Stuarts Point August 2014 week 3 on

August 12^th, Very strong winds again today and very cold, so not a fishing day. Val went to the Workers Club for Bingo and won a $6 voucher and met some local ladies, who have invited her to sit with them next time. The vouchers can be spent at the Club Bistro or at any of the 5 shops in Town (by the way, there are only 5 shops in this Town).

August 13^th, Still windy with a few light showers during the day. A whole lot of workers and equipment turned up today and started laying down a “hot tar” surface on the roads in the Park. The Annuals were very excited, as some of the roads were full of potholes and I heard comments, ie, “It’s about time the Council did something”. At the end of the day they packed up their equipment and left, after completing few sections of the road.

August 14^th, A truck arrived with 4 workers and did a tidy up of the road work completed yesterday. We were all set to head into Kempsey to do some shopping and the car wouldn’t start. Fortunately a neighbour had a “battery booster” and was able to get us going. We didn’t have any more starting problems, so enjoyed lunch and a bit of retail therapy in Kempsey. I have worked out the reason for our flat battery, as I have been very lazy and driving the car to the shops, many many times, when it’s only an 8 minute stroll.

August 17^th, the last few days have been overcast, windy and wet days. We had heavy rain all last night, so that should please the locals.

August 18^th, The rain was gone this morning so we decided to go for a drive and check out the local area. We drove up to Grassy Head, which is where the Maclaey River ends. It used to be the mouth of the River but 7 years ago a storm filled it in with sand and “the powers to be” decided to put in a new entry down at South West Rocks, instead of opening it up again. There was a Caravan Park at Grassy Head but no shops, so we carried on to Scotts head. We did the few shops and walked through the Caravan Park to the Beach. It’s on a small Bay, nice sandy beach and a good surfing and board riding spot. There were a few hairpin bends in the narrow road between Grassy and Scotts Heads, so I wouldn’t like to be towing a Van along that stretch of narrow windy road. As we came back into our Caravan Park at Stuarts point, a new arrival was blocking the road ahead, so I took the back street to get to our site. We unpacked our Shopping and the phone rang. It was Carole, our friend from Charlestown, who we knew was touring around Queensland with her Hubby, Rob. When I said “where are you?”, and Carole said “site 16 at Stuarts Point”, I looked up the road and got a wave from Carole. What a SURPRISE, it was them blocking the road when we came in. They called in to visit us and were staying 4 nights. We had a few drinks and played “Tiles” until 12.30am.

August 21^st, We have enjoyed our time with Carole and Rob, it was great to catch up. I was disappointed not to get to take Rob out for a fish, but the cold winds were blowing up the River every day and rob had a touch of the Flu anyway. We played a lot of tiles, which we all enjoyed, and had most of our meals at our place. As this was their last night with us, Carole and Rob took us to the Workers Club for Chinese. We all enjoyed the meals so much, that we couldn’t praise the Cook enough, everything was delicious.

August 22^nd, We saw Carole and Rob off this morning, on their way to call in on Terri and Patrick, our mutual friends at Wallamba River.

August 26^th, I had to pump rainwater out of the boat this morning, again. This will be the 3^rd time I have had to do this in the last 4 days. It has rained every day, with strong wind and a thunder storm one night (terrible weather). We did get an email from Bevington Shores to tell us that a possible home may be coming on the market soon, so that will change our plans and now we will head back to Budgewoi to check it out.

August 27^th, Still showers today, so we went in to Kempsey to do some shopping and I needed to replace my mobile phone (so I thought). It just stopped working and I assumed that it had somehow got a bit of moisture into it. I went to the Post Office and bought a $50 Telstra pre-paid phone, exactly the same as the one I already had. I went back to the car and decided that I should try my new phone, so put in my sim card and the new battery and it still didn’t work. I thought, it’s no good going back to the Post Office, so I went back down the main street to the Telstra Shop and found out that the phone was OK and the sim card was the problem. They gave me a new sim card and instructions to ring Telstra tomorrow and get the sim card validated with my current phone number. They would have sorted it all out in the shop but I gave them the wrong number (seniors moment), so they couldn’t find me on the system (I also saved myself the $20 fee for the shop to validate the sim). I now have a spare new phone which will be on hand when my next phone disaster happens.

August 28^th, I had to pump water out of the boat again this morning, so decided that while the rain had stopped, it was a good time to get the boat out of the river. I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy job, as one of my clamp on wheels was busted. I picked a little sandy spot in the camping area and pulled the boat up to the edge and took the car down to pull the boat up onto the bank, so I could load it onto the boat rack. As soon as the strain was taken by my tow rope the LH back wheel started spinning in the soft ground. No amount of rocking, plastic mats or rocks helped, I simply got bogged deeper with each try. I called on my neighbour, who brought his 4 wheel drive down and we were soon on solid ground again. I loaded all the boat gear into the back of the Territory and put the boat up on top of the car. I was buggered, so time for a wine and I’ll finish of packing all the gear tomorrow.

August 30^th, This week-end Stuarts Point is buzzing, as the Yarrahapinni Festival is on, so lots of activities for the kids, Market stalls, Hot Rods, Dog and Owners swim across the river (Unusual), Arts and Craft Display and The Op-Shop Ball as the Workers Club. We bought tickets to the Ball when we first arrived in Stuarts Point, so the idea was to purchase an item to wear from the Op Shop. I had a long sleeved Op Shop shirt and Val put on an OP Shop style house dress and pink clogs. I thought we were well dressed for the occasion. The locals got into the spirit with some great outfits, as you can see in the photos. We weren’t at the Club long when we were enticed to buy a $2 Op Shop tie, to add some proper dress to the occasion. The meal was Chinese, very good, and the Band was loud but enjoyable. All the prizes were from the Op Shop and were wrapped in newspaper (very classy). I won 3 prizes, lucky door, best tie and the 100 board game where you bought a number for $2 and they did a draw for the lucky winners. We had a good time and enjoyed the night with a couple from Nambucca Heads.

September 1^st, We left Stuarts Point this morning and drove down to Budgewoi Holiday Park. This was a change of plans, as we had intended to go further north, but when we got word that Bevington Shores had a home coming on the Market that might suit us, we wanted to be down there to get in a first in look.

This is where we intend to settle, so our travelling days have drawn to an end and we have decided to make this the last blog post. We have enjoyed our 8 ½ years as “Grey Nomads” and seen a lot of this big Country of ours.

Stuarts Point August 2014, Wk1 and 2

July 29^th, We travelled to Stuarts Point, with a stop at Coles in Kempsy, to stock up on our groceries. We booked in at the Holiday Park and set up on our riverfront site. We have been here a few years ago and it’s one that we like a lot.

July 31^st, I took the boat off the car, set it up and put it into the Macley River, chained up to a tree. I am hoping to catch some fish while we are here.

August 3^rd, It has been very cold and windy for the last 3 days and today we had a bit of rain, as well. So, I still haven’t been out in the tinny yet, but caught a couple of small bream off the bank.

August 4^th, At low tide, I went out in the boat to the sand bar and pumped around 30 yabbies. Boy! That was hard work! I’m hoping it will be easier with practice. I went out for a fish at 3pm but didn’t have any luck.

August 6^th, The wind dropped a bit today, so thought that I would go out for a fish, even though it was low tide. I decided to go downstream as I have been told that they are getting a few fish down at South West Rocks, at the inlet from the ocean. I didn’t expect to get that far down but after probably getting around a kilometre down river and on the sandbars 3 times, I gave up and came back home. I might try it at high tide on another day.

August 8^th, High tide this morning, so went out for a fish just along the front of the Caravan Park but only caught a small whiting. I went back out at low tide and pumped a few more yabbies.

August 9^th, Went out again this morning but didn’t catch anything, then found out later when talking to the Park Manager, that the professional fishermen had recently cleaned the river out. Val and I decided to take the walk out to the beach, as it was supposed to be only a 10 minute walk. It actually was a ¾ hour walk from our Caravan to the beach and back. We would have only spent 5 minutes at the beach taking a couple of photos, nice long beach though, with fine sand.

August 11^th, Very strong winds today and very cold. I went for a stroll along the river’s edge and did notice, for the first time, that there were a few small fish along the river edge, so hopefully the fish are starting to come back.

Failford July 2014

July 19^th, We travelled to the Riverside Holiday Park at Failford, just north of Tuncurry. We arrived to a closed Office and were let through the boom gate by one of the workers and told to pick any spot and set up, as he didn’t know anything about the Office work side of things. Surprisingly enough, the office is only open for a few hours on Thursday and Friday mornings, but had a phone number to contact the Manager at other times. I picked a patch of grass alongside a power post and started setting up. When I went to connect the water I couldn’t find a tap, so rang he Manager only to find out that they don’t have water on any of their caravan or camp sites and we would have to get water from the nearby Camp Kitchen! The other snippet of information from the Manager was that their Park is basically a “Home Park”. We made a few calls to other Parks in the area and decided to try it for a week at this one, as it was close to our friends at the Wallamba River Park, at Darrawank. I finished setting up and we went around to Terri and Patrick’s place for dinner.

July 20^th, Terri and Patrick picked us up this morning and we went down to Nabiac. There was a Caravan and Camping Show on at the Showground, but at $15 a person with no pensioner discount, we decided it was a bit rich for us and went around to check out the Tavern for lunch. It looked busy so we decided to try the Pub at Harrington, after a visit to the Nabiac Caravan Sales Yard on the way. This is where Terri and Patrick bought their Van and we were very impressed with the presentation and prices of their Vans. We arrived at Harrington Waters and found the Irish Pub, so went in there for lunch. It was packed but we got the last vacant table and enjoyed a great lunch and a drink.

July 21^st, I got the boat off the car and set up.  I put it in the river then went upstream for a fish. Very disappointed, I came home without even getting a bite! To top things off, I am still having trouble with my clamp on wheels, as one has practically rusted away.

July 22^nd, I went out for a fish again today and this time went down river and fished out front of the Wallamba River Caravan Park and came home with a bream and a flathead. The rusted boat wheel collapsed, so I went to the Recycle Centre and picked up another rusty wheel and was delighted when it was a giveaway. Terri and Patrick called in for afternoon tea and dropped off some chokoes and cauliflower for Val to make a batch of Choko Pickles.

July 23^rd, I got busy today and dismantled my new rusty wheel and rebuilt it as best I could, using all the bits I had from both wheels. I put the boat in the river, the rebuilt wheel kept undoing the nut, as I couldn’t get a split pin fitted and the bearings are stuffed. I motored up to Wallamba Caravan Park and picked up Patrick and we fished our old spots but the fish were not biting. Val cooked up a delicious meal in the slow cooker and we took that over to Terri and Patrick’s for Dinner tonight. Terri has been trying to buy a Robe for their second bedroom, without much luck. She is desperate for more hanging space, so Patrick said he would build one and I offered to help him.

July 24^th, I went to pick up Patrick this morning, to go to Bunnings at Forster and pick up the material for Terri’s Robe, and he was having trouble walking with his sore leg. I took Terri with me instead as Patrick would have struggled to walk around Bunnings. We stacked the material in the cleared bedroom ready to make a start tomorrow.

July 25^th, Went back to Terri and Patrick’s today and prepared the side and top melamine panels, kickboard and a vertical board to hold the door catches. We screwed and glued all the joints and stood the assembly up, then fixed it to the wall. It was looking good already. I stayed for a Pizza dinner with Terri and Patrick before heading home. Back home, Val told me that a plumber had called in this morning to let her know that the water to the camp area was being cut off, as there was a leaking problem somewhere! We would now have to cart our water from the Amenities block up in the permanent section.

July 26^th, I put 2 hanging rails into the robe, made up the doors and assembled them with magnetic catches. Job complete and Terri and Patrick were very happy with the finished job. It wasn’t perfect but I was happy with it as well and had enjoyed doing it for them. Still no water at home today!

July 27^th, I loaded the tinny back onto the car and we drove into Tuncurry and did some shopping. Val rang the Park Manager and got an afternoon appointment to finalize our fees and , on asking, got a 50% reduction for our last 3 days stay, due to the lack of water in the camp area. How good is that?. Val made Spaghetti and Meatballs, which we took around to Terri and Patrick’s for dinner and to say our good-byes. We leave for Stuarts Point, just north of Kempsey, in the morning.

Budgewoi July 2014 continued

July 16^th, We finally got our phone call from Bevington Shores re, our offer on Mobile Home #34, unfortunately we were out bid by another couple and we were not prepared to go over them. The place needed a full renovation and was overpriced, too start. I’m not too sorry that we missed that one and there will be others. We will move on now but stay within range, to return when something else comes up.

July 17^th, I woke up during the night with stomach pains. When I got up for breakfast Val had me taking Buscopan immediately. I went to Specsavers at Lake Haven, to pick up my new glasses and have a fitting. After lunch we went down to our local Coles and did our big weekly shop. When we got home, I carried in the shopping and then took myself off to bed. I was very tired, the pains and stomach rumbles had taken their toll! When I woke up, a few hours later, I felt a little better.

July 18^th, I had a good night’s sleep and woke up without any stomach pains. It was so good, 4 Buscopans and I’m cured. I packed up the boat gear and loaded it back atop the car. Three weeks we have been here and the boat never made it into the lake, due to the bad run of weather. We went to the Halekelani Club for dinner, which were very good, and after a flutter on the Pokies came home after a free night. We leave for Failford, just north of Tuncurry, in the morning.