Back in the van

Good morning campers, we are back in the van!

Woke feeling a little sore and sorry for myself this morning, but don’t worry, it is only 90% self inflicted… might have had a few cans last night… the other 10% though is because I have done my back 🙁

We arrived around 3:30pm yesterday to find this park was just as good as we remembered. This time we have an ensuite site, that means we have a little private bathroom at the back of the site, and these sites are located towards the back of the park in a nice quiet spot surrounded by palm trees.

As Mark has mentioned, they offer what is called the “marriage saver” here where you unhook the van at the entrance and they pick it up on a tractor and back it into the site for you. I wasn’t as stressed as Mark made out and the guy parked it much better than I would have, although the site was a little sideways, so I had to hook the van back up to the car and put a ramp under the wheel to level it.

Was while I was setting up the van that I did my back. Was so stupid, I lay on my bed and put the pole in to hold the roof up and must have done t on a funny angle cause I felt it go twang! It is not too bad, upper back, and only hurts when I move 🙁 wasn’t too bad after a few cans last night, but man am I sore this morning… going to make our trip to Seaworld today wonderful, not sure how I will go on the rides, but I will give it a good shot!

Anyway, left Glen Innes at about 10:30am yesterday. Thanks again to Mary and Ray for their hospitality and making our stay so wonderful. We all really had a great time and it was good to finally meet the family. Was funny as we were saying goodbye, and Tara gave Granny Vicki a kiss and a hug saying “Good bye Granny”. “Why” said Granny, “I’m coming with you…” “Really?” said Tara in that way she does… and there was a lot of excitement. Oops, maybe we had forgotten to mention that to the kids.

We packed the van before heading down to Fiona’s Nan’s place to say good bye. Just before we left, Sookie (Fiona’s Uncle) turned up to say good bye. Now Sookie doesn’t mind a yarn, and it put us about 40 mins behind. Was ok though, just as we were about to leave after saying our goodbyes, Sookie’s ute turned back up and Sookie pulled out the biggest box of sun smart stuff! There were tubes of sunscreen, Aloe vera, fly repellent and lip balm. “can’t go without a care package!” he said. Will certainly come in very handy on this trip, but I don’t think we will need to buy sunscreen for a while!

The trip out of Glen was fairly uneventful. We headed to Grafton before taking the Pacific Hwy up the coast. Was a little hairy coming out of the mountains towards Grafton. Winding our way down the hill, I’m not sure if I was driving or the van was pushing me down. At one stage we almost got collected by a red ute and van coming the other way on my side of the road. I certainly gave him a good hoot to tell him to get out of my way!

The views as we came down the mountains were sensational, Glen Innes is about 1300 meters above sea level. Didn’t realise we were so high until we came down the mountains!

Anyway, as I said we got here about 3:30pm and setup the van. Aunty Amy and Aunty Jess were here already, and Kelly flew in around 9:40pm. Fiona and Vicki drove out to Coolengatta airport to pick her up. The kids will be excited (when she wakes up that is) as they haven’t seen her yet, and they can’t wait to go to the theme parks with Kelly. Zac told me yesterday that he will go on any ride, even the scary ones, if Kelly comes on with me!!

Well had better sign off and try to get this back of mine moving again. Will fill you in on our great Seaworld adventure tomorrow.

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More to Hastings Point

I forgot to mention. The nice people at the park tow your van in for you. As i was unhitching the caravan and noticed that one of the van tyres was dead flat. I don’t know when it happened as the tyre doesn’t look to damaged. Ten i found this hole……

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Have a look at the gash! Looks like a trip in for a new tyre! Better to have it happen in “suburbia” as opposed to the Outback!

Had bought a bottle jack for the van but Supercheap crap, it didn’t go high enough to change, eventually used the car jack.

Funny thing is Craig tells me when they stayed here last time they had a flat as well. Spooky!

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We made it to Hastings Point

Well we are here on the coast! What an awesome park. While the Morton’s are not here yet (soon) the kids are having a ball. They have explored the park and played on the play equipment.

Then we found the water park, and awesome

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Every six minutes the big bucket drops 600 litres, what fun. I must say the water park water is cold, the toddlers pool warmish and the waterslide pool is beautiful.

Clare decided to go down the waterslide before i was in the pool because Matt and Emma did. While she can swim, needless to say i had to dive in and “save” her. She was a bit gun shy of the slides and the pool after that which is not a bad thing.

Slight change, the Morton’s have literally just arrived! The park kindly drives your van in on a tractor and Craig looks a bit nervous with a stranger driving his van – wink wink!

Auntie Jenny is here along with Amy and Jess, and the girls all went of for a lunch. Apparently our kids are loud as that was all they could here once we hit the water park which is at the front of the park! My kids aren’t loud – just ask the grandparents. I suspect Dad and Leonie will be greatful for some peace and quiet after the Waldron whirlwind.

Also thanks to Dad and Leonie for putting us up for a few nights. I drank Dad out of bourbon, and last night Clare and Emma chased poor Uncle Ben around saying that that he loved Clare. They thought that was a ripping game, not sure Ben was so thrilled after being followed around for an hour and having Clare walk in on him getting changed! Sorry Ben but but you have all of this to look forward too!

Anyways Craig is setting up and it is time for another drink! Last comment, Kate is back from seeing Jenny off and has the key for the indoor play centre which looks better than many places in Melbourne. Kids are all – “socks” please Dad! Keen as mustard!

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Cars, Celtic Stones and The Farm

So this morning after breakfast, I thought I would head out to the car and install the new relay for the second battery. Wasn’t too difficult a job as the wiring was already in place so all I had to do was swap the relays.

I disconnected and removed the battery, and determined how to mount the new relay which of course was a little different to the old one. Was all going well, and I was almost done with only the final wire from the second battery to connect when….snap!! The bolt sheared right off!! Wasn’t all that tight either!! The snap was followed by a number of expletives….

As I calmed down, I thought I might be able to open the relay and replace the bolt with one from the old one, but no, the little man in China had done a great job of covering the bolt in solder 🙁 was just not to be.

Cursing some more, I put everything back the way it was and will have to buy another one (for another $150) when we get to the coast. Grr… nothing is ever easy is it!

So, car stuff done, I had a shower and we headed into town to get some rolls etc for lunch. Got to visit the local Bi-Lo, but they must have known I was coming and I couldn’t see anything really wrong with the store. Was old and needed a make over (as most Bi-Lo’s do) but everything looked ok. I’m told that the store itself isn’t really a problem, but certain staff who have been there forever are making it not a good place for others, and annoying customers as well. Oh well, guess someone else will need to fix that one!

After our quick visit to the shops, we headed up the hill to the Celtic stones, a number of standing stones on the hill where they hold the annual celtic festival in May. Apparently people come from all over Australia for the festival to celebrate their celtic heritage. The kids had a ball running around the stones, then we had salad rolls and cakes for lunch.

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After lunch we headed further up the hill to the lookout to see the town from on high before taking a trip out to the farm.

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Ray had pulled a herd of cows into the pens so he could tag some of the young ones, and give some of the sick ones some medicine. He had a little calf in there that he pulled out so the kids could give it a pat. They all thought it was fantastic, especially Jess our little animal lover. She named the calf “Mike” cause he has a boy… otherwise he would have been a “Krystal”… Ray said he will have to keep us up todate in Mike’s progress.

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Kids weren’t so keen on the next part though. The cows were herded into a single line pen, then one at a time put into a cage where they were locked in across their necks and bellies then flipped on the side as they had their ears clipped and tagged, got a few injections and some medicine forced down their throat. The male ones even got a little ring applied between the legs. Tara was good with the process, but Zac was looking a little pale, and Jess burst into tears. I think the blood on their ears put them out a little bit! Our city slicker kids were not so sure about the farming practices.

I thought it was amazing to see what was done, but after about half a dozen, the kids wanted to go. At least the girls are not so sure about getting their ears pierced anymore!!

The drive back to town was spent explaining that the cows are all ok. Luckily we were able to distract them as we saw a couple of Kangaroos, a snake and a lizard crossing the road, and a little dog that came out chasing the cars as we went past. Back in town everything was fixed as we bribed the kids with an ice-cream… good old ice-cream will fix everything!

This evening was spent having Chinese at the Bowls club. Now that is not where you would normally expect to find a Chinese Restaurant, but the food was fantastic and the drinks were at RSL prices, so it was fantastic. The girls had a ball dancing on the dance floor.

At dinner I asked the girls what was the best thing they did today, and they both said The Farm, so obviously they have got over the experience.

Anyway, that’s it for today, tomorrow we leave Glen Innes and head for the coast to reunite with the Waldron’s. The kids are very excited and can’t wait to get to the theme parks, that is certainly all they have spoken about for the last few weeks anyway!!

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Old faces

Not only was it Father’s Day but it was also the big reunion day where Craig was able to meet some new faces and I was able to see some from many years ago.

Mum arrived in Glen early and from there many more came. Mary and Ray put on a big lunch with the greatest fish us city slickers had ever had. Zac had 4 huge pieces and Jess who wasn’t interested at first, ate some off my fork and then came back for 2 full pieces of her own!!
I think Ray should open his own fish shop!! Would be a money spinner for sure.

I saw most of the cousins and Uncle and Aunts and of course Nan as well. Nan looks the same and it was lovely to see her meeting the kids. In fact everyone looks the same really despite it being a few years since I have seen them. We even managed to FaceTime Kelly so she could say hello to everyone too.

Later in the evening we went and had a look at Bens house which is lovely and had a little drive through town. It’s fascinating looking through older eyes with kids memories.

Needless to say it was a great day and much thanks to Mary and Ray for arranging and hosting such a great afternoon.

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Meeting the family

Woke early Fathers day to glorious weather, barely a cloud in the sky and beautiful in the sun.

Ray cooked an awesome breakfast of bacon and eggs on the BBQ, before I headed out to the car to fit the new CB ariel. Should have been a simple job, but of course when I bought it I never checked the size of the base, which of course was so much bigger than the other one. Wouldn’t have been a problem at home as I would have simply got a big drill bit and bore it out, but obviously I don’t have all my tools on the road ?

Was about to give up when Ray came out to see what I was doing. While he didn’t have any drill bits big enough, he suggested that his son Craig might as he is a builder. So we jumped in the car and went for a drive.

Craig lived on the other side of town, so I got to see some of the sites of Glenn Innes. Certainly a much bigger town than what I though it was, Ray told me the population was around 5000 odd.

I also got to see the new fishing boat that they took possession of in the last few weeks. Was fantastic, a 6m beauty made of aluminum and decked out for fishing… made me want to head out on to the water!

The real reason we were there though was to get a drill bit, and luckily he had one big enough.

Back at the house once we had bored out the hole, was an easy job to fit the new ariel, a big thick 7.1db job that hopefully won’t rattle off! A quick call for a “Radio check”, got a couple of “yea your working” responses, so all good… no more scratchy CB reception for me!!

I thought about having a shot at replacing the relay for the battery, but it was getting late and I thought I had better have a shower before the family arrived.

The relay might have to wait until tomorrow morning.

Granny Vicki was one of the first to arrive making amazing time driving up from Coffs Harbor after her very last shift… Australia’s latest retiree.

People started arriving around lunchtime and Ray and Mary put on an amazing feast, freshly caught fish, steak and sausages. Zac of course loved the fish and probably ate more of it than anyone. It was so nice that even Jess gave it a go. I had a delicious steak and some Jew fish that just melted in your mouth.

By the time we had finished desert we were all so full that I don’t think we will need to eat for the rest of the trip!

Was great to meet the other side of the family, and finally put faces to some of the names I have heard of over the years. Only been married into the family for the last 14 years!! Anyway, I’m sure Fiona will write up her version of this family reunion, as I can tell she thoroughly enjoyed catching up with family she hadn’t seen in so long.

Big thanks to Ray and Mary for putting on a great day and an awesome feast.

Tomorrow, we are heading out to one of the local attractions in Glenn Innes, the standing stones for a picnic and to let the kids have a play on the playground there.

I would also like to make a trip to the local Bi-Lo, as I have not heard good things about the store, why people prefer to shop at the local Woolworths and being a good company man, I can’t help but drop in for a look even if I am on holidays. Hopefully it isn’t that bad!

PS – will try to start putting some photos up soon…. Bit a bit slack on the camera so far!

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Ruby

So I got an email today to say Ruby is settling in well with her new friends, which is a relief as it was a little touch and go when I left.

Got the photos below, Ruby is the one in the bottom left…

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Fathers Day at Lone Pine Koala Reserve

The day started with the girls up early looking themselves in the full length mirrors – who would have thought. I was a spoilt dad with lollies and some beautiful artwork from school and kinder.

After a trip to the shops for some bacon that was not frozen, Dad cooked scrambled eggs and bacon – yummy – first B&E of the big trip.

The kids had to go in the pool despite not being heated. Soon they were shivering.

After this we went to the Lone Pine Koala Reserve on the Brisbane River. It is nice and warm and a bit humid and the place had lizards roaming around and Bush Turkey’s everywhere.

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We saw koala’s, birds of prey, blue tailed kookaburras, large lizards, small lizards, freshwater crocodiles, cassowary’s, fed kangaroos and emus and all sorts of stuff.

Kids had a ball! Now we are back and a bit hot, the kids want another swim and seem to have forgotten how cold the water was!

Looking forward to a relaxing fathers Day and a few cold ones!

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Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day

Before I start and tell you all that went on yesterday, let me first start by saying “Happy Fathers Day” to all my fellow Dad’s out there, especially a big Happy Fathers day to my own Dad ? will ring you later Dad.

Right, so yesterday was another travel day as we made our way from Tooraweenah to Glenn Innes. As I left you, I was about to wake the family and get them on the road, but that proved to be somewhat more troublesome than I planned!

Finally managed to get everyone out of bed around 9am, but it was still a carefree slow pack up, and we pushed out around 10am. Now when I had opened the awning on Friday evening, it was still wet from when I packed it at Easter. “Oh well” I said “It’ll dry overnight…” Unfortunately it started raining during the hour we started packing and was wetter when it was packed then when we opened it!! Guess sometime in the next 6 weeks we will get it dry.

So as I said, we pushed out at 10am and made for Coonabaraban to top off the tank. Was just past here that we farewell’d the Waldron’s as they continued up the Newell and we turned off onto the Oxley Hwy towards Tamworth.

Anyone listening to the CB at the time would have had a laugh as everyone in the car called out “Bye Waldron’s” followed by a chorus of “Bye Morton’s”….. and then we were on our own ?

Wasn’t long though before we found ourselves driving through a herd of Cows…literally!

There were hundreds of cows feeding on both sides of the road, and we had to slow to drive through the herd. Man they were big cows!! The kids thought it was amazing, and once again Tara took lots of photos… just got to figure out how to get them up here when I get a moment.

The only other bit of excitement was when a Kangaroo jumped across the road right in front of us! Came out of the bush with no warning, and man are they camouflaged! I locked up the brakes, but luckily we were going up hill and had slowed to about 80km anyway. I think it gave Fi a bit of a fright as she looked up and saw it at the last minute. The kids never had a clue what was going on!

So beyond that it was an uneventful trip past many lovely green and yellow fields (the yellow ones are Tara’s favorites). We stopped in Tamworth, the home of country music for a quick feed, and I found a Super Cheap Auto to replace the CB Ariel ?

Then it was on to Glenn Inness and we arrive at around 5pm. Mary and Ray have an amazing house here and have very kindly welcomed us to stay. We spent the night having a quiet drink and catching up.

Today, we get to meet the family, as Mary is putting on a lunch and people are coming from everywhere. Should be a great day, so I had better sign off, get some breakfast and have a shower before people start arriving.

Hopefully Mark will give us a write up of his day… all I know is they made it to Brisbane a little after 8pm.

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Our big adventure

After a 3am start Friday we have made it to Queensland! As always things don’t go to plan – like no power from the car to the van fridge. Cleverly I improvised a 240v solution which didn’t work either. Turns out relays need to be connected but it is hard to tell when hidden behind a kick panel in the back!

An uneventful trip really with large distances covered. Love the Prado’s 180 litre fuel tank – I only filled up 3 times in 1800km and the last one was to save time tomorrow.

The park we stayed at last night in a small town was the best. Greeted with scones for us and chocolate for the kids. A fire and a horse that the girls loved. The friendliest hospitality ever. I strongly recommend Tooraweenah Caravan Park – friendly, clean, great showers and the pub menu looked good even though we had a BBQ. Not a big park but that was what made it special.

After leaving today we left the Mortons in Coonabarabran as we headed north to QLD. I missed my CB buddy (even though Craig lost his antenna) so I spoke with some truckies. Went through livestock next to and on the highway and say more dead roos per km than were probably alive, but did not get any jumpers.

I could swear the kids have no bladders as it seemed like we stopped every 30 minutes for 4 million toilet stops.

Now the need for speed and distance is past, I am looking forward to taking it slow as I know we missed some interesting stuff along the way.

A mostly boring blog but it is late and I have had a few mix your own Jim Beams.

Waldron’s out!

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