When we arrived to set up, 2 kookaburras came to meet us, then some minor birds, lorikeets & big black chicken looking things. We later found out they were bush turkeys. *stay tuned for a bush turkey story later on. Gary decided to feed the birds some bread. They were so tame, the kookaburras were literally eating out of his hand. When we read our info received at check in it reads quite clearly "it is an offence to feed the wild life" oops!
Next morning, it was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to eat our breakfast out under the awning. I get myself all settled with my cup of tea & toast. Word had obviously got out that site 124 didn't read the do's & dont's so were good for a feed of bread. just as I was about to take a bite of my toast a minor bird came swooping down to take it out of my had (or mouth)! I then found out they are as big a scavenger as seagulls with hot chips.
Next day we had a lovely lunch with our sister in laws (Maureen's) sister Val. There is a massive shopping centre called Macquarie Centre only 10 minutes away from the park. They have paid car parking with the first 3 hours free. We went early to have a look around & after a long lunch we ended up staying there for a total of 5 hours. I figured 2 extra hours would be around $10. I nearly choked when it came up $20!! Welcome to Sydney, I thought.
We spent a day on public transport that was pretty fun. The North Ryde train station is only 500 metres from the park. The station is underground. Gary was blown away that it was about 10 story's underground. Sydney's public transport system is fantastic. The trains & stations were immaculately clean. We caught a train to Milsons Point (Luna Park) then a ferry to Darling Harbour. I wanted to catch the Rivercat to Parramatta to do a nice leisurely river cruise but then found out it was a three hour return trip. I thought That was a bit too leisurely so we decided against it. We then caught it to Cockatoo Island which was only about 10 minutes away. Cockatoo Island is where they did a lot of ship maintenance & building during WW2. There was some kind of display on for high school kids so we just had a quick look around & then jumped on the next ferry back to Darling Harbour. We had a nice lunch then on to another ferry back to Milsons point via Circular Quay. At Milsons Point we walked across (not over) the Sydney Harbour Bridge, well, walked half way over & then back again. Gary was pretty impressed to see the structure up that close.
Because the park was so relaxing & huge, we did spend a few days just lazing around or just going for walks. We were hoping to spend some time with my brother Danny & sister in law Robyn & niece Olivia who live in Sydney, but unfortunately my sister in law had a nasty accident & hurt her leg at the beginning of the year which she is still struggling with. I'm so grateful Danny was able to come & visit us after work one night & stay for tea. It was so nice sitting outside under the awning chatting like we'd seen each other yesterday. We hardly get to see each other but whenever we do it's like we were never apart.
We also caught up & had lunch with Carl. We met Carl on our very first cruise. It was lovely that he gave up his day off to catch up. The hot chocolate at Max Brenner was amazing!
On the Saturday night we went to Kristen & Ron's home for dinner. Kristen & Ron were my Miche Bag bosses & have become great friends. We stayed overnight & as the next day was Mothers Day they invited us to join them for Mothers Day lunch with their family. How nice is that!
One night Gary visited the amenities block & there was a guy looking up into the trees. Gary looked up & there were about 10 bush turkeys sitting up in the trees. They both stood there looking at them & talking when the guy says to Gary "I just came here to get away & have a joint, do you want some" as he offers Gary his wacky weed. Gary says "no thanks" & hurried off as quickly as his little legs would take him.
We've never really been fans of visiting Sydney but we had a really great week due to the surprisingly fantastic caravan park & catching up with some wonderful people.
Next stop ........... Central Coast & Newcastle
We come from there and haven't seen as much as you :)
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