March 28th, 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 29th, 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 30th, 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 2nd 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 2nd, 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 3rd, 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 4th, 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 5th, 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 6th, 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 7th, 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 8th, 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 10th, 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 11th, 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 12th, 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 13th, 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 15th, 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 16th, 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 17th, 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 18th, 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment