Brissie ....... Beautiful one day, cyclonic the next!

Brisbane (Scarborough) - 25th - 31st March

We spent 3 nights in Yamba on our way to Brisbane. Yamba is a small town halfway between Coffs Harbour & Byron Bay. The caravan park was huge with a fantastic waterpark. It was very quiet while we were there but I'm sure it's packed in the holidays. There are a lot of prawn farms in Yamba & just at the end of the road was a large farm that sold direct to the public. They were the freshest, tastiest prawns we have ever had. It's worth visiting Yamba just for the prawns.

Scarborough is 38km North of Brisbane on a point, next to a large marina. The caravan park was very clean & neat but felt more like a carpark with a lot of concrete. We met some lovely couples & enjoyed lots of chats & a few drinks. We stay connected via Facebook with a lot of people we meet. It's great to follow their travels while they follow ours. Hopefully we will meet up again somewhere.


We caught up with Gary's mate from Futuris, Clayton & his wife Bernie. Clayton now works for a company that builds buses. He took us To see how the buses are built. It was so interesting. As usual, we cannot comprehend the work & detail that goes in to building the buses we see on the streets every day. We then had a beautiful lunch at the café attached to the caravan park.

That night I was still full from lunch so decided to just have a couple of Vita Weet biscuits with
Vegemite for tea. All of a sudden I felt a crunch that was very in biscuit like. I'd broken a piece off my wisdom tooth! I phoned Bernie who gave me the number of her dentist. I phoned first thing next morning & thankfully he could see me that afternoon. He did a patch up job that could last a year or a day. Unfortunately, 2 days later it broke again so I was left with no option but to have it pulled.
The dentist wasn't confident to remove it as he said it would be a very complicated extraction due to the roots being 'hooked'. He referred me to a dentist in Chermside who was able to do it later in the week.

In the mean time Cyclone Debbie was about to hit a bit further north in Airlie Beach. We paid Close attention to the news bulletins as we were going to Airlie Beach in 4 weeks time & they were forecasting torrential rain & winds for the whole east coast..... Rain & wind is the natural enemy of the caravanner.
We packed up everything outside & pulled the awning in as did most other people. A few people either didn't know about the impending storm or decided to risk it. Either way they were soon going to regret that decision. An ex Tip Top work mate, Lyndsay who lives in a nearby suburb, messaged me offering a bed for the night as she was a bit worried about us. That was so lovely of her, but we decided to stay put and caught up with her and husband Brian for a coffee later in the week.

Next morning I had to go to the dentist for the extraction, all schools were closed & everyone was advised to stay home & avoid all non urgent road travel due to the dangerous weather conditions. I had no option but to keep my dentist appointment. Luckily, it was in the morning & the worse conditions weren't expected to hit till around 4pm.
That day I have never seen so much rain on the roads, it was pretty scary driving the 26km to the dentist on unfamiliar roads in pelting rain. The tooth extraction itself wasn't too bad, the dentist was fantastic but took over an hour due to the curved roots.

Back at the van the heavy rain continued & we braced ourselves for the winds that were on the way. We were watching on TV the devastation Cyclone Debbie was causing to the Whitsundays.
The really strong winds started around 5pm. We couldn't do much but sit inside our rocking & Rolling Van watching TV (with the volume up due to the crazy noise of the rain on the caravan roof) & knitting Trauma Teddies. I was glued to the 'Willy Weather' app on my phone following the weather & could see it was going to last a few hours. At one stage we could hear some commotion outside & looking out the window one of the neighbours who didn't pack away was outside scurrying around putting things away in the torrential wind & rain. Around 7pm I could hear a strange banging outside. We kept listening out in case it was coming from our van but it couldn't be because everything was packed away. Around 8pm the rain & wind had all but gone & the rain was light enough to go outside & check for any damage. 2 caravans down from us a poor couple were soaking wet sorting their gear out & we discovered that their awning started collapsing in the storm.That was the banging we could hear. They then stood under it literally holding up the roof for 2 hours till the storm had passed. Poor buggas! We heard later the winds were up to 120kmh. The Next morning the sun was shining again & apart from the soggy ground there was no sign of the previous nights Storm.
We spent our last few days in Scarborough going for walks around the marina & chatting with other couples at the park.

Next stop........ Coolum!

Port Macquarie - Bonus visit with newest Grandie Emma

Port Macquarie - 6th - 23rd March

Port Macquarie is starting to feel like our second home with this being our third stay in less than 12 months. When we visit here it's all about family time rather than 'sightseeing' as such.
The added bonus of this trip is we we able to spend precious time with our youngest grand daughter Emma (& her mummy Amy) as Amy has brought Emma all the way from Perth for a holiday with Amy's mum & to visit with Amys friends.


The fear of being long distance grandparents is that Emma being only 7 months old, she won't know who we are or even worse, cry when she sees us. Well, Emma put those fears to rest straight away as she smiled as soon as she saw us & was more than happy for lots of cuddles & kisses. We had a lovely week seeing them every day & even babysat a couple of times.
Of course it was fantastic getting to spend time with my sister & nieces & great nephews & families too. Michelle, Nathan & Nixon came up from Newcastle which was great.  Jo is pregnant with her second child so we will get to see another new baby when we visit them at Christmas.

Just a short blog this time.

Next stop .............Brisbane

Cruising the South Pacific! - Family Memories Forever.

12 Night Cruise on Voyager Of The Seas to
Noumea, Vila, Mystery Island & Mare' - 5th - 16th March

As everyone knows if there's anything we love more than travelling around in our caravan is going on cruises, so it is no surprise that we jumped at the chance to go on a cruise with Colin, Megan, Ashleigh & Lauren. Our 'farm friends' Karen & Steven very kindly offered to store our car & caravan  on their farm. On the day of departure Karen & Steven caught the train to the city with us to ensure we knew where to go to board the ship.

Once we boarded we did what most cruisers do.....went straight to the buffet! We had lunch while

waiting for 'the kids' to arrive who flew in to Sydney from Adelaide. After they arrived & we'd all finished lunch we spent the rest of the day checking out the ship. It even had an ice skating rink!
Eating is a large part of cruising. We had breakfast & lunch each day in the buffet & dinner in the main dining room. It's funny that even though there is just about every kind of food you can think of at the buffet we always went for the same thing each day. My breakfast was Bircher muesli & toast or a pancake for breakfast & a hot dog or burger for lunch. Gary still had WeetBix every morning (heaven forbid he deviate from WeetBix) & he had a burger each day for lunch. Dinner was amazing every night. 3 courses, or four if you're Gary & Colin who would sometimes have 2 entree's or main courses when the couldn't decide. The meals are always quite light so having four courses is not as bad as it sounds  The Butter chicken was a hit with Gary asking each night if he could have it. Even if it wasn't on the menu for that night they would still get it for him. Ashleigh took a liking to the Poppadums & wasn't very hungry one night so just ordered a plate of poppudums for her dinner. Lauren had a plate of green beans one night.
The fantastic service can only be understood if you've been on a cruise. The staff literally can't do enough for you.

Day 2 the girls were eager to go to kids club & Colin, Megan, Gary & I had a game of mini golf on

the top deck. The weather was warm & the seas were calm. We watched people do rock climbing & body boarding on the 'wave rider'. We picked the girls up for lunch then they went for a swim in the pool. We went to trivia & to our surprise we won! After dinner we went to the show in the theatre & then went to bed for a good nights sleep. We always find we're so tired after a day or activities that we're well & truely ready for bed by about 9pm.
They have various kinds of trivia three times a day & we would always go at least once. There was a group of ladies that went to every trivia & took it so seriously they won just about every time. It became quite irritating very quickly.
The rest of our days at sea were spent playing shuffleboard, checking out the shops on the promenade & just generally relaxing.
Our first port of call was Noumea. We caught a bus to the aquarium which had the usual giant fish tanks full of all kinds of marine life. The highlight was the outside aquarium with giant turtles. We looked around the markets on the dock where Colin & Gary bought some $5 board shorts.
We had lunch at the onboard Johnny Rockets 50's themed burger bar. The waiters danced along to Love Shack which was great fun. The girls had their first ever soft drink float or 'spider'. Don't think they were too impressed, especially Lauren who, halfway through said those words no parent wants to hear... 'I feel sick'

We spent the next day at Mystery Island which is a tiny, uninhabited (unless there is a cruise ship visiting) island surrounded by crystal clear blue water that felt amazing to swim in. The locals from the large neighbouring island come across to make money from the cruise ship passengers by running tours, markets & hair braiding. It is their only source of income & they are extremely poor. The girls had their hair braided, they do an amazing job, so perfect & so quick.
I took 30 beach balls & some stickers to hand out to the island children. It was lovely watching Ashleigh & Lauren give the gifts to the children.

Our next port was Vila. We ran the gauntlet of the taxi drivers who yell & try to convince the

passengers to go on tours. It is quite intimidating but they have plenty of security so is quite safe. We caught a taxi into the main street for some duty free shopping & then caught another one back to the ship with another couple. The driver tried to rip them off saying he didn't have any change so kept their $20 for a $10 trip. Colin sorted it by giving the driver the correct money for all of us & then getting the heck out of there. There is a huge market at the port which was good fun to look around. The weather was very hot & humid & pretty yuk until the heavens opened up & the rain came pouring down. The market ladies were beckoning us to the shelter of their stalls but the warm rain felt beautiful & refreshing.

Mare was another beautiful island we visited. We had to catch a bus to the other side of he island to swim. Again, the water was crystal clear blue & warm. We just swam & enjoyed the water for a few hours before heading back to the ship for lunch.

Some of the other things we did were Ice skating, galley tour, volleyball, table tennis, Karaoke (who'd have thought that 'Let It Go' was so difficult to sing)?! Lauren enjoyed it which was all that mattered.
On our last day the girls did the rock climbing wall. They went up & down many times. Michael, the Canadian instructor was lovely & convinced the girls to have a go at boogie boarding on the Wave Rider. They took to it so well, staying on the board for ages. I think we enjoyed watching them as much as they enjoyed doing it.

The cruise was over too soon but we were very grateful to be able to spend this time together & make some fantastic memories. Can't wait to do it all again.







Next stop .........Pt Macquarie

Lane Cove & Berkley Vale - more catch ups & a project for Gary

Lane Cove - 22nd - 27th February

This is now our third visit staying at Lane Cove Tourist Park. We still cannot get over that we are 12 kms from the heart of Sydney but this place is surrounded by trees & wildlife & is so tranquil.
Our main purpose to stay here is to break up the drive ( we try to only drive around 300km's per day) & also to catch up with my brother & family & our good friends Kristen & Ron.

We didn't do a lot here, Gary went to the movies one day while I browsed the shops at Macquarie Park shopping centre. Usually I drop Gary off at the movie to find out what time it finishes then I go to a cafe & enjoy a latte while writing out a postcard for Ashleigh & Lauren. Then I just wander around till it's time to meet Gary.

On The Sunday We went to Danny (my brother) & Robyns who live near Cronulla. We all know

about Sydney traffic but I couldn't get over the amount of cars on the road on a Sunday morning. Don't these people sleep........ or garden?? Danny, Robyn & Olivia took us for a nice drive around Cronulla & we enjoyed a beautiful lunch at Cronulla RSL club. We then drove around the beach side. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't the best so we didn't get out of the car.
We went back to their house & chatted till bedtime. We stayed overnight so Gary could have a couple of drinks & also to spend some more family time.

We had a lovely catch up with Kristen & Ron & also dinner with our niece Phoebe & Toni.
Our time here went very quickly & before we knew it it was time to move on to Kelly & Gregs


Berkley Vale - 28th Feb - 2nd March.

We only spent  couple of days with Kelly & Greg (with the caravan parked up on their front lawn as usual) mainly because in a few days time we were going on a cruise with Colin, Megan & Ashleigh & Lauren. ......... More about that later
Gary had a job to do here. Greg has his own garden maintenance & landscaping business & needed his trailer enclosed. Greg purchased all the materials & Gary spent 2 days welding it all together with Greg as his apprentice. I spent the time cooking, knitting & generally hanging around.

I picked Audrie & Ava up from school & enjoyed helping them with their homework & playing

games.





Next stop ........ South Pacific Cruise!!!!!

Batemans Bay - Lazy Afternoons & Beautiful Blue water

Broulee (Batemans Bay) - 19th - 21st Feb

We came to Batemans Bay mainly to catch up with Val & Chris. Val is my sister in law Maureens sister who lives in Sydney & makes time to see us each time we are there.
Val & Chris have a beautiful Holiday Home just out of Batemans Bay. We stayed at Broulee Caravan Park which was quite small with vans crammed in very tight.


After visiting Val & Chris we all went for a walk along the beach. The water was a beautiful blue &

coastline very picturesque. We had drinks & nibbles in the afternoon then went to the local club for tea.
Next Day Val picked us up & took us in to Batemans Bay for a bit of sightseeing & had fish & chips in a lovely waterfront cafe. She then took us to Guerilla Bay, a lovely secluded sheltered beach. We then followed the coastline back to the caravan Park.






Our few days went by very quickly. Batemans Bay is definitely one of those places we want to visit

again & spend a lot longer.






Next stop .............. Sydney

Victoria & Southern NSW - Box Ticked

Melbourne, Lakes Entrance & Eden (NSW) - 25th Jan - 9th Feb

We spent one night at Nhill, halfway between Adelaide & Melbourne just as a rest stop. The park was very basic (daggy) so happy to just stay the one night. We arrived at Braybrook Caravan Park just outside of Melbourne on Australia Day & were happy to discover that the staff put on a free barbecue for tea that night.

We met some interesting couples at the barbecue. Quite a few of them spend the night at this caravan park before boarding the Spirit Of Tasmania ferry. Some were on the road full time & others were 'part timers'. We met a lovely couple who run a cattle, sheep & grain farm near Albany WA. He said he had approx 7,000 cattle. We told him about our friends who have 100 acres & asked how many acres he had. He replied 15.......... 15,000!!! We met another couple who, when we told them we were just starting out caravanning said "we've been everywhere" I thought, here we go, I've heard about the  long timers who can't wait to tell eveyone all about their extensive experience. And there they were, after telling us "we've been everywhere" for the second time we decided to retreat back to the sanctuary of our caravan.
We had a lovely day at Uncle Lens & caught up with some of my cousins too. Next day we had a great dinner with Anna (ex Tip Top) & her husband Nigel. Nigel made a traditional Japanese dish called okonomiyaki. It was beautiful.
We spent a day in the city & saw the stage show Kinky Boots. It was fantastic!





We then moved up to Lake Tyers Beach which is near Lakes Entrance in northern Victoria. I

bought a Travel Auction so only paid $18 per night for the caravan park. The park was nice but a bit too far out of the town & not on the beach as advertised. It was on the beach if you didn't mind bushwalking through some dodgy paths then walking down, then up 85 steps. The town was nice but we agreed we didn't need to go back.




Next stop was Eden which is just over the border in NSW. It's a beautiful coastal town with a nice

caravan park that is also home to some kangaroos that come & visit most nights at dusk. The Eden Whale Museum is very popular so we decided to pay it a visit. To my disappointment, it was a 'whaling' museum as Eden was popular in the mid 1800's to early 1900's for whaling of the beautiful Orca Killer Whales for medicinal & many other uses. As soon as I realised that, I didn't really enjoy looking around at their whaling history.

I had a sore back so went to the local chiropractor. I should have known better than to book an appointment with the only chiropractor in town who answers his own phone at 9am says "I open at 10, what time do you want?" When I ask if I can come at 10 he says "make it quarter past as I'll have to go get a coffee first". He was nice & was very interested in our travels but next day my back was no better. I then phoned a chiropractor in the next town, Merimbula. Although his receptionist said he was fully booked for the rest of the week he agreed to see me during his lunch break to help me out before we moved on again. He was very thorough & fixed my back. We had a great day in Merimbula as a bonus. We actually liked it better than Eden.

The town of Bega is not too far from Eden & apart from wanting to visit their famous cheese factory

they also had their country show on while we were there. The Bega cheese factory / museum was a bit boring but the Bega Show was great! With good old fashioned giant pumpkins & cattle judging we had a ball.

We had never been to the north Victoria coast before. Although we had a nice time we don't need to go back. Box Ticked!




Next stop ............Batemans Bay

Adelaide - Back To Where It All Began

Semaphore - 10th December - 25th January

To say we were excited to be back 'home' after travelling for 9 months is an understatement. The only negative about our new lifestyle is missing our children & grand children (& friends) terribly. We talk on the phone weekly but seeing them all in the flesh & having Ashleigh & Lauren run up for a hug is irreplaceable. To add to our excitement, Tim, Amy & 4 month old grand daughter Emma were coming to spend Xmas with us.

I knew the 6 weeks would fly by with Xmas in the middle & wanting to catch up with as many friends as possible so I put out a call to anyone that wanted to catch up to 'book in' so we wouldn't run out of time at the end. It worked beautifully with every day filling up with breakfasts lunches & dinners, sometimes all in the one day!
We also booked in doctors check ups, both GP & Cardiologist, drivers licence renewal, new tyres for the van etc so it was going to be a busy 6 weeks!

We stayed at Semaphore Caravan Park again which, although is the perfect location, is a little run down which is a shame. We put the sprinkler on our site as often as we could so it did eventually green up & look a little better.

After almost 2 weeks of catch ups, school Xmas concerts & finalising Xmas shopping Tim, Amy &

Emma arrived from Perth. We took the van up to Hahndorf for 3 nights as they had booked a place there to spend a few relaxing days before the Xmas chaos.
I was a bit worried Emma wouldn't know me & cry when I held her but she gave me a big beautiful smile & was happy to be smothered in Nanny kisses & cuddles!
We had lunch at Tim & Amy's wedding venue, Golding Winery which was lovely. One night we drove around looking at the 'famous' Lobethal Xmas lights. None of us had ever seen them before & although they were nice we all agreed they were a bit overrated.

Xmas day was awesome! We were now back at Semaphore & Tim, Amy & Emma were staying in the city. We had a beautiful breakfast with them in their apartment while watching Emma open her presents on her first Xmas. We then moved on to Gawler for lunch & dinner with Gary's brother & Sister in law Mick & Annie who also had niece Kelly, Greg & family staying from Sydney.
A few days later our nephew Toby & Naomi organised to get all the Griffiths family together at their place for a barbecue. It was fantastic catching up with everyone.
We were also able to celebrate Ashleigh's 9th birthday just after Xmas which was good.

New Years Eve was lovely Mick, Annie, Kelly, Greg & girls & Mike, Emma & family came to the caravan park for fish & chips then walked down to the foreshore to watch the fireworks. It was a great night.

We had a lovely dinner at the Semaphore Palais with Lisa & Brad for our grand daughter Courtney's 18th birthday. They have just moved back from Darwin so that was a bonus being able to see them. The Palais is such a great place that we ended up there three or four times over the weeks.

Ashleigh & Lauren came & spent a few days with us at the caravan park so Gary had to 'make' a bed

for them as they've now outgrown being able to sleep on the bench seats. He fitted a piece of plywood between the two seats then put a piece of foam to fit on the wood. My lovely friend Kym made a cover for it & the setup worked beautifully except the night of the sleepover a huge storm rolled in with heavy rain & crazy wind After a few tears the girls jumped into bed with me while Gary slept on his newly created bed!

We both had skin checks which are even more important now we spend so much time in the sun. Gary had a suspicious mole on his back so he had to go back & have it cut out. The only appointment he could get was 2 days before we were due to leave to head off again.
Ryan had a sleepover the night before. He sleeps in a tent on our site when he comes to see us. Gary had his mole removed then we dropped Ryan back to his place & did a few jobs for him. We made sure he didn't lift anything too heavy to make sure he didn't split his stitches. After a while Ryan said to me 'Dads back is bleeding'. I had a look & blood was literally dripping down his back! I quickly grabbed a clean tea towel, pressed it against his back & off to the local clinic we went. As we were walking down the street to get to the clinic I was keeping pressure on his bloodied back which must have looked like I'd just massacred him then changed my mind.... Luckily the stitches weren't damaged. He was bleeding so much due to the blood thinners Gary takes. The nurse patched him up & next day we went back to the skin cancer clinic & all was good.

The 6 weeks flew by & felt like 6 days but it was fantastic getting to see everyone & have a great 'Adelaide' fix. As with last year, pack up & leaving day was filled with mixed emotions. Sad to be leaving family & friends but excited for the year ahead.

Next stop ........Melbourne!