ANOTHER WEEK ON THE ROAD

Starting off on the track at  Buff Point

High up at Buff Point

Tuesday's big catch

Tony  carving roast pork - Sunday dinner for us

 

The bike rack/tool box have to go alas

Laurieton with the mountain mist backdrop early morning

Back to the original bumper bar and safer towing!!!

We’re getting into the swing of life on the road.  The days are flying by and we’re enjoying lots of walks along the beach where Sally loves chasing stones – yes even our dog is a Rolling Stones fan  (haha)!!  She refuses to chase her ball and insists on us finding stones and rolling them along the beach, whereby she revels in chasing them and leaping on top of them when she finds them.    Richard started this game some time ago when we forgot to take her ball with us one day.  Now it’s a ritual every time we go to the beach.  

We’ve also been walking along the cycle/walking path that goes from Budgewoi right through to Charmhaven –  20 kilometres – about a 40 minute bike ride for Richard and a good few hours walk for me (I didn’t’ actually walk the whole way as I’d start from a different  spot each day).  There was some stunning scenery along the way along with many pelicans, beautiful birds and butterflies.  Richard caught his first fish of the t rip and was very proud coming back with his big catch of the day, which we bbqd that night.

We had out first roast dinner in the caravan oven which we didn’t ever think we’d use much.  It felt strange not cooking for a whole crowd plus extras which was normal back at East Hills. It’s also very strange shopping only for 2 people. Money sure goes a lot further when you only want 2 potatoes, onions, bananas etc.. I’m still finding it strange to go from bulk buying everything to buying the smallest portion I can.

Thursday 14^th July – Bastille Day – was the 33^rd anniversary of the day we arrived in Australia and also our last night at Budgewoi, so we went up to the local Thai restaurant for a meal which was delicious as usual.

We left on Friday morning heading up to Laurieton –near Port Macquarie - about 3 ½  hours up the Mid North Coast.  Fortunately the caravan travelled much better without the bike/tool box on the back and we’d also taken all the heavy items from the top cupboards for the journey as Richard had read on one of his many caravan forums that could be a contributing factor for the van swaying whilst travelling on the road.

Now we’re at lovely Laurieton visiting our friends that settled here 6 years ago after they spent 18 months travelling around Australia.  They’re very happy to see us again.  That night we headed up to North Haven Bowling Club for their monster meat raffle.  We didn’t win anything but had a good time and a lovely meal.  It’s the biggest table full of meat trays we’ve ever seen. Oh well there’s always next Friday night!!   The following night we had a bbq with meat from the famous “Wiggly Tail Butcher” – absolutely scrumptious.  We’ve been told people come from Coffs Harbour and further at Christmastime for their famous hams. They’ve also won many awards for their home-made sausages.  We had divine pork medallions stuffed with spinach and feta with a yummy glaze another night – it’s a tough life slumming it like gypsies on the move!!!

Now to the fishing expeditions – well Richard’s been fishing away to his heart’s content using his new ugly stick courtesy of  Invocare and more gear he purchased with the voucher the boys gave him for his birthday at Boating Fishing Camping Warehouse in Port Macquarie.  He should be able to catch the entire ocean of fish with the equipment he’s now got.  Tally – Monday – 2 big salmon off the beach that he gave to residents at the caravan park.  Tuesday - 3 larger salmon off the beach (same spot).  No-one at the park wanted the fish as they’ve all got full freezers of freshly caught fish.  No problems, we bbq’d them and ate what we could last night and I flaked the remainder ready to make loads of fish cakes today.  Our freezer is now full of fillets of fish, pumpkin soup and fish cakes.  Dinner tonight was fish cakes – very scrumptious.  Laurieton has a shop at the Mid-Coast egg farm where you can buy a tray of 30 eggs for $4-7 depending on size and quality –some of them are double yolkers.  So we had to make a trip there today.  We’re off to the famous “Ricardo’s Tomatoes” tomorrow where you can pick your own strawberries as well.  All in all, life’s pretty damn good here. 

The park has a backdrop view of Big Brother Mountain which is covered in mist in the early morning.  It backs onto the sports oval which meanders along the river and some spectacular scenery.  Everyone’s very friendly and helpful here. Some of our friends from the Central Coast are coming up to stay in a cabin on Saturday night and other friends from Sydney arrive next Tuesday for a week.  We’re looking forward to seeing them all.  We’ll be here now until the end of the month and then moving up to Yamba - about a  4 hour drive further up the Mid-North Coast.

We’ve had beautiful weather up until lunchtime today.  Now we’ve got ferocious winds and heavy rain.  The grass outside the van is like a swamp. We’re bunkered down for now and hoping the monsoon conditions will soon improve.  Lucky we’ve got lots of DVD’s to watch and are well stocked up with food.

Thanks for logging in.  That’s all the news for now.  Talk to you all again soon.

Regards Marian and Richard