Lightning Ridge May 2014 week 3-4

 May 19^th, After getting some relief from soaking in the Artesian Pool, I have been down there yesterday and again today, but both days I felt a bit dizzy when I got out of the pool and had to rest on the side while I recovered. Although I don’t have a blood pressure problem, Val decided to check my blood pressure and it was low but on a second reading 30 minutes later it was OK. Val thought that it could be related to the high heat of the Artesian Pool and staying in too long.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

May 20^th, I drove the 75klms down to Walgett, to keep my 11.30am Dental appointment at the Aboriginal Services Centre. After an x-ray of the offending tooth showed a deep cavity in the side of one of my upper back tooth, my options were “root canal” or removal. I went immediately with removal. Of course, with the size of the cavity, the tooth broke into pieces and had to be removed a chunk at a time. Although a lengthy difficult extraction, my Dentist did a marvelous job getting the entire broken tooth out. It was absolutely painless. When I got back home, Val gave me a bowl of tomato soup and I went off to bed and slept off the anesthetic.

May 21^st, Val went down to the Pool, in our Park, to test out the solar heated temperature and do her noodle exercising. She wasn’t all that happy as the temperature wasn’t as warm as the artesian pool at Moree. Willie and Jo came to entertain us again (they really are a class act, very entertaining and enjoyable to listen to) and after the show, we sat around the fire with a group from the Park and enjoyed good company with a few wines.

May 25^th, I went down to the Sunday Markets, at the Information Centre, and bought a few more westerns. We have a new singer/songwriter (Steve Case), staying in the Park, that has been doing his show every afternoon that Willie and Jo are not on.

May 27^th, We went into Town and had a look at some of the interesting shops. We started with “Mr. Cheap”, which is part of True-Value Hardware, and stocks a huge variety of goods. Next we went into the “John Murray Art Gallery” and were absolutely gob-smacked at his work. Brilliant vibrant earthy colours of, mostly, charactertures of animals in Lightening Ridge scenes. No photographing was allowed inside the Gallery, so I could only get a photo of the front wall. Next door was the Newsagency, which also doubles as a furniture store. Our last stop was the Opal Cave, which has a huge display of Opals and Opal Jewellery. The colours in the solid “Black Opals” are brilliant and very expensive. As you would expect, there are a lot of Opal selling and buying places in Town.

May 28^th, Willie and Jo entertained us this afternoon, then after a quick dinner, we gathered in front of a big TV screen, at the back of the BBQ area, to watch the NRL “State of Origin” game, this 1^st match being played in Brisbane. A very tough encounter, but with a great NSW WIN! Yea! Next game is in Sydney, we can’t wait for that.

May 29^th, Willie and Jo invited us to their place for afternoon tea and to have a look around their camp. They live just out of Town on two opal mining sites. All opal claims are 50 X 50 metres square. They started with a small “Miners shack” 37 years ago and have gradually expanded  their living and outside pergola areas, to make life more comfortable for themselves. It was interesting to see the way they live, typical of miner dwellings in this region, but on a grander scale. Noboby living in this area throws anything away, as it will come in handy one day. As an example, Willie was given an old unwanted corrugated  water tank from someone he worked for years ago, so he bought it home, laid a concrete floor inside, put in a door and turned it into a Visitors Bedroom. How inventive is that? Their block is filled with old trucks, caravans and a lot of stuff that to us would be junk. It’s the sort of junk that they love, some will be fixed up and used or sold. They generate their own power, and use solar power during the day and take their rubbish to the Tip. They get no services from the Council. They made us very welcome and we enjoyed our afternoon visit. Today is our 49^th Wedding Anniversary (how has Val put up with me that long?), so we went to Bruno’s Italian Restaurant for another lovely meal and finished off the evening at The Bowling Club.

May 30^th, I had to go into Town to get a few items from IGA and I thought I might try fossicking at the Information Centre. I found out that the Lightning Ridge Mens Shed was in the street behind the Information Centre, so I drove around to check it out. I was standing out front, taking a photo, so I could show Carole and Rob that I had went there, when an old guy came out to get in his car and started talking to me. It was 2.30pm and the shed was closing up but he told me to go in and they would show me around. So I did and was made feel very welcome. After a tour of their complex, I was surprised how large their premises were and I made the comment that Rob would be very envious as this facility is much larger than the Newcastle Men’s Shed. I went and did a bit of fossicking but didn’t find anything worth mentioning. We went to the Bowling Club for the 8pm meat raffle, but didn’t do any good. We listened to Tina’s Karaoke, after the raffles. She is a very good singer and also works in the Office at our Caravan Park.

Moree April 2014

April 8^th, We finished packing up and drove to Moree. We booked into the Gwyder Caravan Park and Thermal Pools for a 3 week stay, so that we will have accommodation for Easer and the School Holidays, before we have to move on. After setting up, we went into Town and did a bit of shopping and familiarized ourselves with the Town layout. When we got back to the Park, Val headed off to the thermal pools for her 1^st soak and noodle exercise, while I finished the setting up.

April 9^th, I had to find our mouse traps and set them, as we had a little furry visitor last night, while we were sitting in the Annexe. I decided that seeing we were going to be here for 3 weeks that it was time I did a few of the maintenance jobs that I have been putting off for some time now. I took the boat off the car, ready to clean up the bottom and repaint it. I went to the local Hardware Store and bought a piece of flyscreen to fit the screen door on the Van and a set of security drive bits, so that I could take the boat rack off the car and tighten everything up. We had developed a couple of rattles in the boat rack which was concerning. We caught 2 mice in our 2 traps before we went to bed.

April 10^th, Only 1 mouse in our traps this morning. I removed the roof rack and did find one anchoring nut was a bit loose in the roof. There wasn’t a lot I could do about it so I ran some “Loctite” around it and refitted the rack making sure all the mounting bolts were tight. Only time will tell if I have improved the rattle problem. Val got permission from the Manager, to set up her jam and pickles table in the BBQ area near the entrance to the thermal pools, alongside a wine tasting guy who comes into the park on Thursday and Fridays. When he arrived Val was all set up, so he had a look at what she was doing and he said, ‘I bring my home made jams and pickles to sell, while I do the wine tasting”. So did the only right thing and packed up her gear and took it home. We heard , on the news tonight , that the farmers were having problems with a plague of mice, so that explains why we are catching them.

April 11^th, Another mouse this morning. I washed down the Caravan screen door and fitted the new flyscreen today.

April; 12^th, 2 more mice in the traps this morning. That’s 6 in total now, so we are doing our bit to keep the mice population down.

April 15^th, Two more mice in the traps this morning, that brings our total to 8. Val has been in the thermal pools as often as she can go and is very happy to be losing weight. I cleaned down the underside of the boat and repainted it.

April 18^th, Good Friday and the Park is packed, as you can see by the crowd in the Pools. I came back from the shower tonight (about 11.30pm) to find Val with a broom in her hand, very distraught, and threatening to kill any mouse that comes near her! Can you imagine the sight? We didn’t catch any mice tonight so the broom treatment obviously worked.

April 22^nd, We went into Town to do our Shopping, so I had lunch at the Centre. Val is sticking to her Diet so is not eating out at all. On our way home we went to the Moree RSL to check it out and it’s a very nice modern Club with a Chinese Bistro. They also have a Motel next to the Club. We were impressed with the place and after a glass of Chardy and a flutter, left a few dollars up.

May 5^th, Not a lot to report on up here, I’m reading my Westerns, Val’s been noodling in the Thermal Pools and we have caught a total of 23 mice during our stay in Moree. I put the boat back uip on the car yesterday and did a bit of packing up today, as we leave in the morning for Lightening Ridge.

Inverell April 2014

April 1^st,We finished packing up and did the 1 hour drive to Inverell. We passed a lot more roadside cows but Val was a bit slow with the camera and only took one photo. We booked into Fossickers Rest Tourist Park, for a week. After setting up, we went into Town, for a look around, and checked out the Visitors Centre.

April 2^nd, I went into town this morning to put my paperwork into Centrelink, then joined up at the Inverell Library, as a visiting member.

April 4^th, I was back in town this morning to pick up a few things from the Supermarket, so took the opportunity to take a few photos of some of the historic buildings. I also came upon the Tennis Centre and had seen an advertisement for a big tournament this week-end, so went in to find out a bit more. On the way home, I spotted a monument in a local park and went to investigate. It was a dedication to the families and inhabitants of this area that were part of the development of his area, leading up to the Federation of NSW. We rang Annaliese this afternoon to wish her a Very Happy 10^th Birthday.

April 5^th, I went down to the Heritage Centre this morning only to find that it was closed to the Public. The Inverell Motorcycle Restoration Club were hosting a Motor Cycle event in the grounds of the Heritage Centre. For a donation of $2 I was let in to look around the bikes. There must have been around 200 bikes of all ages and types. As an old motorcyclist myself, I found it very interesting. I stayed to watch the very organized way they all left the grounds. It was all over in around 15minutes. I then went down to the Tennis Centre and watched a mens singles and a girls doubles. That kept me interested until it was time to go for lunch. In the afternoon I decided to throw a line into the lake, that was at the end of our street, to see what was biting. Guess what! Not a bite, so went home for a Chardy.

April 7^th, Inverell is known as The Sapphire City so we had to have a go at fossicking while we were here.  We took the advice of some neighbouring caravaners who recommended Billabong Blue as the best and packed up some lunch and did the 20 minute drive out to Sapphire. For a cost of $20 each we were provided with all the necessary equipment and shown how to Fossick. Sapphire Blue has a working mine and they gather up a pile of wash from the creek and deposit it at the Fossicking Area. The process for us was to shovel the wash through a large sieve into a bucket. The next process is to pass the contents of your bucket through a fine shaker sieve, to get rid of the dirt. The third process is to sloosh a sieve full of stones in a tank of water to clean them, then flip the washed stones onto a bag on top of a 44gallon drum. Finally, with a pair of tweezers, gently look through the washed stones for Sapphires. We did this, with Val and myself working as a team, until closing time at 4pm. It was a backbreaking task for us both but we enjoyed our day and came home with 26 pieces of sapphire. Our biggest piece was about one cm long but nothing of great value. I did a bit of packing up this morning, before we left for sapphire, as we leave for Moree tomorrow

Glen Innes March 2014

March25^th, We said our “good-byes” to Terri, Patrick and Pixie and left Wallamba River Holiday Park, knowing that we were not coming back while the current Manageress was still there. We have enjoyed our stay with Terri and Patrick, fishing was lousy but the company was great. We decided to go to Glen Innes by a different route, after being told by other Caravaners in the Park. They had pointed out that the road through Walcha entailed 50 Klms of winding road through the Mountains, not great for towing a Caravan. We decided to then go up to Coffs Harbour, then out past Grafton to Glen Innes. We stopped in Coffs, did a little bit of Shopping and booked into the “Clog Barn” Caravan Park for the night.

March 26^th, it was a wet trip, rained all the way to Glen Innes and was very foggy up through the mountains. The road was good and we only had about 14 klms of windy road, so I knew we had made the right decision to come by this route. You know when you are travelling through “cow country” when they are let out to feed off the grass alongside the Highway and they do as they please. No “looking left and right” to cross the road, they just go! Luckily the rain had broken up when we reached Glen Innes and we were able to get set up at Fossickers Tourist Park, for our 6 night stay.

March 27^th, It rained all day but we couldn’t put off doing our washing any longer. We took it all to the laundry and had 2 full loads. The machines were well past their “use by date” and it took 2 cycles for each load and they still weren’t properly dried.

March 28^th, We drove into Town, checked out the Information Centre, did a bit of Shopping and I had a nice lunch at The Tattersals Hotel, in the main street. On our way back to the Park, we called into the RSL for a chardy and flutter, and went home a few dollars in front, thanks to a win Val had on Keno. After dinner I started with a dry little cough that I couldn’t stop and when I went to bed my head was filling up and I couldn’t get off to sleep. I felt so bad that I wasn’t game to go to sleep and I can’t ever recall having this before. I eventually found that if I lay on my stomach that I didn’t cough but it wasn’t comfortable, even without a pillow. Val woke up early for a toilet break and I sat up for a while and felt better. I did settle after that and get a few hours sleep.

March 29^th, This morning I woke up stuffed up in the head and had a bad chesty cough. We went down Town and found the Chemist shop closed so we picked up some tablets and mixtures from “Bi-Lo”. We had planned to go to The Australian Cattle Dog Trials tonight and the main event was a “State of Origin” challenge between the 6 best dogs from Queensland and NSW. Unfortunately I was not well enough to go so we had to give it a miss.

March 31^st, Today I was feeling the best since last Friday when this all started. Val has been waiting on me “hand and foot” and taking good care of me. This has been a lost “do nothing” week. I was certainly well enough to start packing up as tomorrow we move to Inverell