Sydney (Xmas), The Entrance (New Year) 2010/2011

December 18th, Arrived at Sydney Gateway Holiday Park and booked in until 26th of December, when we will be going up to The Entrance for New Year. It was great to see all the family again and spend a lot of our time looking after Jessica & Annaliese. They seem to be growing very fast and we can notice how much they have changed since we saw them last. We are constantly amazed how well they swim and easily make new friends, every time they visit with us.




December 25th, Christmas Day and we went to Greg & Dianne’s place for Christmas lunch. We enjoyed a wonderful meal with plenty to drink and great company. Santa was good to us all again this year, especially the girls, who assured us that they left a snack out for Santa and water for the Reindeers. We went back to our Caravan late afternoon to pack up ready to leave Sydney in the morning.



December 26th, We called around to Greg and Dianne’s place for a cuppa and to say our good-byes before travelling up to Dunleith Tourist Park , at The Entrance. We will be here to celebrate the New Year and pack up for our NZ Cruise on the 2nd January.



December 28th, We went to Flight Centre to pick up the Paperwork for our NZ Cruise, only to find that our contact was on holidays and nothing was in the file. This was the first day that Flight Centre was open after the Christmas. Then our new assistant could not contact the booking Agents so, I now have to come back to-morrow to pick up our documentation. Who said “Life was not meant to be easy”, so true.



December 29th, Finally picked up our Cruise tickets and Boarding Pass from Flight Centre and it was suggested that we should check with Immigration whether it would be necessary to have Val’s British Passport endorsed with a re-entry visa, to show permanent Australian residency. After talking to the Australian Immigration, they didn’t have a problem but suggested that I contact the New Zealand immigration to get their opinion. NZ Immigration said a re-entry visa would be required. I rang back The Australian Immigration Dept. and made an appointment for 11.30am, at their Parramatta Office, to-morrow.



December 30th, Went down to Parramatta and arrived an hour before our appointment time, at The Immigration Dep’t. We walked around the block and were amazed at the changes in Church Street and Paramatta Railway Station area. We were taken right on time by the Immigration Officer but time dragged on as they could not find a record of Val being granted permanent residency. Fortunately, Val had her original British Passport and although the stamp noting her arrival in Australia was blurred, a higher Supervisor deciphered the imprint to read “Entry into Australia” and approved the issue of a Visa endorsement. $260.00 later we left the Immigration Dep’t, very happy to be returning back to The Entrance with Val’s Passport all in order.



December 31st, Joan and Robert came down for lunch and brought our mail with them. We went over some of the key things they would need to know about our Van, so that they hopefully have an enjoyable Holiday at Dunlieth, while we are Cruising NZ. They left early afternoon to have New Year with their family. At 9pm we gathered with the Caravan Park crowd to watch the 9pm New Year Fireworks, being launched from a pontoon in the Lake just in front of our Caravan Park. They were very impressive for a local event and went for 20 minutes. We then went back to our Van and with a few Chardies, brought in the New Year watching the Sydney Bridge Fireworks.





January 1st, Today we relaxed and finished packing for our Cruise, Ready to leave for Sydney in the morning.

Griffith, 2010

December 7th, Left Gol Gol and travelled to Balranald. We booked into the Balranald Caravan Park, for 2 nights, on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. The river was up, as there is still heavy rain and flooding across Victoria and feeding into all the rivers. We drove into Town, to check out the shops, and Val found out that the local Club was having Bingo to-night at 7.30pm. We went back to the Club and had a very nice Dinner and a flutter. Val played Bingo while I read my western, and she won 2 X $15 Vouchers that could be spent around Town. There were only a dozen ladies playing, including Val.

December 8th, I went to the local Museum, which was in the original Stock and Station Agents and found it had a very interesting collection of local items. I then looked through the old Schoolhouse, which was only one room and built out of timber slabs, cut from local trees. The last treat for me was the old Goal, which was built in 1887, and at one time held Ronald Ryan (famous for being the last man hanged in Australia) who was caught for robbing a Bank, at the age of 16. We spent Val’s vouchers at the IGA Supermarket and packed up ready to leave in the morning.

December 9th, We set off for Griffith, after some overnight rain, it was a lovely sunny morning and the drive was going well, until we were 20 Klms out of Hay. A Highway Patrol Car passed by us, going in the opposite direction. I quickly looked at my speedo and was happy that I was not speeding. Next thing I know, the patrol Car overtakes me, lights flashing, and flags me down. We were both surprised and puzzled, as it certainly wasn’t going to be to “Welcome” us to their Tidy Town, of Hay, I was sure. He informed me that his new camera equipment, recently fitted to his vehicle, had read our number plates, then run a check on both our car and caravan and came up with the fact that both vehicles were un-registered. I immediately protested my innocence and informed him that I had fixed the registrations up “online”, as we are travelling all the time, and our vehicles were indeed registered. He said “can you show me your receipts”, my answer, “I’ll check my files”. We walk to the Van and I go through my files looking for some proof, while he watches me. He is friendly and continues to tell me that the Fine for driving an unregistered Car is $1000 and Caravan $550, I said “Bloody Hell” under my breath. Also, failing to stop is also an offence and I should keep looking in my rear vision mirror, as I failed to see him when he came up behind me and flashed his lights. My search only turned up the receipt for the Green Slip and the rego papers. I was still maintaining my innocence and stated that obviously I had not printed a receipt when I did it all “online”. He believed me and said that he wasn’t going to write me a ticket, even though without showing any proof he was in his rights to do so, but I must drive directly into the Hay RTA and sort out the problem before driving any further. I said, Yes Sir, as many times as I felt necessary to convince him of my sincerity. After checking with the Hay RTA, I was informed that both vehicles were indeed un-registered as they had been cancelled approx. 8 months ago, when I didn’t respond to the reminder letter that was sent to me. The penny dropped as I realized that because we are Pensioners, we do not pay for Registration in NSW, but I still needed to validate the Registration with the RTA. I was under the impression that because I went online that I didn’t need to have it validated, so stupid me! And now the fun started! HA! I had to treat this as a new registration for both vehicles, so, hand in Plates, get a Blue Slip on both, renew the Green Slip Insurance on the car, with the NRMA and get it all back to the RTA before 4PM. We had lunch at the Services Club while we waited 2 hours for the Blue Slips, I left Val at the Club to have a few Chardys and a flutter while I ran around (by Taxi) and sorted it all out. Finally we were on our way again at 3.45pm, extremely frazzled, heading for Griffith. This had been an expensive exercise, started with $800 on the Visa Card when we left Gol Gol and arrived at Griffith with $17 on the card. After telling our tale of woe to the Griffith Caravan Village they booked us in for a week with the promise of payment to-morrow. Just when I thought all our troubles were over for the day, when I connected the power to our Van, the safety switch tripped off and we could not get power. After removing all the appliances from the power points and trying it again, it still wouldn’t work. Suspecting my 15amp lead was faulty, I rushed down to Bunnings with all the money we could find around the Van and bought a new 15 metre 15 amp lead, for $25. Rushed back and plugged in the new lead, still No Power. I finally woke up to the fact that I had forgotten that there were other power points in the cupboards for the fridge and microwave and guess what! When I unplugged the Microwave the Power came ON. That was the end of our worst day since we started travelling 4 years ago. So I’m off to buy a new microwave to-morrow.

This is what Val reckoned I looked like at the end of the day.

December 10th, We carried on with our Christmas Shopping and picked up a new Microwave from “The Good Guys”. We called into the Griffith Leagues Club to check it out and found that they had Christmas Raffles on, so we stayed for dinner, raffles and pokies. Didn’t win anything to-night, so better luck next time.

December 11th, To-day we drove down to Leeton, only ¾ hrs away, to pick up a special present for one of our special girls. We were surprised at the number of Vinyards we passed along the way. Leeton was a reasonably big and very busy Town, for a Saturday. We dropped into their Services Club for lunch and a flutter, before heading back to Griffith. It was still early, so I started to pull out the Fridge, in the Van, to allow me to fit the new Microwave. I didn’t realize how much trouble I was going to encounter, seeing that I hadn’t done this before. My approach was based on how fridges are installed in a home, ie, Switch Off Power, remove any fixings and simply shuffle the fridge forward, as all cables and tubes will all be flexible and long enough to allow the fridge to come clear of the opening. HAH! Not so in a Caravan. I now know that you must remove the 2 outside vents to gain access to the back of the Fridge and disconnect, power connections, Shut off then disconnect the Gas line (copper tube), remove the Drip tray drain hose and the heat vent tube. Now the fridge can be removed easily and safely. Here comes the easy part, remove 2 U-clamp nuts then lift out the old Microwave and place it in Big Bin. Next step is to put the new Microwave in place, but it is a slightly smaller size, so the holes in the locating bar do not line up. So, after drilling new holes in the locating bar, the new Microwave is in position ready to fit the u-clamp. The new Microwave is an inch lower than the old one so with a garden stake, donated by the Park Manager, I made a spacer and secured the clamp. Now I moved the Fridge back into position and made the wiring connections to be able to run the Fridge, overnight. I need to buy a new drip tray drain hose from Bunnings, in the morning, to complete the installation.



December 12th, After picking up the drain tube, from Bunnings, we phoned Dianne to pass on our Birthday Wishes (21 again). I had to disconnect and remove the Fridge to fit the new drain tube then re-install the fridge. I can’t believe what a huge job it ended up being. Val kept herself busy re-organizing and cleaning out all the drawers and cupboards in the Caravan.

December 13th, Val did the shops today, hoping to finish off most of the Christmas Shopping. I drove up to the Lookout to check out the views and visit the Hermits Cave. In the early days there was an old local character (hermit) that lived in the Caves in the hills around Griffith. I found that the caves were no more that overhanging rock formations that gave him shelter. The only inhabitants living on the rocky hillside is a herd of Mountain Goats. I picked up Val and we checked out the Ex-Services Club and found out that they are having a huge Christmas Raffle on Wednesday night. Need I say anymore.

December 14th, Today I visited The Pioneer Park Museum, which also includes the Griffith Italian Museum and Cultural Centre. In the early days, this area was populated by Migrants, who were mostly Italian. They came with very little and struggled against the harsh conditions to make a good life for their families. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Pioneer Park Museum and I’m sure it would be even better when it’s the busy holiday season and the tractor train is running. The walking was very rough going. We had no power from 9am to 3pm, as the power lines in this area were being worked on. While the power was off, the fridge was running on LPG. It was a very hot 30deg. today so we spent the afternoon in the air conditioned Shopping Centre. My last task for the day was to empty and clean out our “Porta Potti” and, bugger me if, the flush outlet disappeared inside the flush tank and cannot be retrieved. So now we need to buy a new Loo, what next.

December 15th, Went to 5 different shops around Town, looking for a new Loo and couldn’t get one the right size to go under our bed. It looks like we will have to get one in Sydney, in 3 days time. I did however find a bargain at Supercheap Auto, while looking around, that was too good to pass up. A Reversing Camera for the car at $145 and the last one they had in stock. I spent the rest of the day fitting it to the car and it works well. I will have to make a few of my own improvements on the mounting methods, before I will be truly happy. We leave here tomorrow for Young, so packed up before heading off to the Ex Services Club for dinner, Huge Christmas Raffles and pokies. We didn’t win at the raffles but had a good meal and a fair run on the Pokies.

Howlong 2010

October 20th, Had a lovely drive to Howlong, the Countryside is very green with rolling hills. This is mostly sheep country. We stopped at Tarcutta for a break and had a look at the Truck Drivers Memorial and also found out that this was the mid point between Sydney and Melbourne and explained why we saw two semis changing over Rigs. This means that a Melbourne driver drives his load up to Tarcutta then it is taken the rest of its journey to Sydney by the Sydney driver and the same method for the Sydney load. Each driver is then only away from home for one day. We got all our information from a truckie who was transporting a load of 303 sheep but told us his rig could hold up to 500 sheep. It would be a bit squashy for the sheep. The top of his trailer wasn’t covered so we were surprised that the sheep didn’t try to jump out. We stopped at Holbrook for lunch in the park alongside the Submarine Museum and had a look at the huge HMAS OTWAY sub on display, out front. We noticed the signs of the recent flooding as we crossed over the various rivers and gullies. We booked into the Kismet Riverside Lodge at Howlong, about 30 klm from Albury. After setting up we went for a walk down to the Murray River and found it very brown and running very fast. I think that was due to all the local flooding in this area and the floods are still in progress in some areas north of here. This looks like a good place to stay, a lot of permanents and only 10 Caravan sites. I would recommend that you should take an ensuite site as the Amenities block is a good walk away. Another first, we do not have to pay for our site until we are leaving, WOW!

October 21st, Drove into Corowa to check out the Caravan Parks and look around Town. Val wants to find a Park, on the Murray River, that has absolute riverfront sites, so she can sit at the Caravan and see the river. She can’t do that here at Kismet Riverside Lodge. All the Parks in Corowa were on the river but were not absolute riverfront, so not suitable.She has found one at Yarrawonga and we have made a booking and will move there on Saturday.

October 22nd, Went down to the River this morning to throw a line in, using plastics. Snagged 3 lots of rig and no fish, typical. We drove into Howlong after lunch to look around. That didn’t take long so we popped into the Court House Hotel, built in 1902, and had a Chardy and a flutter before going back to the Van. We packed up ready to leave in the morning for Yarrawonga.

Sydney, Yass 2010

October 9th, Booked into Sydney Gateway Holiday Park and decided to extend our stay until Monday 18th to catch up with Steven, before we leave Sydney.

October 17th, We enjoyed our stay near the family and used every opportunity to pick the girls up after School and let them enjoy the benefits of the Caravan Park. I took the chance to use Gregs garage and carried out some caravan & boat repairs, while Val caught up with some sewing and quilting. We went to see Steven & Nikos’s new Apartment at Alexandria, very nice. Time to pack up to-day ready to leave in the morning for Yass.

October 18th, Travelled from Sydney to Yass and booked into the Yass Caravan Park for 2 nights. We needed to have time to finalise our Trip Plan and have a look around this Town

October 19th, Fixed up my paperwork with Centrelink then went to the Visitors Centre. Unfortunately this is the day when all the local attractions are closed so I was left with a drive around Town to photograph some interesting buildings, the Yass River, the old Railway Station and Bridge. We did finalise the Trip Plan and to-morrow head off for a small place call Howlong on the Murray River, just east of Albury.

Sydney, Kiama 2010

September 28th, Booked into Sydney Gateway Holiday Park at Parklea and went to see Greg, Dianne and the girls. Annaliese had picked up a bug and was not a well girl, vomiting, diarrhoea and not eating.

September 30th, Annaliese has not been well enough to go to Vacation Care for the last few days, so we looked after her for a couple of days at our Caravan.

 

October 2nd, Picked up Jessica and Annaliese and travelled to Kiama, for them to have a weeks holiday with Nanny & Poppy. We booked into Easts Beach Big4 Tourist Park, which was packed with families, so lots of kids, just what we needed.

October 8th, We have had a great week with the girls, swimming, tennis, plaster painting, free movies at night, bike riding, shell collecting and a visit to the famous “Blow Hole”. To-morrow we head back to Sydney to drop the girls home and spend a couple of days.

Stockton Beach, 2010

September 24th, Travelled to Stockton from Tamworth, via the New England Highway. What a trip, very windy road and not very smooth. Val suffers from car sickness, at the best of times, and topped up with the uneven roads and a lunchtime Big M “chicken wrap” with a sauce that doesn’t agree with her stomach, put that all together, and she was not a well girl on our arrival at Stockton Beach Tourist Park.

September 26th, Val perked up a bit to-day, so we went to visit our good friends, Joan & Robert, at Cardiff and picked up our mail. We all had a great meal at the Cardiff Panthers Club and a flutter. We had a small win on the pokies, so we had an enjoyable evening.

September 27th, Went to Salamander Bay to put a few things into our storage shed and take other things out that we needed. We were amazed at the increased size and layout of the Recycling Centre now. You could spend hours there. We had lunch at the Salamander Shopping Centre and then a drive around Nelson Bay before going back to Stockton. To-morrow we leave for Sydney, to catch up with the Family.

Tamworth, 2010

September 14th, We had a wet trip to Tenterfield to-day, with a stop at Warwick for lunch at The Palace Hotel. At Tenterfield we booked into Craigs Caravan Park for 1 night. The rain had stopped but it was very wet under foot.

September 15th, We moved on to Tamworth and booked into Austin Tourist Park (TT) for 9 nights. We had a nice lunch at The Galloping Gourmet in Uralla and we were impressed by the dressed dummies outside some of the shops along the main street.



September 18th, We have been chilling out and adjusting to the temperature change over the last few days. The overnight temps. have been 4deg. except last night which was a lovely ZERO deg. Brrrrrrrrr. Unable to stand it any longer I had to find our little fan heater to-day or else, go and buy one. Happily we found it and now can be comfortable at night.



September 19th, We went into Town to check out the Peel Street Markets. All the stalls were along the very wide footpaths outside each shop front and had a good range of goods for sale. Val bought some herbs and tomato plants as she has the “I need a garden” bug. We did a bit of shopping, had to buy potting mix and pots for Val’s new garden. After a quick lunch we headed off to the Botanical Gardens. The Gardens looked to be on the side of the hill and not impressive, so we decided to give it a miss and went next door to the Victoria Park Model Railway and had a train ride. It’s run by a dedicated group of volunteer model train enthusiasts. We enjoyed our ride, made us feel like kids again.



September 20th, Had to go into the shops again this morning, so drove up to the Oxley Park Lookout, 591 metres above sea level. The view was fantastic.



September 21st, This morning we had a visitor, sitting on the front drawbar of the Van was a very contented “Green Frog”, sunning himself. Val watered her garden and he never moved. We went to the Big Golden Guitar which is an Information Centre that houses a Country Music Wax Museum. The wax models are so lifelike and well displayed. An excellent display and well worth a look. Going back into Town we went to the Art Gallery and was surprised to find they had the 2010 Archibald Prize entries on display, including the “Winner”. Some we liked, some not, but we enjoyed the experience.

September 22nd, We went to Nundle to-day to look it over. It was recommended to us last time we stayed here but we didn’t get time to go then. Nundle was a Town built around the discovery of Gold in the 1800s. On the way we stopped at Chaffey Dam Lookout. It’s a small Dam which holds 62,000 megalitres and is used to supplement the water supply to Tamworth. We were impressed with the very green and lush looking countryside we were travelling through. Nundle is a very small Town with a population of 250. We parked and walked to all the old Stores, some as originally built in the 1800s. The Odgers & McClelland Exchange Store still original and still operating, was a walk back through time. The next interesting place was the still working Woolen Mill, the factory run by 4 workers. Lots of wool and wool products on sale. We had a nice lunch at The Mount Misery Gold Mine, then I had a look through the mine display. Very enjoyable. Then we drove the extra distance out to Hanging Rock Lookout and although not impressed with the roads, the view was spectactular.

September 23rd, Packed up to-day ready to leave in the morning for Stockton.

Tweed Heads, 2010

July 6th, We left Iluka in the rain and travelled to Tweed Heads, along the much worked on winding Pacific Highway. It was the slowest trip as we were stopped at roadworks, many times. We booked into the Boyds Bay Holiday Park at Tweed Heads, for 2 weeks. The rain had stopped so I was able to set up the Caravan and get the boat off the car as well. This Park is on the Tweed River and has its own boat ramp, we can see the ramp and water from our site, so this is our type of Caravan Park.

July 7th, It was wet and windy all day, so went to the Tweed City Shopping Centre for a wander around. Joan rang to let us know that Robert & herself were driving up from Newcastle, to spend a week holidaying with us from the 30th July. We have now extended our stay until the 7th August and secured a Cabin for Joan & Robert. We booked our tickets for the Australian Outback Spectacular 2, featuring the “Heroes of the Light Horse”, on the 4th August. The State of Origin was a great game to watch and just when NSW thought they had it won, Qld. scored in the dying minutes of the game and secured a white wash, so sad.

July 8th, Wet and windy again to-day, so no chance of getting the boat in the water.

July 9th, It was overcast this morning but I put the boat into the water and went to try the fishing. It was bedlam on the river, there was a Bream Fishing Competition on this week-end and powerful speed boats were ripping up and down the river. I managed to catch a 32cm Flathead, undersize, so it went back into the water. We were supposed to have a “Welcome for the Winterers” free BBQ to-day in the Caravan Park but it was cancelled due to the bad weather. It did rain all afternoon. I noticed that something had hit the car windscreen and causes a foot long crack to appear. I have no idea what or when it occurred, so need to get a quote to replace it.

July 10th, Had a quiet morning, reading, and after lunch we drove to Fingal Head to watch the “weigh-in” for the first day of the “Bream Fishing Comp”. We had met 2 of the entrants, Dave Salino and Richard Creighton. Richard was a boat owner and was on the site next to us. It was very interesting, each boat owner had to take a non boat-owner participant with them for the day, selected by random draw. It was strictly a lure fishing competition. All the fish had to be kept alive and after the weigh-in, returned to the water and must swim away. If a fish did not survive, it didn’t count. The aim of the competition was to have the highest weight of catch with up to 5 legal sized fish, on each of the two days of the Comp.

July 11th, We went to the final day “weigh-in” for The Bream Fishing Comp and stayed for the Presentations. The boat owners competed for money prizes, with first place being worth $2500 down to 10th place at $150. The non-boaties prizes were goods to the same value as the owners. The Comp. was sponsored by Ugly Stick and had 45 boats entered (90 competitors). Dave has said he would come back next week-end to take me out and show me how to fish with lures.

July 12th, Went out fishing, no luck to-day. Called into the Ford Service Dep’t after lunch and was told my 90000 Klm Service would cost $390. On the way back I spotted a local Mechanic, advertising “Log Book Services” so I asked for a price for my 90Klm Service and booked the car in for Wednesday when he told me, “around $200”. It pays to shop around.



July 13th, Went out fishing again, the River was very busy, not surprising, as it is School Holidays. I had powerboats, River Cruise Boat, Jet Skis and Fishing Boats sharing the River with me, then to top it all off, as I was drifting on the outgoing tide and about 50 metres from the road bridge when I looked up and was shocked to spot a large black body floating in the River just in front of me, of course it was a Spear fishing guy. What a relief! I caught 5 Bream to-day but they were all undersize. I am going to give lure fishing a good try, so went to a Tackle Shop and bought some new line and lures. I have been told of another spot where they have been catching fish, so will try that to-morrow.



July 14th, It was overcast and windy this morning, so will not be going fishing to-day. The car went in at 9am for its 90k service. With an additional handbrake adjustment, the total cost was $215.

July 15th, Went fishing to-day, armed with lures and cooked prawns for bait. Caught a lot of undersize fish, all but one on prawn, bream, whiting, flathead, flounder but just before calling it quits for the day I caught a 35cm flathead, which Val cooked and enjoyed for dinner. At last, the drought has broken and I have caught my first keeper at Tweed Heads. Val is keeping busy knitting Boleros in “feathers” wool, for the girls.



July 17th, Went out fishing but still not catching a legal size fish

. I’ll keep trying. Went to South Tweed Heads Sports Club for dinner to-night, meals were great, met up with our neighbours in the Park (Pat & Jerry) and a Rock Band was playing, which we all enjoyed. Val had a flutter on the pokies and came home with $320, very handy.



July 19th, Didn’t go fishing to-day, so added some angle brackets to my boat hitch to strengthen the design. It was bending up when reversing, not good.



July 21st, It’s a long time between drinks when it comes to my fishing abilities, but to-day I caught a bream and a flathead, just legal. After filleting & skinning, Val ate the whole lot in one meal. She suggested that she should have used the rolling pin to make them look bigger, how rude.



July 23rd, Went to The Sports Club at 10am for table tennis, where I was made very welcome and enjoyed the exercise.



July 24th, We packed lunch and headed off to Southport, firstly to make a stop at Spotlight then on to The Home Show, with included some Caravan & Camping exhibits. It was an interesting Show but didn’t have many Caravans, which was our main interest.



July 25th, Had an early dinner and went to the Sports Club for table tennis.

July 26th, Packed up everything and moved to site 70, only 3 sites away. It’s not my favourite move as it’s almost as much work as moving 300 klms. When you extend your stay you can’t always stay on the same site.





July 27th, Val had her hair done to-day while I went out fishing. The rain chased me in eventually but I was very happy to bring in a 41cm flathead. Val enjoyed one of the fillets for her dinner.



July 29th, Too windy & wet yesterday & to-day to go fishing, in the boat. It stopped raining about 6pm, so threw a line in off the bank and caught 2 bream (25 & 30cm)

July 30th, Joan & Robert (our friends from Cardiff, Newcastle) arrived today to holiday with us for our last week in Tweed Heads. We went to the Sports Club for dinner and raffles. The meal was good but no prizes in the raffles.

August 1st, Robert and myself have been out fishing for 2 days and I’ve caught nothing to date. Robert, on the other hand, has caught a small bream & flounder on Saturday. We set off to-day to try a new area that had been recommended and wasn’t doing any good, when, just to add to my woes, I was pulled up by The Waterways for a complete check of my tinny and safety equipment. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to put an extra lifejacket into the boat for Robert and this was deemed to be the most serious offence and could not be excused, so I’m now $100 poorer, when I pay the fine. After a quick stop to pick up the missing lifejacket we carried on fishing and came home on dark with a 37cm bream & 2 flatheads (40 & 43cms).



August 2nd, It was a windy day but we still ventured out for a fish. The going was very bad when we got out into the main part of the river, the wind was much stronger and we were drifting at a very fast rate of knots. To-day was my day as I finally caught a 37cm flathead but the conditions were so bad that we called it a day and went home.

August 4th, We all went to the Twin Towns Services Club at 11am to see “The Drifters” Show. It was fantastic and we all thoroughly enjoyed the show, this was our kind of music. We stayed for a light lunch at the Club, a flutter on the Pokies and for a $20 investment came home with $190. We just had time to get ready to go to Helensvale to see The Outback Spectacular Show 2, featuring The Australian Light Horsemen. It was a great show, with a very good 3 course meal, and we were amazed at the abilities of the horses and the skill of the riders and all the special effects. I would recommend this show to anyone.



August 6th, Had a final fish this morning, without any luck, then packed up ready to leave to-morrow morning for Brisbane. Joan & Robert left for Cardiff with an overnight stop at Port Macquarie.

Iluka, 2010

June 26th, This is a great Caravan Park, right on the Clarence River, clean amenities and has its own boat ramp. I won’t be using the boat ramp, as it is far too steep for me and there are other places close by to put the boat into the River. We spent to-day checking out the local Shops. No big Shopping Plaza s in this Town, still they have all that’s necessary, 2 Supermarkets, Bakery, Servo and Bottle Shop, which covers our necessities. We were recommended to visit the Marina, as the seafood is fresh local caught and delicious.

June 27th, I decided to design a hitch for the front of the tinnie so that I could use the car to get the boat out of the water. I noticed 2 boats, like mine, that had clamp on wheels and had made up a towing bar using the standard trailer hitch. I priced a trailer hitch at the local Boat Shop and they were $50. By the end of the day I had a rough design that I thought would work and should be cheap to make. My problem would be finding material locally, so that’s a task for to-morrow.

June 28th, Went to the local Hardware Store looking for anything that I could make my boat towing hitch from and did see a large shelf support bracket, made of flat bar material, a bit narrow but had possibilities. Then I went to the Chandlery and was unable to find any suitable material but his trailer hitch was only $30. A thorough search of the shelves could not locate the one the computer said was in stock. After discussing the problem with the Chandlery Guy and showing him my sketch, he suggested a search of the old workshop out the back to see what we could find. Lo & behold, he found a strip of scrap 3mm thick aluminium, long enough to make up my design and we agreed that it would be strong enough to meet the towing requirements. After passing over $1.45, all the change I had in my pocket, I rushed back to the Caravan Park to begin moulding my design into shape. After a trial tow around the Caravan Park, I was happy but needed to make some minor improvement to my hitch design.

June 29th, I went back to the Hardware to buy some more bolts to finalise the boat towing hitch. All up cost was now around $4. I completed the modifications and fixed the clamp on wheels with screws that located in holes drilled through the rib along the side of the boat. This was necessary to ensure that the wheels could not twist while being towed. I drove to the little beach area at the end of the Park and put the boat in the water. The towing hitch passed the test with flying colours. I set off to locate the local fish population, my new fishfinder was working well, with water depths up to 40 ft in places and plenty of fish on the sonar screen. I did catch 3 flathead and a couple of bream, but all babies. Disappointing not to get anything to take home. I had 2 problems with getting the boat in & out of the water. The sandy bottom in the water was too soft and the wheels kept getting bogged, making it difficult to maneuver and it was impossible to re-fit the wheels to the boat while still out in the water, due now to the need to position the locating screws into their mating holes. I have decided to try leaving the wheels on the boat to avoid the refitting problem.

June 30th, Went out fishing, leaving the wheels on the boat and it did not make any difference to the way it performed, so, happy with that solution. Took a cut lunch with me to-day, at Val’s suggestion, so I could stay out as long as I wished. Great Idea

but still didn’t help me catch “keepable” fish. Disaster struck as I was trying to drag the boat out of the water on to the beach ready for hook up to the car. The wheels had buried themselves in the watery sand and as I wrestled to free them, the boat moved forward sharply and knocked me back to fall into the shallow water, never a dull moment with me. Of course I had an audience, two other boats were coming in at the same time, so, wet to the waist, gumboots full of water, I carried on hooking up the boat and heading home. Yes, I did have my wallet in my back pocket, will I ever learn!

July 1st, It’s overcast and bitterly cold to-day so I’m giving the fishing a rest. I have decided to use the concrete boat ramp down at the other end of the Park, next time I go fishing. It will be a lot safer. Val is busy patchworking with her last “Spotlight” purchases.

July 2nd, Rained all day and was very cold.

July 3rd, To-day we moved from site 6 to site 40, on the waterfront, for our last 3 days. We would have stayed at Iluka longer, as we do like this area and it’s a nice Park, but it meant moving to another site and that’s a lot of work. It is School Holidays so I wasn’t surprised. We went into Maclean for lunch and to do some shopping, Val needed some patchwork supplies. We were pleased to find that they were having a Scottish Tartan Day Celebration and watched some dancing & pipe band music. I finished setting up the Van when we returned to the Park.

July 4th, Cold southerly winds all day which made the river too rough for fishing. I likened it to the surf at Bondi.

July 5th, It was overcast and cold but I was determined to go out fishing, even though rain was threatening. This is our last day as we leave in the morning for Tweed Heads. So with my cut lunch on board, I set off at 11am to try my luck. As you can imagine, we did get a shower of rain but I had taken my trusty umbrella, which must have been a strange sight to the other fisherman out there. I arrived back at the Van at 3pm and my only catch for the day was a Stingray, very disappointing. A quick coffee and I packed up ready to leave in the morning.