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.

Toowoomba to Brisbane, 2010

September 1st, We headed off towards Toowoomba and after being on the road about an hour, came to a flag man holding up his stop sign. Another holdup for road works, I thought. To our surprise the problem was a semi, with a full load of pumpkins, had gone off the road into a ditch, lost his load and very badly wrecked his truck and trailer.. There were pumpkins everywhere, a lot broken in pieces and spread up into the bush. We stopped at Crows Nest and had lunch at Trudy’s Coffee Shop and Cafe, where I had a great hamburger and coffee. Crows Nest is another quaint Town, which has kept all the old shops. After lunch we went to Salts Antiques and Collectables, on the north side of Town, and were amazed at the huge array of stock they had. Val is still on a mission to find an antique dressing table for Joan, with the top curved in along the front edge. We booked into the Toowoomba Motor Village (TT) after a stop at the Information Centre to grab a map and some brochures. They were busy so we had to split our visit between 2 sites.Our timing was fortunate, as we arrived to free nibblies and drinks in the Camp Kitchen. It was a Dometic “Follow the Sun” happy hour Promotion, with the team of Jay and Dianne Conclaves. A group photo was taken for the local Newspaper. We were all put into a raffle draw and I won a Caravan Man (Tony Bryant) Coffee Mug.

September 2nd, I went to the Downstream Tourist Railway and Museum this morning and found a small but very busy volunteer group restoring a diesel Locomotive and various Carriages. I was given a personal guided Tour of everything they have, along with their progress to date and what their aims are. It was very interesting and informative. I’m looking forward to our next visit to Toowoomba when I will be expecting to be able to take a train trip.



September 3rd, Packed up this morning and moved to site 45, then spent most of the day setting up and repairing the jockey wheel that I forgot to remove before driving off the old site. I wrecked the jockey wheel clamp as well so had to buy a new one and remove the old one from the frame. Now all I need is a welder to secure the clamp to the frame. The Park Manager is going to give me the phone number of a mobile repair company to see if he can come and do the necessary, welding. I hope I don’t get a flat tyre as I had to use the car jack to support the front of the Caravan.

September 4th, It was very overcast this morning but we still drove, around 80 Klms, to the Dalby State School Markets as Val’s contact for Pandora lookalike beads had a stand there. We were amazed at the size of the Markets which had a lot of good quality stuff on sale. Val spent a small fortune but was very happy. On the way home it started raining, so they were lucky to get their Markets in to-day.

September 6th, It rained all day and night yesterday but the blue skies and sunshine are back to-day. We went into the CBD, Val had to go to Lincraft, so we went to Queens Park Gardens. We were very impressed with the colourful display of flowers and shrubs. We couldn’t help noticing that a lot of the streets in Toowoomba are Tree lined, looks great.

September 7th, As we will be leaving here before the annual “Festival of Flowers” starts, we did our own Tour of the Gardens to-day. We started with a drive by Lake Annand and East Creek Park, which were clean attractive Parks with bridges over the water but no garden beds. Next was Laurel Bank Park which was equally as impressive as Queen Park Gardens yesterday. We drove on to the historic Newtown Park to see the State Rose Garden. Unfortunately there were only a few roses in flower but we could imagine how lovely it would look when all the roses are in full bloom. We drove past Boyce Gardens on the way home. We enjoyed our drive as this is a very large and clean City and we have now seen a lot of its backstreets on to-days tour.

September 8th, I went to see the Cobb and Co Museum to-day and was very impressed. They re-opened 2 days ago after completing extensions and expanding their displays. In the adjacent Park there is a collection of various types of Windmills. The displays cover a lot of local and surrounding areas history, a great Butterfly and Beetle Collection, the local Aboriginal Tribes and a large area devoted to a vast collection of horse drawn vehicles including several Cobb & Co Coaches. They have a large Factory and Blacksmith Workshop that re-builds Carriages ready for Display.

September 9th, We went to re-visit the Japanese Gardens to-day, we saw them last time we were here (around 2 years ago). Nothing had changed but we still enjoyed the serenity that you feel in such a well kept, colourful and beautifully manicured place. We went on to Picnic Point, which is a lovely Park on the highest hill around Town and includes a Lookout. The gardens were very colourful, the view from the Lookout was incredible and Val enjoyed an afternoon Chardy while I had an icecream, at the Picnic Point Restaurant. We had a visit from a local Kookaburra who seemed to find something to laugh at.

September 10th, It rained all last night and has continued on to-day with the added bonus of a strong, gusty wind. I walked up to the Office to get some washing machine change and the wind turned my umbrella inside out. Val has gone to the Hairdressers to make herself beautiful for Sophies 1st Birthday to-morrow in Brisbane.

September 11th, I was very happy at 7.30am when the Mobile Trailer & Caravan Repair Van arrived to weld a new jockey wheel bracket onto the drawbar of our Van, as we were leaving for Brisbane at 10am. He was supposed to call in last Wednesday or Thursday and didn’t make it, then Friday it rained all day. We were enjoying the trip to Brisbane, lovely countryside and scenery, but, as we were travelling along the Ipswich Motorway, doing 90kph in a 100kph limit, an Idiot pulled out from a Service Centre at a slow speed, straight across into my lane, causing me to slam the brakes on while blasting him with the horn. Fortunately we avoided a collision but it shook us up, big time. We booked into the Gateway Village Resort, set up the Van then headed to Brian & Julies place for Sophies 1st Birthday. We had a lovely “Birthday Afternoon Tea” with Rebecca & Nigel and all their friends, then stayed on for a great BBQ dinner and watched the League Final Playoffs on Channel 9.

September 12th, Val was up early to-day to make a couple of quiches for lunch. Brian, Julie, Nigel, Rebecca and Sophie are coming for lunch at our Caravan Park. Brian supplied all the leftover salads from yesterday’s party. We all had an enjoyable lunch at the Camp Kitchen, then Sophie had a swim in the Pool. We were reminded of our Annaliese, as Sophie is just the same when it comes to the Pool and has no fear of water and jumps straight in.

September 13th, We packed up this morning ready to leave to-morrow. Val made a diet trifle to take to Brian and Julies for Dinner. We had a lovely fish and chips takeaway followed by the delicious trifle. We said our goodbyes to all the family.

Banaraby, 2010

August 17th, We left sunny Brisbane and travelled to Maryborough, with a stop for lunch at a Matilda Roadhouse, just before Maryborough. We stayed at Wallace Caravan Park. They were very full so, to save unhooking the Van, we accepted a road site in the back corner where we could still connect to a power point. The TV reception was not too bad with the old analogue connection. They are on digital but you need to have a vertical aerial to receive a signal and our windguard was of no use.

August 18th, On our way to Benaraby we stopped for fuel and light lunch at Mirriam Vale. We booked into the Boyne River Tourist Park (Big4) for 13 nights. It’s a nice park, on the river and has 2 boat ramps and we are told there are plenty of fish. We drove into Gladstone, only 20 minutes away, for me to visit Centrelink while Val did some food shopping. When we arrived back at the Park, we drove down to the river for a quick look around only to find the typical North Queensland “Crocodile Warning” sign. There had been a recent sighting, so it said. I checked with the Office and they told me that The Parks and Wildlife People had been out and checked the river without finding any sign of croc activity, so the general consensus is that it has moved out of the area.

August 19th, Took the boat off the car today and got it ready to launch into the Boyne River. I pumped up the tyres on the boat wheels and found that one had a slow leak. My spare boat tyre was also flat so when we drove to Tannum Sands, to check out their Shopping Centre, I had a new tube fitted at the Tannum Tyre Centre. We were surprised to find that Tannum Sands was a large Coles Supermarket Centre and about half the distance than going to Gladstone. I rang the Windscreen Wizard (found them in the local phone book) and booked the car in to have the cracked windscreen replaced, 8.30am to-morrow.

August 20th, About 9.15 am The Windscreen Wizard arrived (Shannon) with a young assistant. Rain was threatening so I raised the Caravan awning up a couple of notches and drove the front of the car under the awning, just in case it rained. The old glass didn’t want to come out easily but 1-1/4 hours later the job was completed. They just got the new windscreen in place as a shower of rain arrived and was blowing under the awning. A great job, professionally handled under slightly difficult conditions. After lunch we went for a drive to Tannum Sands and Boyne Island then back to The Awoonga Dam which backs up Awoonga Lake. As we entered the Dam area we came upon a Wallaby with a joey in its pouch, how special. It was very tame, so obviously used to seeing people and cars. The Awoonga Dam has been stocked with 3 million Barramundi and is one of the Dams on the “Barra Trail”. There was a Barramundi Competition starting to-day and finishing to-morrow. It was a catch and release, lure only, competition where each catch had to be photographed and entered on their “brag” sheet. We couldn’t go and watch the fished being weighed in, which was a pity. A few of the competitors were staying at our Caravan Park.

August 21st, Caught up on a few caravan repairs and took a rod down to the river at dusk, to try my luck. I came back with a 27cm Bream, which I filleted and Val enjoyed for her dinner.

August 22nd, Launched the boat and spent a couple of hours fishing, on a run-out tide, without any luck. I was using cooked prawns for bait, same as last night but couldn’t get the fish interested during the day.

August 23rd, Same story as yesterday with this mornings fishing expedition. Decided to try off the bank again, just on dark, and came home at 7.30pm with a 39cm unidentified fish. I had no idea what it was and nobody in the Park was any wiser. It was fun to catch as it put up a good fight and at one stage jumped clear out of the water. Val wasn’t having anything to do with this fish until it was properly identified and specified a good table quality. I gutted the fish and put it in the fridge until I could go to the Tackle Shop to-morrow for identification.

August 24th, No fishing to-day. I went to Boyne Island Fishing Tackle Shop and put in a fishing rod for repair. They were able to positively identify my unknown fish as an “Oxeye Herring”. On the rating scale for table quality it was rated as 1, which is the lowest. They said it was edible but would be full of bones. When I think of Herrings I picture those small fish soaking in oil in a tin, so once again we “live and learn”. Val is passing on this one so I might use it for bait. On the way back I had a haircut and then dropped off my spare boat wheel into the Tyre Centre at Tannum Sands, to have a new tube fitted. Not much point in carrying a flat spare around.

August 26th, It was overcast yesterday and rained all last night and to-day. So, nothing to report. Did a lot of reading and picked up my repaired boat wheel.

August 28th, The weather is back to “Beautiful one day and Perfect the next”, so yesterday went fishing in the boat but caught nothing. To-day I decided to just throw a line in off the bank and caught 2 bream (25cm & 30cm) and 2 throwbacks (a hairtail bream and a butterfish). I was given a 34cm grunter by a couple fishing next to me. Val had the grunter for tea and said it was good.

August 30th, Didn’t catch any more fish and spent the afternoon packing up the boat and getting it up onto the car, with Val’s help. Picked up my repaired fishing rod from Boyne Island Marine and Tackle.

August 31st, Left Benaraby this morning and drove to Biggenden with a stop at Gin Gin for morning tea. We walked around Biggenden Township and grabbed some lunch before booking into The Mountain View Caravan Park for the night. We were surprised to find that if you book in for one night, they give you the second night “free”. This is a great spot to stay for people interested in National Park, hiking etc. There are 3 National Parks around Biggenden. We will be moving on to Toowoomba to-morrow, we are now on the return trip back to Sydney.

Brisbane, 2010

August 7th, While driving to Brisbane we decided to stay at a better Caravan Park than the two we had used previously, when staying in Brisbane. We booked into the Gateway Village Resort (Big4) at Rochedale. Very impressive Park, so we were pleased with our choice and will now make this our place to stay, whenever visiting Brisbane. We couldn’t believe how cold it was at night here, much colder than Tweed Heads.

August 8th, Went to Brian (Val’s brother) & Julies place at Thornlands for a BBQ lunch. Rebecca, Nigel and little Sophie were there also. Brian, Nigel, Val & myself are all dieting so we had a nice steak, seafood and salad lunch, very healthy. It was good to catch up and Val was looking forward to meeting & playing with Sophie (Rebecca and Nigels 11 months old daughter). She was very cute and a happy smiling baby.



August 9th, Took my Centrelink Rent Assistance form to the Caravan Park Office for signing only to find that this Park does not sign off any Centrelink forms. So, off to Centrelink I went armed with my receipt to prove my payment of site fees. After lunch I decided to find the cause for the slow drainage of water from the sink in our Van. Lo and behold, I not only found the cause of the problem but also Val’s missing peeling knife. It had slipped down the small drain hose until it reached the bend that then ran underneath the floor to the back of the Van and there it was stuck. I tried to get the knife to come back up the hose using a straightened wire coat hanger but that didn’t work, so I had to remove the fitting on the outlet end of the drain hose, crawl under the Van to remove the clamps holding the hose to the floor, allowing me to open the bend in the hose then flush the knife through. That worked, so it was only a matter of putting it all back to-gether.



August 10th, It rained all last night and stayed with us right through the day and night. We went shopping in preparation for an arranged family BBQ at our Caravan Park to-morrow.



August 11th, It stopped raining around 8am this morning but still looked likely to rain some more, so a quick phone call had us packing all our BBQ food up and heading to Brian & Julies for lunch. As it turned out the skies cleared to a fine afternoon, typical. We went to Redlands Bay RSL for a flutter and left having made our donation to the Clubs continued financial success.

August 12th, We went to Garden City Shopping Centre at Mt. Gravatt, to keep our 12 noon appointment, at the Post office, to have our Passport Applications processed. That went without a hitch and my Australian Passport will be at Cardiff in 2 weeks, Val’s British Passport will be there in 4 weeks. We then made our way to Forrest Lake to visit an old friend, Doreen, who had moved up here from Salamander Bay to be with her Family. Our navigator (Doris) was totally confused as the road works in progress were not known to her and we arrived much later than expected and rather frustrated. It was great to catch up with Doreen and she took us to see the site where her new house is being built and was pleased to find the Concreters there pouring the slab. Doreen then took us to the Golf Club, within the Estate, for a very nice lunch. On the way back to her place we stopped at her Storage Shed and picked up 2 “Porcelain” Dolls to take back to Sydney for Jessica & Annaliese. Doreen had promised a doll for each of the girls before she moved up to Brisbane. After a coffee with Doreen we bid her good-bye till next time and headed for “Spotlight” on the way back to our Caravan Park.

August 13th, To-day we headed for Redland Bay to visit our friends, Nerida & Rob, who we met last year while travelling through WA & SA. It was good to catch up and to have a few quiet drinks with them. We drove into the City to pick up Nikos from the Emporium Hotel at 7.30pm and walked across to the Makabah Restaurant (Turkish cuisine) for a very enjoyable meal. After Dinner we went to the Airport to pick up Steven, whose flight from Sydney had come in early, and then all went back to the Emporium bar for a few drinks and to catch up.

August 14th, Picked up Steven & Nikos from their Hotel and brought them back to the Caravan Park for lunch. After lunch we all went over to Brian & Julies place for afternoon tea then back into the City to have dinner at the Liber-Tine Restaurant (French cuisine). After a great meal we dropped Nikos back to the Emporium and Val, Steven & myself went on to The Treasury Casino to try our luck. Our first problem was to find a street parking spot, I had the boat on top of the car so Parking Stations are out. We eventually found a place to park down by The Botanical Gardens and walked back to the Casino. Val went off to play the poker machines and Steven & myself headed for the $15 minimum, Blackjack Table. We were both doing well, at one stage Steven had well over $200 in front of him and I was holding my own. We called it quits around 10.30pm, Steven was down to his $100 starting money, I had $170 so had won $70 and Val had lost all her $100 to the Pokies. It was a great way to finish off a great day.

August 15th, To-day Steven, Nikos, Brian, Julie, Rebecca, Nigel and Sophie all came to our Caravan Park for a BBQ lunch. Sophie ran all around the concrete paths, in her walker, and wore right through the toes of her leather shoes. It was a great family get together, enjoyed by everyone, with Sophie being the life of the party, of course. We have never seen a more happier baby, always smiling. We dropped Steven & Nikos back to the Airport at 5pm for their 6pm flight back to Sydney.

August 16th, Caught up on our washing in the morning and went to Brian & Julies for afternoon tea, to say our final goodbyes. To-morrow we travel further north to Benaraby (just below Gladstone) with an overnight stop at Maryborough on the way.

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.