WE'RE BACK AT CORINDI

Dangar Falls

High up at Dorrigo

Some of the 14k of "windy" road going up the mountain to Dangar Falls 

An interesting tiled mural on a wall in Dorrigo High  Street 

Some of the memorabilia at the Worlds Smallest Motorbike Museum

 Beautiful Corindi Beach

The patient looking for sympathy

 

Monday 29^th August.  Arrived back to one of our favourite spots.  There are new managers at the park and they’ve been busy getting rid of lots of the older permanent vans and really sprucing up the place.  They’ve built a new office and house for the managers, completed building many en-suite sites and put in 3 new cabins.  Wow what a difference since we were here 3 years ago.  The caravan sites are on a palm laden grassy slope that overlooks the beach. Quite magical.  There are tables and chairs to sit and admire the view along the hilltop.  We were all set up by 1pm, so had a quick lunch and went for a long walk on the beach.  We wandered up to the tables at 5pm for happy hour – imagine sipping wine, relaxing and listening to the ocean – it just doesn’t get any better than this I can assure you.

Tuesday 30^th  Went for a drive to Maelstrom, Repton, Bellingen and Dorrigo. We checked out a caravan park at Maelstrom called North Beach for future use.  It’s part of the Family Parks Group.  It’s large and backs onto the ocean.  It’s very pretty and well maintained with large drive-through sites.  It’s fairly quiet with only 2 local clubs for entertainment but certainly on our list of parks to visit in the future.  Repton is a small river town but has a lot of charm. Bellingen is an historic town with lots of the old buildings still in use as shops and offices. The Bellinger River flows around the town.  We saw a sign for the next town of Dorrigo and decided to drive on.  We passed scenic countryside and came to a sign warning us of 14km winding roads up to Dorrigo.  They weren’t kidding.  It’s steeper than Kangaroo Valley and was scary enough driving up along the mountainside.  We stopped at some falls on the way up which were beautiful.  We also passed some caravan parks – boy oh boy  wouldn’t fancy taking any sized caravan up that road, let along coming down again.  I can only say those that have are very brave.  We stopped at Dorrigo and popped into the Tourist Information Centre to get some maps of the National Park and Dangar Falls.  We were amused to find ‘The World’s Smallest Motorbike Museum” located in the High Street at Dorrigo and couldn’t resist a look.  It was basically a café with lots of motorbike pictures, spare parts and memorabilia.  There was a very old motor bike hanging on the wall.  Richard found it quite interesting and took lots of photos to share with the boys next time we see them.

We drove through the town to Dangar Falls bypassing the National Park as we were running out of time.  Dangar Falls was absolutely stunning and gushing like crazy from all the rainfall we’ve had lately.  We took photos and wished we’d come earlier as there was a walkway down to the falls that takes about 30 minutes each way.  The drive back down the mountainside was really scary, being so close to the edge looking down and the roads being so windy.  I was glad to get to the bottom and won’t be in a rush to go back that way.

Wednesday 31^st.  Went for a drive and walk around Coffs Harbour.  The town is busily making preparations for the World Car Rally that they’re hosting next weekend.  Road blocks are being prepared to close off the streets for the event and a stage is being erected by the harbour.  Lots of International rally drivers will be arriving this week and the hotels and accommodation are totally booked out. At least there’s a Dan Murphy and Aldi store so that we can restock our supplies once more.

The caravan park is filling up now with people coming to get their spots and settle in for the blueberry picking season which starts shortly.

Saturday 3^rd September (yes it’s spring already and ¾ way through the year  –  don’t know where it’s gone) We decided to visit the “Bollywood Markets” at Woolgoolga that we’d seen advertised all week.  Woolgoolga has a large Indian community. We were expecting a big, packed market place and trouble parking the car.  Woolgoolga is about 15 minutes drive from Corindi.  We were surprised to find we could park the car easily right in front of the markets and that there wasn’t the large crowd milling around that we’d been expecting.  There were about 12 stalls all up – one with a traditionally dressed Indian gentleman offering authentic butter chicken and rice lunch special.   It was all a bit disappointing.  We did talk to the man running the second hand book stall and once again were disappointed to find he didn’t have any John Grisham novels for sale.  He quickly told us his wife ran the shop at the end of town “Can’t miss it look for the big purple building at the end of town” and assured us there were some Grisham books available.  We thanked him and headed back to the car.  I kept my eyes peeled for the purple building and we almost drove past it as it was a dress shop.  We decided to stop anyway and discovered the book shop was through the dress shop on the other side.  A very nice Irish woman from Dublin ran it and we had a long chat to her and did indeed buy some more Grisham books that we haven’t already  read to add to our collection, as we’re

now addicted to his style of writing and intrigue and want to read everything he’s written.  We couldn’t wait to get back to the van and start reading our new purchases.

That evening we had a lovely thai meal in Woolgoolga and went to the C.Ex Club to see the “Rebel Rousers” that promised a good mix of 60’s music for all tastes.  We were very enthusiastic walking into the club to hear the band playing “My Girl” a great old motown classic and thought the evening had tremendous promise.  We walked to the dance floor area and found a spot to sit as the auditorium was pretty packed.  It soon became clear that everyone was from the same dance school and knew one another.  They were dressed up in true rock n roll fashion and shiny black/white patent spats that seemed the compulsory footwear.  They were all having a great time strutting their stuff and swapping dance partners.  They were all quite focussed and serious and obviously the dancing lessons had paid off for most of them.  We felt quite out of place as there was a competitive professional atmosphere happening.  It was enjoyable watching them dancing, but there was no way we were going to get up to dance amongst that crowd.  We stayed for a while and decided to leave them to it.

Sunday 4^th – Father’s Day.  The Amble In – the local pub – 5 minutes away from the caravan park – were holding a Father’s Day lunch and entertainment.  We had nothing else on so decided to “amble up to the Amble Inn” for lunch.  It was a gloriously sunny day and we sat under the outdoor pergola and had a lovely steak, chips and salad lunch washed down with a good bottle of sauvignon blanc overlooking the ocean with a musician/entertainer who was pretty dreadful. We didn’t let that spoil a nice relaxing lunch.  Unfortunately their legendary homemade cheesecake was unavailable (I just love cheesecake – specially if it’s homemade).   Oh well, you can’t win them all!!    We left very relaxed and full up.

Monday 5^th September – We were on the road by 7am Budgewoi bound once more. It’s a 6 hour drive south from Corindi. That’s the furthest distance we ever want to do at any one time.

Before I go on I must explain why we’re now going south instead of north as planned before you all get quite confused.  When we were up North at Tweed Heads, Richard had a phone call from Bankstown Hospital advising him that a date was now available for the day surgery he’d been on the waiting list for over the last 4 months.  We were hoping it wouldn’t be available until we came back to Sydney in December. Things never work out to plan.  At first he said he’d cancel it and go back on another waitlist.  I didn’t think that was a good idea as we wanted to get to the bottom (pardon the pun) of what the problem was.  At first he intended to fly to Sydney from Tweed and I’d remain in the caravan with our dog Sally.  As it happened fate intervened as Sally has become quite lame on one leg and is in pain with it a lot of time. We’ve taken her to a vet in Yamba and got anti-inflammatory tablets which didn’t make much difference.  She was born with hip dysplasia which took 2 years to be diagnosed.  2 years ago she had an operation on her left hip where they cut off the ball socket to prevent bone rubbing on bone.  We were never100% happy with the outcome plus it was very expensive and a long recovery process.  We knew she had the exact same symptoms as before, limping on 3 legs and not wanting her hip touched.  After many emails and conversations with the original veterinary surgeon at the Animal Referral Hospital, we decided another operation was the only way to help Sally have a happier future. It was also 2 of our children’s’ birthdays –  hence we’ve now turned around and are on our way back to Sydney once more.

BUGEWOI – HOME BASE FOR 3 WEEKS

Richard’s surgery is booked for Monday 12^th and Sally’s for Wednesday 8^th.

We got back to Budgewoi at 1pm and I must say it’s almost like coming home as we’ve been here so often and love the place and feel very comfortable here.  There could be worse places to be marooned at, so it’s not all bad.  We did basic unpacking as we were heading off to Sydney the next day.  The caravan is staying on site at Budgewoi whilst we commute to and from Sydney over the next weeks.

Tuesday 6^th  September – Adam’s 20^th birthday.  We couldn’t believe the traffic in Sydney when we got off the freeway and onto

Pennant Hills Road

. We’ve got really out of the swing of built up traffic congestion over the last 12 weeks.  It was quite a shock to the system that we once looked upon as the norm.  Have we become country bumpkins after all???  We arrived at Revesby where our 2 sons are renting a house mid afternoon.  Their house is on the corner of 2 busy roads, so the noise hit us like a ton of bricks.  Sally enjoyed the freedom of running around without a long restraining rope behind her.  After a quick cuppa and unpacking it was straight into loads of washing and housework – as you can imagine 2 men living on their own aren’t  the least bit houseproud or fussy about the piles of washing/washing up laying around.  I know, I know you’re saying you don’t have to do it – it’s their responsibility now they’re living on their own – but old habits and all that.  I just couldn’t help myself.  The girls called in after work and it was lovely to see the family complete and together again.

Wednesday 8^th September.  Sally’s operation date.  We were very upset leaving her at the hospital, but it has to be done.  Not sure how long she’ll be in – it depends on how she recovers and deals with the pain.  It seems so quiet and strange in the house without her.

Friday 9^th September.  We had a combined dinner for Adam and Hayley’s birthdays and a belated Father’s Day celebration at a local thai restaurant.  We were joined with some of our friends and it was lovely to see them all again – Lorraine, Cliff, Brooke, Jane.  The evening went too quickly.  Hayley and her boyfriend Adrian are off to Singapore on Saturday afternoon for 4 days as a birthday present for Hayley’s 26^th birthday on 13^th.  We won’t see her again this time around.

Saturday 10^th  September   Picked up our darling dog Sally from the Animal Hospital.  She was so pleased to see us.  She has stitches in and we return on 19^th to have them out. We’re so pleased to have her home again.  She seems quite happy in herself but will need lots of TLC over the coming weeks.

Met a friend for coffee at Panania to see the “Panania Village Festival”.   There were market stalls, dancers and musicians, sausage sizzles and lots of activities happening. The place was buzzing with a roaming magician twirling a crystal ball.  I visited the Salvation Army store and bought a bag full of yes – you guessed it John Grisham books.  Can’t believe that man wrote so much that we haven’t yet read.  I also went to the second hand book store in Padstow and came away loaded up with another bag full of Grisham novels.  That must be it by now.  Richard had a fit when he saw all the books I’d bought.  We’ve now got enough reading material for quite a few weeks.

Sunday 11^th September.   I went to Leichardt with 2 girlfriends to see the movie “The Guard”.  We had a lovely lunch in the bistro next to the cinema and a bottle of sav blanc (who wants coffee when wine is available?).  Richard was at home taking his peri prep medicine so wouldn’t be venturing too far out of reach of a bathroom.  There was nothing I could do to help, so decided it was best to leave him alone.  The movie was very funny and entertaining and well worth seeing.

Monday 12^th September.  Richard has his colonoscopy.  He’s not scheduled to get to the hospital until 12.30 and is already starving and trying not to think about food, food, food.

Whilst I’m waiting I catch up with Jan, Mel and Kathy from Panania Diggers and we have the $6 lunch special curried chicken.  Very nice.  Richard’s home by 6pm and glad it’s all behind him (pun intended this time). 

Tuesday 13^th September – Hayley’s 26^th.  She’s not due back from Singapore until 7.30pm.  We have dental check ups in the morning and head off to base camp later in the afternoon.  It’s good to be back somewhere tranquil after the chaos in Sydney.  We relax with a welcome cuppa watching the ducks and swans on the lake. The ducks roam freely on the grass and wait to be fed by one of the park residents. She feeds them at the same time each afternoon and they wait outside her door till she comes out with a bucket full of seeds.  It’s quite a spectacle and the grass is covered with ducks squawking for ages before she feeds them.

Friday 16^th “September Went to the local thai restaurant which is always yummy.  Afterwards we went to the Coast Hotel to hear the band.  They’re a young local début group and very good.  Most of the audience consisted of their friends and family.

Saturday 17^th September.  Went to North Lakes Tavern that’s recently been refurbished.  They have the 1824 steaks that we first tasted in Laurieton and they’re just the best.  These were was pretty good. I’ve been craving steak Dianne for a while. After dinner we ventured into the Coast Hotel again and the place was absolutely rocking to the sounds of Jellyfish Rock.  They surprised us with a pretty good rendition of “Jumping Jack Flash” that Mick Jagger would have been pretty pleased with.  They’re a young, experienced band and were very good to listen and dance to.

Sunday 18^th September Back on the road to Sydney.  We’re up and in the car early.  We’re cooking a huge lamb roast for the family – hope they all turn up. They all turn up at different times, so I’m constantly in the kitchen and don’t get finally cleared up till late in the evening.  It’s all worth it when Adam gives me a big burly hug (he’s 6’6” and solidly built) and tells me he misses my cooking.  Such a smooch!!

Monday 19^th  September  Sally has her stitches out.  Now we have to start intensive physiotherapy to get her to use her leg again (last time it took ages for her to use her leg).   Walking in sand is great, so we’ll be doing lots of therapeutic walks to the beach from now on. Back to Budgewoi by lunchtime  – a quick lunch and off to the beach for a therapy session with Sally.

Apologies to our friends in Sydney that are reading this blog that we didn’t have time to catch up.  We will be back in Sydney for 3 weeks in December and hope to catch up with more of you then.

We will be making one more quick overnight trip to Sydney this Sunday 24^th as Richard has a post-operative appointment with his specialist on Monday.  Hopefully it will be good news and we can resume our trip north on Tuesday 25^th.  All will be revealed in the next exciting instalment of our blog.

Well this has been a mammoth blog as I haven’t had time to write it all up for 3 weeks as you can see.   Thanks for your patience ploughing through this massive missive.

Take care and hope you’re still enjoying our adventures.

Till next time.  Love Marian and Richard

WE'RE AT BUNSWICK HEADS

Beautiful Brunswick Beach

View from the caravan park looking out onto the river 

Another view of the river

A perect happy hour spot - care to join us?? 

View looking back from the river

Magic views of a glass lake

We set off from Tweed Heads for a quick 45minutes drive to our next destination Brunswick Heads.  We had intended to drive further down the coast but we particularly wanted to stay here as we were very impressed with the place when we drove there from Tweed Heads for a quick look/see. 

The Ferry Reserve Holiday Park is set along a very pretty river.  The park itself is fairly new and very well maintained and modern.   There was a bit of noise as it’s located close to the freeway, particularly at night time.  The town is a 3 minute drive from the park, via the marina and fishing coop and café.  There are lots of other caravan parks around the area but none of them allow dogs.  We bought fresh Silver Perch and really huge juicy green prawns for dinner that night and they were delicious.

We quickly set up and went for a long walk on the dog friendly beach just over the bridge in town.  The Brunswick Heads Pub is really big and is always crowed with lots of outdoor tables and chairs overlooking the town.  They have bands and entertainment there every weekend.

There is a shopping centre at Ocean Shores with supermarkets and other stores, which is also close by.

We had very mixed weather all week, mainly raining at night which was ok with us.  We did have a couple of very wet walks along the beach where we needed our trusty husky jackets.  Dogs aren’t allowed on the break wall as there’s a bird sanctuary in the bushes and wild bush turkeys wandering all along the wall and surrounding bushland.

The next day our neighbours gave us some bream fillets as they had more than they could use and their freezer was full up.  They were another delicious dinner, pan fried in flour. Really thick fillets. Yum.

On Wednesday we went for a drive into Byron Bay.  I’ve never been there and always wanted to visit the place.  It took us 30 minutes to drive there.  It was a pretty wet and windy day but we stopped for lunch at a beach café and watched the surfers.  The place was quite crowded.  It’s a bigger town than I thought and I really liked the feel of the place and all the quirky shops where tie-die has never gone out of fashion and African tribal clothes are the latest rage.  There were lots of old hippies wandering around with long dreadlocks and scruffy beards and clothes.  It was an interesting place. It’s also a veryexpensive place to buy real estate, so only the rich hippies can afford it there.

We drove from Byron through to Mullumbimby – still an old hippy town, but much less commercial, in fact there’s really nothing much else to do but smoke a bong and get stoned there.  We saw lots of crushed velvet outfits which made us giggle – a real time warp.  On leaving the town we saw a sign for “The Crystal Castle” and thought it warranted a look.  It was a fair drive from the town through some picturesque countryside.  Our expectations of what The Crystal Castle would look like were soon dashed when we got there.  Lo and behold there’s no actual castle – it’s the hippie equivalent of Australia’s Wonderland theme park, where kids can have birthday parties, complete with shop and coffee shop facilities.  It was $15 each to get in.  Since it closed at 5pm and we didn’t get there until 3.30 we decided to give it a miss.  We felt quite disappointed, although it is set in a tranquil landscaped gardens complete with life sized concrete buddas.  We decided we’d rather spend the money at the comedy night we were going to in Byron later that night.

The Comedy Night was at a venue called The Owl and The Pussycat – a local tapas bar/restaurant.  It was $5 entrance fee to view the comedy.  I must say I had the best sirloin steak and yummy thick home made wedges which were reasonably priced.  We sat at the back on really comfy lounges and cushions.  It was hosted by a well known comedian (can’t remember his name).  He was really, really funny.  He did a warm up and then introduced each of the 7 amateur stand-up comedians throughout the evening.  They were pretty mediocre, some a little better than others.  The last one was a Croatian with a thick Russian accent.  He never smiled or looked at the audience and kept taking off layer after layer of clothing, undressing to bright red jocks with blonde curly pubes.  He thought he was so funny.  They hold the comedy events once a month.  There wasn’t a huge crowd but it was quite fun and something a bit different to do.  Wouldn’t rush back in a hurry again as once was quite enough. 

 Well at least there’s a Dendy Cinema at Byron – yeah civilisation. Unfortunately there was nothing on I wanted to see.  Absolute drought of good movies anywhere at the moment.

Next week we're at Corindi - one of our favourite spots.  So stay tuned for all the latest news about Corindi in the next posting. 

Bye from us for now.  Have a good week.  Love Marian and Richard . 

WEEK 2 AT YAMBA

Our second week at Yamba was spent very leisurely and we went for lots of walks along different bush tracks we found driving around. We had to ease up on the hard, long beach runs with Sally as she had a very sore hip and was on anti-inflammatory tablets from the vet. He advised us to rest her up as much as we could, nearly impossible when she’s hanging out for a long walk.  She was limping very badly for 4 days and couldn’t understand why we weren’t throwing stones for her.  She’s a bit better now and still loves her beach walks.  We still went for a walk along the breakwall every afternoon and saw lots of dolphins there every time, much to our delight.  One afternoon they were on both sides of the rocks and we didn’t know which direction to look in.

We’ve been catching up on book reading (Richard instead of fishing).  We’re rediscovering just how good a writer John Grisham is.  We both read 4 of his books practically non-stop this week (you could hardly get a word out of either of us).  The weather has been absolutely superb and we’re really taking advantage of it sitting outside the caravan whilst reading.

We went to Yamba Golf Club for a show called “60’s British Hits” which was $30 each for a meal and show – pretty good value really.  The meal was fairly average.  The band used to be in different bands In England before they joined up together.  There were 4 guys all well in their 60’s too I imagine.  Most of the crowd were in that age bracket also.  From the very first number the dance floor was crowded and it was non-stop boogying from a very lively crowd as there was a big dance floor in front of the tables.  We got up and danced quite a bit as well.  We were surprised and delighted they even did a Rolling Stones number.  There were old favourites from The Kinks, Dave Clark 5, Beatles, Jerry and The Pacemakers, Shadows and many more.  They were called The Chevrons and were a very funny, entertaining group.  We cracked up when the lead guitarist came out with scruffy hair, headband and big ears, coughing his guts up just like Keith Richards from the Stones – he really looked like him (wrinkled skin and all).  We got talking to the other people on our table and had a really nice night.  Got the courtesy bus home so we could both drink.

We were both sorry to leave Yamba as it had been so enjoyable.

 WEEK 7 TWEED HEADS

We arrived in Tweed Heads Monday 15^th August.  It took us 3 hours from Yamba with one stop for a cuppa along the way.  We knew it was a big town as there were lots of high-rise apartments from the Gold Coast coming into view and we passed Tweed City Shopping Centre.  We’re not used to big cities and loads of traffic these days.  Thankfully our caravan park is out of town.  It’s an older style park and the managers were very friendly and helpful and stopped to chat to us for a long time before we parked the van and set up.  We’re right on the Tweed River.  It’s lovely when you step out of the van and look ahead and can see the water.  We went for a lovely walk along the river path and onto the new boardwalk as soon as we’d had lunch and set up.  Richard was checking out  many potentially good fishing spots to come back to.  Half way down the road we were amused to see what must be the locals “happy hour spot” on the grass verge by the water  There are lots of tables and chairs set up in one area, surrounded by bushes and plants that they must have put there also – the happy hour oasis.  There are always lots of hopeful fishermen along the verge in the evenings.  We get a lot of airplanes going overhead as we’re only 10 minutes away from the Gold Coast Airport.

We’ve been checking out other beach areas and particularly like Kingscliff, which has been in the news a lot recently with all the storm damage there.  Most of the beach has totally collapsed.  You can see where they’re trying to rebuild it with huge rocks on the bank. You can see the diggers smoothing out all the fallen trees and debris.  It’s a very pretty town and has a lovely feel to it.  We’ve found a very nice coffee shop where the breakfast is really good – even Richard thinks so – and he’s not a café person.  We’ve been there twice this week already. 

We’re really close to Coolangatta, Rainbow, Kirra and  Greenmount Beaches, complete with all the high rises, cafes and restaurants. We’re in low season and can’t imagine how crowded and unbearable they would be in peak season!  Definitely not our scene.

We’ve been to the old town of Chinderah which is mainly an older style river town.  We then drove down to Brunswick Heads and both of us instantly fell in love with the place.  It’s practically untouched, very small and has a lovely feel to it. We wanted to check out the Ferry Park Holiday Park that takes dogs for future reference.  We found another gem there, situated on a big river.  It’s a fairly new park and only 3 minutes drive to the town and beaches (dog friendly yippee!!).  It’s ultra-modern and very clean and well maintained with gorgeous river views and very friendly staff.  We spotted dolphins in the bay and were really thrilled once again.    We loved the place so much that we’ve altered our plans to fit in a week’s stay there next week.  We both can’t wait to get there.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We’ve been having happy hour drinks with our neighbours from South Australia and they’ve given us heaps of helpful information and tips about places to visit there next year.  They’ve even given us their SA travel guide earmarked with the best places to stay.  We’ve got that many Caravan Park Directories for each state now that we won’t be lost for somewhere to set up camp during our travels.

Well John Grisham’s calling and it’s also Sally’s dinner and evening walk time.  That’s all for now.  Signing out from Tweed Heads.  Get ready for another thrilling instalment from Brunswick Heads next week.

Take care and have a good week also.

love Marian, Richard and Sally

WEEK 1 AT YAMBA

 

One of the banners flying off the flag poles throughout the town


A brightly painted tartan pole

Another tartan pole

A  view overlooking The Maclean River 

Brooms Head

The Shanty Shack 

The lower tier where campers set up their tents on the grassy area shown here (wow)

Brooms Head

Panoramic view from the hilltop at Brooms Head 

We’ve been at Yamba a week now and it’s an absolutely beautiful spot, very pretty and picturesque.  There’s a boardwalk all through the Marina into town going out onto the breakwall  It’s a coastal town that’s got character with many retirees living up here.  It’s a popular spot all year round.  There are many new houses here since our last visit 4 years ago, but it’s basically unchanged. 

Our caravan park Yamba Waters is centrally located, about a 10 minute walk up to the marina and about 20 minutes walk into the main part of town. The sites are all very large.  We got a drive through sight which is better for parking (and saves many domestics trying to back a huge 25 ft. van between trees etc).  There’s a river at the back of the park,  a heated pool, big chess set (never seen anyone – yet – playing it) and a second pool.  Everyone here is very friendly and helpful.  There are other caravan parks buy they don’t allow dogs.  This park has only just started to take dogs. It’s pretty full as there is a big golf tournament on next week.  We can’t believe how fast this first week has gone by.  The dog friendly beach is about 10 minutes by car and we take Sally there twice a day which she absolutely loves.

The weather has been really warm every day.  We feel like its summer rather than winter.  We’ve been going for lots of long walks and driving around the various beaches.  We’ve seen dolphins off the breakwall every time we’ve walked there.   Richard’s  been checking out the fishing spots and chatting to the locals on the breakwall and rocks off  of the beach and has decided  to try his luck out tomorrow.  Will let you know how he goes in the next blog.

On Thursday we went to the Scottish town called Maclean, 20minutes from Yamba. Coming into the town we immediately saw the power poles on both sides of the road painted in the brightly coloured clan tartan colours with the clan names above them. They’re really bright and striking and quite unique set amid the sugar canes. We weren’t really sure what to expect as we’d vaguely heard about them.  The town is really pretty with huge material banners with Scottish themes flying off the top of the power poles.  We drove up and down the town a few times and stopped at Ferry Park Tourist Information Centre with a café overooking the river.  This town has become very RV friendly and the car  park was filled with cars and caravans stopping to enjoy the sunshine and have lunch.  We stopped off at many beauty spots all overlooking the huge MacLean River, visited the Scottish Shop and the Scottish Cairn (a huge rock).

We then headed to Brooms Head a sleepy coastal town a further 30 minutes drive from Maclean. I really only wanted to go there because of the name. On the way there we saw a sign saying “Caution emus on the road” and I cracked up it really tickled me.  I’ve never heard of emus being a danger to motorists before.  Apparently they run wild across the roads and can be as hazardous as kangaroos!!!  Well, I’m glad to say even though our eyes were peeled looking out for feral emus we only spotted one lone kangaroo in the paddock going and coming back.  When we got to Brooms Head we were totally blown away by the beauty of the place – crystal clear, turquoise water with spectacular views.  The caravan park is at the top of the hill and overlooks some stunning beach scenery.  It’s a tiered layout and campers have got the perfect deal there as the allocated camping spots are on grassed areas on the bottom tier right next to the rocks of the breakwall and the beach literally within arm’s reach of the camp spot. We had lunch at the “Shanty Shack” right on the beach.  It’s only open from 11 – 2 during the winter but its really busy as there’s only that café or one at the service station to chose from.  There is also a bowling club but that’s it for cuisine and/or entertainment.  That apart, I would love to stay there, but it’s in the middle of a nature reserve and dogs aren’t allowed there, alas.  But keep that area in mind if you ever want to stay somewhere quietly spectacular.

On Saturday we decided to go to Yamba Cinema to see Red Dog.  Boy oh boy what a cultural experience that turned out to be.  Admission was $7 each (sorry no eftpos!!).  They show one movie at a time in an area that seats about 200 people maximum.  The cinema is closed on Thursdays.  The last session on Monday and Tuesday afternoons is 1pm and the last session on Friday night is 8pm.  The actual seating area is a step back in time, old musty original red carpet, blue wooden painted seats with red velvet upholstery (really uncomfortable after about 5 minutes).  The ceiling fans are covered with at least 20 years of dirt and dust!! The actual movie was hard to hear with no surround sound (eat your heart out Gold Class and 3D).  That old saying you get what you pay for!  All in all quite a unique experience.  The actual movie was fantastic, really enjoyable – a real heart-warming, entertaining, feel-good movie.  Definitely up there with the classic Australian iconic movies Man From Snowy Mountain, The Castle and Strictly Ballroom and should scoop all the rewards when they’re dished out.

Last night we went to Yamba Shores Tavern located on top of a pontoon attached to the tavern right over the water.  It’s a lovely place and the food was great with large serves.  It’s a popular venue for weddings and functions and recently refurbished and very modern.  A lovely relaxing and casual atmosphere.  We’re going there for lunch next week to take advantage of the water view, which was hard to see at night.

We’ve had a lovely, relaxing week and are looking forward to more of the same next week.

Signing off for now. Stay tuned for the next exciting instalment next week.

Take care

Marian and Richard (and Sally)

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!!

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

OUR FIRST WEEK ON THE ROAD

Sally's favourite spot in the carvavan amongst many others

Dick is finished work and is celebrating with a welcome cup of tea in his mug  a present from the girls at work  

Daniel and Adam at our "farewell" dinner

Daniel and Min

Hayley and Adrian

Merv and Woody entertaining us all at Christmas in July

Yippee Dick's caught his first "on the road" fish.  Having yummy fish cakes for dinner tomorrow

Jane and Lorraine enjoyng a wine or three!!!!

We had a lovely farewell dinner with the family and friends at our favourite thai restaurant in Milperra on the Thursday night before we left on our road trip.  It was a bit emotional saying final farewells to the kids but we'll all keep in touch.
We set off on our trip early Friday morning, 1st July.  It was a lovely sunny day when we left, but the weather turned a bit grim along the way.  We had to stop a few times as the caravan was swaying which was a big worry and quite scary to be experiencig.  Dick rearranged a few of the heavier items inside the van to see if it made any difference.  We covinced ourselves it was the weight from all the alcohol we were carrying, as we'd generously been given more supplies by our wonderful friends to add to the stock we already had. We finally got to Budgewoi and set up before it bucketed down with rain which it did for most of the remainder of the day. Oh well, it could have been worse.  At least we 'd set up and were inside nice and warm and snug.  We went out for an Italian meal that night as it was our wedding anniversary.  It's called "Little Italy" and is above Budgewoi Pub.  We  had a lovely meal there and d idn't have far to walk home.

The next night we were invited to a Christmas in July under the camp kitchen at the caravan park.  It went from 5-9pm. They had gone to a lot of trouble to set up the tables with festive cloths and decorations  throughout the area.  Santa visited us all with handfuls of yummy chocolates. We were entertained by a duo called Woody and Merv - two talented funny musicians that took requests but didn't know any Rolling Stones songs. We soon forgave them as we really enjoyed their music.They cracked many jokes throughout the night and when asked if they had any groupies, they replied "no at our age, we have carers". Corny but funny.

Dick  spent many hours pondering the problem of the caravan swaying and finally decided it was due to the tool box and bike rack that he'd spent many hours designing and making. So Sunday was spent taking if off the back of the van and rearranging everything in the back of the car and tool box and front box of the caravan.  Fortunately we still had the original one stored in the shed at Jeff ad Kate's. Now it's now restored to it's original  state and the bike will have to travel inside the van until  we get a bike rack for the top of the car.  Hopefully, our trip up to Laurieton next Friday won't have any sway at all!!

The park is fairly quiet considering it's school holidays. They have kids club activities at the camp kitchen twice a day.  They have been laying rabbit bait, so we have to be careful of Sally off her lead.  The park is plagued with rabbits  that  mainly come out at night.  During the day there are loads of ducks and black swans roaming around and swimming on the lake. We've got  an uninterrupted view of the lake from our kitchen window.

We've been checking out a few of the other caravan parks in the area.   They are all really good, but we decided to stay here for another week.  We're making a rough plan of where we want to go.  After 2 weeks at Laurieton we're going to Yamba to try out a new caravan park Yamba Waters that now takes dogs.  Quite a few more now take dogs from 1st July this year.   We'll probably head up to Tweed Heads after our 2 weeks at Laurieton, but it's very flexible.

So that's our first week completed.  We're enjoying lots of gorgeous walks along the beach each morning and Sally loves the freedom of being off her lead and chasing seagulls.  It looks like I might need a cookbook of 101 ways with fish!!!!

Take care everyone and thanks for logging on to share our adventures. 

Love for now Marian and Richard/Dick