LIFE AT LAURIETON

View from the  lookout at Big Brother at  Laurieton looking down over the town


 

 Another view from the Big Brother lookout

Two of the many lorikeets around the caravan park .  They're quite tame unless Sally's around to chase them

away or steal the bread we leave out for thm

 The 6 Amigos having a fun filled evening together at Tony and Chris' place

 North Haven Beach where we take Sally for a long walk each morning

  

Another  view of North Haven Beach

The board walk from the end of North Haven Beach going back to the town

View from the footbridge looking towards Big Brother Mountain

  

Some of the 10 salmon caught on North Haven Beach favourite spot by Richard

This is our second week in lovely Laurieton and thankfully the fierce winds and dreadful rain have gone away for now.  It’s absolutely glorious now and the ground is drying out nicely and not boggy and squishy under our feet as it was last week. 

In our last blog we were going up to Ricardo’s Tomatoes which we did last Friday and bought jars of homemade strawberry jam on special 3 jars for $16. They grow hydroponic strawberries that you can pick.  We went off under the strawberry shelter, armed with a bucket and 2 scissors to cut the strawberries off the vines.  I must say it was such fun and different to the back-breaking strawberry picking we’ve done before.  There are rows and rows of plumbing pipes in an A-frame, with holes up each pipe where the strawberries grow through. We were told to only pick the reddest strawberries and that to fill the bucket we had was probably 1 – 1 ½ kilos of berries at around $15 per kilo.  We were amazed looking at the rows and rows of strawberries and how quickly we managed to fill up our little bucket.  Of course we ate quite a few before we went to the pay counter and they were absolutely delicious and juicy.  Totally different to the ones you buy at the shops, even the most expensive. The bucket cost us $20.

That night we went up to North Haven Bowling Club for the Monster Meat Raffles -  $2000 worth of meat each Friday night.  I have honestly never seen so much meat raffled at one time.  We did manage to win a lovely tray of 5 huge t-bone steaks and sausages which we bbq’d the following night and they were delicious with a capital D!!  We had the biggest serve of herb crusted roast beef and yorkshire pudding on special for $13.90 each.  We were totally bloated and our only complaint was that we couldn’t manage the homemade sticky date pudding that we’d had the previous time.  The chef is quite a young guy and comes out to walk around the tables and talk to the customers during their meal.  We told him it was the best beef we’ve ever tasted and he said he gets it by special order form 1824 at Port Stephens and that everyone raves about the meat there.  So if you ever want a great feed for a great price that’s the place to go.  They have 3 specials on the menu each Friday.   Their normal menu is sensational also and he’s constantly looking for new creative ideas to serve up. Can’t wait to see what’s on the menu tonight yum yum.  Will let you know in our next blog.

Our friends Kate and Jeff and their 2 boys Mitchell and Reece came up from the Central Coast to stay overnight in a cabin at the caravan park last weekend.  Thankfully the weather improved dramatically and they were able to get out to the beach.  Richard took Jeff and the boys fishing off the beach and they had a ball.  Jeff caught a huge fish and was totally thrilled as he’d never caught a big one before.  They could have had many more but put them back in.  The boys enjoyed reeling in their first fish too.  It was great to catch up with them and we had a lovely bbq that night.

Our other friends Paddy and Mary arrived from Sydney for a week’s holiday this week staying with Chris and Tony that live up here permanently.  It’s been great catching up with them again and enjoying the opportunity of the 6 of us being together once more, as it’s been over a year since we were all last together. “The 6 Amigos” have had a hectic week of eating, drinking and telling yarns and lies and we’re going to Yamba next week to start drying out and cut back on our food intake.   It has been great fun though.

Back to the fish tally:  Each session has produced a bigger catch and bigger fish.  Yesterday Richard excelled himself by catching 10 big salmon off his favourite spot on the beach.  Our friend Paddy caught 1 and was totally amazed at Richard’s tally, saying to me later that night “He’s a very good fisherman”.  All the park residents are brim full of freshly caught fish.  He’s packing his rods away until we get up to Yamba now!!!

It’s now 2 months since we moved out of our house at East Hills and the time’s flown by.  We don’t miss it one bit and are really enjoying our newfound freedom.

In some ways it will be strange for us being at Yamba as we’ve had friends to visit and catch up with at each of our stops so far, which has been lovely.  Oh well there are lots of new friends to be found along the way.   Look out all you folks in Yamba – the Winters are in town next week!!