sale. We spent our day at the shed, pulling out, opening and sorting through all the boxes in storage and repacking all the items that we wanted to put into Greg’s roof. We headed back home with 6 boxes for storage At Greg’s and 1 box belonging to Steven.

January 3^rd, We ducked up to Belmont to do a bit of Shopping and on the way back we called in to an Antique Shop, just down the road from the Park, to see what they thought of some Chinese Artefacts that were in the things Ed had given us. They weren’t experts on those items but did give us the  name of an Auction House in Sydney who would be able to help us. Joan and Robert called in for afternoon tea and to give us our mail.

January 4^th, Carole and Rob came down to our Van, for Dinner and tiles. One of our neighbours called in and invited us to join the mob across the way for a game of Bocce but we decided to continue our Tiles challenge.

January 5^th, We have been on this site for a week, so now we had to pack up and move to site 140 for the next week. This we knew about when we booked in and still one more move before our month is up here. No rain today, so the move went very smoothly. As Val had suggested, I pulled down the annexe walls and packed all the outside gear on top of the boat. I towed the Caravan to site 140 and set it up, then fitted my towing hitch to the boat and towed it down to site 140 and set up the annexe walls and all the outside gear. A much easier way to make the move but still a big job, for an old bloke like me.

January 8^th, Today was our hottest day this year and the Bushfire Warnings are at “Extreme” level, no fires allowed in NSW. Val spent 2 ½ hours in the Pool both today and yesterday. We did have an afternoon sea-breeze come up, so I didn’t find it too hot myself.

January 10^th, Val went to the local Doctors in Swansea this afternoon, just to get some Prescriptions written out and when making her appointment, asked if they bulked billed Pensioners, and was told “yes”. After her consultation with the Dr. she went to reception to sign the medicare claim form and was told “That will be $73”. Val said, “I was told you Bulk Bill” and the receptionist said the Dr. has coded you as a “Holiday Visitor” and that’s the charge for your consultation. It just goes to show that you can’t ask enough questions about charges when not visiting your own GP, travelers beware.

January 11^th, We went to Carole and Rob’s for dinner and Tiles, and had a great meal and plenty of enjoyable games of Tiles.

January 12^th, Today we moved to site 12, our last move before we leave on the 29^th of this month. Using the same system as our last move in this Park, all went smoothly. I had just finished setting up when Greg and Dianne arrived with Jessica and Annaliese. The girls were having an 8 day holiday with us and this coincided with a group of their friends from School holidaying at the same Park. Val put on a “home made” hamburger lunch then Greg, Dianne and Karina took all the kids to the Beach for a couple of hours before heading home.

January 13^th, Steven and Ed came up for a visit today and we had Burgers for lunch, again, at the boy’s request. They gave us 6 more boxes of items for our Shed “Garage Sale”. After lunch, Steven, Ed and myself took the girls down to Blacksmiths Beach for a surf. They are now old enough to enjoy the surf, so had a great time.

January 15^th, This Caravan Park has an Activity Program for the Kids during School Holidays, yesterday was a Reptile Show. Which was very well run, very informative and enjoyed by all the children in the Park. Today was Plaster Painting, then into the Pool to cool off. Val went Shopping and arrived back with a “Body Board” for each of the girls. Off to the beach we went to try out their new boards, which was the highlight of the day. After dinner the girls went to the outdoor movie in the Park.

January 16^th, Today’s activity was Fun Sports and did all the kids enjoy that. It started with a pole fight over a jumping castle and then a softball target that released a bucket of water onto the players in their turn. The pictures should be self explanatory.

January 17^th, This morning Karina and myself took Jessica, Annaliese , Chloe and Riley to Caves Beach. The kids had a ball checking out all the caves, then enjoyed swimming and body boarding in the surf. After lunch the kids were back in the Pool at the Park and enjoyed the outdoor movie after dark.

January 18^th, Wow! Today was stifling hot Day, 34.6deg. Karina, Cloe and Riley left just before lunch after a swim in the Pool with our girls. Carole and Rob came down with Sophie and Ava (2 of their grand children) we spent all day in the Pool. I even (eventually) went in myself, that how hot it was. A southerly arrived late afternoon with a bit of showery rain and brought some much needed relief from the heat. The Disco Lady turned up at 8pm for the Kids Disco and lasted through the showers until 8.30 pm, when the Security Guy stopped everything for safety reasons (approaching Electrical Storm).

January 19^th, The southerly continued all day with showers, so I amused the girls by putting on the “Pink Panther” DVD, with Peter Sellers and David Niven. An old movie but they enjoyed watching it.

January 20^th, We packed up all the girls gear, ready for Dianne’s arrival. After a spot of lunch, Dianne headed back with Jessica and Annaliese. The girls had a fantastic holiday with us and this Park is now their favourite holiday destination.

January 21^st, Carole and Rob called in on their way home from Calga and stayed for fish and Chips, from the local shop, and a game of Tiles.

January 23^rd, We went to Carole and Robs place for Dinner and Tiles.

January 24^th, We spent most of today planning and organizing our accommodation for the next 2 months, up till Easter. We leave Blacksmiths Beach on the 29^th January and move to Bays Holiday Park, at Anna Bay, until March 2^nd. We will be having a Shed/Garage Sale while at Anna Bay and clearing our storage shed out. Then we will move down to Dunleith Holiday Park, at The Entrance North. We have shortened our stay at Dunleith from 7 weeks to 4 weeks and moved off our waterfront site to site 152. This will save us a bit on accommodation cost and allow us to start travelling north a lot sooner. We have decided to travel this year, up into Queensland and back inland to Sydney for Christmas, then start looking into buying a Relocatable Home on the NSW Central Coast and settling down.

January 25^th, Joan and Robert came down today, with our mail, and had dinner and Tiles. We filled them in on our upcoming moves and they have volunteered to help us with the Garage Sale. We were sitting in the annexe chatting away when Joan said, “do you know that you have a flat tyre on your car”. Bugger me! The front right tyre was half flat, I hadn’t noticed anything when I drove to the shops this morning. That’s a job for tomorrow. I can only put the spare tyre on, as this is Australia Day weekend, nothing will be open.

January 26^th, Got my tools and the spare tyre out ready to replace the front tyre on the Territory. When I tried to loosen the wheel nuts, the pressed metal spanner (that Ford put into the Territory tool kit) just opened up and just turned on the nuts. I tried getting them loosened with a socket spanner I had, but no joy! I then borrowed a proper wheel brace from a neighbor in the Park and we still could not budge these nuts. So, now cursing the tyre fitters who overtighten wheel nuts with their air spanners, with o length of pipe and some more WD40 we finally got the nuts to move. What a job!

January 27^th, Another wet day, we were getting constant rain driven by a Tropical Cyclone that is now moving down the coast from Queensland. Carole And rob came down for dinner and Tiles and Val did her “Lambs Fry and Bacon”, Yum! And a Tim Tam and Raspberry Chocolate Cake for desert, double Yum!

January 28^th, That rain hasn’t stopped and I’ve got to pack up the boat ready to leave in the morning, double bugger! I’ve just checked the weather report and this rain is supposed to ease off to showers in the morning, so looks like a very early start and do all the packing up tomorrow.

Rouse Hill, Xmas 2012

December 18^th, Up early to finish packing up to leave. Terri and Patrick came around to see us off, on our way to The OK Corral Caravan Park at Rouse Hill in Sydney. This was our first stay at this Park and so an unknown, as our usual Park was Sydney Gateway at Parklea which has been converted to a Lifestyle Village for the over 50’s. We turned off at Medowie and went to our Storage Shed at Salamander Bay, to pick up 2 boxes that belonged to Steven, then continued on to Sydney. This detour added a lot of time to our journey, so with breaks it took us 7 hours to get from Wallamba River to Rouse Hill, in Sydney.  After booking in and setting up Greg, Dianne, Jessica and Annaliese came over bringing a much appreciated Pizza Meal for all of us. We were very happy with our site, nice and shady, nicely grassed, a large concrete slab and clean amenities. One difference to other Caravan Parks, checking in was done at a “cone of silence” booth at the entrance, where I was given directions to our site and help to guide me in, but the Office was at the other end of the Park and a long uphill walk. I was given a friendly welcome, paid the fees and then driven back to our site in a “golf cart”, how flash is that.

December 19^th, Did the last of our Xmas Shopping this morning (Secret Santa Presents only). We went over to Greg and Dianne’s and as they are still working, Val made a delicious Chicken Stroganoff for Dinner.

December 20^th, We packed up our equipment and headed off to Steven and Ed’s new apartment at Elizabeth Bay, to help them with a few odd jobs. They had just picked up the keys, so the place was empty. My main job was to re-paint the freshly painted front door, from a dull red to a gloss red. Sound too easy, doesn’t it. Val main task was to take up the curtains, as they were all different lengths and dragging on the floor, another easy job. We started with a tour of the apartment, which was a very impressive 3 br, fully refurbished, new kitchen and bathrooms and freshly painted and carpeted right through. I masked, lightly sanded the front door and gave it a first coat of new paint. As it started to dry it was obvious that it would need a 2^nd coat, in 2 hrs. Val set up her sewing machine on our table and proceeded with the task of pinning up and hemming the bottoms of the 20 curtains in the apartment. Her instructions were to make the curtains just resting on the floor and her efforts were frustrating her as she was never satisfied with the finished results. I discovered that the curtain brackets were slotted, so adjustable, which calmed her nerves when I was able to adjust the height to her satisfaction. We took care of some minor tasks, like removing unwanted shelving and adjusting cupboard doors to close with even gaps. The boys were planning to remove the 2^nd bathroom shower screens to install the new clothes dryer, which we thought was not a great idea and created other problems. Val came up with the great idea of removing the existing cupboard under the breakfast bar in the kitchen and fitting the dryer under there. Steven was excited at the prospect and had to contact the dryer manufacturers to find out if that closed in area would be OK. A task for tomorrow. It was a long day as we left home at 10.30am and arrived back home at midnight, but we were happy with the help we were able to give the boys.

 

 

December 21^st, It was both Greg and Dianne’s last day at work, so we had the girls for the day. They had a great time feeding the goats and ducks, playing on the swings and merry go round and swimming in the pool.

December 23^rd, Greg picked me up at 9.15am and we went to Steven and Ed’s apartment at Elizabeth Bay to modify the breakfast bar to take the Clothes Dryer and I had to put a 3^rd and final coat of red gloss paint on the front door. Greg also hung some very heavy mirrors in the lounge room and I fixed a leak at the main bathroom shower head. Ed had packed up 7 boxes of things he didn’t want and gave them to me for our garage sale in February, next year. We got back home around 6.30pm, satisfied with our days efforts to help Steven and Ed settle in.

Mind you, it might take me a week to recover as I haven’t done that much work in the last 10 years.

December 24^th, Val started preparing her salad and trifle for tomorrows Christmas Day Lunch at Greg and Dianne’s. I dropped off everything to be put in Greg’s fridge and was finding that I was getting a cold today, so Dianne gave me some cough and cold mixture they had in the cupboard. I was feeling so bad after dinner that I went to bed early, very unusual for me.

December 25^th, We went to Greg and Dianne’s around 11am and gave Jessica and Annaliese their Christmas presents, which they loved. Greg had laid out a great table setting and I had left my camera back at the Van, bugger! Greg Dianne and Val were busy preparing the food for lunch while I sat around feeling miserable with my cold (only to be expected). Steven and Ed followed by Sue and Mark (Dianne’s parents) arrived and our party was complete. We did our Secret Santa presents for the Adults, we all got what we wanted, and we were now ready to eat the delicious food, prepared for lunch.

December 27^th, I stayed in bed all day yesterday and until lunchtime today. Val had picked up some more cold tablets and cough mixture, in an attempt to make me feel better. My cold was starting to improve, so we went around to Greg and Dianne’s place to share a Chinese takeaway with them for dinner, which was very enjoyable. Dianne had  eaten something, while they were out  spending their Christmas Vouchers, that didn’t agree with her and  she was vomiting, so we didn’t see her till later in the night when she came through looking very pale.

December 28^th, I cleaned out the back of the car this morning, as Steven had phoned to let us know that we were to pick up more boxes of stuff that Ed was giving us for our Garage Sale. We left early to meet with Nikos at 2pm, at his work building in Sydney CBD. Steven joined us and we went for a coffee and chat about the state of our finances.  It was good to catch up with Nikos again and we had a very useful discussion from which we decided to look into Relocatable Homes on the Central Coast after another year on the road and then selling both the Caravan and Ford Territory and buying a smaller car. Steven and Nikos went back to their respective jobs and we wandered around Town until Steven finished work. We loaded up the boxes from Steven and Ed’s Apartment and they took us to dinner at Mickey’s Place in Oxford Street, Paddington. The food was delicious and the atmosphere nice and quiet, compared to their first choice of the local Pub on the corner. It was far too late to do any packing up tonight and Greg offered his help to get us off to Blacksmiths in the morning.