Wangi to Darrawank, September 2012

September 1^st, I went down to Wangi RSL today to watch the Parade for our Aussie Sailors, who won “Gold Medals” at the London Olympics, in the 49er class. They were local boys who had been sailing Lake Macquarrie since they were young boys and members of the Wangi Yachting Club. Their names were, Nathan Outteridge  and Iain Jensen, known locally as Nathan & Goobs. A huge crowd turned out to celebrate their success with them and enjoy the Parade and entertainment. “Channel 9” were there, along with the local newspapers conducting interviews.

September 2^nd, Father’s Day. Greg and Steven both rang today to wish me a Happy Fathers Day. We are seeing Greg next Sunday for Jessica’s Birthday and Steven was busy packing for an overseas trip, so I won’t be seeing them today, but that’s OK by me. I will be getting my FD present in Sydney next Sunday. Val took me out for Dinner, to the Wangi Workers Club for a quiet celebration and won a tray of prawns in the Fishing Club Raffle.

September 4^th, Steven left today for his 4 week overseas trip taking in London, Rome, Amalfi Coast in Italy, back to London then Reykjavik in Iceland, back to London and home, in Sydney on October 4^th. We’re sure he’ll have a great time.

September 5^th, We went to Carole and Robs place for Dinner and Tiles. Rob is recovering from his operation, slowly, and improving every day.

September 9^th, We went down to Sydney, to Greg and Dianne’s place for Jessica’s Birthday, which is tomorrow, and to also celebrate a belated Fathers Day. We gave Jessica a Softball Glove and Softball, which she was thrilled with. She is now playing softball at School and enjoying it. Greg gave me my joint Fathers Day present from himself and Steven, of a Fish Finder. Good choice Boys, just what I have wanted since my old Fish Finder stopped working (I do believe in putting in a request for things that I need). We had a great Pork Roast Dinner, followed by Apple Pie with Passionfruit Icing, that Val had made for desert.

September 10^th, Pack up day today as we leave in the morning for Blacksmiths Beachside Holiday Park, just on the other side of Lake Macquarrie, north of Swansea. I decided to have a last fish before I pulled the boat out of the water. I started off by going straight across the Lake to the sandflats near Swansea, on advice from my closest friends (both named Robert) and after an hour didn’t get a bite. I moved back down the Lake to my usual fishing spot and hooked on to a 54cm Salmon, WOW, what a fighting fish. It had my rod bent over in a complete “U” shape and was running out line off the reel. It was exciting to play it slowly, letting it do its own thing, until I finally landed it and was able to identify it. That was the first time that I have caught a Salmon and I’ve never had a fish on my line that fought that hard. I took it in for a photo and as Val didn’t want it, I gave it to an Asian neighbour, in the Park, who was happy to take it off my hands.

September 11^th, We finished packing up and moved to Blacksmiths, only a ½ hour drive from Wangi, and set everything up again, for our 19 day stay. We will then be leaving for Wallamba River on the 30^th of September.

September 14^th, Joan, Robert, Carole and Rob came down to Blacksmiths for a BBQ Dinner and to play 6 handed Tiles. I had discovered that we had sustained some damage to the roll out awning shaft, when we moved here and I was setting up. We had storms and very high winds in the last couple of days at Wangi, which would have caused the problem. I was discussing the damage with Rob and we agreed that it could easily be repaired with a little help from my friends, as I don’t have a lathe in my toolkit. Rob said “If you sketch what you need I can get the machined parts made at “THE MENS SHED””. Sounds good to me. We used the Camp Kitchen for our BBQ and games evening and had a nice time.

September 18^th, I went to the Men’s Shed near Bennetts Green today, to meet Rob and give him my sketches for an adaptor, to repair the roll out awing shaft. I was amazed to see how well they are set up and the variety of machines they have at their disposal. The place was quite busy, some working and a lot more just sitting talking and having a cuppa and I was made to feel welcome.

September 19^th, Rob went to his Specialist this morning, for more follow up tests. After the Doctors they came down to visit us at Wangi for lunch and Tiles. Rob’s results were good, everything on track. We had fun playing Tiles, so Carole and Rob stayed for dinner and we played some more Tiles.

September 20^th, I installed my new “Fish Finder” to the boat. ready for when we get to Wallamba River.

September 22^nd, Dianne brought Jessica and Annaliese up to Blacksmiths for a 6 day holiday with Nanny and Poppy. Jessica was still getting over a Tonsillitis flare up and was unsure about staying, wouldn’t be able to go swimming etc. Val assured Dianne it would not be a problem and after Mum left Jess made a miraculous recovery, had something to do with making friends in the Park, but didn’t bring her swimmers. The girls soon found some shorts and T-shirts to go swimming in. The girls went to the open air movies at 7.30pm while I watched the NRL Grand Final, which Melbourne won.

September 23^rd, The Girls went down to the beach for a swim and play in the sand. They spent the rest of the day playing with their new found friends in the Park.

September 24^th, Carole and Rob came to the Park with their Grandaughters, Sophie and Ava, for lunch and stayed for dinner, so all the girls could go to the outdoor movie at 7.30 in the Park.

September 25^th, We rang Joan to wish her a “Happy Birthday” and arranged to meet for dinner at the 16 Footers Club, at Belmont, to celebrate. The weather wasn’t great today so I took the Girls to the Hoyts in Charlestown to see “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. I wasn’t too sure if this was going to be my type of movie but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the outing.

September 26^th, I went up to Rob’s place this morning to help him load his boat onto his car boat rack, ready to go to Wallamba River. They are joining us for the first 2 weeks at Wallamba River Holiday Park. Back home, I took Jess and Annie down to the Beach, but it was too windy and unpleasant, so we were only away 10 minutes, so back at the Park they went to the Pool for their swim. They packed up all their gear to go to the movie in the Park only to find that it was cancelled due to a blown globe in their projector.

September 27^th, The Girls enjoyed a game of Beach French Cricket with their friends in the morning. We all went to the Belmont 16 Footers Club for dinner with Joan and Robert. Carole and Rob were to join us but couldn’t  make it. Joan was delighted with her Birthday Present, of a handbag and matching umbrella, from both Carol and Rob and ourselves. We won a meat tray in the raffles, enjoyed a great meal and Val and Joan couldn’t get any joy out of the Pokies but we still had a great night out.

September 28^th, We packed up all the Girls gear and took them home, to Glenwood, in the afternoon. After a catch up and a  cuppa with Greg and Dianne we headed back to Blacksmiths Beach. As always, Jessica and Annaliese had another  memorable Caravan Holiday with us.

September 30^th, I loaded our boat onto the car, ready to leave for Wallamba River Holiday Park at Darawank, tomorrow. I was going to repair my awning shaft with the spigot that Rob had turned up for me, at The Men’s Shed, but it was too windy to attempt today.

Wangi Point, August 2012

August 2^nd, The fish are scarce after all the bad weather we have been having, at least where I’m fishing anyway. I did bring in a 26cm bream today, which doesn’t give a big fillet but beggars can’t be choosers, so they say.

August 3^rd, Went out fishing this morning but no luck. We went to Carole and Rob’s, at Charlestown, for dinner and tiles.

August 7^th, We went to Sandra’s, at Bluehaven, for lunch and to catch-up on all the gossip. We went to the Wangi Workers for raffles, dinner and a flutter. Val won a meat tray and we left the pokies with $20 still in our pocket, so that’s a good night.

August 8^th, Carole and Rob came over for dinner and tiles today.

August 10^th, went out fishing yesterday morning and only caught a small flounder, so after thinking about giving him a kiss, sent him on his way to grow bigger. It is the worst day we have had for some time. It blew all night and carried on today with the strong wind coming from all directions and finally we got more rain with a gusty southerly. Not pleasant at all when you’re living in a Caravan. The only bright spot for today was when I checked last night’s Powerball, we had won $50.

August 12^th, Rob went into Lake Macquarrie Private Hospital this morning so we went over in the afternoon, for a short visit. He was in good spirits and looking forward to getting on with his operation. He has a large benign Tumor being removed from his chest. It’s a big op, similar to “open heart surgery”, and recovery around 6 weeks.

August 13^th, We went over to LMPH after lunch, Rob’s op. was scheduled for 2pm, so we stayed with him until he went down to be prepped for his op. Val stayed on with Carole, for company, while I went to Carole and Robs house and used his shed to modify one of my annexe tent poles. I rejoined the girls at LMPH waiting room and we stayed until the Doctor came out to inform us the op. went very well and he was very pleased. Rob was to be kept in recovery until tomorrow afternoon and depending on how well he recovers from the anesthetic, would be moved back into a private room upstairs.

August 17^th, Val had been getting daily reports on Rob’s condition, from Carole, and Rob took until today to be fully alert and able to have us visit. We arrived at the Hospital around 4pm to find Rob looking very well and recalling some of the antics he had put on the Staff, during his recovery. When we left the Hospital, we drove 5 minutes to Joan and Roberts at Cardiff, for dinner and Tiles.

August 19^th, We went to LMPH to visit Rob and Carole, the 4 of us spent an enjoyable  afternoon, in the Visitors Room, playing Tiles. Rob was expecting to be home tomorrow after seeing the Surgeon.

August 21^st, My fishing outings, on the few good days that we have had lately, have been very poor (didn’t catch a thing). I decided to stop Val nagging me and rework the old set top box shelf to now store our DVD’s, that the boys had given us as part of our combined Birthday presents, and I was very happy with the finished job.

August 24^th, We went to Carole and Rob’s place at Charlestown this afternoon, for Dinner and Tiles. Rob has had some up and down days but is still making good progress with his recovery.

August 26^th, Tonight we met Joan & Robert, Carole & Rob at the Wangi Workers Club, for the “Fathers Day” raffles. It was mainly a tools raffle with the top prize being a Lawn Mower. We didn’t win a thing but we had a nice meal and enjoyed the night.

August 28^th, I took Val to Glendale Shopping Centre today and dropped off the Caravans spare wheel rim at “Argy Tyres”, to have a new steel belted radial tyre fitted. Total cost for the tyre was $109, which I was very happy with. I was to pick up the wheel after shopping and on the way home but left it too late and they were closed.

August 29^th, Drove back to Glendale to pick up the spare wheel for the Caravan. It was a sight, to see a spare fitted in place at the back of the Van. I couldn’t leave it any longer, It had to be fixed before we got back on the road in, 2 weeks time. It was nearly 6 months ago that the tyre blew, you can’t rush these things! The single wall spare tyre also made for a good talking point.

August 30^th, Today is Carole’s Birthday and they weren’t doing anything, so we invited Carole and Rob to our place for Birthday Dinner and a night of Tiles.

Wangi Point, July 2012

July 1^st, Joan and Robert came to the Park to join us for a sausage sandwich lunch and to watch the “weigh-in” for the Bream Fishing Competition, being run from Wangi Point Holiday Park. The sandwiches were great (run by the Lions Club) and the 57 entrants brought in heaps of big bream. It was a catch your best 5, then release back into the Lake, after being weighed in. It was a very interesting afternoon with lots of prizes being won by the entrants and plenty of free giveaway items tossed out for the crowd.

July 3^rd, The first NRL “State of Origin” game was played tonight, in Melbourne, but we (NSW) lost to Queensland in a very close game, 21 – 20.

July 7^th, Dianne drove up from Sydney with Jessica and Annaliese this morning, to drop the Girls off for a 6 day holiday with us. We always look forward to having the girls during school Holidays, whenever we are near Sydney. After lunch and catching up on the Sydney news, Dianne left for Home and we got the girls settled in.

July 9^th, Carole and Rob came today and brought their granddaughter, Sophie, to play with the Girls. We all had a lovely BBQ lunch and the girls were kept busy feeding the lorikeets and exploring the Park.

July 10^th, WE went to Glendale Shopping Centre this afternoon and while Val did some shopping, I took the girls to see “Ice Age 4” at the movies. We all loved the movie and Val also enjoyed her Retail Therapy. We went to the Workers Club for dinner.

July 11^th, Jess and Annie did their usual things today, exploring, hiking and feeding the birds. I took them for a fish off the jetty opposite the Park and they were catching the small fish that hang around under the Jetty. I saw an Octopus slowly making it’s way towards the Jetty and pointed it out to the Girls. It was a fair size, the body being approx. 6” diameter and with the tentacles extended about 20” across, tip to tip. Jessica decided to try and catch it with her fishing line and eventually succeeded, even though I told her we didn’t want it. I wasn’t unhappy when the line broke off as I tried to lift it out of the water, but it did give us something exciting for Jessica to talk about.

July 12^th, The girls haven’t had great weather for their stay with us and today was no better. We went to The Newcastle Museum for the afternoon. The Museum is broken up into 4 sections. We started with the mining and steel work section and were impressed with the demonstration and laser light show on the Newcastle Steel Works. The next section was dedicated to interactive/hands on, displays related to Physics. The Girls were delighted, running from one display to the next display to try them out. The most impressive item was a long overhead counter levered hinged bar, with the short end attached to a sling around a small car. Along the long end of the bar were 4 ropes, hanging down from different points along the bar. This is a demonstration of the power of mechanical advantage and surprised the Girls when they could lift the car off the ground when they pulled on the rope at the longest distance from the pivot point. The last 2 sections were on Newcastle’s history and services. Although this is not a big Museum, it was very interesting and well worth the visit.

July 13^th, We packed up all the Girls gear this morning and left for Glenwood (Sydney) in the afternoon. Aside from the poor weather the girls had an enjoyable holiday with us and there favourite activity was feeding the Lorikeets and at only 8 loaves of bread it was very cheap entertainment. It reminded us of our visit to Curumban Bird Sanctuary many years ago, where the Lorikeets would land on your head and arms to be hand fed. After dropping the Girls home and having a cuppa and catch up with Greg and Dianne, we headed back home to Wangi, with a stop at “The Bluegum Hotel” at Waitara for dinner with Steven and Ed. We had never been to this Hotel before but were very impressed with the Bistro and the quality of their food, Excellent.

July 14^th, We went to Carole and Rob’s house, this afternoon, for dinner and Tiles. They took us on a drive around the Newcastle foreshore, to see the sights. That was something we had never done, even though  we lived in the Port Stephens area for 9 years and had come to Newcastle many times to shop.

July 15^th, Finally, a day when the weather was suitable for fishing. Out I went and caught a flathead and 3 bream, all undersize. Bugger! Luckily I enjoy sitting out on the water, bobbing about in my tinnie.

July 17^th, We had a visit from Robert (Ravlin) this afternoon, when he called in to give us a roll of carpet to cover the concrete slab in our annexe. When Joan and Robert were here last, Joan had commented that we needed to have carpet, to make it warmer in the annexe. It looks great and is appreciated, it does make it much warmer.

July 18^th, Carole and Rob came for lunch and tiles. We had an enjoyable afternoon and they were impressed with our new carpet.

July 22^nd, Joan and Robert came for lunch and tiles. We had an enjoyable afternoon, even though it was raining.

July 25^th, We went to Carole and Robs, at Charlestown, for dinner and tiles.

July 26^th, Hooray! Went out fishing this morning and was happy to come in with a 43cm flathead.

July 29^th, Carole and Rob met us at The Wangi Workers Club, for dinner and a huge Toy Raffle. Joan and Robert were coming as well but had to cancel, as Robert was in Hospital with Kidney Stones.

July 31^st, We went to The Workers Club for raffles and dinner. Val won a tray of meat in the raffles and I won $100 cash in the Member’s Bi-Monthly draw.

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.