Brunswick Heads May 2013

May 28^th, We finished packing up at Wooli, with rain threatening. Luckily it held off until doing the final hook up of the Car to the Van. We stopped off at Grafton to do our big shop, have some lunch and Val picked up a few Artwork items she needed from Lincraft. It was a bumpy ride on the way up but they are working this section of the new dual Highway, which will be appreciated when it is completed. We arrived at Brunswick Heads mid afternoon and set up at Ferry Reserve Holiday Park. As soon as I saw the entrance to the Park, I realized that we had been to this Park before. When checking in, Val asked the Manager if we had been here before and to her surprise we had been here twice and the last time being 2 years ago. We got onto our Riverfront site and did the basic set-up, before the rain started again.

May 29^th, Today is out 48^th Wedding Anniversary (Happy Anniversary Val), but life goes on so I had things to do. After 2 trips into Brunswick Heads to Centrelink I eventually got our Rent Assistance Forms lodged and everything up to date. I put up the Annexe walls and unpacked the rest of the gear in the back of the car. I decided not to take the boat off the car as the weekly forecast didn’t look good and we are only here for a week. We joined in with a small group of our neighbours, for Happy Hour drinks and nibbles and happened to mention that it was our Anniversary and one of the couples in the group had also had their 47^th Anniversary yesterday, so we had a little bit more to Celebrate. The weather turned nasty after dinner, so we decided not to go out tonight.

May 30^th, Had a fish off the bank this morning but no luck. The little bream were taking the bait but not the hook. It’s raining again tonight and I’m happy that I have set up the awning perfectly and we are not getting any rain build up on the roof.

May 31^st, No sleeping in this morning, as a group of “Tree Loppers” have arrived. They were outside our Van, cutting, lopping, grinding (as in wood chipping) and generally making a lot of noise. We escaped the noise by going into Brunswick Heads Shops, for a look around and then around to Ocean Shores, only 5 minutes away, which has a Coles Supermarket, Target Country and a few smaller shops. You never know when there is going to be some excitement in these small Towns, so let me tell you my story. I was on my way to the Amenities block for my shave and shower. I could hear, in the distance, roaring engines getting nearer (could be some yahoos racing, I thought). Then I detected the sound of a siren mixed in with the sound of engines. I stood outside the block, listening and looking for the cause of the increasing noise. We are right alongside the new Highway which by passes the Town of Brunswick Heads. Next I’m seeing a Police car chasing another vehicle, lights flashing, siren blaring along the street at the end of the Park, only 10 metres from where our Van is. The street that comes along the front of this Park goes nowhere other than to go around a group of houses and back out. After that the noise of the chase faded into the distance, as they moved on. So I went on about my business and when I got back to our Van I said to Val, “ did you hear all the excitement” and she said, “didn’t hear a thing”, so I had to tell her my story.

June 1^st, I was chatting with the Park Manager this morning and he was able to tell me that the Police chase, from last night, started in Queensland, so It must have been something of a serious nature to chase the other vehicle this far and obviously the fleeing car didn’t know this area or he would not have turned into our little Crescent. We have no idea how that incident ended up. Val and I went into the Brunswick Markets this morning and was surprised how big they were. Val picked up a few items and I bought a couple of sausage sandwiches for lunch, from the local School Stall. We spent most of our time with the Aboriginal Painting Guy (Dean Rotumah) who was setup in the Park at the end of the Market area. His paintings were very good and he sits there all day doing his art, while talking to all the passers-by. This is his business and the paintings sell for around $450 ea. We noticed that he had little nozzles fitted to the caps of all his paint tubes, what a great idea! He was doing dots and lines directly from the tube of paint, so with a constant supply of paint , no stopping and very quick. He was happy to tell us how they did it, so now I am fitting nozzles to Val’s tubes of paint.

June 2^nd, Rain and windy today, so no fishing. We went down to Ocean Shores to do a bit of Shopping, Val needs a constant supply of paints and art material these days, to feed her current passion of “Dot Painting”. She cooked some “home made” Pizzas for dinner and they were delicious.

June 3^rd, Pack up day again, as we leave in the morning for Brisbane. It’s only a short run from here, so will be at our Park around mid-day. I did a bit of packing up this afternoon, leaving not too much to do to-morrow morning. We went to the Brunswick Heads Bowling Club around 3.30pm for drinks and a flutter. We enjoyed our outing and came home after virtually having a free day out, thanks to a little win on the Pokies.

Wooli May 2013

May 7^th, It was an easy pack-up this morning, mainly to pull down and pack up the Annexe walls, which doesn’t take all that long. I even had plenty of time to drive into Nambucca and fill the car up with petrol, so avoiding having to do it with the Van in tow. We realized that Wooli was a very small seaside Village, so we would need to stop at Coffs Harbour to do a shop and stock up on supplies. Our first stop in Coffs was at “Spotlight”, so Val could buy some sponge brushes for her painting work and she needed some invisible zippers, for cushion covers that she is making for Steven and Ed. We then went to Park Beach Plaza for lunch and food shopping. Val fitted in a haircut at Just Cuts and bought a replacement strap for her breathing mask from Terry White Chemists and while we were shopping, they did a free check and clean on Val’s breathing machine. We arrived at Wooli Caravan Park at 4.45pm and booked in for a week. We are on a waterfront site No. 1, which we now know everyone in the Park thinks that this is the best site. How lucky are we! We did come through some rain on the way but it stopped long enough for us to get settled in. All the Park residents gather in the Camp Kitchen from 4.30pm every day, for “Happy Hour”, so we went along to meet some of our fellow travelers. They have a good open fire going, to keep out the chill of the night air. It’s simply an old washing machine bowl sitting on a cut off metal keg and the wood for the fire is supplied by the Park.

May8th, I finished setting up our site after breakfast, and we had decided not to put up the Annexe walls on this occasion. Our imitation grass slab is parallel to the roadway, so we can sit under our Awning and look at the Wooli River and all the passing traffic. Being a friendly little community, everybody who passes by, gives us a wave. After lunch we went for a drive around the area, to check it all out. We started by driving down to the river entrance and saw a few fishermen trying their luck off the rock wall. We drove back past the Caravan Park into the shops, consisting of a Post Office, Newsagents, combined with a Restaurant and Takeaway food outlet. Next door was an Oyster Farm shop, which was closed. We paid them all a visit then drove out of Town and went down to Minnie Waters. There was a Caravan Park just before the end of the road, then at the Beach there was a General Store with fuel. Adjacent to the Store was the entrance to Yuraygir National Park, which surrounds this whole area. On the way back home we stopped at the Service Station come Supermarket, which has a Hotel next door, and then lastly, just on the edge of Town, we dropped in to the local Bowling Club for a Chardy and flutter. We were back at the Park in plenty of time to go to Happy Hour at 4.30pm.

May 9^th, We have taken a liking for this area and the people, so after breakfast I went to the Office and booked an extra week, so now we will be leaving here on the 21^st. We were impressed with the amenities here, very clean and first rate. I took the boat off the car and set it up ready to go into the river to-morrow. It was a bit windy today so Val took her painting gear up to the Camp Kitchen to carry on with her artwork. At 6pm Val went off to Bingo, at The Bowling Club, with Anita and they arrived home at 9pm after having a great time, due to a group of ex. Sailors who provided amusing entertainment with their antics. After Happy Hour I made myself toasted sandwiches for dinner, No! I didn’t go to Bingo.

May 10^th, We had very strong wind blowing up the river today. We had waves with whitecaps, more surfing weather than fishing. A great day to catch up on reading and puzzles. We went up to the Bowling Club for dinner and raffles and sat with Anita and Roger, also staying in the Park near us. They had already eaten so minded our spot on the table while we went into Harry’s Chinese Restaurant. We shared dim sims, Deep fried Duck in plum sauce and fried rice. It was delicious, the best Chinese meal that we have had in a long time. Val and Anita didn’t win anything in the meat raffle and once again the Pokies didn’t provide much entertainment.

May 11^th, Strong winds and rain to start the morning off and then stayed with us through the day. Val made Pizzas for tonight’s get together, after Happy Hour. Each couple makes and brings their Pizza to the Camp Kitchen, to be cooked and shared around. They do this once a month and this time the Park Manager had bought a proper gas Pizza Oven from Bunnings, which cooks 3 Pizzas at a time. The Oven was purchased with the money made by collecting all the cans from the Park and cashing them in. Two of the residents brought along their Guitars, so we had music, singing, pizza and drinks and all had a great evening.

May 12^th, Mother’s Day. Steven had been communicating with me to arrange a surprise day out for Val, from all the family. Val knew that something was being organized but had no idea What, and I had managed to keep it that way. She had plenty of possibilities to think about all week but was way off the mark and it was killing her not knowing. Steven had transferred some money into our bank account to pay for the cost of out day out. We left Wooli at 10.45am and drove 50 minutes to our destination. All the way, she was making comments and questions at me, and when I pulled into the car park at the Yarrawarra Aboriginal Culture Centre at Corindi Beach, the look on her face was one of disbelief. I handed her the email from Steven which explained it all. As Val has been getting back into doing “dot Painting” again and interested in getting ideas for designs, Steven and Ed thought that she would enjoy looking through the Indigenous Art Gallery and sampling some bush tucker for lunch, from the Bush Tucker Café. The whole Cultural Centre is set out on a huge block in pretty bushland and has a huge Accommodation and Events Centre, a Cultural research Unit, as well as the Gallery and Café. We Thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the Gallery, which had a good selection of all forms of Indigenous Art and then moved out to the seating on the verandah for lunch, with a pleasant view of the surrounding grounds. A Kookaburra joined us to eat some bread scraps that had been thrown out onto the grass, just in front of where we were sitting. Val had the Vegetarian Hamburger with chips and salad and I had the Kangaroo Pie with a bush tomato sauce and chips and salad. Absolutely delicious and I finished off with Strawberry Cake, strawberries and lemon myrtle cream and a 2^nd cup of coffee. A great outing for Mothers Day, so a big “thank you” to Steven, Ed, Greg and Dianne from Mother. We went home via Grafton and did a bit of shopping, then stopped off at The Wooli Bowling Club for a drink and a flutter to finish the day. I went back to the Club for Dinner and brought a takeaway home for Val. The food there is very good and huge servings. Around 11pm Val went off to the Amenities Block and in the dark, tripped over the drawbar of our Caravan. I heard the almighty noise and went rushing out to see what happened and  I also ran into the drawbar in the dark. Val was on her bum on the ground and had pulled the clothesline down with her. I picked her and the clothesline up and after she had calmed down, she carried on to the amenities. I could feel blood running down my right leg and when I went inside the Van, in the light, I couldn’t believe the damage I had done to my shin. I had lifted the skin off, about 3 inches long, and was bleeding profusely. My sock and jogger was covered in blood and while I grabbed a pile of tissues to stem the flow, I had a huge puddle of blood on the floor. Holding numerous handfuls of tissues wasn’t stemming the flow of blood, so I grabbed the box of band-aids and started putting them on my leg. It took 4 wide band-aids to cover the wound and stop the bleeding, and then I had to clean up before Val got back. I checked on her injuries and other than hurt pride she only had a couple of spots of missing skin that were not bleeding. Not the way I wanted to end this day.

May 14^th, Did nothing yesterday, stayed in PJ’s all day. Had to keep my leg up, as ordered by Dr. Val. It was raining this morning and the boat was still not in the water. Mid afternoon we had a sunny break, so I put the boat into the water, took a rod and bait and was only out for a short while and an Electrical Storm started heading up the river, thundering away, so in I went. Shortest fishing outing ever and not a bite!

May 15^th, Went out fishing this morning and caught 2 bream and a flounder, all undersize.

May 16^th, there is a local Medical Clinic in the Community Hall which is manned by Nurses a few days a week. So, on the advice of Val and the other Ladies in the Park, I went up at 9.15am for them to check my injuries and redress them. As well as the big raw patch on my right shin, I also had a previous wound on my left shin that was still in the healing process. I came back home with both my shins cleaned up and dressed and under waterproof plasters, so showering will be a lot easier, and an appointment to go back next Monday for another dressing. I went out for a fish after lunch and put down a crab pot, Val had been told they were catching mud crabs out front. I caught 2 undersize bream and I’m beginning to think that there is only little fish in the Wooli River! Val went off to Bingo at the Bowling Club, with Anita, while I went to Waves Café with a group of 13 from the Park, for the $13 Thursday night meal deal. It was a great meal, I had my favourite “Lamb Cutlets, with chips and salad” and enjoyed it and the company. This would be the most “Social” group we have ever come across at any Caravan Park in the 6 ½ years that we have been on the road. We all came back from dinner, re- stoked the fire at the camp kitchen and had a drink to finish off the night.

May 17^th, Checked the crab pot, no crabs, so re-baited it and put it down again. Fished for a while and caught my first flathead (37cm keeper), poor fish was obviously in the wrong place at the wrong time. We went to the Bowling Club for raffles, with the group from the Caravan Park, and Val won a meat tray.

May 18^th, No fish or crabs today, but it was very pleasant out on the River. This river is not very deep, lots of sand and oyster leases. The deepest spot I’ve found so far was only 7ft. at high tide. We all took our BBQ stuff up to the Camp kitchen and all had dinner together after our normal “Happy Hour”. Happy Hour is on every night and starts from 4.30pm and can last 3 hours or more.

May 19^th, It’s Sunday and all the week-end fishermen are out. We have had boats going up and down all day. I only went out to check the crab pot, no crabs, before going up to the Camp Kitchen for Happy Hour.

May 20^th, Went up to the Medical Clinic at 9.15am to get my shin sores re-dressed. The right shin bled freely, when the old dressing was removed, and the nurse said that I had burst a blood vessel when I fell and that’s why it bled so much at the time. It took her a while and a few pads to stop the bleeding before she could get a new dressing on and sent me off with instructions to rest it. My next appointment is for Thursday.

May 21^st, We went into Grafton today, after an early lunch, and didn’t get back to the Park until 6pm. We did a full weeks shopping, so had a lot. Val put it all away while I went up to happy Hour.

May 22^nd, Rained all day, so no fishing.

May 23^rd, Had my shins re-dressed this morning, at the Medical Centre, by the visiting Nurse. The left shin had healed so I only have a dressing on the right shin now.  I went out for a fish, weather good, tide running out and no breeze, so was able to get a good drift. I had my best day out fishing and came in with 4 flathead, all between 38 to 41cm long. Val gave Bingo a miss tonight as her bingo partner had left the Park, and we will be at the Club tomorrow night for Dinner and Raffles.

May 24^th, We had strong winds and rain all day, it bucketed down. The River had waves with white caps. We went to the Bowling Club for Dinner and Raffles. Val won a meat tray and for the first time, we had a small win on the Pokies. Between us we invested $20 and took out $40, a cheap night out.

May 25^th, The rain had stopped but the wind was still blowing. The boat was half full with rainwater so I got out my bilge pump and patiently pumped the water out. Val is still dot painting and enjoying it immensely. I went for a walk up to the Beach and couldn’t believe how wild the surf was. I could see that the overnight rain and wind had washed away the sand from the Beachfront.

May 26^th, We were having a quiet Sunday today with Val painting and me reading a western, until late afternoon, when Val was getting something out of an overhead cupboard and a full bottle of ginger beer fell down onto the top of her right foot. She was in agony and soon had a lump to highlight the damage. I made toasted sandwiches for our dinner then Val took herself off to bed, hoping the pain would ease off.

May 27^th, Went up to get my shin re-dressed for the last time and the Nurse told me she could see that it was starting to heal. She gave me a couple of dressings to see me over the next week, when we can buy some more waterproof dressings and Val will continue to look after me. One of Wooli’s “claim to fame” is their Annual Goanna Pulling Competition. It wasn’t on while we were here so I took a photo of their sign at the Sports Ground. I went out for my last fishing trip before packing up and came in with 2 flathead and a bream. I got all the boat gear and the back of the car packed up in time to go up to the Camp Kitchen, for a “Happy Hour” drink with the crowd, before leaving in the morning for Brunswick Heads.

Nambucca Heads week 2 2013

April 29^th, Another beautiful day, the weather has been fantastic since we arrived here. No crabs in my pot but Alan (new friend we have met in this Park) gave Val a nice muddie. He was putting what he thought were small crabs back in the river, so I told him that they only needed to be 8.5cm, from front to back across the shell, to be legal. He won’t be throwing so many back now. After a lesson of how to kill and cook the muddie, Val thoroughly enjoyed it for dinner and supper. Seeing that I haven’t caught any fish, I went back to the local fish shop and bought another whole sea mullet, to use as bait in the crab pot.

April 30^th, I decided to try another spot for our crab pot, so pulled it up and went down river, still in front of the Park, and put it down with the mullet carcass and a tin of sardines in oil, with a few holes punched in the tin, for bait. I kept the mullet fillets for fishing bait, thought I should try something different. I tried fishing around the oyster leases on the other side of the river and got lots of bites and caught some small bream. The biggest one was 25cm (legal) but I decided to add him to the crab pot, as extra bait.

May 1^st, After breakfast, I went out to check the crab pot and bugger me! I couldn’t find my float, but this time I was immediately suspicious that the trap was still where I had put it but the “Noodle” float had been pulled under water by a bit of driftwood and had absorbed some water and sunk. I motored up and down the area in the tinnie, with my fishing rod in the water, hoping to snag the rope or the trap. No luck! I gave up and just went down river for a fish. I got a perfect drift along the side of some oyster leases and picked up a small flathead and 2 small bream, very enjoyable but they all went back to grow bigger. I decided to do one last drift before going in for Lunch. So I drifted down the other side of the river and caught a 44cm flathead and another throwback. I mentioned to Alan that I couldn’t find my crab pot, and he said he would borrow a boat hook and have a try at finding it in the morning. Val had phoned the local Nursery, as she had been told that they might take her dot paintings, on consignment, and sell them for her and the owner told her to bring them down and she would have a look at them. After lunch we packed up the paintings and drove down to the Nursery. Lyndal (Nursery Owner) was impressed and said they looked very good but she didn’t do consignments but preferred to buy outright and sell them with her mark-up. Her present problem was finding space to hang them, as she did have a large variety of nice things on display. We left with her saying she would see if she could make some space for Val’s paintings and let us know. When we got home our next door neighbours told me that the TV aerial man had been and did a temporary fix to the Parks aerial system. We have been getting the worst TV reception since we first arrived, pretty much unwatchable most of the time. So I quickly connected the Parks cable directly into our TV in the annexe and now we have perfect pictures on all channels except Ch.10. We won’t see it but next week they are going to lay underground cables to the waterfront sites, connected to their best aerial. At least people following us will benefit from the upgrade.

May 2^nd, It was a miserable day, total cloud cover and a cold wind blowing. Alan, true  to his word, came down to let me know that he found my trap, the rope from my trap had got caught up in the Oyster lease anchor rope and It had a huge mud crab in it, missing one claw but WOW! He also had one in his own trap. After preparing the crab for Val to cook, I cleaned up the trap and put it back in the water with a new rubber float and the flathead carcass from yesterday’s catch. I didn’t bother to go out fishing in this miserable weather. Val is now working on a bigger canvas (90 X 35cms) and it is looking good.

May 3^rd, It was another windy day, so I went out to check the crab pot and we had another crab, but this one was without claws. I fished for a couple of hours but no luck today, and it wasn’t totally pleasant fishing weather. Val cooked up the crab and had it for an afternoon snack.

May 4^th, No crabs today but I fished for a while and caught a 30cm Taylor. Val doesn’t like Taylor, so I kept it to use as bait in the crab pot, tomorrow morning. The weather has been gradually getting chillier by the day, so Val said “better get the little heater out”, she didn’t have to tell me twice.

May 6^th, No crabs or fishing yesterday or today and we still have a stiff breeze blowing. I pulled the boat out of the river and packed away all the gear then got the boat back on top of the car. We leave in the morning for Wooli Caravan Park, just a little bit north of Coffs Harbour, on the Wooli River. We packed up all the gear that goes in the car and Van, so that in the morning I only had to pull down the Annexe and pack it away on the bottom bunk.

Nambucca Heads week 1 2013

April 19^th, It was very windy this morning, but our pack up was very easy. I didn’t have the full annexe to pack up and most everything else was done yesterday. We said our “good-byes” to Terri and Patrick, we did enjoy our stay at Wallamba River, and headed north on our way to Nambucca Heads. On the way, we stopped at Ricadoes Tomato and Strawberry Farm, just north of Port Macquarrie. Val wanted to buy some green tomatoes to make a batch of her “green tomato pickles”. We had always talked about visiting this place whenever we saw the advert on TV and were staying at Wallamba River, but never got around to it. We were surprised to see how busy the place was, for a Friday, it was packed. The Shop section was loaded with products made at their place and if you didn’t want to pick your own, they had fresh picked Tomatoes and Strawberries to buy. Their set up in the hot houses was fascinating, as you will see in my photos. They had A frames made of PVC pipe and fittings, and the strawberries growing out of the T fittings. We were issued with small scissors to cut the strawberry stems when collecting them. Doing your own picking was fun. The Tomato plants were in rows of pots up on a shelf, so you didn’t have to bend down to pick them. I enjoyed a coffee and cookie while Val went and picked the Tomatoes and then I went with her to help pick the strawberries. We would recommend everyone, to visit “Ricadoes” and see it for yourself. We arrived at Nambucca and booked into the Pelican Caravan Park for 2 weeks and 4 days. We are on a waterfront site and we absolutely like the view of the Nambucca River, it’s great. It was too windy to put out the awning, so that’s a job for to-morrow.

April 20^th, Today was a work day, for me, I finished setting up our site including the annexe and front awning.

April 21^st, I took the boat off the car and set it up ready to go in the River tomorrow. I even went down to the boat ramp and cleared away the buildup of driftwood. There is a lot of driftwood going up and down the river with the tidal current, as a result of the floods they had here earlier in the year.

April 22^nd, I had to clear the boat ramp of driftwood again, and then get it into the water. I had decided to tie the boat up at the river’s edge, just down from our Van, at a set of steps. Keep in mind that this is the first time that I have been in this river. So, I motored down to my selected spot and tide was fairly low and ran aground about 10metres from shore. I decided that I could get into the water, wearing my gumboots, and pull the boat into shore. When I stepped over the side of the boat my boots sank into the silty bottom and the boat started to float. Unable to move my feet and holding onto the boat, of course, I was forced to sit down in the muddy river, up to my waist. Not Happy, Jan! I got myself up, pulled the boat in and tied it up to a tree. I hosed myself off and went into the annexe, stripped off and put on a new set of dry clothes. I had my mobile phone and car keys in my pocket, so now I need another new phone. I dried out the car door control and eventually got it to work again. We went into Nambucca Heads and I bought a new phone from the Post Office. Luckily, I have a basic Telstra phone, so it only cost $39 to buy a replacement. We dropped into the RSL on the way home, for a drink and a flutter but didn’t have any luck on the Pokies. We stopped off at the Fish Shop and bought a whole sea mullet, to put in our crab pot. After the Fishmonger told Val how good it was to eat and how to cook it, I had to fillet it and use only the carcass for the crabs.

April 23^rd, when the tide was high enough to float the boat, I went out to put the crab pot down and have a fish. I put the Crab Pot down near the oyster lease, where I could keep an eye on it from our Van. The fish weren’t biting so I went in and tied up the boat to the Jetty, a much better place to tie up. After lunch I thought I had better remove my towing hitch from the front of the boat before it got damaged on the jetty. I grabbed my tools and went down to do the job. I was thinking that I would have to get down on my knees to undo the bolts when my shifter slipped from my hand and dropped into the water. Bugger! The water was shallow, so I could see my shifter sitting in the mud on the bottom. I went back to the car and grabbed a fishing rod, and then patiently groped in the water with the line until eventually I got the hook into the hole, in the handle of my shifter, and reeled it in. What other disasters could happen to me here, I ask you!  I removed the hitch from the boat and packed it away in the Van boot.

April 24^th, No crabs today but I did catch a 43cm Flathead this morning. Val has been getting back into her “Dot painting” again and loves doing it. Today she amazed me by getting into a different style of painting which I thought was good. See the photos.

April 28^th, Not a lot to report, I’ve checked the crab pots every day and gone out for a fish. Nothing, no crabs, no keepable fish and lots of driftwood in the river. All I’ve caught while we have been here is one Flathead and one shifting spanner! I managed to do a few odd jobs around the Van and Val is continuing to paint madly. However, we are both “Happy” and like this area.