Cooranbong - We Be Farmers!

Cooranbong - 11th - 14th November

Continuing on our journey down south for Xmas & we're back with Karen & Steven on their beef cattle hobby farm near Newcastle.
We love coming here, it's so peaceful & Karen & Steven are such great hosts. They let us 'play' on the farm by helping to feed & work with the cows.

Their herd has increased since we were here last with about a dozen New babies born a few weeks prior. Two of the babies weren't doing very well &
struggling to feed. Steven put them & their mums in a seperate, small paddock to keep an eye on them & give them extra attention.
One calf was being ignored by its mum so wasn't getting fed enough. I had a go at hand feeding Him, it's not as easy as it looks! The other one must have fallen on its head as he seemed a bit 'special'. He couldn't find the mums teat & at one stage was sucking on the end of his mums tail! It was cute but sad all at once.

The Next Day we had a very special job to do....... It was time to castrate the male calves. It was a team effort & we all had our jobs to do. Gary was the gate keeper & tail lifter, he had to open & Close the gate holding the calf's head then hold the tail up out of the way while Steven put the rubber band round their goolies. I helped with the drenching of all of the cattle. Once they were secure in the gate thingy I sprayed a strip of the drenching liquid down the full length of their backs. This is to stop them getting worms & other nasties. It was quite a precision operation. We earned our cup of tea (or beer in Gary's case).

That night they cranked up their juke box while we played pool & pinball. We haven't laughed so much in such a long time. The jukebox was full of fantastic music from the 60's to the 80's. Gary loved competing against Steven on the pinball machine (even though Steven smashed him on every game) I also discovered a new yummy drink....Chambord & lemonade. Chambord is a black raspberry flavour liqueur. I think I had 3 or 4 glasses. That's a record for me!

We also did our now regular trip to the Sanitarium Shop to stock up on Weetbix. Gary has 2 Weetbix for breakfast every morning without fail & has done for pretty much his whole life. At around $1.50 a box at the Sanitarium Shop, why wouldn't you?

After a great weekend it was time to move on & get back to being city slickers.

Next stop ......... Lake Macquarie

Port Macquarie - Birthdays & Bubbles

Port Macquarie - 28th Oct - 11th Nov

We're back at Port Macquarie to see Chris & Graeme & Jo, Luke & Liam. Our site at the caravan Park is really good. We are on the rivers edge facing the breakwall so spend a lot of time watching the hundreds of people walking with prams, dogs, cups of coffee etc sometimes all at once! The breakwall is busy with people literally from Sunrise to well after sunset.



Melbourne Cup was on the Tuesday after we arrived. I went to a lovely Melbourne Cup lunch with Chris & Jo in a bistro walking distance from the caravan Park. (just about everything is walking distance from the caravan Park) The lunch was organised by a business networking group Jo belongs to. We didn't win anything but had a really nice time. Gary enjoyed some peace & quiet in the van.



It was Liams 5th birthday so Chris, Jo & I were busy preparing for his party. His birthday cake theme was one of his favourite movies .... Hotel Transylvania. Chris made his cake & Gary used his creativity & helped decorate it. They did a fantastic job, it looked great.

The Day of Liams party The temperature was about 36 degrees & windy. It was held in the park across the road from their house. They erected 4 gazebos so we had plenty of shade. Just as we started bringing the food out a huge gust of wind blew the gazebo down & plates, chairs & anything else not weighted down blew over. There was a mad scramble to hold up the remaining gazebos to stop them blowing over. Luckily, kids are oblivious to such things so Liam had a great party which is all that matters.

We watched Jo & her friends compete in 'Sand Mudder' on the beach next to the caravan Park. It took them about an hour to run along a track, climb up & over obstacles & through the water. It looked like great fun if you had even a moderate level of fitness (which Gary & I don't)






Michelle & Nixon came down for the weekend for Liams birthday.

We had a lovely breakfast at a hotel right next to the caravan Park before they were meant to drive 3 hours back to Newcastle. While there Michelle received a text saying there was a huge bushfire burning out of control so the main highway was closed & cars were being diverted through the hills. Unfortunately poor Michelle takes after her Aunty Jenny & was very nervous about driving that distance with the very real possibility of being diverted off the highway to an unfamiliar winding road. Michelle decided to stay one more night. Gary & I had no plans so we drove Michelle & Nixon home to Newcastle in their car. We stayed overnight then caught the 'country link' train back to Pt Macquarie. The 4 hour train ride was really good. It was like a Greyhound coach with very comfy high backed seats, toilets & snack bar that also served meals. It was a great trip, we enjoyed looking out the windows at the scenery & knitting teddies. A lady sitting behind us asked what we were knitting & then asked for the pattern as she had heard of Trauma Teddies & wanted to knit them too.

Its always great staying in Pt Macquarie getting to catch up with my family.

Next stop ..........Back in the farm at Cooranbong

Gold Coast & Byron Bay - Sun, Surf & Seafood

Gold Coast - 16th - 23rd October

We stayed at Broadwater Tourist Park at Southport on the Gold Coast. Unknown to us the V8 Supercars were racing around the Gold Coast while we were there so the park had its fair share of rev heads with their Holden & Ford flags flying high around their sites.

As usual, the caravan Park was right on the beach. Not a swimming beach though but just a few hundred metres from a beautiful white sandy beach. It had a huge lawned area between the park & the

water which was nice to walk along.

We had lunch in one of our favourite places to eat on the Gold Coast ....The Lazy Lobster. We shared an amazing seafood platter that we couldn't finish. The attached photo should explain why.

We went to what I think is the best outlet centre in Australia.... Harbourtown. Gary went to the movies while I spent a leisurely 2 hours browsing the shops.

Shopping while living in a caravan is actually pretty liberating as buying lots of unnecessary things is not an option when you have to consider the space & weight of every single item that goes into the van. I bought a nightie & a couple of things for our new grand daughter Emma & then wandered around the other shops, trying all the testers, had a coffee & just generally killed time while Gary enjoyed the movie.

Just after arriving back at the van I realised that I was missing the shopping bag with the nightie in it! Aaarrgh!! I called centre management & the other shops I went into but no luck. I was shattered.

We went back the next morning to retrace my steps & the first place I went was the Asian grocer .......There it was, sitting on the floor where I left it while looking at steamers. I was so very relieved & surprised to find it.

One night a mobile pizza van came to the caravan park selling $10 pizzas. Such a great idea. We had a lovely night eating pizza under the awning of the van as it was a lovely warm night.

Didn't do much else on the Gold Coast, just went for a few walks & hung around the caravan Park. Decided to give Surfers Paradise a miss with all the V8 'festivities' happening there.

Byron Bay - 23rd - 28th Oct
We loved Byron Bay so much last time we decided to come back again on our way back down south.



The caravan park is in the perfect location, just one street back from the main street.

The park grounds are usually pristine but this time our site was a little overgrown which was disappointing. I spoke to the receptionist who said the owner was in the park this weekend & seeing as its a Sunday he would'nt allow lawnmowers etc to be used. She said someone would come & sort it tomorrow.

Next Day 2 young guys came with whipper snipper & blower & asked what we would like done. They were so nice & introduced themselves saying to please let them know if we need anything

Next day we went for a walk around the park & saw the same two guys sitting outside a tent. Turns out they are backpackers & work in the park to pay their way. We saw 2 young girls cleaning the units to. What a great idea to employ backpackers.

The weather was amazing with sunshine every day. The highlight was a 10km walk along the waters

edge up to a lookout. Byron Bay's coastline is so beautiful you don't need to do anything else there.

Next Stop ......... Pt Macquarie!

Maroochydore - Sunshine, Soccer & Special Times

Maroochydore - 4th - 15th October 2017

After flying from Perth to Brisbane, nephew Ben picking us up & dropping us at the car & caravan storage facility & then driving in torrential rain, We finally arrived at Maroochydore Beach Holiday Park at about 8.30 at night. Gary insists on setting everything up when we arrive anywhere. This means, connecting water & electricity, putting up the awning, laying floor mat (if the ground is just dirt) if concrete slab or nice grass we leave it at that. Setting up the washing machine, setting up the table & Webber & lastly putting up our chairs. It can take up to two hours to set up so this was a very very long day.


We both have our designated tasks & this system works well for us. Gary does the driving & outside set up & pack up, I do the inside setup & then all the cooking & cleaning for the duration of our stay.

The main purpose of our stay in Maroochydore was to catch up with Colin, Megan, Ashleigh &
Lauren as Colin is here to play soccer in the Australasian Police, Fire & Emergency services games.
The games are held every second year, hosted by various states in Australia & New Zealand. It's like a mini Olympics with so many Sports represented. I think for that week we were in the safest place in Aus with all the police, firemen, paramedics etc etc around us.

We miss our family very much while travelling so It was really nice sitting on the sidelines watching Colin play soccer each day, chatting with Megan while the girls cheered for their dad & the other SAPOL guys. We have been supporting Colin playing soccer since he was 5 years old & still love it. Colin played in the A team & filled in for the over 35's so there was plenty of games for us to watch.

The competition was really good with some great games played. SAPOL were defeated by NZPOL in the grand final to win the silver medal. The over 35's defeated VICPOL for the gold medal.

Maroochydore is one of the few places in Australia to still have a Sizzler restaurant so we were very
excited to take a trip down memory lane & have dinner there. Of course we all dived straight into the 'Sizzler toast' but were a bit disappointed that it didn't live up to our memories. Might just have to go back one day to see if it improves.


On the Wednesday Australia Zoo hosted 'Super Hero Day' where all emergency services workers & their families were given discounted entry to the zoo. We have been to this fantastic zoo twice before but it was so nice to go with the girls & enjoy it through their eyes.


Maroochydore is a beautiful place with sunshine & white sandy beaches. We look forward to coming back again next year.

Next stop ........ Gold Coast!

Perth - Meeting Our New Grand Daughter

Perth - 17th Sept - 4th Oct

Receiving the phone call to say your new grand baby has been born is about the best news any parent can get. Emma Betty Griffiths was born in Perth on 26th August. To see our child holding his new born baby daughter just made our hearts burst with pride. even if it was only via 'Facetime', with Tim & Amy living in Perth & us still staying in Gawler since Garys mums passing.

Three weeks later, Tim picked us up from Perth airport while Amy stayed home with the baby. As soon as we arrived at their house Amy handed Emma to us. We were finally cuddling our new baby grand daughter!

The following night Tim & Amy had a 'date night', seeing a stage show of Sound Of Music. Gary &  I had a lovely night babysitting. Emma was beautifully behaved, just feeding & sleeping & generally being perfect.

Tim & I have our birthdays one day apart, Tim on the 19th & me on the 20th September. On my birthday Tim & Amy took us to breakfast to a beautiful quirky café.

We spent two weeks with Tim, Amy & Emma, just hanging out & enjoying their company. They live in the Swan Valley, a beautiful part of Perth with wineries, cafe's & beautiful scenery. We had a lovely cheese platter lunch one afternoon in one of the wineries. Emma, of course was an absolute angel.

Gary & Tim worked on a little project 'landscaping' their front garden beds. They enjoyed some 'fun' father / son time buying plants, stones etc & making it look really nice while Amy & I entertained Emma inside.

It's very difficult having your children live on the other side of the country & now our grand child. We will have lots of video chats so Emma knows exactly who we are. However, one of the bonuses of living this nomadic lifestyle is we can take our  'home on wheels' over to Perth & spend a few months over there with them. (Which we plan on doing early next year)

Next stop ........ Maroochydore, Queensland

Coolum 2.0 - Friendship & Farewells

Coolum 8th - 21st August

We were now heading back down along the east coast towards Adelaide to spend Xmas at home with family. We had planned to stay in Coolum for 4 weeks before flying to Perth mid September to meet our new grand baby due mid August.

While in Hervey Bay I read a Facebook post from a lady in Tasmania (Liz) asking if anyone would like to park their van at a house in Coolum for free in exchange for helping out an invalid lady (Darien). I contacted Liz saying we were happy to leave our van at Coolum Caravan Park but I may be able to help Darien out as I had plenty of spare time & would be in Coolum for a month.
Liz put me in contact with Darien, a 72 year old lady with severe emphysema who is on oxygen 24/7 & almost totally dependent on carers for all her medical & personal needs.
By her own admission she said in the past she wasn't too interested in having lots of friends so was not particularly 'community minded'. She now regretted this as she needed a friend now more than ever. She had paid nurses & carers to look after her needs but no one to just chat with & help ease the boredom of life confined to her home.
I visited Darien 2-3 hrs a few times a week & we just chatted about her life & mine & anything else that came up. She was a very interesting lady & she thought I was very interesting so it was a bit of a mutual admiration society. She told me she had no appetite & had lost a lot of weight living on tinned pumpkin soup as she loved pumpkin soup...... Tinned!! I was horrified as pumpkin soup was so easy to make. I then offered to make her some pumpkin soup for which she was very grateful. She paid for the ingredients & I made a few batches in her kitchen while we chatted. She thought Gary sounded interesting & wanted to meet him to hear about his work as an engineer. I think she was quite an intellectual in her day.
I offered Gary's services to fix anything she needed but she declined, then one day she asked if he could have a look at a blown downlight in her kitchen. She said numerous people had tried to take the blown globe out with no luck. Gary fixed it in a flash. She was so very grateful to him. From then on she kept calling him her hero which Gary loved.
She was a lovely, honest, interesting lady & was so appreciative of something so simple as just 'company'. I say 'was' because, sadly, Darien passed away just 3 months later......

One of the most difficult things about travelling full time is being away from family. Gary's mother had been in excellent health for most of her 85 years but Late last year her age started catching up with her & 6 months later she very reluctantly moved into a nursing home. Gary's brother & sister in law Mick & Annie took on the almost full time job of making all of the arrangements & helping her make the difficult transition from living very independently in her own home to being fully dependent on others in a nursing home. It was quite surreal for us being so far away & feeling immense guilt at not being there to help but also realising that we couldn't have done any more if we were there. Gary enjoyed phoning his mum every day & most days she loved chatting & hearing what we'd been up to.
At 8am on August 21st Annie called to tell Gary that his mum was about to 'leave'. She held the phone to his mums ear for Gary to have one last chat & to tell her that he loved her. She passed away 3 hours later. Gary & I will be forever grateful to Mick & Annie for so selflessly enabling us to live our dream this past 6 months.
The next 24 hours were a whirlwind of arrangements. We were already booked to fly from Brisbane to Perth to meet our soon to be born grandchild. We changed our flight to Brisbane to Adelaide, then on to Perth mid September. We stored our car & caravan at a storage facility in Brisbane.
We arrived back in Adelaide the following day & stayed with Mick & Annie for three weeks. We spent this time finalising arrangements & the funeral, packing up Gwens house, garage sale & enjoying family time. While it was sad saying goodbye to Gwen, Gary summed it up pretty well by saying "I can only hope I live to be 85 in almost perfect health" She was a lucky lady.

Next stop Perth!!!!

Had A Whale Of A Time In Hervey Bay

Hervey Bay 25th July - 8th August

Hervey Bay was a surprise for all the right reasons. We loved every minute we spent here. This was

to be our furthest point north for this year due to waiting for the birth of our newest grandchild in Perth. We will be flying from Brisbane to Perth to meet him / her mid September so no point in travelling further north only to travel back south to Brisbane in a few weeks.

We stayed at Scarness caravan park right on the waterfront (our preferred spot is always right on the beach). Our site was back a bit from the beachfront as we found out later you have to almost wait for someone to die before a beachfront site becomes available. The beachfront sites a beautiful. No trees or bushes interrupting the magnificent views & amazing sunsets every night.

We learnt from some of the others staying at the park that all parks along the Queensland coast right up to Pt Douglass are fully booked until October each year due to the winter warriors spending 3 to 4 months at the same park every year. Gary and I then spent the next few days researching and booking our trip up the north coast next year.

They have a lovely old fashioned cinema where the latest movies were only $9ea so went to see a

movie (Jason Bourne). On the way there we could hear deafening squawking coming from above. We wound down our windows & looked up to find literally thousands of bats flying around & hanging from the trees above. We don't see bats at home so they were a novelty for us to see in broad daylight in such massive numbers.



The absolute highlight of Hervey Bay & possibly this whole trip so far has to be the whale watching cruise we did. We didn't even know Hervey Bay was known for

whale watching till we saw all the signs throughout the town. We set off around 9am on a fairly big catamaran hoping to see a glimpse of a whale or 2 on this 4 hour cruise along the coast off Fraser Island. We had prime position on the front on the top deck next to a lovely Tasmanian couple. We didn't wait long before the familiar sight of a whale spurt could be seen in the far distance. Everyone (including us) became all excited with cameras primed waiting for the next glimpse. The Tasmanians told us not to get excited just yet as they were on this exact same cruise the day before & saw very many whales very close up.
Sure enough, a few minutes later our boat found 2 humpback whales frolicking in front of us. Our guide told us they were 'teenagers' & therefore very playful & interested in anything different they see in the water. They played right alongside our boat for about half an hour, going from side to side, back to front, swimming under or around the boat as if to let everyone have an equal view of them. It was just spectacular. A pod of whales is generally 2 or 3 but we saw up to 5 playing along in one group which we were told is quite unusual.
We had a lovely cold chicken & salad lunch with plenty of food for every one. All together we

estimated we saw approx 40-50 whales which was just fantastic. The last hour of the trip I put my camera away & just enjoyed watching them through my own eyes rather than through a phone.
It was a truly amazing experience we will treasure for a long time to come.

As I said at the beginning we loved Hervey Bay & have already booked to stay 4 weeks next year. We wanted to stay 6 weeks but they couldn't fit us in.