Nambucca Heads week 1 2013

April 19^th, It was very windy this morning, but our pack up was very easy. I didn’t have the full annexe to pack up and most everything else was done yesterday. We said our “good-byes” to Terri and Patrick, we did enjoy our stay at Wallamba River, and headed north on our way to Nambucca Heads. On the way, we stopped at Ricadoes Tomato and Strawberry Farm, just north of Port Macquarrie. Val wanted to buy some green tomatoes to make a batch of her “green tomato pickles”. We had always talked about visiting this place whenever we saw the advert on TV and were staying at Wallamba River, but never got around to it. We were surprised to see how busy the place was, for a Friday, it was packed. The Shop section was loaded with products made at their place and if you didn’t want to pick your own, they had fresh picked Tomatoes and Strawberries to buy. Their set up in the hot houses was fascinating, as you will see in my photos. They had A frames made of PVC pipe and fittings, and the strawberries growing out of the T fittings. We were issued with small scissors to cut the strawberry stems when collecting them. Doing your own picking was fun. The Tomato plants were in rows of pots up on a shelf, so you didn’t have to bend down to pick them. I enjoyed a coffee and cookie while Val went and picked the Tomatoes and then I went with her to help pick the strawberries. We would recommend everyone, to visit “Ricadoes” and see it for yourself. We arrived at Nambucca and booked into the Pelican Caravan Park for 2 weeks and 4 days. We are on a waterfront site and we absolutely like the view of the Nambucca River, it’s great. It was too windy to put out the awning, so that’s a job for to-morrow.

April 20^th, Today was a work day, for me, I finished setting up our site including the annexe and front awning.

April 21^st, I took the boat off the car and set it up ready to go in the River tomorrow. I even went down to the boat ramp and cleared away the buildup of driftwood. There is a lot of driftwood going up and down the river with the tidal current, as a result of the floods they had here earlier in the year.

April 22^nd, I had to clear the boat ramp of driftwood again, and then get it into the water. I had decided to tie the boat up at the river’s edge, just down from our Van, at a set of steps. Keep in mind that this is the first time that I have been in this river. So, I motored down to my selected spot and tide was fairly low and ran aground about 10metres from shore. I decided that I could get into the water, wearing my gumboots, and pull the boat into shore. When I stepped over the side of the boat my boots sank into the silty bottom and the boat started to float. Unable to move my feet and holding onto the boat, of course, I was forced to sit down in the muddy river, up to my waist. Not Happy, Jan! I got myself up, pulled the boat in and tied it up to a tree. I hosed myself off and went into the annexe, stripped off and put on a new set of dry clothes. I had my mobile phone and car keys in my pocket, so now I need another new phone. I dried out the car door control and eventually got it to work again. We went into Nambucca Heads and I bought a new phone from the Post Office. Luckily, I have a basic Telstra phone, so it only cost $39 to buy a replacement. We dropped into the RSL on the way home, for a drink and a flutter but didn’t have any luck on the Pokies. We stopped off at the Fish Shop and bought a whole sea mullet, to put in our crab pot. After the Fishmonger told Val how good it was to eat and how to cook it, I had to fillet it and use only the carcass for the crabs.

April 23^rd, when the tide was high enough to float the boat, I went out to put the crab pot down and have a fish. I put the Crab Pot down near the oyster lease, where I could keep an eye on it from our Van. The fish weren’t biting so I went in and tied up the boat to the Jetty, a much better place to tie up. After lunch I thought I had better remove my towing hitch from the front of the boat before it got damaged on the jetty. I grabbed my tools and went down to do the job. I was thinking that I would have to get down on my knees to undo the bolts when my shifter slipped from my hand and dropped into the water. Bugger! The water was shallow, so I could see my shifter sitting in the mud on the bottom. I went back to the car and grabbed a fishing rod, and then patiently groped in the water with the line until eventually I got the hook into the hole, in the handle of my shifter, and reeled it in. What other disasters could happen to me here, I ask you!  I removed the hitch from the boat and packed it away in the Van boot.

April 24^th, No crabs today but I did catch a 43cm Flathead this morning. Val has been getting back into her “Dot painting” again and loves doing it. Today she amazed me by getting into a different style of painting which I thought was good. See the photos.

April 28^th, Not a lot to report, I’ve checked the crab pots every day and gone out for a fish. Nothing, no crabs, no keepable fish and lots of driftwood in the river. All I’ve caught while we have been here is one Flathead and one shifting spanner! I managed to do a few odd jobs around the Van and Val is continuing to paint madly. However, we are both “Happy” and like this area.                                              

Wallamba River, April 2013

March 28^th, With some much appreciated help from Carole and Rob, I finished packing up the Annexe. I opened up the Hatch Door, to get at my toolbox, and the LH hinge broke off and the door shot upwards under the force from the telescopic support arm. Luckily Carole and Rob were handy to help me, as I struggled with the door. Rob disconnected the arm while Carole and myself supported the door, then we were able to get it in position and latched in place. Another car problem for me to tackle at Wallamba. We said our “Good Byes” to all our friends at Dunleith and headed off for Wallamba River Holiday Park at Darawank, 10 Klms north of Tuncurry. The trip up went smoothly, with very little traffic on the road. After booking in for 2 weeks, we set up on site 11. This was a double slab that had originally had an Annual Van on it and because the slab is so large I decided not to put up the annexe. We went around to Terri and Patrick’s to say hello and catch up and they had organized tonight’s Dinner for   us, which was very thoughtful of them. I finished unpacking and setting up the point where we could sleep in the Van tonight. We had a lovely meal with Terri and Patrick followed by an early night.

March 29^th, This is “Good Friday” so no shops open, the Park is full to the hilt for the Easter Break, so we finished getting organized and I decided to put up the end wall from the annexe to protect the caravan door from any bad weather.  We had dinner at Terri and Patrick’s again tonight.

March 30^th, I went into Tuncurry with Patrick this morning, we had to put Patrick and Val’s bets on at the Pub. Patrick, like Val, likes a little flutter on the Gallops and “Black Caviar” was running so Val was all excited. Her latest method of betting is to take the favourite in a “quinella with the field”, hoping that the 2^nd place horse will be a big paying roughie. It will work one day! I took the boat off the car today as I didn’t want to be carting it back and forth to Toronto when Val goes for her Carpel Tunnel Op. I’ve still got to rework the clamp-on wheel ass’y before I can do anything with the boat. Val only lost $7 on today’s bets and had an enjoyable day (a small price for happiness).

April 2^nd, After a busy Easter break, all the campers and holiday makers have left and the Park is now deserted, except for the permanents and us. Today is the day we have been waiting for, particularly Val. She has been in a lot of severe pain with her wrist over the last few days, but today is “Operation Day”. We had to be at Toronto Private Hospital at 11am to book in. We allowed 2 ½ hours to get down there and timed it perfectly, arriving with 15minutes to spare. The Operation went well and was all over by 2pm, including a sandwich in recovery. We went to Joan and Roberts at Cardiff to pick up our mail and then on to Carole and Rob’s at Charlestown, so that I could modify my clamp on wheels for the boat. The modification went well but I’d never make a living as a welder. After some afternoon tea we left for Wallamba and got home around 7.45pm. A very long and tiring day.

April 3^rd, Raining again today and Val was in pain with her wrist. Not the same pain as before the op. but soreness from the operation. I finished preparing the clamp on wheel assemblies for the boat. Paint on my welding ( it needed hiding), and grease on the bearings ( one bearing was completely locked up with mud and took a fair bit of cleaning to get it working).

April 4^th, Still raining today, so we went into Forster to the Library. Val wanted some books on Aboriginal dot painting to get some ideas for her dot paintings and I needed a few Westerns. We wandered around the Shopping Centre and did a bit of Shopping before heading home. We rang Annaliese for her Birthday. She’s a big 9 year old today and has grown into a very pretty young girl.

April 5^th, The rain had eased down to showers, so I was able to get the boat set up for launching tomorrow morning. I had to finish assembling the new clamp on wheel assemblies before anything could be done to the boat. We have had a few heavy showers of rain, so I took out the bung to allow the water to drain from the boat. We rang Ed for his Birthday today but we were disappointed that our Card had not arrived.

April 6^th, I put the boat in the water after breakfast and went for my first fish since we got here. It was cloudy (no rain), the water was very brown and a lot of rubbish floating down the river from all the recent rain but when I tied up in the Lagoon, I had two 42cm flathead on board. I was happy with my first catch, as I thought there would be too much fresh water in the river and the fishing might not be good.

April 7^th, I took Patrick out fishing with me this morning. We took a crab pot with us to try for a crab, with the 2 flathead carcasses for bait. We put the trap on the shallow side of the river and started fishing in the deeper side, drifting for flathead. Patrick thought he had caught a twig, as often happens in any of the rivers, and was winding in his line and bugger me, a crab was hanging onto his bait. Of course, I wasn’t fast enough with my catch net and it dropped off once it got near the surface, so I missed the opportunity to net it. We immediately motored to retrieve my crab pot and put it down in the area where Patrick had pulled up the crab. We fished for another couple of hours and I caught a 36cm flathead, our only catch of the day. We checked the crab pot before going in for lunch, no crabs, so I decided to leave it down and bring it in at 5pm. After lunch Val and myself went for a drive to Taree, only 20 minutes away. Val went to Spotlight while I did a little shopping. When we got home I went out to check the crab pot and I couldn’t find it! I had noted a landmark when I put it down, so knew exactly where to look. The water was very dirty and visibility in the water was bad, so I reserved my annoyance until I could check the area again tomorrow morning. This is the 2nd trap to disappear in this River, I should know better than to leave a trap unwatched.

April 8^th, Went out fishing with Patrick, still no sign of my crab pot and we didn’t catch any fish. After lunch I took Val to the big Shopping Centre at Forster, to get more dot painting supplies.

April 10^th, Put the Territory into Bears Tyrepower at Tuncurry for a Service and asked them to fit the Coil Pack to No. 1 cylinder, previously diagnosed by Jax Tyres at Salamander Bay, while they were at it. After the mechanic had serviced the car and taken it for a run, he called me through to the workshop. He asked me who diagnosed my problem as the coil pack was working fine and the real problem for the rough idle was a leaking exhaust flange gasket! This was a common problem with the Ford motor of my vintage, so I was told, and was a big job to replace, approx $300 worth. I booked the car in for next Monday to get the job done. They couldn’t help me with the hatch door hinge problem, so I went to the Ford Dealer in Forster and ordered a replacement hinge ($50) and decided that I could fit it myself.

April 11^th, We drove down to Newcastle today for Val’s 2pm appointment with Dr Hicks, to have her stitches removed and the operation checked out. He was happy with her recovery and Val was delighted to have the bandages off, the stitches out and freedom to move and wet her wound. After a brief stop at Spotlight, we ducked down to Joan and Roberts at Cardiff to pick up our mail, before heading off on our 2 hour journey back to Darawank.

April 12^th, I picked up the hatch door hinge from Ford Spare Parts this morning and instead of fitting it straight away, I went out fishing with Patrick. Should have fitted the hinge, as we didn’t catch any keepers. We had dinner at Terri and Patrick’s, then watched the football with them.

April 13^th, The Gallops, at Randwick, were on TV today, so I had to drive into Tuncurry, with Patrick, to put on Val’s bets while Patrick did his. After lunch I decided to go for a fish (I didn’t want to watch the races) and didn’t get a bite but on my last drift I got snagged on the bottom (Not unusual). I started up the boat motor and was driving around the area where I was snagged, trying to get my line to release from the snag. I was applying a steady pressure when I finally felt some movement and pulled up my missing crab pot! Incredable!  I worked out that because my trap float was on a short length of rope, the noodle was being held under water, and it did absorb water causing it to sink, so that it could not been seen under the dirty water.

April 15^th, I took the car in to Bears Tyrepower at 8am, to have the leaking exhaust manifold gasket replaced. They gave me a car to use while they worked on my car, which was very handy. It allowed me to do some shopping in Tuncurry while I was in there. I went in to pick up our car around 12.30pm, after they sent me a text saying it was ready and the final cost was $335. Val prepared dinner in the Van to take to Terri and Patrick,s tonight. Our site wasn’t suitable to easily set up the Annexe, so we have always had dinner at Terri and Patrick,s place, regardless of who has prepared it and mostly it was a joint affair.

April 16^th, Patrick had a Dr’s appointment this morning, so I went out for a fish by myself. I caught 3 small bream but came in for lunch with a 37cm flathead. Val and myself went into Tuncurry at 3.15pm to see Dr Islam and have our free Flu Injections.

April 17^th, We picked up Terri and Patrick at 7.30am and went to Gloucester. Patrick had to be at Gloucester Hospital at 8.30am for a small operation to remove a cancer from the side of his nose. After Patrick was settled in at the Hospital and taken away to be prepared, we all headed into the Town Centre. We had a lovely morning tea at the Bakery Café in the main street, before we went for a tour of the shops. I left the girls to their browsing and went to the local Park and read some of my Western. The girls called me when they were ready and I met them in the main street where Terri shared some very delicious hot chips with us. We then took a relaxing and enjoyable drive around the surrounding countryside, before heading back to the Hospital. When we got there Patrick was ready to go and everything had gone well. We headed off for home, down that very narrow, windy and in places, rough road, with an empty Cement Truck, riding my ass all the way. Of course, it was my fault (Val’s opinion) that the road was windy and I was driving too fast, even though I didn’t go over the speed limit all trip.

April 18^th, Today was pack up day, as we leave in the morning for Nambucca Heads. I went for a short fish, without any luck and the Ski Boats were annoying me, so I took the boat out of the water and packed up the boat gear. Patrick came around to help me get the boat back on top of the car and after lunch I packed all the outside gear into the back of the car. Val prepared some flathead fillets and salad and Patrick cooked the fillets for Terri and Val and t-bone steaks for us guys. We finished off our enjoyable meal with Apple Pie with Cream and Ice Cream.