Darawank February 2014

February 25^th, We finished packing up and drove up to our next stop, at Wallamba River Holiday Park. We set up on site 50 which was the nearest we could get to the waterfront. Terri came around to welcome us and to invite us around for dinner with them. We had a lovely roast dinner and it was great to catch up with them.

February 26^th, I took the boat off the car, set it up and, with Val’s help, put it into the River. While Val took our car back to the Van I drove the Tinnie into the Lagoon and tied it up, ready to use tomorrow. The first difference I noticed was that the entrance to the Lagoon was very shallow and I would have trouble getting in or out at low tide. While Val was getting dinner ready, I threw a line in off the riverfront walkway and caught a 29cm bream (great start).

February 27^th, Patrick and I went out for a fish this morning and I caught the only keeper, a 27cm Whiting. Val enjoyed the whiting and bream fillets for dinner.

March 1^st, We had heavy rain all day yesterday and today. We had intended to move to site 53, facing the river but it was pointless doing that on a wet day. We had decided to go to the Tuncurry Races today but it was cancelled due to the bad weather. Val made dinner for us all and we took it around to Terri and Patrick’s place. It’s much better having a nice meal in a dry and warm house.

 March 2^nd, I had just enough time to move to site 53 in between showers. The TV reception on site 50 was poor (only 5 channels) so we were hoping for better reception. Unfortunately it was better but we still didn’t get all the channels. I pulled one of the aerial head pins out so that it could be positioned vertically and that was an improvement. So, between our 2 TV’s (one inside, one outside) we were able to get most channels except channel 2, which we rarely watch.

March 4^th, I took Patrick out fishing today and we didn’t get many bites and didn’t catch a thing. The water was very dirty after the rain we had, so we decided to leave off fishing for a few days until the water cleared a bit.

March 6^th, We did a trip to Taree today, only 20 minutes away. Val had to go to Spotlight and I dropped off her Overlocker” at a Repair place in Taree. It crashed on her a couple of years ago and now Val has “the bug” to get into sewing again.

March 7^th, I checked out the Camping Shops in Tuncurry, Forster and Taree, only to confirm that nobody was stocking my Coleman’s Jumbo Padded Chair in this area. I had planned on changing it under Warranty but I can’t do without my chair any longer, so I decided to repair the broken arm and if that looks good enough, I will modify both our Coleman Chairs. I had a length of rectangular tubular aluminium that I bought while at Anna Bay, so I went to the local Bunnings and bought  ¼ “ bolt and nuts to replace the existing hinge pins. I cut one side out of the box section aluminium to make a channel piece, fixed to the end of the plastic arm with super glue and pop-rivets, opened up the hole through the bracket arm and chair frame, fitted the bolt and cut it to length. Works just like new and is stronger.

March 8^th, I made up 3 more brackets and fitted one to the other arm of my chair. Tomorrow I will fit my strengthening brackets to both arms of our other Jumbo padded Chair.

March 11^th, The Manager (Huey) came down today and told me he had 3 fellows coming tomorrow to inspect the riverside walkway and wanted to see under the walkway from the water, so could I take them out in my boat. My boat was the only one in the water and that was OK with me. We went around to Terri and Patrick’s place for dinner, tonight.

March 12^th, Terri and Val had a day out in Taree and picked up Val’s repaired Overlocker. The 3 men turned up to do the walkway inspection and my boat is licenced to carry 3 people, so I let them take the tinnie out themselves. This is the final check before the old walkway is demolished and replaced with a new one. After they left I went out for a fish and came in with a 43cm flathead, finally! Now Val wants a few more, so that we can all have crumbed Flathead fillets for dinner.

March 13^th, Didn’t catch any fish today but when getting my line off a snag, I pulled up a complete fishing rod and reel. It had been in the water a long time as there were little shells growing along the shaft and was beyond being used ever again.

March 15^th, The fish aren’t biting and the water skiers are here for the week-end, so we decided to have a day out. We picked up Terri and Patrick and drove up to Ricardoes, a Tomato and Strawberry Farm, just north of Port Macquarie. It was a nice day for a drive and only took a bit over an hour to reach our destination. We had a look around the array of products in the Shop and then ordered our lunch. This was our 2^nd visit but Terri and Patrick had never been there before. After lunch we collected a bucket and scissors and went down to the hot house and picked our own strawberries. Val wanted to buy green tomatoes but unfortunately they were sold out. We all enjoyed our day out.

March 16^th, This was a day not to be forgotten. Terri called in to chat with us around 3pm, as usual, while walking Pixie (their dog). Just after she arrived the wind started to pick up and when we looked to the sky, we could see a huge black storm cloud approaching and driven by a strong wind. Terri said I’d better get on home (which is on the other side of the Park). I said, jump into the car and I’ll drive you home. Terri thought she could walk home before the storm hit but with Val’s persuasion she accepted the offer. We were about half way to Terri’s place when the storm hit its peak and the driving horizontal rain had every loose things flying around the Park. There are a lot of tall trees in and around this Park, so it was a bit scary. I dropped Terri and Pixie off and headed back to our Van. When I came to the intersection in front of the Takeaway Shop, a huge tree had been blown down across the road. I had just enough room to squeeze the car past and carry on Home. When I drove up to our Van I saw that a huge limb off the tree next to our Van had fallen where I had my car parked. How Lucky for us that I drove Terri home, otherwise our car would have been under that limb and severely damaged. The storm didn’t last long but it did a lot of damage. Apart from the trees down and the general mess, one of the annual’s had the complete awning picked up and tossed into the paddock next door. Apart from that, we all survived.

March 17^th, I thought yesterday was a day to remember but one event today, left us gob-smacked. We got up to the mess all around the Park and the staff busy with inspecting the damage then starting the cleanup. Val had some issues with the Cleaners not doing a proper job of cleaning the Amenities that she was using. Keep in mind that we have been here for 3 weeks. Val did lodge a complaint with the Relieving Manager a week ago and the following day the cleaning was done properly. However that didn’t last long and we had some of the cleaners working on the En-suite next to our van, so she went over and spoke with them and told them of her problem. They were not the cleaner involved with Val’s problem but went straight down to the office and reported Val’s comments to the Manageress. Well! That’s when “the shit hit the fan”. A little while later, Val was sitting out in the annexe when the Manageress charged up to our Annexe and, hand on hips, aggressively verbally berated Val about not talking to her Cleaners and bring any complaints to her, she had been monitoring them (obviously not very well), If we don’t like the park then “don’t come back” and then charged off. We were shocked by this barrage, dressing down or whatever you would call it. We will definitely not be coming back to this Park while this Manageress is still here. We did finish off this day with a very pleasant BBQ and drinks for Patrick’s Birthday.

March 19^th, Terri and Val went to the Forster Shopping Centre for lunch and some “Retail Therapy”, while Patrick and I went out for a fish. It was a repeat of yesterday; we caught a few small fish but no keepers. The fishing is not good this year.

March 23^rd, The last few days the weather has been very ordinary and the week-end skiers were ripping up and down the river, so not much doing. I went out with Patrick for a fish, this morning, as this was our last opportunity before we are moving on. Patrick bought home the only catch of the day, a 37cm flathead and was very happy to have caught a flathead for Val. After lunch, I took the boat out of the water, packed up all the gear and loaded the boat onto the car. Val enjoyed Patrick’s flathead for dinner tonight.

March 24^th, We had to pack up this morning and move to site 130, at the back of the Park, due to another Van coming onto our site. I knew I was low on petrol in the car, so I drove towards Tuncurry and guess what? I ran out of petrol 2 klms from Town. Luckily Terri was in Tuncurry, so I rang her, and she had just finished her shopping. She picked me up from the Servo and drove me back to the car. I was very thankful for her coming to my aid.  We had a lovely dinner at Terri and Patrick’s place and Val made a coconut crust pie filled with passionfruit lemon curd topped with meringue, Yum. We leave in the morning for Coffs Harbour.