Wangi June 2012

June 2^nd, Carole and Rob came for a visit and we had an enjoyable dinner followed by a night of Tiles.

June 6^th, For my 72^nd Birthday, Val took me to The Wangi RSL Club for dinner (we had birthday vouchers for the Bistro) and then to The Workers Club for a flutter. We had an enjoyable night but not a winning one.

June 8^th, Greg, Dianne, Jess and Annie arrived tonight, with their boat in tow, to spend the long weekend with us. They were in Cabin 6, which had a large parking area, so were able to park the car and boat without unhooking. The Cabin was nice and we picked up the key in the afternoon and used our sheets to make up their beds, ready for their arrival.

June 9^th, We launched the boat and all went for a run around Pulbah Island, the weather was great and I needed to have Greg locate the holes in the area where I have been fishing (My “fish finder” stopped working some time ago). We fished a few spots around the island but didn’t catch anything. The girls were getting a bit restless so we dropped them off with Val and went back out. Dianne caught the only keeper for the day, a 48cm Flathead. Val had prepared Dinner while keeping the Girls amused (feeding 1 1/2 loaves of bread to the local birdlife). I filleted the flathead and put it in our freezer, as Dianne didn’t want to take it home. It was another very cold night so we moved dinner up to the Cabin, which was much warmer and had a very enjoyable meal. The only thing to put a damper on the night was, as Val was carrying in the dinner things from our car, she stubbed her big toe on the rock wall when passing in front of Greg’s car. When she looked at her foot, after climbing the steps and putting her load down on the sink in the Cabin, there was a pool of blood in her scuff and on the floor. Greg sprang into action, cleaning up Val’s injury and finally stemmed the flow of blood when we got a couple of band-aids in place.

June 10^th, The weather had taken a change for the worse, being overcast and showery, but Greg, Dianne and myself took the boat out to try our luck. We were able to shelter under the boat canopy when we encountered rain. We encountered a school of Taylor, in the afternoon, which gave us some fun for a while, but Dianne’s had the catch of the day again. She caught a Gunnard, It was the most colourful fish I had ever seen. It had a set of fins that were like large butterfly wings, so after a couple of photos, on Greg’s I-phone, it was returned to the water. We all went to the workers Club for dinner and raffles. Val won a $50 Voucher, which she put towards dinner. Then I won a voucher in the members bi-monthly $1000 Draw, our night was going well for us. Greg and Dianne came back from the Poker Machine area and said “Don’t waste your money, the machines aren’t paying” but when they left we took our $20 to the Pokies and went home with $250.

June 11^th, We had heavy rain all night and when I got up in the morning, our annexe roof had had collected “tons” of water. The ends of the roll-out awning had pulled out from the clamps and the 2 roof support bars had been bent by the weight of the water, to the point where one had fallen to the ground. It took all my effort to push the roof upwards to get the water to run off. It was still raining so we went up to the Cabin to see the family off. The rain eased to showers in the afternoon and that gave me time to re-clamp the awning roof and refit the support bars. I made use of the bent end of the support bars by straightening them a bit , then turning the bent end over to now have a high arched support for the annexe roof.

June 17^th, Steven and Ed came up this morning, to spend the day with us. They gave Val and myself our joint Birthday Present (from Steven, Greg and all the family) of a 24” flatscreen TV with built in DVD player and 10 DVD’s. This was exactly what we had asked for, as we have wanted a TV to put out in the Annexe. We went to the RSL Club for lunch, to celebrate our joint Birthdays and won 2 trays of steak in their afternoon raffles. We enjoyed the day and the weather was good to us, overcast with a bit of wind.

June 20^th, My right hip had been sore for 3 or 4 weeks now and was not getting any better, so I went to see the local GP at Wangi. I had no idea what caused the problem and it only gave me pain when I put pressure on it, walking. After a physical examination he sent me straight into Toronto for X-rays and a blood test. After the X-rays were printed the operator asked me if I had any metal in my leg! I said “No, not to my knowledge”. When she showed me the X-rays, It reminded me that 50 years ago I had been shot in the right upper leg with a .22 rifle, accidently, while at a property at St George in Outback Queensland. Although it was exciting to see the shrapnel on the X-ray, it was not the cause of my problem.

June 22^nd, I went back to the Dr’s to get my results and the X-rays/report showed only a little arthritis in my hip joint and the blood test results were good. Our next approach was to make sure that I hadn’t bruised or pulled a muscle, so just to keep taking Nurofen, 3 times a day and rest. He wanted to rule this possibility out before sending me for more invasive testing (bone scan).

June 24^th, I’ve had total bed rest for 2 days now, Val has been waiting on me 24/7 and my hip has improved out of sight, I’m back to hobbling around again. Carole and Rob came for lunch and a game of tiles. Rob hasn’t been well for a long time but today he was looking very unwell, and has to go for a scan next week.

June 28^th, I’ve had another 3 days in bed and have been slowly improving. Our TV reception has been not good so I tried to rotate our winegard  aerial to try to improve the reception, only to find that it was locked tight, it wouldn’t wind up or down nor rotate. So I read the instructions that came with the Caravan 4 ½ years ago and it said that you should lubricate the mechanism every 6 months! OOPs. I borrowed a ladder and with the use of WD40 and silicone lube freed up the aerial and our TV reception is good.

Wangi, Post 2, 2012

April 30^th, it rained all day yesterday. Thankfully it was fine today and we had been warned that we would have to soon move from site 8 to 10, to allow the Plumbing Contractors to replace the sewer pipes throughout the Park. At 3.30pm we were told that the work would be starting at 7.30am tomorrow, in the area where we were. Boy, were we buggered at 8pm, when we had finished setting up on site 10. It’s a huge job to move such a short distance, now that we have a full Annexe as well as the Van.

May 4^th, I had no luck at fishing until yesterday, when I caught a 33cm bream late in the afternoon. Joan and Robert came down this afternoon, for a visit and to bring our mail. We went to the Wangi Workers Club for raffles and dinner. We came away with 2 meat trays and had a very enjoyable meal.

May 4^th, Sandra came down from Bluehaven this morning, for lunch and a chat. It wasn’t the best time for a visit as the Plumbers were working along the front of the Van and the dust was horrific. It didn’t stop the girls from talking, non- stop, until Sandra left for home around 6.30pm.

May 7^th, I had put my one crab pot in the Lake, just out front of the Caravan Park but had not caught any. Sandra and Roger (a friend staying in this Park) both told me that they saw pots down at Myuna Bay, about 35 minutes away by boat. So I moved my trap down to Wangi Bay, just back from Myuna Bay, as I saw some pots down along there. I fished for a while after putting the pot down and caught 3 bream. So I filleted them in the boat and put the carcasses into my trap before heading home.

May 10^th, Happily, on the last 2 days there was a crab in the pot, so now Val was happy to have 2 cooked crabs in the freezer. I was hoping for another one this morning but no luck. Val wants to make a “crab quiche” to take to Sydney, on Mothers Day, for the boys. We went to Charlestown Square after an early lunch to do some shopping.

May 11^th, One of the machine operators, working in the Park, had given me a fishing spot, closer to the Park, where I could also put down the crab pot. I went down to Wangi to pick up the pot and I had another crab, great! Val will definitely have enough crab for the quiche now. After putting the crab pot in its new spot, I fished for a while but nothing was biting and it was a bit windy and choppy, so I went in. Around 4pm I went back out, just to check the crab pot and “bugger me, some lowlife had stolen my trap. Val had some great solutions to prevent this happening again, like, “Electrify the pot”, mark the float as “Police Property”, just for starters.

May 12^th, We left Wangi to arrive at Stevens place, at Centennial Park, around 4.30pm. Val’s surprise “Mothers Day” night started with a Chardy at Stevens, then we went into the City for cocktails at the Marble Bar, then walked to the Tattersalls Club for Dinner. The Marble Bar is quite spectactular and the food in Tatts Restaurant was great. After the 3 course dinner and coffee, we headed down to the Casino and finished off a very enjoyable night, donating more of Stevens money to the Tatts Club. We slept over at Stevens place. Tomorrow we are going to have breakfast somewhere in Town with Steven and Ed, then head out to Glenwood for Mothers Day lunch with Greg and Dianne before going home.

May 13^th, Mothers Day! We left Stevens around 9.45am and followed Ed and Steven, destination unknown. We eventually arrived at the Elizabeth Bay Marina, where we were to have breakfast. Parking was a problem but eventually I found a space where I squeezed in beside a motor scooter. Val got the greatest Mothers Day Surprise when Greg, Dianne, Jessica and Annaliese were at the Marina, to join us all for breakfast. After a very enjoyable breakfast we went to a little Park, only a 5 minute walk away and enjoyed the Harbour Views and the Fish pond. We travelled back to Wangi, via the Harbour Bridge and past the very first flat that we lived in, at North Sydney, and all the way along the Pacific highway to the Newcastle Expressway.

Wangi point, 2012

April 14^th, left Dunleith Holiday Park this morning after saying our goodbyes. Dianne drove up from Sydney this morning to pick up Jessica and Annaliese. We always enjoy having the Girls staying with us and it allows us the pleasure of watching them grow and change, as they get older.  Our new Park Manager, Ryan, had some “fun” taking our Van off the waterfront site with the Tractor, but managed it eventually. He is still in the learning process, having never handled Caravans before. We arrived at Wangi Point Caravan Park after the Office was closed for their lunch period, but as we knew our site number, we were able to set up the Van and Annexe.

April 17^th, I finished all the setting up on Sunday, thankfully, as yesterday it started raining and hasn’t stopped. I took a lot more care in setting up the Annexe this time and was very happy that we didn’t get any water leaks in all the very heavy rain. At 9am this morning we arrived at Toronto Private Hospital for Val’s eagerly awaited Carpal Tunnel Operation, on her RH. She was admitted, after we paid the $1050 fee, which is normal Private Hospital requirement. It was only a day surgery operation and we were back home by 1.15pm, with Val’s hand heavily bandaged and all the instructions for Val’s recovery. I read through the instructions and when I read out “no alcohol for 24 hours” she promptly replied “NO WAY”, I wasn’t surprised. The operation went well and although Val didn’t have any tingling feeling, the hand was very sore. I prepared my first meal for Val, under instructions, as this was now my job to look after her during the 10 days while she recovered and was due to have the stitches out. Val felt like 2 minute noodles for dinner, so as directed, I put “some” water in a pot and brought it to the boil. Now I added the contents of the packet into the water and let it re-boil for some time. My meal was just as easy, as Val had pre made meals for me and put them in the freezer. I enjoyed my roast pork and vegies with lots of gravy, while Val, having eaten her “home cooked meal” had the audacity to complain that it tasted like noodles in dirty dishwater. How Ungrateful, next time??? I won’t use a litre of water, but I doubt that she’ll ask for 2 minute noodles again.

April 20^th, I managed to get the boat off the car, in between the rain showers, and yesterday was our first fine day since it started raining, which allowed me to remove the barnacles from the bottom of the boat. After 7 weeks at Dunleith Caravan Park, I have never seen the barnacles so thick and big any other year. So after scraping the barnacles off I had to get stuck into it with a wire brush, in the electric drill, to get back to bare metal. We had joined Wangi Workers Club, so went there for dinner, raffles and members draw. The meals were great, quite large but we had no luck at the meat raffle.

April 22^nd, I set the boat up yesterday but it was a windy day, so I didn’t put it in the water. We went to Macquarie Hills today to Joan’s daughter (Kirrie’s) place to a “Baby Shower” for Joan’s daughter in law, to be. We had a lovely afternoon, with enough food to feed 3 times the 28 who attended. Maryanne received some very nice gifts for her expected baby boy.

April 23^rd, Carole and Rob came down for lunch and stayed for dinner and tiles (Rummikub). Carole arrived with Pizza’s for lunch, a tray of slices and Vegie Soup, which we had for dinner. The weather was lousy but we had a lovely day and an enjoyable game of Tiles.

April 26^th, yesterday I took the motor and seats off the boat, so that I could paint the bottom with plastic paint. Rob had suggested this when they were here on Monday, to make it easier the remove barnacles from the bottom of the boat and Val had remembered that I had some old paint in the back of the car, so it was a done deal and worth a try. We went into Newcastle today for a 2.45pm appointment with Dr, Hicks. He was pleased with the operation and the external cuts were healed well, so out came the stitches. She was told that it now needed time to heal internally and he would see her again in a months time for a final checkup.

April 27^th, Put the boat in the water and went out for a fish. I caught an undersized whiting and a 26cm Bream but both went back to grow bigger. We went to the Workers Club for Raffles and Members draw and came home empty handed but enjoyed tonight’s entertainment. We have now been in Wangi for 2 weeks.

The Entrance, March 2012

March 17^th, Now that we are settled back in, it’s time to get back to Fishing. I was about to jump into my boat to go out when Rob asked me if I wanted to go out with him and try catching Flathead using “poddies” for bait. This is the much sought after bait (live poddy mullet) of the local Fishermen. A couple of hours later we came in with nothing but the knowledge that you don’t get a lot of bites on live poddies,  as the little fish leave them alone. Rob and Carol took me down to Long Jetty and showed me how to catch the live poddy mullet.

March 20^th, The last 3 days have been wet and windy, very strong Southerly’s. When I saw the sun out and skies clear, out fishing I went. After 2 throw-ins I hooked a beautiful 51cm Flathead, caught on cooked prawns, and should have quit then as I didn’t catch another keeper all day.

March 21^st, No fish today. Rob and myself went to BCF at Tuggerah for a Members Night, free sausage sandwich (we had 2 each), a talk on using plastics, by a Fishing Expert, (Didn’t interest either of us) and a Rep. from “Lowrance” discussing Fish Finders. It was an enjoyable night and I found a few items that I had needed anyway. We stayed for the first “lucky door prize” draw and I won a new fishing reel.

March 28^th, The weather hasn’t been great, southerly winds most days but managed to land a couple of Flathead on the good days. Drove up to Salamander Bay yesterday to see Dr. Jim, Val has had a lot of pain and “pins and needles” in both hands, so we had to get her diagnosis confirmed and sure enough it was confirmed to be Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Today we drove into Newcastle to see the Specialist, Dr. Hicks, who agreed and then sent her to Charlestown for tests to determine the severity and recommend the appropriate treatment.

April 1^st, Daylight Saving ends, what a shame. They could leave it on all year for my money, I like it.

April 5^th, The fishing has been fairly slow, but have bagged a few good sized Flathead and a 42 cm Bream today. Yesterday Annaliese turned 8 years old and today is Ed’s Birthday, we won’t mention his age. We went to Newcastle this afternoon to see Dr, Hicks and the Test Results showed severe nerve entrapment in Val’s right wrist so the operation will be done on the 17^th April at Toronto Private Hospital.

April 6^th, Good Friday, Joan and Robert came down for a visit and brought our mail. Val did a nice crumbed flathead fillet lunch for them, while I enjoyed a chicken snitzel. I took Robert out for a fish, in the afternoon, and Robert caught our only keeper (26cm bream). They stayed on for dinner and we finished off the night with a game of tiles.

April 8^th, Easter Sunday, Steven and Ed came up from Sydney for a visit and were treated to a nice crumbed flathead fillet lunch while I (once again) had a chicken snitzel.

April 9^th, Easter Monday, We drove down to Sydney this morning to pick up Jessica and Annaliese and bring them back to Dunleith for a holiday with us. They were very excited to be with us. I took Jessica our prawning, in the boat, at 6.30pm (her first time) and she was very happy when she netted her first prawn. The tide had almost run out and there were not a lot of prawns about, but we had a good time and came back with 10 prawns.

April 13^th, Unfortunately, the Girls haven’t had great holiday weather, strong southerly winds for the first few days. They did manage to get a swim in the shallow water in front of the Van, on one of the good days. Last night was the first night suitable to take Annaliese out prawning but the tide was much later and plenty of small prawns were about. We came in around 9pm with 1.1Kg. of prawns, which is a good night for me. I took the Girls out for a fish this morning but they weren’t biting. The boat had to come out of the water and get put away as we leave here tomorrow for Wangi Point.