Coffs Harbour, June 2011

May 27^th, We booked into Park Beach Holiday Park, in Coffs Harbour, for 2 weeks, and set up.  I dropped Val off at Park Beach Plaza to do some shopping while I went to Centrelink and lodged our paperwork. 

May 28^th, Brian and Julie arrived from Brisbane and after settling into their Motel, at the Hoey Moey, Brian walked down to the Caravan Park to meet us. He had left Julie at the Motel having a granny nap. After a coffee and a chat we went to the Motel, had a guided tour of the Hotel/Motel complex and met Cameron (The Manager and Julie’s nephew). After a couple of drinks we went to The Coffs Harbour Ex-Services Club for dinner and a flutter.

May 29^th, We all went to the Markets this morning, one was in the Car Park under the Harbour Shopping Village and the other was at The Jetty Park. They both had some interesting Stalls, I ended up with some socks and a few westerns. We all met at The Coffs Harbour Bowling Club to watch the Sunday afternoon League game between Balmain and St. George. We hoped for a Balmain win but St. George was too good. Brian and the girls went off to play the Pokies and Brian won an $860 Jackpot, well Done! Val and I went home for dinner and Brian rang us later to say he had just landed another $400 Jackpot, his lucky day!

May 30^th, Val had an appointment at The Denture Clinic at 12 noon; we thought it was for a quick look to decide what he could do for her. The decision was to make her a new top plate, so he went the whole hog and took impressions (much to Val’s dis-pleasure) and her next appointment is the 8^th June. He quoted $1900 for the whole job, so we went to HCF to find out how much they would cover. The sad news there was that Val had already used up most of her allowance for Denture work and we would only get back $167. What a shock, had to go for a strong coffee and some lunch to settle down, then to the Coffs Ex. Club for another coffee for me and some pokie therapy for Val. We picked up a “What’s On” brochure from the Club and found out that they play Table Tennis. So a few enquiries and I found out they play just down the road at “The Museum”.

May 31^st, It rained and the wind blew fiercely, all night. When I got up this morning and walked outside I found the Park Workers cleaning up, at the front of our Van. A 1.2 metre square Perspex Canopy Cover had blown off the roof of the Amenities Block and smashed into pieces on the road in front of our Van. Luckily there wasn’t any damage to any Vans or Cars.

June 1^st, Went to “The Museum”, bat in hand, and found that from 1pm the Coffs Over 50s Table Tennis Group play and they have 7 tables. I was made very welcome and for a cost of $5, could play until they all got tired and decided to go home. I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and played almost continuously until 3.45pm. They play Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday afternoons. The RSL Group plays Wednesday, Thursday, Friday nights and Sunday. I found out that the Coffs Harbour Council had provided the venue for both groups to make use of.

June 3^rd, It rained all day yesterday but, finally, the rains gone and the sun is paying us a welcome visit. We picked Brian and Julie from their Motel and drove down to Urunga to visit Sandra. We enjoyed some afternoon tea on the verandah of her Apartment, overlooking the Bellinger River. We all walked down to the Urunga Bowling Club for raffles, dinner and a flutter. We had a great night, Val won a meat tray and $204 on the pokies and it was great to catch up with Sandra again. 

June 4^th, I went to Table Tennis with my new over 50s friends and had an enjoyable afternoon. Brian and Julie came down to the Caravan for afternoon tea, Dinner and Tiles. Val cooked a Pork Roast Dinner (compliments of the Urunga Bowling Club raffles) with baked veggies and gravy and it was delicious. 

June 5^th, The Sunday Markets were on again to-day, at the Harbour Shopping village, so I took my collection of “read” Westerns down to swap with the Book Lady, only to be disappointed as she didn’t show up. I’ll come back next Sunday to try again.

June 6^th, Today is my 71^st Birthday, so I started off the day with a trip to the local Barber for a haircut. After an early lunch, I went to Table Tennis and met a lot more new friends to play with. Brian and Julie came down to the Caravan for afternoon tea and gave me a very nice T- shirt for my Birthday and Val took us all to the local Bowling Club for dinner, drinks and a flutter. The phone ran hot with Birthday wishes from Steven, Greg, Dianne, Jessica, Annaliese and Barbara (my Sister in Melbourne). I rang Sandra, in Urunga, to wish her a Happy Birthday, as we share the same birth date. The highlight of the night was to listen to my Granddaughters, Jessica and Annaliese, singing Happy Birthday to me on my mobile phone “voice message” bank.

June 8^th, I helped Brian and Julie move from the “Hoey Moey” down to the Tahitian Apartments, where they are staying for the next 4 days. Val had to visit the Denture Clinic for a look at her new teeth and to get the bite checked. Val prepared spaghetti bolognaise which we took it up to the Tahitian Apartments for dinner with Brian and Julie.

June 10^th, We got a call from the Dental Clinic, this morning, to come in for a fitting for Val’s new Denture. While she was there they removed the housings from her old denture, to re-use them in the new one. This meant she had to “Polygrip” her old teeth in place until her new plate was finished, on the 15^th. This method didn’t work, as we found out when she tried to eat tonight. I looks like Val is going to spend 4 days in bed without teeth, hiding from the world.

June 11^th, Rebecca, Nigel and Sophie arrived during the early hours of the morning and moved into the Tahitian apartment with Brian and Julie. It was good to catch up with them and we couldn’t believe how Sophie had grown since we had last seen her, very cute and full of beans, as most young kids are. The whole family came to the Caravan Park and Sophie had a great time playing on the jumping pillow and playground equipment. Val came out of hiding and glued her teeth in to go up to the Apartment for a farewell BBQ, as Brian, Julie, Rebecca, Nigel and Sophie are going home, to Brisbane, in the morning.

June 15^th, Finally, the big day has arrived, Val has come out of hiding and is off to the Dental Clinic at 10.30am, to get her new teeth fitted. Who’s that “happy” girl with the big smile and sparkling white teeth?? For an extra $200 Val bought a “Whitening Kit” to bring the colour of her own bottom teeth up to match the new top plate. To top off our day, we watched the Mighty Blues beat the Maroons in the 2^nd Rugby League State of Origin game, now making the series one game all, with the decider to be played in Brisbane in July.

June 16^th, Val developed a huge ulcer in the roof of her mouth, from her new denture, so off to the Dental Clinic we raced to have the offending section removed.

June 17^th, It’s Val’s Birthday today, so I went to Table Tennis from 1 to 4pm (as one does), then we drove to Urunga to pick up Sandra and go to the Urunga Bowling Club to celebrate Val’s Birthday. Val received all her family birthday phone calls during the day. We had a lovely meal, won a meat tray in their raffles, at the Club, and went back to Sandra’s Apartment where Val and Sandra reminisced, with a few Father O’Leary’s Butterscotch Cream, till 3 o’clock in the morning. 

June 19^th, We went to the Coffs Harbour Caravan and Camping Show today, to check out the latest design changes and to criticize where I felt it necessary. I went to the Telstra Stand to see if they had any suggestions for improvements to our roaming Mobile Phone and Internet use and left with a Telstra Elite Wi-Fi with a free months trial, plus the promise of a new phone, at the same cost, with twice the allowed calls.

June 21^st, I dropped Val off at the Belarama Nursing Home, in Bellingen, where Val met Sandra and visited Dulcie (Sandra’s Mum). I had a look around the Old Butter Factory, which is now housing Shops and a Café, before driving back to Sandra’s Apartment at Urunga. After a nice lunch, Sandra and Val walked up to the Bowling Club, for a flutter, while I relaxed, enjoyed the view and waited for them to return. We arrived back at Park Beach just on Dark.

June 22^nd, Val was back to the Denture Clinic this morning to get adjustments to her new top denture. We had found out that the Terry White Chemist at North Coffs had a “Sleep Apnea” Test Program that is done at home. They required a Doctors referral, so Val dropped into the local Medical Centre, and after a “not too happy” reception from the Doctor, left with a signed form. After signing up at Terry White’s and paying $130 (the balance of $680 is covered by Medicare, thankfully), we went home with a box of equipment and instructions to wire Val up for the night. I have been telling Val for years that she was a candidate for Sleep Apnea, she had all the symptoms and now the results from tonight’s test is finally going to tell the story. It took me 1 hour to hook Val up to this equipment, she was definitely very unhappy and distressed with all the wires and connections covering her from top to toe.

June 23^rd, After a very restless night for both of us, I disconnected Val with her help!  That was a job in itself, as in Val’s panic to get it all off quickly, the wires were all tangled and wrapped through the armhole of her nightie, so it all had to come off in one tangled mess. It took me another 30 minutes to untangle the mess and get it all repacked into its transport case. I was hoping the test data was good as Val vowed never to go through that night again. We dropped the machine back with Erin, at Terry White and now have to wait for 10 days for the results from the Sleep Services Laboratory in Melbourne.

June 26^th, I took my collection of read Westerns down to the Sunday Markets and did a swap deal with the book Lady, plus a few extra. That will keep me in reading material for a while.

June 27^th, I joined the Coffs Harbour Library, as a temporary member, which allows me to take out 3 books at a time. We expect we will be here for some weeks yet, so I’ll be able to conserve my own book stash.

June 29^th, I took the Territory in to the Ford Dealer for its 105,000 klm service today, so $260 later, it had a clean bill of health.

June 30^th, Val had her final visit to the Dental Clinic this morning and she is very happy with her new teeth and is intending to come back here next year to get a new set of bottom dentures made. We picked up the results from Val’s Sleep Test and not surprisingly, she has “severe” Sleep Apnoea. She averaged 38.4 arousals per hour, loud continuous snoring was evident and the longest Apnea recorded was 55.8 seconds. To sum it up, Val had only 4.5 hrs sleep in a 6 hour sleep period, NOT GOOD.

July 1^st, Went to the Office and extended our stay for another month, to allow us to get Val organized with her Sleep Apnoea equipment before moving on. I joined the Over 50s Table Tennis Club today, as we are going to be here for a while, that will save on fees and I will be covered by their Insurance. We took Val’s results to Erin, at Terry Whites Chemist and hired the equipment to start trialing machines and masks. The results from the data collected will be analysed weekly. It’s been a long day, so on the way home, we went to the local Bowling Club for dinner and a flutter. We set up Val equipment ready for her 1^st night with the headgear that was fitted with a nasal cushion which sat gently into her nostrils, the machine had been programmed at the Shop, so was ready to go.

July 2^nd, Surprisingly, when I got up in the morning, Val was still wearing her headgear and although she took 2 hrs to get to sleep last night, was feeling refreshed and even had a piece of toast for breakfast. We had 2 hours of entertainment in the Park, from 3pm, with a Father/Son duo called Rino and Jade Morea, from Tasmania. They were “fantastic”, great renditions of songs from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Reno’s Mum and Dad were with them and also sang for us. It was a thoroughly entertaining afternoon and easily the best we have heard in any Caravan Park.

July 5^th, I woke up at 7.30am, so decided to grab my fishing gear after breakfast and try to catch a flathead in the Coffs Creek, just in from the sea entry. It was sandy and , I thought, definitely a flathead area. After 1 1/2 hrs with only a few nibbles I gave it away and drove down to The Jetty Wharf. One of my Table Tennis friends, Grahame, had told me they were catching good bream down there and sure enough he was there with a bucket of bream. It was too late for me to have a fish, as they had gone off the bite. He gave me 3 of his bream for Val’s dinner, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Val had the start of a head cold to-night, which isn’t good when you are trialing breathing machines.

July 7^th, Went fishing at The Jetty Wharf this morning with Grahame, and we caught 7 Trevally between us. Val had some Trevally fillets for dinner and enjoyed them.

July 8^th, We took the SD card from Val’s breathing machine up to Terry White Chemist,  to get the results for the first week of testing. Erin was very pleased with the results, a massive improvement. 38 arousals/hour, from the initial test, was now 7 arousals/hour and we now know that people without Sleep Apnoea normally have between 1 to 5 arousals/hour. We celebrated with dinner and a flutter, at the Coffs Ex Club.

July 10^th, We went to the Jetty Markets this morning, just to get Val out for a bit, as she is still choked up with her head cold. We even called in to Spotlight on the way home but that didn’t even help to cheer her up.

July 15^th, Would you believe it, we have now been in Coffs Harbour for 7 weeks. I’m not complaining, as I have been fishing at The Jetty with Grahame (one of my new Table Tennis friends) and playing Table Tennis 4 times each week. Unfortunately Val has been miserable with a head cold and still trying to get sorted with her breathing machine and mask. We went to Terry White Chemist today, with the second weeks results from Val’s hired machine and the SD card was blank. No data collected for the whole week and the only explanation for that was that I didn’t insert the SD card properly. Very upsetting but there was nothing I could do about it. Val was given another type of mask to trial this week and I was instructed on how to fit the SD card properly. We rang Brian tonight to wish him a Happy Birthday for today.

July 21^st, We went to the Park Beach Surf Club for lunch, with a group of 15 people from the Over 50’s Table Tennis Club. We had a very enjoyable meal, with great company and a good view overlooking the Beach.

July 22^nd, We went back to Terry White Chemist today, with the machine in tow. Erin was happy to find we had data on the SD card this week. The results were slightly better than the first week, so Erin reset our test machine to a fixed pressure, determined by the average taken over the total results. Val still has a head cold which is making it difficult to gain the benefit of using the breathing machine.

July 25^th, I caught my best fish off The Jetty, this morning. A 45cm Golden Trevally and everybody on the Jetty said that it was a good eating fish. Grahame gave me a 29cm Bream to go with it. After lunch we walked around to Grahame and Odile’s place, just opposite the Caravan Park, for afternoon tea and a few games of Table Tennis in their garage. We had a very enjoyable afternoon and will keep in touch with them as we travel. Grahame and Odile (she has been Grahame’s partner for 9 years, she is French, very friendly and also plays Table Tennis) walked back with us to have a look at our Caravan. Grahame would like to get a Van sometime and they both liked ours. Val heated up some homemade chicken soup for tonight’s dinner, which was very enjoyable, and decided to heat up the little bit of left over soup for us to finish up. She poured the soup and put down the cooktop lid. We were eating our soup when there was a loud “glass cracking” sound and smoke rising from the cooktop. Val had forgotten to turn off the gas burner and the Black Glass on the stainless steel Lid was  completely crazed and the cork mat that we have under our Jug was smouldering. Not her finest hour. Val turned the gas jet off quickly but the damage was already done.

July 27^th, We returned the hired test equipment to Terry White Chemist, with this week’s results. The results from the fixed pressure machine were very good, so on Erin’s recommendation we bought Val’s own machine and mask. We can now leave Coffs Harbour tomorrow and head toward Brisbane. I had to completely remove the stove from the Van, to remove the cooktop lid so that I could remove the shattered glass from the lid and then re-install it. What a job! I’ll worry about a replacement lid later.

July 28^th, It was strange, towing the Van again, after 9 weeks in Coffs Harbour and we drove as far as Brunswick Heads, with a stop for lunch at Grafton McDonalds, and booked into the Ferry Reserve Holiday Park. Not a huge Park but very good and it’s on the waterfront, well worth a return visit. Tomorrow we will move on to Brisbane.

Crescent Head, May 2011

May 10^th, We left Stockton this morning, heading north, destination unknown. As we travelled, Val looked at our maps and, we decided to go to Crescent Head. We holidayed there 8 or 10 years ago, long before we started caravanning, and remembered it as a Town we liked, so decided to go check the place out again. We booked into the only Caravan Park there, Crescent Head Holiday Park. We booked in for 2 weeks and spent the rest of the day setting up and looking around. It didn’t look like anything had changed over the years.

May 11^th, I drove into Kempsey to visit Centrelink and put in our paperwork. In the afternoon we walked around the Crescent Head shops and dropped into The Country Club, to find out when raffles, bingo etc. were on. 

May 12^th, We drove into Woolworths, in Kempsey, to do a big shop. Crescent Head only has a Foodworks Supermarket and their stock is limited. Before leaving Crescent Head I picked up our mail from the Post office. I had been waiting for a package from Steven and it arrived. He bought himself a new Laptop and gave his old (only 12 months old) Laptop to me, as my old one was playing up. We went to the Country Club for the Meat Raffles and a flutter. Didn’t win any meat but Val had a good run on the Pokies.

May 16^th, I’ve spent most of the week-end downloading off the old laptop and setting up the new one. All of this went very well, which for me was close to a miracle. An electronic whizz I am not. I packed up the old laptop and posted it back to Steven.

May 17^th, Val went to 7pm Bingo at The Country Club and won 3 - $5 vouchers, and then followed that up with a $100 win on the pokies. I went up at 9.45 pm to walk her home.

May 20^th, We went to The Country Club for the meat raffle, to-night, and Val won a very nice meat tray.

May 22^nd, I decided to have a fish in the Creek this morning, the tide was coming in and the weather was great. Killock Creek is just tidal backwater that seems to peter out into an irrigation drain and isn’t suitable for boating. The Park hires canoes for people to explore the shallow Creek waters, if that is their thing. I caught 4 bream and one flathead, unfortunately all undersize, but was a lot of fun.

May 23^rd, We took a walk up to the Shops and called in to The Country club for an afternoon drink. Val was having a little flutter and I had a spare $1 coin, so I popped it into a machine 3 down from where Val was playing. I was only playing 25 cents at a time and on my 2^nd press got the feature, which gave me over $100. I took out the $100, a great return on my $1. Val’s machine wasn’t giving her any joy, so she moved onto the one I had just won on and ended up coming home with her own $100, from the same machine. That’s what I call a good afternoon at the Club.

May 24^th, We were supposed to leave to-day but decided to stay for 3 more days and see some of the Malibu Surfboard Competition, before heading to Coffs Harbour to meet up with Val’s Brother and his wife (Brian and Julie) who  are coming down to spend  2 weeks with us in Coffs. I went fishing again, at the mouth of the creek, and caught a 27cm bream and a 38cm flathead.

May 25^th, Heavy rain and strong winds, this morning, was the worst weather we have had here. Val had to watch Masterchef, on TV, so sent me up to the Country Club for Dinner and to watch The “State of Origin” NRL Match between QLD and NSW. Unfortunately the Blues lost but it was a good close game. The Club was very busy tonight as the Malibu Surf Competition registrations were on as well.

May 26^th, We walked to the beach to watch the Malibu contestants ride the waves. They had approx. 200 entrants, of all age groups, who had travelled here from all over Australia. This was day 1 of the 3 day competition and I was wondering how the Judges would be able to identify the riders. I soon found out that each 5 called out were given a different coloured shirt to wear over their wetsuits, how easy. They were scored on the best of 3 runs. We were impressed with the skill of the surfers and couldn’t believe it when one contestant finished a perfect run in by doing a headstand on his board. We left the competition and went back to the Caravan, as it was time to pack up ready to leave for Coffs Harbour in the morning.

Stockton April 2011

April 26th, Arrived at Stockton Beach Tourist Park, not raining thankfully, after a wet pack up in Sydney. This is one of the Parks that we like, but like Dunleith it is very open to the weather.




April 29th, The weather has been wet and windy since we arrived so have done a lot of reading. The rain eased off this morning so I got out a couple of rods and went to find a fishing spot out of the wind. Lost a lot of bait but didn’t catch anything. Val was glued to the TV from 4pm till 11pm for Will & Kate’s wedding.



April 30th, Around 11am, there was a knock on the side of the Caravan, and Lo and behold, it was Carole and Rob (our friends from Charlestown) called in the say hello. What a pleasant surprise. We made arrangements to go to their place on Monday evening, for dinner and sequence. To-night we went to Joan and Roberts, for a baked Dinner and sequence, and had another enjoyable evening.



May 1st, Still getting those southerly winds but the rain has eased off. I went down to the Harbour at 11 am to watch the Powerboat Races. It was only one race lasting 1 hour. The course started opposite the Brewery in Newcastle and the circuit went out through the breakwall and along Stockton Beach and back. It was a very noisy contest, the bigger boats were constantly lapping the smaller boats, showers of spray were sent up when the boats were turning to roar back up the Harbour for the next lap. The going was pretty rough outside the Harbour, a lot of boats dropped out during the race and fortunately there weren’t any accidents. There was a good crowd lining both sides of the Harbour.



May 2nd, Val made her famous pastries to take to Carole and Robs tonight. After a tour of their house we enjoyed a lovely meal and played sequence till 1.30am. They are late nighters, like us.



May 3rd, We drove out to Salamander Bay, to deposit some unwanted items in our Storage Shed and have our annual Medical and Skin Cancer Checks. We did run into a few people we knew and caught up on the local happenings. We dropped into The Nelson Bay Bowling Club for a drink and Val made a profit from their poker machines.



May 5th, Yesterday I helped Val by putting on a load of washing. Always the helpful husband. When I pulled the clothes from the washing machine, to my surprise, my white socks and shirt were PINK. Val had put her new RED pants into the washing basket, and I threw it all in the machine. Thats what I thought you did with dirty clothes, if it can’t be washed by machine it shouldn’t be in the basket. That’s my last word on the subject. After lunch we took the Ferry across to Newcastle, I bought some replacement socks and Val had to go to the Millers Sale. After we cruised (on the Ferry) to Stockton we called into the Stockton RSL for a drink, and you wouldn’t want to know, we had to stay for the raffles. No meat tray but Val went home with a win on the Pokies.



May 6th, We met Joan and Robert at West’s Leagues Club at New Lambton, for dinner and a flutter. The meals were good, company was great and the pokies were kind, as Joan, Robert and Val all had good wins.



May 7th, As a result of my recent Cancer Scan, I had to go to the Medical Centre at Nelson Bay, this morning, and have a cancer cut out of my back. After about 8 stitches to hold me together, I drove home feeling like someone was permanently pinching my back. A very uncomfortable feeling. We met Carole and Rob at The Redhead Bowling Club for dinner tonight. The meals were very good and the servings were huge. We went back to their place for sequence and played from 8pm till 2am, incredible 6 hours.



May 8th, Mothers Day, both Steven and Greg called Val. They had both given Val her presents when we were in Sydney. I walked Val to the Stockton Bowling Club for raffles, dinner and a flutter, to celebrate MD. Val won a $12 voucher, we had a nice meal and Val won $150 on the pokies. To-morrow we pack up to leave on Tuesday morning for someplace north of here, yet to be decided.

Sydney, April 2011

April 17th, Booked into Sydney Gateway Holiday Park for 9 nights. After setting up we gathered up Jessica and Annaliese’s things and took them home, to Greg and Dianne. After catching up on all the family news, we headed back to the Van to clean up. We had a wet pack up when leaving Dunleith Caravan Park and had acquired a foul smell in the Van. After clearing out the Van of the wet mats etc, mopping the floors with disinfectant, the smell was slightly better. I bought Pizza for dinner and we had an early night.




April 18th, Jessica and Annaliese arrived around 8.45am, we were looking after them daytime, while Greg and Dianne were at work, till the Easter Holidays. I had my usual visit to the local Centrelink Office to put in my rent assistance paperwork. It was a sunny day, so I was able to lay out the floor mats from the tinnie, and a roll of carpet to dry. Robert had given us the carpet to line the top bunk. We use the top bunk as a storage shelf while travelling around. We all went around to Greg and Dainne’s place so Val could do her washing and stayed until they came home from work. Back at the Van, we were still getting whiffs of our bad smell and couldn’t pin it down.



April 19th, All the wet carpets were now dry and not responsible for the bad smell. I went searching for places to locate the source of our smelly problem. The last item I thought to clean out was my fishing box. As I went through the contents, lo and behold, I picked up 3 plastic bags of bait, left from my last fishing day when I took Rob out with me. I quickly disposed of the evidence and thoroughly washed and hosed out the fishing box and its contents. I was very happy to cop the blame and tell Val the smelly problem was solved. Dianne came to pick up the girls at 4.45pm, as we were meeting Steven and Margaret in Town for dinner. The traffic into Town was horrific, it took 1 ¾ hrs. to get to Darlinghurst. We had a quick drink at the Beauchamp Hotel before walking down to the Show Chef “Teppan-yaki” Restaurant for Dinner. This was the first time that Val and myself had been to Teppan-yaki, and it lived up to all that we had been told. The food is cooked on a very hot BBQ hotplate, right in front of where you are seated. The Chef is a not only experienced in this style of cooking but is comical and has the patter to go with his display of skills in food tossing. All the food was delicious and we were thoroughly fed and entertained by the end of the meal. Steven was the only one to catch the raw egg, on first toss, and Val was the only one of our group to catch the cooked egg in her mouth. We all caught our bowls of fried rice, flipped by our Chef, into a bowl we had to hold up in front of us. It was an experience that we won’t forget and can recommend that everybody should try it. We dropped Margaret and Steven home (Balmain) and was rewarded with a large piece of homemade pavlova, which I enjoyed back at the Van, for late supper.



April 20th, I took the girls to see the 9.45am showing of “HOP” at the Rouse Hill Hoyts. It was a great story about the Easter Bunny that we all enjoyed. I fitted the new carpet to the top bunk base and had enough left over to cut 2 mats for the front floor of the car, replace the mat on the Caravan step and a good sized outside mat to go in front of the door. Greg and Dianne came over after work and we all enjoyed Val’s Roast Pork Dinner. After dinner we showed them how to play our new board game, “Sequence”, which they liked.



April 21st, The girls went to their Pa’s place today, as I had thought that we were going to the Rosehill Caravan and Camping Supershow, but during a Seniors Moment I got the dates wrong and the show does not start till the 30th. I took the boat off the car, then spent 3 hours scraping and cleaning the bottom. It had collected shells and weed growth during the 7 weeks it was in the water, at The Entrance.



April 22nd, Good Friday, no shops open, so we caught up on a bit of reading. Greg, Dianne, Jessica and Annaliese called in for afternoon tea and a chat.



April 23rd, Greg picked me up this morning and took me to the Family Boats yard at Blacktown, to show me what Dianne and he are looking at buying, by the end of this year. They both like deep sea fishing and are looking at a 6 metre boat with cabin, preferably fiberglass hull and suitable for their 7 and 9 year old daughters as well. There were some very nice boats on display and of course very pricey. They will be buying 2nd hand, when that time comes.



April 24th, Sydney Gateway Holiday Park had a kids Easter Program organised for today, so we invited Greg, Dianne, Jessica, Annaliese and Karina, Chloe and Riley for lunch so the kids could join in the afternoons activities. They had fun with air tattoos, sand painting, plaster painting and a guessing competition.



April 25th, Typical Easter weather, raining, windy and very unpleasant. In-between showers, Val prepared and cooked flathead fillets, quiche and tuna pasta for dinner and had all yesterday’s visitors join us. It was a great meal enjoyed by everyone and our last chance to be with our family, as we leave in the morning for Stockton. Steven missed out as he spent his Easter in Melbourne visiting friends.

The Entrance, March 2011

March 3rd, It does take awhile to set up at Dunleith Caravan Park, especially when you know that you will be here for 7 weeks, so no need to hurry and the weather hasn’t been great. Lots of showers and strong winds are always a good excuse to do nothing. Yesterday I finally got the boat off the car and into the water and set up for use. I decided that I should take it for a trial run and did a bit of drifting the other side of The Entrance Bridge and came back with a 40cm Flathead. A nice start to add to the fish, caught in the last few days at Sussex Inlet, that Val already has in the freezer. Joan and Robert came down today from Cardiff, for lunch and to bring us our mail. After lunch Robert and myself went out for a fish and after a slow start eventually found a good spot where the fish were biting and came in at 7pm with 6 flathead, a flounder and 2 bream. I had to start cleaning and filleting some of the flathead as Val was waiting to cook it for their dinner while I had “heated up leftovers”, curried sausages, very nice.




March 4th, We went to the Bateau Bay Bowling Club with Gwen and Neil (our neighbours) for Dinner and raffles. Gwen came away with 2 meat trays and Val won a leg of lamb, so a good night out for all of us.



March 10th, The fishing has been good, since last Friday I have caught 3 flathead, all between 40 – 42cm long, plus 2 bream, so considering that I don’t take the boat out on the week-ends ( leave that to all the visiting weekenders) I’m happy. We went to The Entrance Diggers Club tonight, with a large group from the Caravan Park, for dinner and raffles. The group collected a good share of the prizes and Val came home with a meat tray and a veggie tray.



March 17th, Another relaxing week, fishing, reading and generally doing very little. Val has started to knit a different style of scarf, which Joan’s daughter (Jacyln) will sell for her at the Markets, for $20 ea. Last weekend was the Country and Western weekend, which attracts huge crowds to the Entrance. We enjoyed the music, which we can hear in the Caravan Park from across the water, and on the Sunday went over to soak up the atmosphere and look at all the stalls in the Park. We went to the Diggers Club tonight with the Caravan Park Group, for raffles and dinner, and had another good night with Val coming home with a meat tray and a spaghetti bolognaise tray.



March 19th, The weather has been pretty poor, overcast and windy and today, when we had Steven and a group of his close Turkish friends and family coming for lunch, it decided to rain on our parade. Luckily, we had a few nice breaks in the rain and Val’s lunch of tempura battered flathead with her now famous Changs Noodle Salad and a green salad were enjoyed by all, with some nice wine, while I had a great beef snitzel. The meal was finished off with , Val’s also now famous, English style Trifle dressed with fresh cream and strawberries. I can feel the weight piling on and wont need to eat for a week. It was a great day and it was good to catch up with Nikos and his Mum, Jandan, and meet Ilkare’s now expectant wife, Lutfeya. Our guests left around 5pm and Steven stayed on till 8pm. Time does get away when you are having a good time.

March 21st, Yesterday we had strong southerly wind with driving rain, all day and night. Everything was rattling and keeping Val awake. I went for my hearing test today and was told that I didn’t need a hearing aid just yet but I would now be tested every 2 years, as I am now registered on the Governments list. Went out for a fish late afternoon and caught a nice flathead. I was sent scurrying in to shore when a huge Electrical Storm was heading toward me.







March 22nd, The water was at least a foot higher today, following all the rain we have had. I went fishing in the morning and came in with a flathead and a flounder. I took Val out late afternoon to see if we could catch a few blue swimmer crabs but no luck.






March 23rd, I decided to try the North Channel today and see what I could catch. I took a fish head with me so I could drop a crab line while I was fishing. I was sitting quietly in the tinnie, fishing away, when suddenly there was a loud splashing/flapping noise behind me, I turned to find a Cormorant with my fish head in it’s beak, trying to fly off. I grabbed the paddle, stood up and was now beating the surface of the water to chase this annoying bird away. It worked, but anybody watching would have thought I had lost my marbles or worse. The only thing that saved the complete crabbing reel, line and fish head was that I had used a spring clamp to secure my line to the top edge of the boat. I came in for lunch wit a flathead and a great story about the “Cormorant’ THIEF. I was enjoying a nice fresh ham sandwich for lunch when, Crunch, I bit into a hard spot in the ham and broke a front tooth off, bugger! Not only did that spoil my homely good looks but I now had to find a local Dentist to fix the problem. I was thankful to get an appointment at Pacific Smiles at Erina fair tomorrow.






March 24th, Up early this morning and off to Erina Fair for my 9am appointment at the Dentist. No problem with the broken tooth, simply dress off the stump (nerve already removed) and add a new tooth to my existing plate. I decided to get 3 other front cleaned up to remove some stains around the old fillings. The quote for all this dental work was $780. No such thing as a cheap Dentist these days, especially as the HCF refund will be $354. My appointment is next Wednesday to do the 3 filling replacements and the 7th April for the denture work.






March 30th, The weather has been very ordinary, very windy, not great fishing weather all this week. Val has been busy planning a Lambs Fry Dinner for tonight. Our dinner guests are Gwen and Neil and Carole and Rob, all friends in the Park. It was a great meal, enjoyed by all and the night was finished off with a game of “Sequence” with Carole and Rob.






April 5th, The bad weather is still continuing. Sandra came down today, so we met at The Entrance Hotel for lunch and to catch up. It has been 12 months since we last caught up, so we have made tentative arrangements to see her again when we are at Coffs Harbour, at the end of May.
April 7th, Up early this morning to get to my 8.30am Dental appointment, at Erina Fair. Today I’m having an extra tooth added to my existing plate, so it’s only for impressions this morning and back at 4.40pm for a fitting. The teeth are now good and welcomed the delicious roast lamb dinner that Val put on in the Camp Kitchen to-night. Gwen , Neal, Carole and Rob joined us for dinner and we all had a great night.




April 8th, The weather hasn’t been suitable for taking the boat out for a fish, so late afternoon, I got the urge to throw a line in off the bank and try out my new fishing rod. Within 15minutes I had pulled in 3 flathead then the fish just stopped biting. Strange but True. After I filleted my catch and cleaned up, we went to the Bateau Bay Sports Club for raffles and dinner. We came home after Karaoke with 2 meat trays and shared it out among our group.



April 9th, Joan and Robert came down from Cardiff for the day, bringing our mail. After lunch we decided that the weather was slightly better, so Robert and myself set off in the tinny to try our luck. The fishing wasn’t great, no keepers and when we had a fish up the North Channel, the swell was bad and the boat bounced around badly, jolting the bolt loose from the anchor shackle and when I went to pull up the anchor, all I had was the rope in my hand and only one half of the shackle. Bugger, now I have to buy a new anchor. We introduced Joan and Robert to “Sequence” and they now like this new game as much as we do.



April 10th, Greg and Dianne brought Jessica and Annaliese up to spend the first week of their Holidays with us. This is a time we look forward to each year and the girls always have a great time.



April 11th, I took Jessica and Annaliese out for a fish in the boat, Annaliese caught the first fish (a small throwback bream) and Jessica reeled in a 41cm Flathead. I didn’t catch a keeper but enjoyed the company. Once again shown up by the Girls, why me?



April 13th, This was my revenge day, it was windy but I decided to go out fishing. The girls were busy playing with their friends and didn’t want to come out with me. That’s OK, I’m a big boy, so to my delight I was happy to show my catch on my return, 4 Flathead and 2 good sized Bream. My best ever fishing day, without a doubt.



April 16th, It rained all day yesterday and through the night. The only bad weather day since the girls arrived. The girls have had a great time on holidays with us, playing with their friends from 7am to dark, eating well, sleeping well, active all day, fishing, sand painting, air tattoos, kids bingo and lots more. When we had a break in the rain, I pulled the boat out of the water and put it up on the car, ready to leave in the morning for Sydney

Sussex Inlet, Feb 2011

January 31st, Travelled to Sussex Inlet and booked into the Riverside Caravan Park, for a week. After setting up we walked around the Park. They have a small waterfront area where I can tie up the Tinnie, the amenities are old but clean. We’ll see how the fishing goes and will probably stay here until it’s time (27th Feb.) to go to The Entrance. We were hoping that the temperature would be cooler than Sydney but not so! It’s just as hot down here.




February 1st, Another scorcher today, went into Town to look around and checked out the RSL & Bowling Club. The RSL had raffles and Lucky 8 Bingo on tonight, so we went for dinner and, you guessed it, raffles, bingo and a flutter on the Pokies. The meals were good, didn’t win at the raffles or bingo. The Lucky 8 Bingo was a new game for Val, so she was shown how to play their games by one of the Clubs Directors, also a player herself.



February 2nd, Put the boat in the water today and tied up at one of the moorings. It was another very hot day but I went out, in the tinnie, to investigate the river and do a spot of fishing. I caught a couple of puffer fish and 2 small bream. The water is shallow and being close to the outlet to the sea, was very clean and I could easily see the bottom of the river. I soon discovered that this river is infested with these little puffer fish, to be referred to as “pf” in future, who race to take your bait as soon as it hits the water. I have no idea how I will be able to catch a big fish with the pf around. I guess time will tell!



February 3rd, Nice breeze blowing today, so a little bit cooler. Went out for a fish, determined not to come back empty handed, took plenty of bait (prawns & squid) and finally caught a 37cm Flathead. That was obviously, the bait that the pf missed. Time had got away from me and I was feeling a bit peckish, it was 2.45pm when I arrived back at the Van. Val enjoyed a nice fresh flathead fillet for her dinner.



February 4th, Went out for a fish after lunch, while Val went to the Hairdressers. It was muggy and very windy and only caught a PF. Around 3pm I made a hasty retreat into shore, as a Thunder Storm was heading my way and we had washing on the line as well.



February 7th, We drove down to Vincentia today to do a bit of shopping at Bi-Lo. It’s a much larger Supermarket than we have in Sussex Inlet.



February 13th, The weather has been bad, either raining or just cloudy and windy. I caught a 45cm Flathead last Tuesday and Val came out fishing with me on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately we didn’t catch any keepers. She enjoyed the trip and I’m looking forward to taking her out again. I’m sure she will like it better when she catches her first fish. By the end of the day she had mastered the art of casting, very promising. We filled in a few wet days doing Jigsaw Puzzles.



February 16th, More wet & windy weather up till today. We went to the RSL for dinner and raffles last night, didn’t win anything but meals were great. We went fishing this afternoon, Val 2nd time out with me, but didn’t catch anything. To top off our day, when I had tied up at the mooring post and was assisting Val out of the boat, her legs gave way and she fell backwards into the boat, pulling me off balance and into the water. Fortunately, I landed on my backside in 30cms of water and was up quickly to check on Val. I was concerned, as she landed back first across the bench seat but thankfully she was shaken up but OK. Val went straight to the Van for a stiff drink while I headed straight to the shower with a change of clothes. This was not a good way to get anybody interested in boating or fishing. I was expecting that this would be the end of our fishing trips but Val surprised me by suggesting that she gets in and out of the boat at the boat ramp, a lot safer.



February 17th, Dinner and Raffles at the RSL tonight, $3000 worth of Electrical and household goods. I won a “Rockwell” 12 Volt Battery Drill.



February 18th, Today we drove to Nowra, about a 25 minute drive, and did a bit of shopping. I had been told by a fellow caravaner and fisherman that I should fish at night in the river, bound to catch something. So, after dinner I set off to put his advice into practice. It proved to be bad advice, no fish, not many channel markers lit up and after running into a weedy shallow area, gave up and went home, very disappointed.



February 22nd, No improvement in the weather over the last few days. Last Sunday I did venture out for a fish, on dusk, and caught a good plate sized Flounder. We filled in Monday by taking another shopping trip to Nowra. We went to BCF to pick up a Birthday present for Roberts 60th party, next Sunday in Belmont. Tonight we went to the RSL for dinner and games, Val won an $8 Voucher.



February 23rd, I was told about another fishing spot, favoured by a regular visitor to this Park, so, out I went in the morning a came in for lunch, a very “happy chappy”, with 2 Bream (27 & 30cm long). Spurred on by this success I went out on dusk and drifted along the same spot and came in with 2 Flathead (37 & 54cm long).



February 24th, Had a quiet day but we went out for a fish late afternoon, to my now favourite spot. Val caught her first fish, a 28cm Whiting and followed that up with a 29cm Bream. She has now joined the “Happy Chappy Club”. I kept pace with her with 2 Bream (28 & 34cm long).



February 25th, Last day in Sussex Inlet, so went out for a last fish before bringing the boat in and caught 3 Bream (25,26 & 29cm long). I packed up all our gear ready to leave for Belmont, in the morning.



February 26th, Our navigator (Doris) is programmed to take us by the shortest route, directed us through the southern suburbs of Sydney to get to Pennant Hills Road on to Belmont, much to my utter disgust. We were caught up in all the Saturday traffic through Bankstown but once committed we could not easily change our course. We finally reached our destination and booked into Spinnakers Tourist Park, at Belmont, and Val made a rice salad and 3 slices for Robert’s Party tomorrow.



February 27th, We had a late checkout from Spinnakers and then around 12.30 pm towed the Van to The Belmont Yacht Club, where the party was held. It was a great venue with a BBQ area overlooking Lake Macquarrie. The food was great, everybody enjoyed themselves and Robert received some very nice presents. Joan did a “This was your Life” presentation for Robert which was very well put together and very funny. He was a wild lad in his younger days. Around 4.30 pm we left the Party and travelled down to The Entrance to Dunleith Caravan Park to start our 7 weeks stay, on the waterfront, of Tuggerah Lakes

Bataeu Bay, 2011

January 17th, Yesterday afternoon we picked up Jessica and Annaliese and went up to Dunleith Caravan Park, at The Entrance, where Joan and Robert had enjoyed a Holiday in our Van while we were cruising NZ. We were there for 3 nights, mainly to pack up, before going back to Sydney. I took the two Girls out fishing in our Tinnie, and once again Annaliese showed us all up by catching the first and only fish for the day, a small flounder.


January 19th, We moved back to Sydney today and booked into Sydney Gateway Holiday Park for 3 nights. We looked after the Girls during the day while Greg and Dianne went to work. We had to get ready to take Jessica and Annaliese to Blue Lagoon Holiday Resort at Bateau Bay, for another weeks holiday with us. That will fill in the last week of the School Holidays.

January 26th, We have been having a great time here with the Girls, who made a lot of friends and went in all the organized activities in the Park. We went down to The Entrance for lunch and to take in the Australia Day Festivities. We were amazed at the number of people there. The Fun Park was in full swing, Market Stalls were on, Entertainment emanated from the big Stage (very loud) and all the Food Outlets were busy. It was a very hot day so we went back to the Caravan Park for a swim before dinner. We were able to see the 9pm Fireworks from the Caravan Park. There will not be any more organised activities in the Caravan Park, so tomorrow I am taking the Girls to see “Yogi Bear” at the movies, should be fun.

January 27th, I think I enjoyed the Yogi Bear Movie more than the girls did. I laughed till I cried. Val filled in her time wandering around the local shops while we were at the movies. To-morrow is pack up day ready to leave for Sydney on Saturday.

January 29th, We drove down to Sydney, called in to catch up with Greg & Dianne and drop off Jessica & Annaliese. The girls were excited to be home and had a lot of exciting news to report from their holiday. We booked into Sydney Gateway Holiday Park for 2 nights.

January 30th, I picked up all our gear from Gregs garage, including the Tinny, in the morning. We all met at Castle Hill RSL for a family lunch, which was very nice, then back to the Park to repack the car and pack up to leave in the morning for Sussex Inlet.