May 26 - Launceston

Stuart and Jenny had the day off and took us to Launceston which is a fairly large city in the North, quite close to the coast on the Tamar River, it's also very hilly.  Jenny's brother Steve, his wife Marg and their two boys, Harry and Max live their also.  We went to their place first, just to have a little visit.  It appears they live in the country as their block of land is quite large, however, they are only about 5 minutes from the centre of Town.  I love they way these places are set out.  Country in the City...there are lots of places around that are on very big lots, well treed with lots of plants and flowers so it looks like you are in/or near a park.  The streets in Launceston are not as wide as some of the small Towns we have been in, but then again, it is a larger City and I guess needs more room for the buildings.  Seems a shame really.

 A view from the waterfront

Our fist stop was Cataract Gorge, you can either walk around it or take a chair lift across.  There is a little restaurant at the other side, peacocks, among other birds, walk all around the place, between the tables looking for scraps of food to be dropped. 

Their summer plumage has gone so the back end is much shorter... aren't they lovely

A view from the suspension bridge overlooking the swimming pool

Not much water in the gorge at this time of year, if you look closely you can see the water line from where it usually is

A little Paddy Melon on the path.  They are timid little creatures, very soft, they have feet like a kangaroo and hop out of the way.  They are quite cute and very quick

This is the suspension bridge looking from the walkway on the other side.  Notice how still the water is to make such a clear reflection

Stuart, Jenny, Max with me.  Max is 12 and an absolutely beautiful child, also fun to be with

Max and I on the walkway opposite of the suspension bridge.

After the Gorge we went to the "Monkey Park" aka City Park.  The Japanese gave the City some Macaque monkeys and they have a huge enclosure for them.  They also have quite a large number of them.  Unfortunately, the camera was in the trunk of the car....I always threaten to get another photographer, but when Dalton hands the camera to me, I know that is a terrible idea as I take lousy pictures.

My next blog will be New Zealand!

Back to Tassie - May 17-22

We took the Van back this morning, and boy did we have a list of things they needed to address.  They took everything really well and gave us our full deposit back.  I have to say it was nice to see the last of the van.  We enjoyed it while we had it but it is great to be getting back to a real bed again.

Mark, from AllSeasons drove us to the airport with all our luggage, we weren't looking forward to checking in, it cost us $300.00 for overweight luggage when we flew to Melbourne by Jet Star so we decided to fly Virgin Air.  On Virgin Air all sports equipment travels free.  That is a big bonus.  We loaded the golf bag as much as we could and they didn't charge us anything for overage.  The flight was very good, it seems there was slightly more room than usual, it could have been my imagination, but I felt more comfortable than before.  

Stuart picked us up at the airport.  We both really enjoyed being back in a house with a shower and bed.  

Tuesday was very uneventful.  We took Guinness for a walk into Town.  It is a very small town and they live about 2km away.  The weather was bright and sunny.  Going into town was nice, coming back was harder for me, lots of hills and fairly steep ones at that.  However, we made it and I felt much better for it.  I did spend the rest of the day laying on the couch reading my book.

Wednesday, however, a very different story...Jenny made me a dentist appointment at 8:10.  I was there at 8:00 and he started right away.  I had a root canal, a very long root canal.  He couldn't seem to drill through my crown.  First of all, he didn't want to as he really liked my dental work.  But when he started to drill and kept asking for Tungsten-carbide bits,  I knew I was in trouble.  He was finally finished with me at 9:50.  I couldn't hold my mouth open any more and my face was only slightly swollen.  I felt pretty good, no more pain (so I thought).  The freezing came out about noon, I had a cup of tea, and guess what....he had fixed the wrong tooth.

Thursday I was in again at 8:00 - he gave me a needle, and hit a nerve, I got a shock and the freezing started immediately.  This time he had all the correct bits, it was still hard to drill, apparently I have 8 times the amount of metal required for a crown.  I was finished by 9:00 and he didn't charge me.  Both Dalton and I were happy about that aspect and when the freezing came out this time.  I was in great shape.  The downside...I have to go see a Specialist for the finishing up.  I do have a supply of antibiotics for our trip to New Zealand in case anything happens before our flight home. 

Saturday morning Jenny and I went to Salamanca Market, had a great time.  We had to get home to do some more cooking, we started last night.  We are having an Irish theme dinner party tonight.  Jenny's birthday is Sunday.  They just came back from Ireland and thought it would be a fun thing to do. There were 12 of us for dinner and it went off without a hitch.  Everyone had a great time. 

This is Guinness, she is reclining on the bench outside our bedroom window, she follows the sun around the house.  Clever dog!

Her name was Emma when they rescued her from the Pound, however, after she had been spayed, she was very much a tomboy, hence the name change...most of the time she gets called he...She doesn't seem to care what gender she gets called, as long as she is loved...

This is the view from our window

The other direction, isn't it lovely!

Stuart and Jenny's home...we just love it!

May 12-16

We left Kate and Trevor's around 9:00 we didn't want to get caught in the middle of the Sydney traffic.  We had a reservation at Lane Cove Tourist Park, where we stayed in 2001, a very nice place.  We arrived about 11:00 and tried to get in touch with Trish, were not successful so we walked up to the RSL in North Ryde, about 2km from where we were.  We had dinner, won some money and got the shuttle home.  We froze that evening, no heat in the van and the duvet they gave us was totally inadequate.  

We left early on the 13th to head to the Royal National Park where we spent the next 3 nights, no power so no blog.  The campground had hot showers but it was pretty cold getting in and out.  The weather is definitely getting colder.  Days are still warm though, long pants are in use.

Dalton built a house in Maianbar which is just across a small footbridge inside the caravan park, we walked over for coffee at a cute little spot with a view of the water.  The coffee machine broke down so we had breakfast without coffee, which isn't unusual as the coffee here is very different than what we are used to drinking, fairly strong, so we have been drinking tea anyway.

Dalton still has some friends here, used to be neighbors but the place has grown so much there is an entire block of houses between them now.  There is so little room in the area afforded for housing so they just cram them in every which way, the streets are so crowded and the driveways are so steep.  There seems to be no plan to anything, "if there is room, they will come" seems to be the theme.  We really had a nice time with Ian and Gail Nightingale.  We spent the majority of our time with them and we used their home as a base for getting the van in condition to return and getting our laundry all done for repacking.  We had a couple evenings out and a couple of BBQs on their back deck.  A very nice and relaxing time.  They also lent us a comforter so we wouldn't freeze our butts of while we were in the area.

We also met Gail's mother,  Beryl, they say she's 93 but we think she isn't a day over 70.  I have never met anyone quite like her, she is so with it, dresses really nicely, not a hair out of place, quick witted, still drives.  Actually, I have seen some 70 year old people that are much older than she is in every way.  What a fantastic woman.  We should all be so lucky to be like her...

We also took the ferry (foot passengers only- we had to run and jump on) over to Crunella and wandered around the shops one morning.  We drove over to the Ferry Terminal (Ian lent us one of their cars so we didn't have to move the van) we didn't have a schedule but the ferry was just pulling out.  I think it's the only place to shop that doesn't charge an arm an a leg for everything in the entire Country.  It has a lovely feel about it, but I guess it isn't the nice place it used to be.  Not so long ago there were a bunch of race riots held here.  You wouldn't think so to look at it now.  There is also loads of surfing here, the waves were really quite high.  We stood for ages and watched the surfers.  Some of them are very daring.

This is where I spent most of Saturday, reading and enjoying the sun.  The other half of the day I spent lying in the Van...upset tummy.  Note the long pants.

Dalton took this picture from the Ferry, our van is the only vehicle in the park.   It is in the morning so the tide is out.  This is Thursday, no campers had arrived yet, it filled up by Friday night though and Saturday was filled with families, loads of kids on bikes and playing in the water, even though it was colder than normal.  Most of them had wet suits.  They come prepared.

This is the view from our campsite when the tide is in.

When we first arrived it he area, we drove into Crunella to have a look around, this is one of the views.  When Dalton first immigrated here in 1971 he lived here.  Moved to Maianbar in 1972.

Same place, different direction

This is also a view from the Ferry, probably the last nice beach we will be near in Australia, too cold now. 

 

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A little plover having a shower under the water tap.  They have very long legs and, although they are able to fly, they run to get out of the way.  They can move pretty fast when they have to.

May 9 - 11

We are making our way to Sydney to return the van, we are trying to drag our feet as much as we can even though we have actually decided we will be glad to get out of the van, we don't want our time to end, we are having too much fun, however, winter is setting in, such as it is, and we need to get back to Tassie to collect our warm clothing.

Our first stop is a little tiny place called Balahadela where we had the biggest hamburger I have ever seen.  We had them hold the pineapple, it didn't seem right to have pineapple on your burger, but they put a big slice of beet on it as well as an egg.  It is pretty hard to get it in your mouth, no matter how big it is...It is also very delicious.

We drove to the Port Stephens Peninsula and stayed at the Shoal Bay Holiday Park.  A beautiful place right across the street from the beach.  We enjoyed wandering the main street and having drinks at a little pub, two areas, one in the back where it is shady and one in the front where you get the sun and can look over the ocean, we chose the ocean of course.  Loads of restaurants and boutiques.  A very pretty place.  Dalton had bought a lot there in the 70s, we tried to find it but of course the area has grown so much he couldn't recognize anything.  He sure cried the blues wishing he still had it.

May 10th - our 13th Anniversary - I spent the morning at the Dentist, I have a nerve that is dying, he wouldn't do anything for me because we are travelling and I would have to go back a couple of times, he did give me some pain killers though, didn't help much.  Anyway, we walked up to the RSL that evening and had a lovely dinner, didn't win anything on the Pokies though.  

We left the next morning for Kate & Trevor's place in the Kurrijong Hills, we had a very pleasant trip, found the place on our own without having to phone.  We had to have one more visit to say good bye as we don't know when we would see them again and we really enjoy their company.  They always have such interesting things to tell you.  We showed them some of our photos so it was a fairly long evening.  Trevor leaves the house at 6:00 a.m. and has a 2 hour train ride into Sydney.  I can't imagine what it would be like spending 4 hours getting to and from work each day.  Such is the life of a gentleman farmer.

Foster/Tuncurry - May 8

Something I forgot to mention when we were at Laurieton, and the same goes for most of the little towns in New South Wales - the main street parking is angle parking, however, it is back to the curb.  What a pain that is.  We think it is to keep traffic flowing when you are leaving, however, they forget about how much you hold traffic up trying to get the van between the lines at a 45degree angle on the first try.

Anyway, back to Foster/Tuncurry - very lovely, on the water, the caravan park was on the Foreshore by the Marina so it was really nice.  Lots of fishing boats.  They always have a breakwater walkway which is really nice to walk on.  There were huge schools of bait fish jumping, dolphins playing and loads of pelicans looking for a handout.

 Some of the boats in the Marina

Dalton sitting on the rocks of the breakwater on the Foster side of the bridge with his back toward Tuncurry's beautiful beach.

Back to Laurieton

Laurieton was the place we went to with our friends Kate, Trevor and Alex when we first arrived in Sydney.  We really liked the town and it is only 30 km. from Port Macquarrie.  There are several caravan parks in the area, we selected the Diamond Waters Caravan Park.  It is located right on a river, beautiful clear water and it is visited in the evening by Kangaroo.

We must have spent 3 hours driving around looking for the beach where Trevor took Dalton fishing, we were back and forth over the bridge, up one street and down the next, we even went to a couple of nearby towns looking.  When we finally found it it was about four blocks from the beach house we stayed at the first time we were there.  I guess you really don't pay attention when someone else is driving.

We were really impressed with the area, much more to our liking, too bad we have to leave and can only stay one night. 

Port Macquarrie

When we were down here in 2001, Port Macquarrie was my favorite place, the weather was perfect year round, low of 70 and high of 80.  It had a lovely downtown section, tile and brick streets and the caravan court was beautiful.  Well, things have changed...the caravan court is still lovely, it's called the Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park, it is big, well kept and in a fabulous location.  We had to wear jackets and long pants one day and we had to put an extra blanket on the bed at night.  Our first day and night was lovely, just like we remembered, next day it was windy and we had to put on more clothes.  We wanted to be wearing our shorts until we left for Tasmania again, winter is setting in in New South Wales.

We also found out that Port Macquarrie is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia, no longer the sleepy little place we knew and loved, it has a large industrial area, still some lovely areas but it didn't make us want to live there like we wanted to in 2001.

We didn't even take any pictures when we were there and Dalton was upset because we had horrible internet service and his cell phone wouldn't work either.  I guess we can strike this one off our list.

May 4th - Nambucca Heads

We had a beautiful spot to be camped at, next door to a beautiful golf course, Dalton could walk and it rained, and it rained, all day - I did laundry in the morning and no sooner did I get it hung on the line when the rain started, usually it doesn't last...not today!  Dalton left for the golf course about 1/2 hour before it started.  He came home soaked, I read an entire book, nothing to do in a small van when it's raining.  It finally quite about 5:30 so we walked up the street to the RSL and had dinner, played the pokies, lost our quota for the day and walked home.  Doesn't that sound like a sad state of affairs?

The next day arrived bright and sunny. We were sitting outside eating our breakfast and we were visited by the locals.  They really took a liking to Dalton.

The ones with the blue heads are Rainbow Lorikeets and the green headed ones are a smaller version,  the little ones are usually in pairs and they cuddle, they are soooo cute!

We decided to feed them a piece of bread, the only way to get them off Dalton's head.

To May 3

Our really interesting times are nearly over.  We are on the way back to Sydney, heading down the coast, we will be enjoying the rest of the trip but it will be boring for the readers, it will be beaches, golfing, beaches and hopefully golfing for most of the way.  We will be going to see some friends to say good bye, but we won't be doing any more tours or cruises from here on.  

Yesterday, after we left Byron Bay we drove to Yamba, a lovely little village by the ocean.  We had a drink in the Tavern by the water and headed south.  We were told Mini Waters was a good place to go but when we got there we decided it was too early so we drove over to Wooli and decided to stay there instead.  It was a beautiful park and the shower was wonderful, after what we had at Byron Bay, it was a real treat.  

We left this morning, stopped at Coffs Harbour for a banana muffin, you have to have something made with bananas here because it is the banana capital of Australia, or so we've been told.  Coffs Harbour is too big for us so we continued to Nambucca Heads.  Found a campground right next door to a golf course.  Dalton booked us in for two nights. 

Byron Bay

We took our time going to Byron Bay because it was a short distance so we drove into all the little communities to see what was there and to look at the beaches.

Bogangar - another lovely beach, just south of Surfers and not all the people

just watching the surfers, same beach

We just love the beach views

 We arrived in Byron Bay early in the day, the traffic into town was horrendous.  We thought there must be road construction or an accident, however, it was just the tourists arriving in full force.

We were fortunate enough to get a spot at the Glen Villa Resort, the same place we stayed in 2001.  It is a big, beautiful park, one of the nicest we have stayed in, however, it has the worst amenities blocks, only 3 sinks, everything is old.  The owner is pulling in bucks hand over fist and he doesn't want to part with any of it.  When we turned our boom gate key in, I told them exactly what I thought and they said they wished the owner would do something, I am sure they have heard it all before.

Anyway, David was there and that is why we were stopping.   We met David for drinks at the Train Station, about a 5 minute walk from our park, it has live bands every night and the place was hopping.  David found us a table in a very secluded section so we were at least able to have a conversation.  We had a couple of drinks and then made arrangements for the next day.

David picked us up and took us up to Cape Byron, it was a lovely walk, uphill all the way,

David and Uncle Dalton

Just a lovely shot of the Lighthouse - it's cloudy and the clouds look full of rain, but it was still very hot

We watched the surfers on one side - what you see from downtown Byron Bay

Some people will go anywhere to fish!

A Rainbow Lorikeet having lunch by the path on the way to the lighthouse

David and Aunt Robi checking out the turtles, they really look small from way up here

Some Byron Bay shacks

Another Byron Bay shack, this time its an accommodation and restaurant - pretty spiffy

We were at the top of a cliff, by the lighthouse and they came pretty close...not my cup of tea!

There is a huge pod of dolphins playing in the water, however, the telephoto lens wasn't on the camera

The dolphins were just outside these waves, in front of the surfers on the other side of Byron Bay

After the lighthouse, we walked back down to the car, back into town and went to the beach for fish and chips then David took us to Nightcap National Park where he will be working until the end of June.

This is a waterfall but there is only a trickle going over at this time of year

The creeks and streams are so clean and clear, far away from all the pollution

David spent the day in bare feet, I told him that everyone would take him for an Abo

It's Dalton delivering our snorkel gear to David, that is the entry to his home for the next 2 months. 

David dropped us off so we could rest up for the evening.  He had booked us unto an Italian restaurant for dinner.  One of his mates, Dave and his wife Nicky, joined us for dinner.  We met at the Beach House for a drink and walked over to the restaurant, the meal was delicious, everyone was raving about it and when the bill was due to arrive, we found it had already been taken care of by David.  Business must be really good for Mtn. Trails.

Sunday was Market day so we took a tour our two around the stalls, met up with David to say good-bye.  We had a most enjoyable time with him, glad to have been able to get to know him a little better, the more we know, the more we like.

April 24th - April 29 Coolangatta/Tweed Heads

Our journey South continues - we arrived in Noosa Heads, a very high end place.  No possibility of staying there, too crowded - probably couldn't afford the fee for a powered site.  We did have lunch there and we almost had to get a job doing dishes.  Prices are terrible.  We walked down the street checking out the stores, nice little boutiques, however, I saw a handbag I liked, went in to look at it and it was $596.00.  I dropped it like a hot potato, I was afraid some of the gold threads would break, it must have been gold threads holding it together, I couldn't imagine why else it would cost so much.  Needless to say, we didn't do any shopping.  

We continued on our way, the scenery was lovely when we could see the ocean, a lot of the driving was on the main highway and there is not much to see there.    We stayed at a little place called Jacob's Well for the night.  A small campground but right on the water, very full as it was the start of a long week-end in Queensland so everyone was out camping.  They don't care if its raining and cool.  I guess they are used to it.

When we are travelling, we always leave early, usually by 7:00 so we always get to the next place fairly early.  Our next stop was Surfers Paradise.  We had brunch at a little coffee house, close to the water.  We walked up to the beach, watched all the surfers out and decided we had best leave while we could get out of town.  It was Anzac days...Australia New Zealand Army Corp and they celebrate like we do Remembrance Day, only on a much larger scale.  There were so many streets blocked off for the parade.  The weather was really nice so you know the crowds would be out.  That is the most people we had ever seen on any of the beaches.  All that day, all the beaches we came to were full, usually you could shoot a canon down any beach and never hit a soul.

We arrived at Tweed Heads and stayed at the Tweed Billabong Caravan Park, it is a Big 4 and we had stayed there when we were down in 2001.  We really liked it then and we still think it is a great park.  

This is what you see on the way to the pool in our caravan park

It is actually 2 pools, connected by a little bridge, on one side is a water slide for the kids and the other side has a waterfall and seating around with jets so you can have pressure on your back if you wish

On this side you can go in on a gentle slope

This side has a step down.  Now I really want a pool

We spent the afternoon by the pool and had an early night. 

Dalton planned to go golfing on Monday morning, he lined up a cab to pick him up, he had a tee time of 9:15.  In his excitement, he forgot to check if there was a time change, just assumed there was and headed off to the course, arriving at 7:00, place hasn't even opened yet.  When he wants to golf there is just no stopping him.  He did get a game in and was able to play with three others so it was pretty good for him.  He came home exhausted and starving.

David arrived from his week off in Tassie, he flew into Coolingata, which is the Queensland Town, on the border with Tweed Heads, that's why they call it the twin cities.  Anyway, he came over to the campsite and had lunch with me.  He wasn't able to stay until Dalton finished golfing but we had a nice visit and I showed him all the places we had been.  He was familiar with most of the places, but there are a few that he hadn't been yet.  David is working out of Byron Bay building trails in one of the National Parks  We will be seeing him again on the week-end.

When Dalton got home from golfing, we took a free bus into town and went to the same RSL we had been to when we were down in 2001.  The RSL here is one of the nicest we have seen so far, it is huge, about 4 floors.  They have 4 restaurants and they are all very good.  We had one of the nicest meals and probably the cheapest since we arrived in Australia.  We won $86.00 on the pokies before we took the free bus home again.  The bus driver delivered us right to the caravan park entrance, such service.

We stayed two more days in Tweed Heads, spent one day wandering around checking everything out and the last day, we spent going to all three RSLs and ended up walking home from the last one.  Didn't want to wait the hour for the next bus as our luck was not as good as it had been.