Darawank February 2014

February 25^th, We finished packing up and drove up to our next stop, at Wallamba River Holiday Park. We set up on site 50 which was the nearest we could get to the waterfront. Terri came around to welcome us and to invite us around for dinner with them. We had a lovely roast dinner and it was great to catch up with them.

February 26^th, I took the boat off the car, set it up and, with Val’s help, put it into the River. While Val took our car back to the Van I drove the Tinnie into the Lagoon and tied it up, ready to use tomorrow. The first difference I noticed was that the entrance to the Lagoon was very shallow and I would have trouble getting in or out at low tide. While Val was getting dinner ready, I threw a line in off the riverfront walkway and caught a 29cm bream (great start).

February 27^th, Patrick and I went out for a fish this morning and I caught the only keeper, a 27cm Whiting. Val enjoyed the whiting and bream fillets for dinner.

March 1^st, We had heavy rain all day yesterday and today. We had intended to move to site 53, facing the river but it was pointless doing that on a wet day. We had decided to go to the Tuncurry Races today but it was cancelled due to the bad weather. Val made dinner for us all and we took it around to Terri and Patrick’s place. It’s much better having a nice meal in a dry and warm house.

 March 2^nd, I had just enough time to move to site 53 in between showers. The TV reception on site 50 was poor (only 5 channels) so we were hoping for better reception. Unfortunately it was better but we still didn’t get all the channels. I pulled one of the aerial head pins out so that it could be positioned vertically and that was an improvement. So, between our 2 TV’s (one inside, one outside) we were able to get most channels except channel 2, which we rarely watch.

March 4^th, I took Patrick out fishing today and we didn’t get many bites and didn’t catch a thing. The water was very dirty after the rain we had, so we decided to leave off fishing for a few days until the water cleared a bit.

March 6^th, We did a trip to Taree today, only 20 minutes away. Val had to go to Spotlight and I dropped off her Overlocker” at a Repair place in Taree. It crashed on her a couple of years ago and now Val has “the bug” to get into sewing again.

March 7^th, I checked out the Camping Shops in Tuncurry, Forster and Taree, only to confirm that nobody was stocking my Coleman’s Jumbo Padded Chair in this area. I had planned on changing it under Warranty but I can’t do without my chair any longer, so I decided to repair the broken arm and if that looks good enough, I will modify both our Coleman Chairs. I had a length of rectangular tubular aluminium that I bought while at Anna Bay, so I went to the local Bunnings and bought  ¼ “ bolt and nuts to replace the existing hinge pins. I cut one side out of the box section aluminium to make a channel piece, fixed to the end of the plastic arm with super glue and pop-rivets, opened up the hole through the bracket arm and chair frame, fitted the bolt and cut it to length. Works just like new and is stronger.

March 8^th, I made up 3 more brackets and fitted one to the other arm of my chair. Tomorrow I will fit my strengthening brackets to both arms of our other Jumbo padded Chair.

March 11^th, The Manager (Huey) came down today and told me he had 3 fellows coming tomorrow to inspect the riverside walkway and wanted to see under the walkway from the water, so could I take them out in my boat. My boat was the only one in the water and that was OK with me. We went around to Terri and Patrick’s place for dinner, tonight.

March 12^th, Terri and Val had a day out in Taree and picked up Val’s repaired Overlocker. The 3 men turned up to do the walkway inspection and my boat is licenced to carry 3 people, so I let them take the tinnie out themselves. This is the final check before the old walkway is demolished and replaced with a new one. After they left I went out for a fish and came in with a 43cm flathead, finally! Now Val wants a few more, so that we can all have crumbed Flathead fillets for dinner.

March 13^th, Didn’t catch any fish today but when getting my line off a snag, I pulled up a complete fishing rod and reel. It had been in the water a long time as there were little shells growing along the shaft and was beyond being used ever again.

March 15^th, The fish aren’t biting and the water skiers are here for the week-end, so we decided to have a day out. We picked up Terri and Patrick and drove up to Ricardoes, a Tomato and Strawberry Farm, just north of Port Macquarie. It was a nice day for a drive and only took a bit over an hour to reach our destination. We had a look around the array of products in the Shop and then ordered our lunch. This was our 2^nd visit but Terri and Patrick had never been there before. After lunch we collected a bucket and scissors and went down to the hot house and picked our own strawberries. Val wanted to buy green tomatoes but unfortunately they were sold out. We all enjoyed our day out.

March 16^th, This was a day not to be forgotten. Terri called in to chat with us around 3pm, as usual, while walking Pixie (their dog). Just after she arrived the wind started to pick up and when we looked to the sky, we could see a huge black storm cloud approaching and driven by a strong wind. Terri said I’d better get on home (which is on the other side of the Park). I said, jump into the car and I’ll drive you home. Terri thought she could walk home before the storm hit but with Val’s persuasion she accepted the offer. We were about half way to Terri’s place when the storm hit its peak and the driving horizontal rain had every loose things flying around the Park. There are a lot of tall trees in and around this Park, so it was a bit scary. I dropped Terri and Pixie off and headed back to our Van. When I came to the intersection in front of the Takeaway Shop, a huge tree had been blown down across the road. I had just enough room to squeeze the car past and carry on Home. When I drove up to our Van I saw that a huge limb off the tree next to our Van had fallen where I had my car parked. How Lucky for us that I drove Terri home, otherwise our car would have been under that limb and severely damaged. The storm didn’t last long but it did a lot of damage. Apart from the trees down and the general mess, one of the annual’s had the complete awning picked up and tossed into the paddock next door. Apart from that, we all survived.

March 17^th, I thought yesterday was a day to remember but one event today, left us gob-smacked. We got up to the mess all around the Park and the staff busy with inspecting the damage then starting the cleanup. Val had some issues with the Cleaners not doing a proper job of cleaning the Amenities that she was using. Keep in mind that we have been here for 3 weeks. Val did lodge a complaint with the Relieving Manager a week ago and the following day the cleaning was done properly. However that didn’t last long and we had some of the cleaners working on the En-suite next to our van, so she went over and spoke with them and told them of her problem. They were not the cleaner involved with Val’s problem but went straight down to the office and reported Val’s comments to the Manageress. Well! That’s when “the shit hit the fan”. A little while later, Val was sitting out in the annexe when the Manageress charged up to our Annexe and, hand on hips, aggressively verbally berated Val about not talking to her Cleaners and bring any complaints to her, she had been monitoring them (obviously not very well), If we don’t like the park then “don’t come back” and then charged off. We were shocked by this barrage, dressing down or whatever you would call it. We will definitely not be coming back to this Park while this Manageress is still here. We did finish off this day with a very pleasant BBQ and drinks for Patrick’s Birthday.

March 19^th, Terri and Val went to the Forster Shopping Centre for lunch and some “Retail Therapy”, while Patrick and I went out for a fish. It was a repeat of yesterday; we caught a few small fish but no keepers. The fishing is not good this year.

March 23^rd, The last few days the weather has been very ordinary and the week-end skiers were ripping up and down the river, so not much doing. I went out with Patrick for a fish, this morning, as this was our last opportunity before we are moving on. Patrick bought home the only catch of the day, a 37cm flathead and was very happy to have caught a flathead for Val. After lunch, I took the boat out of the water, packed up all the gear and loaded the boat onto the car. Val enjoyed Patrick’s flathead for dinner tonight.

March 24^th, We had to pack up this morning and move to site 130, at the back of the Park, due to another Van coming onto our site. I knew I was low on petrol in the car, so I drove towards Tuncurry and guess what? I ran out of petrol 2 klms from Town. Luckily Terri was in Tuncurry, so I rang her, and she had just finished her shopping. She picked me up from the Servo and drove me back to the car. I was very thankful for her coming to my aid.  We had a lovely dinner at Terri and Patrick’s place and Val made a coconut crust pie filled with passionfruit lemon curd topped with meringue, Yum. We leave in the morning for Coffs Harbour.

Anna Bay February 2014

February 11^th, We arrived at Bays Holiday Park and booked in for a week. The workers were updating and expanding the 2^nd amenities block, which will be appreciated during the busy periods.  We settled onto our site then went down to the Salamander Shopping Centre to restock the Larder.

February 12^th, We went to the Medical Centre at 12.10pm for our Annual Check-up and an hour later actually got in to see our Doctor. We both came through our examinations with flying colours, pending the results of our blood tests.

February 14^th, Joan and Robert came down to visit, from Cardiff, and stayed for Dinner and tiles. We had an enjoyable night until Robert, who was sitting in my Coleman’s Jumbo Padded Chair, lent back and the left arm of the chair broke off at the hinge point. We weren’t surprised as every one of these chairs, which we have had, has broken at this same point after 12 months use. We should get another warranty replacement as they are covered for 5 years.

February 17^th, Happy Birthday Steven, we sent Steven an email today, as he is currently overseas in Bologna and we will give him his present when he lands back in Australia. We have had a very wet weekend, so we were happy to have an overcast day without rain. We did a drive around after lunch to check out Nelson Bay, Shoal Bay and Fingal Bay for any changes from our last visit here, 12 months ago, and very little has changed. We did notice on our way in to this area that they have started on the next leg on the upgrade of Nelson Bay Road.

February 18^th, I went into the bottom of the pantry this morning to get out the washing liquid and discovered that the floor area was wet. On further investigation confirmed that we had a water leak and it had affected the wall area in the 3 bottom shelves. The leak wasn’t new as the back corner had rotted away from the dampness. I borrowed a ladder from the workshop and checked the roof joints for areas where leaks may occur but it all looked good. I will get some silastic tomorrow and clean and seal the outside corner and see if that stops the water coming in. I cleared away the damaged wall paneling and cleaned up the mess.

February 19^th, A trip up to Bunnings, just up the road from our Park, secured a cartridge of silastic and a silastic gun. I carefully sealed the outside LH rear corner of the Van and cleaned out the lower pantry wall of any loose damp material, then I used our little fan heater to dry out the wet area in the bottom wall space. The roof of my mouth has been sore for the last week and I have just been treating it by rinsing twice daily with Listerine Mouth Wash. It wasn’t getting better and Val’s diagnosis was that I had burnt the roof of my mouth by drinking my coffee when it was too hot! Anyway, after some discussion Val rang a local Doctor and got me in at 3.15pm today. The Doctor’s diagnosis was an Ulcer that was healing, but he took a swab for testing and told me to keep up the mouthwash and if it hasn’t gone in 2 weeks to come back. Val didn’t agree with the Doctor and said get some SM33 from the Chemist and I’ll treat it for you. Mind you, while I was at the Doctors, Val got in a pickle when the awning filled up with water, pulled out from one end of the Aussie Traveller clamp and flooded that end of the annexe. Fortunately this Park is on sand and the water drained away quickly. I did a temporary re-clamp when I got home but I will need to reset the awning, as is has moved in the windy weather that we have had and allowed the water to collect on the awning.

February 20^th, The rain had stopped today and Val went to Salamander Bay to do some Shopping, so I decided to re-set the awning while I had the place to myself. I have tried to alter the position of the awning roller before, when the annexe walls have been up and found it impossible to move, so I was prepared to remove all the annexe walls if necessary to fix the problem. I was surprised to find that by simply releasing the Aussie Travellers, slacken off the tie down ropes and removing only the side wall (which is hanging directly off the roller) that it was easy to rotate the roller to the correct position, adjust and re-clamp the Aussie Travellers and ropes, and then refit the side walls. The whole exercise only took about an hour, I was Happy.

February 21^st, Joan and Robert came out today for a nice Dinner and a game of Tiles. This is the last time we will be seeing them, as we leave next Tuesday for Wallamba River Holiday Park, just north of Tuncurry. I’m looking forward to getting my boat into the water and catching some flathead.

February 22^nd, I went out this morning to buy some lightweight metal channel to strengthen up the plastic arms of our Coleman Jumbo Padded Chairs. I drove around to where “Metaland” used to be, only to find that it was no longer there! I decided to call into the Recycling Centre on my way back and see what they might have and I had noticed that the new sign, on the front road, said it was open 7 days a week. I was amazed at the changes I found, the old main shed was still there but they now had a bigger new shed alongside to old one, they had a Museum area (which had a lot of very interesting old stuff), the staff were all young people dressed in motifed T-Shirts. The displayed goods were very organized and I wandered around the whole area for about an hour. I was very impressed, but I couldn’t find anything to help me, other than I  was able to leave my old boat battery with them, that I have been carting around for the last 2 months wondering how to dispose of it properly. I then went to Bunnings and the only thing I could find was an aluminium box section, that was the size I wanted, and I will have to cut out one side to make it into the channel shape that I need for my chair improvement job.

February 23^rd, Happy Birthday Greg, we rang him to pass on our good wishes for today and his present is in the mail.

February 24^th, We started to pack up, ready to move on to Wallamba River tomorrow. I’m looking forward to doing some fishing with my mate Patrick.

Blacksmiths February 2014

February 3^rd, After a quiet weekend, Val is slowly recovering from her Chesty Cough and showing signs of improving.

February 4^th, After lunch we took a drive down to Summerland Point, as we wanted to make a start on looking at the Manufactured Home Villages on the Central Coast. We are planning to settle down sometime this year and need to “sus-out” what we could expect to get, for the amount of money that we will have. We were about half way to our destination when it started raining, so Val was destined not to be out of the car today. We couldn’t find any sign of a MH Village at Summerland point so I ducked in to the PO and was told the nearest was Chain Valley. We then went down to Chain Valley and drove around the suburb, decided that this area didn’t appeal to us, so drove back out again. We pulled in to “Parktrees Village” on the Pacific Highway at Lake Munmorah. They had 1 pre-loved and 1 new home for sale. Both out of price range but we decided that it wasn’t the Village for us, as the roads were narrow and access to the carport would be poor.

February 6^th, We went out again today to look at a couple of MH Villages at Budgewoi, that I had looked at on the internet. We put the address we had for “Sunnylake Shores” into our Navigator and it couldn’t find it, so my information wasn’t right. We then went to “Bevington Shores” and they had 4 Pre-loved homes available. We were taken on a tour around the Village and shown the 4 homes. We found minor faults with all of them but one did look OK and we said that we could fix it up. This Village was on the foreshore of Lake Munmorah, handy for fishing. We tried again to find Sunnylake Shores, by using different suburbs in the address, but gave up in the end and went home.

February 7^th, Val has still got that chesty cough hanging on, so it looks like another quiet week-end coming up. We have decided to move on next Tuesday, no matter what, and go to Anna Bay for a week and have our annual health check-up, with our Doctor at Salamander Bay.

February 10^th, After another search of the Internet I came up with another Relocatable Home down at Green Point, near Erina. It was through a Real Estate and the write-up sounded good and it was in our price range. We drove down to Green Point and met the Salesman out front of the Village. We noticed a BI-LO Shopping Centre just around the corner from the Village, so that was the first good point and only a couple of Klms from Erina Shopping  Complex. The Rep. drove us around to the home for sale and first thing was that it didn’t have a Carport but had a parking space just opposite. We walked through the house and back out, without barely stopping. It was a complete dump, probably 1930 style, the “L-Shaped” verandah was around a metre wide and we had nothing good to say about it. We told the sales Rep. that anyone buying this would have to knock it down and have a new place built. Definitely not interested at any price and they wanted $80k. We then went to the other side of Erina to look at another home at Terrigal Waters Village but it had been taken off the market. We decided to call it a day and it was early afternoon, so we went home through The Entrance and called in to see Carole and Rob, Gwen and Neal, who were all holidaying at Dunleith Tourist Park. We were surprised to learn that Rob had just got back from Westmead Hospital, in Sydney, after having a bowel repair operation. We had afternoon tea with Carole and Rob and caught up with Gwen and Neal’s news, then drove home to Blacksmiths after wishing Rob a speedy recovery. We did a bit of packing up ready to leave in the morning for Bays Holiday Park at Anna Bay.

Blacksmiths, January 2014

December 28^th, We finished packing up and drove to Blacksmiths Beachside Holiday Park, where we booked in to start our 4 week stay. After getting set up again, we went up to Carole and Rob’s place at Charlestown for Dinner and “Tiles”. As we were staying in this area for 4 weeks, Rob offered me the use of his boat trailer, which I was only too happy to accept. I normally don’t fish when we stay at this Park, as it isn’t right on the water.

December 29^th, I took the boat off the car today, ready for Rob’s trailer arriving and worked out that I could fit the boat trailer and our car on our site.

December 30^th, Rob arrived around 10am with the trailer in tow. I met him outside the Park and we transferred the trailer to my car. Rob left to go to an appointment and I drove the trailer into the Park and spent the rest of the day setting it up to suit my boat.

December 31^st, Rob and Carole came down mid afternoon, to spend New Year with us at the Caravan Park. We enjoyed a nice dinner and filled our time in playing “Tiles” with a break to watch the Sydney Fireworks (on TV). Our visitors left around 2.30am after a very enjoyable time.

January 2^nd, Greg, Dianne, Jessica and Annaliese came up to Swansea, with their boat in tow.  They booked into Swansea Gardens Tourist Park for their 3 day stay, in a Cabin. I drove around to the boat ramp, just outside their Park, and went out fishing with them. We tried quite a few spots around the Swansea Channel and up towards the northern end of Lake Macquarrie and we did catch a few small fish but no keepers. We came in when we ran out of bait.

January 4^th, yesterday and today, I went out fishing with Greg and Dianne while Val looked after the Girls. We caught a lot of small fish but still hadn’t caught a decent fish, so in desperation we decided as a last go to try at the Swansea Bridge. The current is very strong there but Greg was able to keep the boat stationary using the engine speed to oppose the current. Dianne had only just thrown her line in when she hooked a good size fish. It gave her a good fight, on the way in it went under the boat and Dianne wanted Greg to take over but he said “You can do it“ and he got ready with his catch net. Dianne pulled in a nice 40cm Silver Trevally and has got the record of being the one to catch the biggest fish, over this week-end. Greg and Dianne came around to our Van for dinner and Val and Greg ate

the fillets from Dianne’s catch, which they said was delicious. We said our goodbyes to Greg, Dianne and the girls, as they were heading back home to Sydney in the morning.

January 9^th, We have spent the last few days, just relaxing and winding down after the long week-end. Carole and Rob came down today and I took Rob out for a fish while Val and Carole played tiles. I caught the only keeper and it was a 26cm Bream. I would have put it back but the Ladies had said to us “don’t come home without a fish”, so I had to bring it in and I did fillet it for Val. We bought hamburgers and chips for dinner, from the takeaway, just across the road from the Caravan Park (now under new management), and the hamburgers and scallops were huge and delicious, the chips were hot and fresh. We all played tiles till late!

January 10^th, Joan and Robert came down this afternoon and it was good to catch up with them. It was too late to take Robert out for a fish but we had an enjoyable night of tiles with them, after dinner.

January 11^th, Jessica and Annaliese are coming up tomorrow for a 10 day Holiday with us, so we had to clear the bunks, make up their beds and shop for them coming.

January 12^th, Greg, Dianne and the girls arrived with Hamburgers and chips for lunch. The Girls were soon in the Pool and looking around for friends to play with. There were a few friends here that they had met last year. Greg and Dianne went home around 4.30pm, as they had to get ready for work tomorrow.

January 13^th, The girls had a full day with swimming in the Pool, a trip to the beach, scooting and riding their skateboards and finished the day with a movie, put on by the Park.

January 15^th, We took Jessica and Annaliese up to Carole and Rob’s place at Charlestown, for lunch and a swim with their granddaughters, Sophie and Ayva and Chloe ( Ayva friend from School) . We had a lovely BBQ lunch and all the girls got on famously and played in the pool all afternoon. We got back to the Van in time for the girls to have dinner and showers before going to tonight’s movie.

January 17^th, I went out for a fish today while Val kept an eye on the Girls. This was the first time I have launched my tinnie off a trailer by myself. All went well getting the boat into the water and the fishing was pathetic, I didn’t catch a thing. The boat ramp was busy, but I waited patiently until they all cleared the ramp and I had plenty of space to reverse the trailer. Trailer in the water successfully, with the front of the boat centred on the back roller and winch connected, I started winding in the boat. The current caused the back of the boat to move sideways and the trailer rollers didn’t self align the boat as I wound it in. Four attempts later I finally managed to get the boat onto the trailer, with a lot of, wlnching a bit then pushing the back end over to centre it. It may have been easier if all the rollers had been adjusted correctly to suit my boat.

January 18^th, After lunch we packed up the car with “Boogie Boards”, chairs, snacks and drinks and took the Girls down to Caves Beach. The tide was about half way out so Jessica, Annaliese and myself were able to revisit the caves again. We had done this last year when they were up here for a holiday with us. The Girls had a great time riding their boards in the surf. Tonight there was a “Smurf” movie on at the Park. The Caravan Park had organized activities on for the kids every day except Sundays.

January 22^nd, We packed up all the girls gear in the morning and left for Sydney hoping to get to Glenwood around 4.30pm. Out of the 10 days that the Girls were with us, yesterday was the only day we had rain and it stayed with us all day. We can’t complain and again Jessica and Annaliese had a great Holiday with us. After Dianne came home from work, we had a cuppa and a catch up and headed back to Blacksmiths. Greg was working late so we didn’t wait to see him.

January 24^th, Carole and Rob came down after lunch, for dinner and Tiles. The weather has been patchy, windy, overcast and showery these last couple of days, so we didn’t go out fishing.

January 25^th, We drove up to Cardiff South, to catch up with Joan and Robert and their family. Lisa and Matt where visiting as well, so it was good to catch up with them also. Cory and Maryanne were home with their little son, Tyler, who has grown out of sight since we last saw him. Joan put on a lovely dinner and we played Tiles after Lisa and Matt went home. I was very impressed with Cory and Roberts rebuilding of their back verandah. It’s a job that was on the drawing board for at least the last 10 years, now finally coming to fruition.

January 26^th, The Park was alive with tents and Kids for Australia day. Ruby did a special Australia Day Disco, which included “Red, White and Blue” face painting for all the kids. As the night wore on, Val developed a cough that didn’t sound too good, which she put down to her “Hay Fever”.

January 27^th, Rob needed his boat trailer back to day, as they are going down to Dunleith Tourist Park tomorrow, for their annual holiday at The Entrance. I pulled all my gear off our boat and packed it away, then took the boat off the trailer. After lunch, I hooked up the boat trailer to my car, made sure I had all the gear that Rob had leant me, and towed it up to Rob’s place at Charlestown. Between us, we loaded Rob’s Boat on to his trailer, re-adjusted all the rollers to suit and finished my visit off with a Coffee and chat. Val’s cough was getting worse, but being a public Holiday the Chemists were closed.

January 28^th, I loaded our boat up onto the car and secured it. Val’s cough has moved down onto her chest, sounding very bronchial, so I went down to the Chemist and picked up a cough mixture for her.

January 30^th, I went down to The Swansea Bridge for a fish this morning, lost 2 lots of hook line and sinkers on snags and didn’t catch a thing. I was chatting with one of the older Park semi-permanents and he told me where he goes to fish (I can’t tell you the secret spot or I would have to kill you) and very important, only fish on the outgoing tide!

January 31^st, I went down to have a fish in the channel, just north of Pelican (not the secret spot) on the outgoing tide and caught 3 Bream, the biggest around 20cm, so all throwbacks. I was happy just to catch something. Val’s cold has worsened so off to the Chemist I went and got her some Cold Tablets”. I don’t want to start travelling while Val is not well, so I’ve extended our stay here till February 11^th.