Farm life in Cooranbong

Cooranbong - 20th - 24th May

We met our hosts, Karen & Steven a few years ago on our New Zealand cruise & kept in touch via Facebook. When Karen read that we were going to be travelling around in our caravan, she offered for us to park the van in her 'yard' which just happens to be a 100 acre farm they share with 18 cows, 1 bull, 3 horses, a stray sheep & a beautiful Neapolitan Mastiff dog named Lucy (who is almost as big as the cows)!
Although we didn't know them very well, other than enjoying their company during drinks & trivia around the bar on the cruise ship, we figured they must be good people to make such an offer to relative strangers.
Cooranbong is 120km north of Sydney on the way to Newcastle. Karen met us out on the road & guided us to their property, opening & closing the gates so as not to let the cattle out. As we were driving up to the house along their endless driveway, the cattle seemed to be checking us out as much as we were checking them out.

Steven met us at the final gate & it was decided the best place to park was 'out the back' but there were a few low tree branches that could have caused a problem as the van is quite high. 'No problem' says Steven as he goes into his shed & returns with a chain saw & commenced 'pruning' the tree  so we would fit! Gotta love country hospitality.

During our first cup of tea I mentioned I didn't expect to be waited on & was happy to share some cooking etc to which Karen said "you are our guests & as such will not be lifting a finger" and she was true to her word. I didn't so much as put the kettle on the whole time we were there.

First duty for us was to help feed the cows. They received a little treat from us of some bread rolls with their usual bale of grassy stuff.  It was so much fun feeding them as one of the cows 'Snowman' & the bull 'Oddjob' were quite tame & loved being hand fed. They were so gentle & beautiful to be around.

The next day Gary had a great time riding around the property on the quad bike (while I anxiously quoted statistics for deaths in Australia while riding quad bikes) for those of you playing along at home there were 22 deaths in 2015. Thankfully, Gary didn't become a statistic & enjoyed every minute of his ride. Steven then gave us a tour of his shed where, along with the usual tractors etc It turns out he is a collector of 'engines'. I had a girls look while Gary was like a kid in a toy shop.............

We had a beautiful lunch at Caves Beach & saw the sights of Cooranbong, the Weetbix factory (Sanitarium) where we stocked up on Gary's favourite breakfast cereal at the outlet shop.
They also took us to see the kangaroos that roam wild on the grounds of the psychiatric hospital which is partially closed down. The hospital is a few kilometres off of the Main Street on the edge of bush land & as we were driving along Karen pointed out the many, many Asians walking along the side of the road to see the kangaroos. She said they flock there every day. We drove around the deserted grounds of the hospital & saw literally hundreds of kangaroos just grazing along the grass. There were many with joeys popping their heads out of their pouches. At one point I exclaimed "oh, look at that cute little Joey looking out of its mums pouch" to which Karen replied "that's a boy kangaroo" it seems what I thought was a joeys nose was something completely different. Oops!!

Gary even got his hands dirty by helping Steven mend a damaged fence on the property. He really enjoyed that too.
Our four days on the farm went by so quickly & we had so much fun. Karen & Steven were fantastic hosts & we can't wait to go back & see them again,

Next stop ....... Port Macquarie

We love our nieces to pieces!

Central Coast & Newcastle 9th - 20th May

This next leg of our journey sees us catching up with family members.
Firstly parking our van literally in the front yard of Gary's niece Kelly, her husband Greg & their gorgeous daughters Audrie (7) & Ava (5).

With Kelly & Greg at work & the girls at school during the day we spent some of the time looking round 'The Entrance'. According to tourist info, this is where Tuggerah Lake meets the Pacific Ocean. It's a beautiful seaside / lakeside town. One of the highlights of the lake is the daily pelican feeding at 3.30 every day of the year. This is run very well by volunteers who give a little talk about Pelicans while hand feeding them copious quantities of fish. Before the official feeding, One of the volunteers goes out into the crowd dangling fish in between the crowd which causes the Pelicans to get VERY up close & personal. When he did it between Gary & I the pelican slapped me in the face with its bill. The skin on its bill is very soft so it just felt 'funny'. It was a great experience.

Each night, we helped the girls with their homework & had dinner together. We learnt a lot about Kelly & Greg's efforts to have a 'zero waste'  household. Wherever possible They do not purchase anything that comes in plastic or paper containers. They have glass jars that they take shopping & the butcher or bulk goods store they go to places the food directly into the glass jars. Bread & fruit & veg is placed in reusable calico or cloth bags. They are very dedicated & it is an admirable thing they're doing for our planet & future generations.

We love catching up with them & will definitely call back again on our way back down to Adelaide.

Next stop was Newcastle & staying with my niece Michelle & her fiance' Nathan & their almost 2 year old son Nixon. We were hoping to park the van in the front yard of their newly purchased house but is is on a very steep hill so wasn't possible. We were very grateful to Kelly & Greg for offering to look after the van for us while we stayed with Michelle.
Michelle & Nathan also had to work during the week so Gary & I amused ourselves during the day & then spent the evenings with them. Nathan loves to cook so insisted on doing all the cooking. As much as I enjoy cooking & am happy to cook for other people, it was great having a nice meal cooked for me every night.

Michelle took us into Newcastle city & around the beaches. We had lunch at their new 'Honeysuckle' waterside precinct. It was lovely. We then went to Fort Scratchley 'built in 1882 to defend the city against Russian attack' . It has a fantastic lookout across the waters of Newcastle.

Gary & I went for a walk across Memorial Walk, the locals call it ANZAC Walk which made it a bit difficult to find on Google Maps. It's a fantastic walkway of approx 500metres along the cliffs. Very picturesque & gave us a lot of opportunity to use my selfie stick.

We went for a quick visit to the Hunter Valley. The highlight was at one of the cellar doors where a group of Japanese tourists were enjoying taking selfies of EVERYTHING & took an instant fascination to little Nixon. They swarmed around him like he was a rockstar. He took it all in his stride & just stood there while they all basically took it in turns to have their photo with him.


Our visit with Michelle, Nathan & Nixon was over too soon & we also look forward to staying with them again on the way back down to Adelaide.

Next stop .......... Cooranbong

Sydney was surprisingly great!

Sydney - 2nd - 9th May

We stayed at Lane Cove River Tourist Park which is on the edge of Lane Cove National Park. It's only 15km from the city but you would never know it. The park is completely surrounded by bush land (& birds).

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

Kiama ........Where size doesn't matter (& neither does Goulburn)

Kiama - 26th April - 2nd May

Our original plan was to go straight from Gundagai to Sydney, but as we have set ourselves a rule of driving no more than 300km's per day, we had planned to spend a few days in Goulburn. Gary's reasoning was that Goulburn Valley fruit comes from there so it must be a nice place!
I booked 2 nights in the caravan park & were pretty excited to find they had a special on where you stay 2 nights & get a third night free. Winning!!
We then were talking to our campsite neighbours who said they were heading to Canberra. Canberra is usually pretty cold so it wasn't really on our to do list but after checking my weather app & seeing that the weather there was going to be unseasonably warm we made the call to spend some time in Canberra (then Kiama) before heading to Sydney via Goulburn as I'd already paid the deposit for Goulburn.
After talking to my brother Danny & then Gary doing a bit of research he found that the 'famous' Goulburn Valley is actually in Qld & the NSW Goulburn is more famous for its 'Supermax' prison, housing Australia's most dangerous criminals! To make matters worse, that's about all there is in Goulburn, not even any fruit!
So....... 10km's out of Canberra on our way to Goulburn we decide to forfeit the deposit & head straight to Kiama.

We took the 'non' scenic route from Canberra to Kiama. I don't particularly like hilly, winding roads under normal circumstances & am finding it a little more stressful while towing the caravan. I found on Google Maps that if we went via Woolongong it is 60km's further but it is main highway all the way & will actually take no more time due to not having to drive so slow around the winding roads. Less stress for both of us - Yay!

Kiama is a lovely little town. VERY hilly roads and two blow holes, the 'big' blowhole & the 'little' blowhole. The caravan park wasn't the best. The sites were all very uneven & a little rundown. They had a weird way of cleaning the amenities blocks. They use a high pressure hose & just hosed down the entire block, basins & all therefore the floors, walls etc were left in pools of water. I asked them about it & they said they didn't want to leave mop fibres on the non slip tiles. Very strange.

Gary loved riding his bike along the bike path as it went right along the beachfront to the big blowhole. He went on a couple of rides but found them a bit tough due to the hills.
We went to the big blowhole each day, sometimes twice, to see if it blew any bigger during high tide. The viewing platforms are excellent & would give a great view if there were lots of people around Unfortunately the big blowhole wasn't really 'blowing' very much. It did it a little but but was pretty underwhelming.
We decided to see what the little blowhole was like & finally found it tucked in a little unassuming street. Nothing like the huge fanfare the big blowhole gets. Well, what it lacked in size it made up for in force. It spouted water pretty constantly at about 10 metres high. very impressive!

Every Wednesday they have a produce market by the sea at the marina. It was really nice wandering along the stalls of fresh, local food. We bought a Vietnamese Pho soup kit in a tub & took it back to the van for tea that night. It was beautiful. The best thing about these local markets is you can try before you buy & usually get things you would never find in a supermarket. There was live music playing & I instantly recognised them. Lily & The Drum are a local Gawler duo who are friends of Mick & Annie. Small world.

On our last night in Kiama I didn't see a step on the road of the caravan park (it was dark). I took a pretty nasty tumble & grazed my elbow & knee, ripped a hole in my jeans & took a chunk out of my hand. I kept thinking, thank goodness I didn't break any bones etc. I patched myself up using our newly purchased first aid kit & went to the medical centre at Woolongong the next morning to have it properly cleaned & dressed.
As someone said, that's now Gary, me & the car that have required medical attention, so lets hope we need nothing more than a bandaid or Panadol from now on.

Next Stop ........... Sydney

Our nations capital had Gary's heart all a flutter!

Canberra ....... 19th - 26th April

Our arrival in Canberra was 'challenging' to say the least!
Firstly, we were booked in to stay at Southside Caravan park, it didn't have very good reviews but seemed to be the best of a bad bunch. When we arrived we were directed to an area & told to "find a spot". Well, our 'grassed site' was nothing more than a dust bowl of a paddock. It was just awful. Before getting out of the car we decided we would not be staying there. I went back to reception saying we paid for a grassed site so wanted our money back. Luckily, she obliged without too much fuss.

We ended up at the Canberra Exhibition Park Showgrounds which turned out to be great. After setting up & having a late lunch Gary said he wasn't feeling too good & was touching his chest. That always makes me panic (of course). He wasn't having the usual chest pains but palpitations & racing heartbeat. This was new for him as his heart rate is usually quite slow due to medications.
Gary took his blood pressure on our portable monitor & his heart was beating at 150 beats a minute (usually around 60). I called an ambulance & they came out in about 10 agonising minutes.
They were fantastic & diagnosed him as having AF (Atrial Fibrillation) & decided to transport him to hospital. His heart continued fluttering (that's how they described it) until we arrived at the hospital when it went back to normal. They said it may or may not ever happen again.
We then decided to stay in Canberra for a week to ensure he was all sorted before heading off again.
From this we have decided we won't be going to any small, country towns. I want to make sure there is a hospital handy 'just in case'. At least this year it shouldn't be a problem as we follow the east coast. Next year is another matter & we will look at that when the time comes.
This reinforces more than ever that we are looking for a relaxed lifestyle & not necessarily on seeing as much of Australia as we can.

While in Canberra we visited the usual touristy things like the War Memorial which was as impressive as ever. We also went to Parliament House & toured around to all the embassy's. They are so interesting how the grounds & buildings are like the actual country. Some were very lavish & others very plain & understated.





One of the highlights was our tour around the Australian Institute of Sport. We were taken to the gymnastics area, volleyball courts, gym, & swimming pool. It was very interesting hearing how they look after the athletes & how they train. Unfortunately the 11.30am tour means you don't get to see any athletes as they were all having lunch.

While staying at the Showgrounds we were able to check out whatever is happening around the grounds. Cirque Africa was on & Wednesdays are half price so we went along. It was amazing! Lots of acrobatics all to a live African band. We loved it.


There was also a dog show on for three of the days so we wandered down there a couple of times & just sat on a bench in the sunshine watching the owners groom & fuss over their dogs & then prance them around for the judges.



It was a last minute decision to visit Canberra & we were very glad we did!
Next stop .............. Goulburn     Kiama

Awesome Albury & Great Gundagai

Albury - 13th - 17th April
Albury was a real surprise package. We didn't really know too much about it other than it being on the NSW side of the Murray.

The caravan park was tiny to say the least with only 10 powered sites (& about a dozen cabins). Our site was lovely with a huge amount of lush green grass outside our door. The weather was  beautiful & sunny the whole time we were there.
The caravan park manager was a wealth of information on things to do. The Hume Dam was pretty impressive that, when full holds 5 times more than Sydney Harbour. It was less than half full when we were there.

We spent a couple of days doing not much which was nice. Had our flu jabs at the local chemist which was one of those things we were wondering how would work. The staff were lovely & luckily neither of us suffered any after effects other than a dead arm for a couple of days.

I finished off  four Trauma Teddies & dropped them in to Albury Ambulance station. The Paramedic was very grateful to receive them as he said he handed out 10 the day before.

Other than that we just went to a few parks for some walks or to see the river. We both loved Albury & would definitely go back again.

On the way to Gundagai, when passing through the town of Holbrook, we nearly ran into a submarine .......what the? HMAS Otway is a full sized (90metres long) sub in the middle of the town. A very impressive sight, a long way from the coast.






Gundagai - 17th - 19th April

Our site at Gundagai was right on the river which is where we spent most of our two days there. Of course we went to see the Dog on the Tuckerbox which was a bit underwhelming. Not that I know what I was expecting. There was a massive souvenir shop / cafe. That sold anything & everything with a dog on it.


Gundagai's landscape is dominated by 2 huge wooden dilapidated bridges. They were built because the town is on a huge flood plain.The Prince Alfred Bridge was built in 1866 & was replaced in 1976 by a concrete bridge. The other bridge was a railway bridge built in 1902. Our campsite was only about 100 metres from the railway bridge. Gary loves bridges & a good truss & these 2 bridges were a maze of trusses so Gary had plenty to entertain him.

Next stop, Canberra ............

Melbourne is Family, Food & 'Fresh'

Melbourne - 6th - 13th April

The day we left Anglesea to drive to Melbourne was very wet & wintery. The day didn't get any better when we arrived at the caravan park. Our site was in a back corner & was very muddy.
I went to the office & asked if they could spread some sand as in the neighbouring sites. Luckily they offered us another site & it was lovely, green grass with a river running behind us.
Thank goodness the rain eased up for the rest of our stay even though it was still too cold to spend too much time outside.

Our first night was a family catch up at the Broadmeadows (Broady) Club with my favourite Uncle Len. He's 85 years old & is as fantastic as ever. It was great to catch up with my cousin Kevin & his wife Cris (who were the original owners of our caravan), my cousin Ian & my other cousins wife Sue & her son Kayne. We don't get to see each other very often but it's always nice when we do.

We went to the Queen Vic markets as I hadn't been in many years. That market could easily be a

quarter of the size it is with so many of the stalls repeated so often. We only bought one thing, no prizes for guessing ........ a t shirt for Gary & yep, I'm sure you're thinking Star Wars! It was a pretty unique Star Wars t shirt after all 😆
After that we hopped on a tram in to Southbank. Melbourne's public transport is awesome. We caught the free 'circle line' tram which dropped us off right next to Southbank.  We walked along beside the Yarra & then went back home.

Thanks to Facebook I was contacted by Anna who worked with both Gary & I at Tip Top.

Anna & her new husband Nigel now live in Melbourne & invited us over for dinner.
It was such a great night. They made a beautiful Thai Green Curry & I bought a lemon curd tart from the market. All the food was amazing & It was a really great night. We might just take them up on their offer to park our van in their back yard next time! 😜 

On the Saturday we went to Uncle Len's house to have lunch with my cousin Lynette & Peter & also Ian & Kevin. Kevin & Ian cooked the barbecue while the rest of us sat inside & chatted. Sue popped in after lunch to say hi too. We finished off with a beautiful sponge cake made by Ian's wife Kerry.
Gary & I had a sleepover at Uncle Len's which is always nice.

Next stop, Albury ...............