Hi All!
I really am being very slack! I have been throiugh a whole state and haven't filled you in yet! So, NSW, well I had a nice time after I got organised.
Lets go back to my arrival at Bateman's Bay, I was late as I HAD to stop and do a patchwork class at Narooma, so I arrived in the dark and rain! The park directed me to my site, which had a vehicle parked on it! No worries, I will just park beside it, driving forward, as in the morning I will set up properly. First get some power on, where is it? I'm slopping around in a downpour, getting seriously cranky and wet, my shoes, (and feet) soaking, eventually I rang the office and they came down and pointed out the power box on the next site. So I just crawled into the shower and had a cup of soup and put the heater on, and then to bed, get the picture? Next day I got sorted for my 10, 9 left, days in batemans bay. I spoke to the folk over from me, (their car!) and learned , 5 mins after I had put up my awning, there was a major storm coming, with king tides and big swell! A couple of weeks previously, there had been a flood in the park, the creek about 20 metres from my van overflowed its banks! The park was quite hilly! but I was parked at the bottom! I put my rear stabiliser legs down, something I only do when I am stopping for several days. Thank heavens! That night we had 120 knot winds, lashing rains, the whole works. The van rocked and was buffeted all night.But the van withstood the lot. In the morning I walked over the road to the lovely little cove and it was amazing, what a night can do. High tides had washed up a ton of debris, tree trunks , the sand washed away and lots of pebbles fom somewhere! So that was the start of my days in Batemans bay!
Luckily the weather cleared up and the sun came out, sort of! There was a very efficient courtesy bus service to the Clubs in town, and I learned to get them to pick me up, walk in one door and out the next, go and do my shopping, and then come back, eat lunch cheaply and get a ride back to the park, after I paid a taxi $17.00 for the ride into town. The trouble with the travel auction system is, you don't know where in the towns the parks are, and I am finding they are often out of the edge of town. therefore I sometimes have difficulty getting around, but as I say in Nsw and Victoria, and I hope in Ql, the good ole' Leagues and Rsl clubs, run courtesy buses for all!
After bateman's bay i travelled to Huskisson, near Shoalhaven, where I stayed for a couple of days, was going to go on a whale watching cruise, it is quite a famous area for it, but guess what! the bad weather which was still hanging around meant the cruises were cancelled! aa!!! I drove out of there in disgust, although it was a very pretty beach. Next spot was to catch up with a fellow patchworker from my last years Dorrigo trip. Caroline lived at Leura in the Blue Mountains, Gorgeous drive up there, I took the Richmond/ Springwood road, complete with fabulous views and hairpin bends. Then hit the main road up to the mountains and an hours worth of roadworks! God help the poor people who commute down to Sydney, apparently it has been going on for some time. I drove up on a Friday, but it was the middle of the day and I sat at two points for over half an hour waiting for access to the road!
Caroline lives in a gorgeous cottage, thank god centrally heated, with a cute burmese pussycat. we had a lovely time together, talking pachwork, and between the rain showers, she drove me to Katoomba and to see some patchwork shops! Naturally! Saturday morning we drove down to Penrith to see another shop! So I got to see a bit of the local area.
I took off the next day for the central coast, and tried once more my friends from the 2010 trip. I had been calling them for weeks, but that morning I found a different address card for them and thought I would give it one more try. Guess what, first ring almost, Hazel answered! So I called into them at Toukley. They have a lovely home looking over the lake. I stayed the night with them and we had a really nicee timne, Hazel and I bonded over beading classes on the Aurora, and then we were on the same ship back to Australia from July, where we also beaded away! So I got my beads out and we each made a new pattern Hazel had, really lovely Bracelet. When mike got home it was a great reunion. We went out to dinner at a nearby club, they really get some great cheap meals from them, and they are all over the place. Something us west australians aren't used to, I suppose the pokies are what subsidise the prices, and really that is not a great thing to be encouraging, the gambling, but you get some great benefits!
Headed off the next morning to Grafton, via a place called woolgoolga(?) i think, where I sat for about 2 hours at the lighthouse lookout, as whales had been seen. But not by me! They were all gone by the time I was there! Stopped the night at the Grafton Greyhound Club, hardly any room as they were gearing up for a big racing carnival, lots of sleek greyhounds being walked around by their owners/trainers. As I only wanted one night they were ok, I was sort of parked outside the gate with my power cord through the fence! I know Grafton is famous for its Jacaranda trees, but I didn't realise how many trees there were.! I just thought they must have yhad a few streets of them, but practically every street is lined with them, It must be spectacular in the spring! Another thing was in the old part, at least, 90% of the houses are 2 storey, and what I would have called "Queenslanders". I was really surprised. They look so fresh and pretty, but the painting must be a nightmare!
Leaving Grafton, I took one of my now famous, backroads, along a river and across a ferry, on my way to Ballina, and again was surprised to find sugar cane growing . I didn't know they grew it so far south! There was a lot of it and a couple of sugar refineries. I carried on up the coast from Ballina toByron Bay, to the lighthouse and the most easterly point of Australia. I drove the motorhome up to the lighthouse parking area, where they charge 7 bucks for an hour up there, but the car park was chokkers, so I managed to take some photos from the vehicle and turned and drove back down, no charge! Byron Bay was full of trendy people, and backpackers, it is a strange mix. The cars are either latest european models or " wicked" vans! I continued on to a free camp at Stott Island, no 1 in the camps 6 book for Nsw. Some West Aussies pulled in towing a poptop, and she was a hairdresser, so I had a haircut, a pretty good one too! They knew people from Geraldton, the name was familiar but noone I knew! Funnily, before they pulled up, a fellow who was already parked there in a motorhome, who had an Italian accent, asked me if I was italian, and then when the wa couple pulled in and she was doing my hair she said it too. ( I used to get asked it a lot when I was younger). She knew Teresa Italiano(?) fromGeraldton a hairdresser.
So there I was leaving Nsw and heading into Qld, but that is for the next blog! To all of you with troubles, my thoughts are often with you. I hope those special people I know who have health worries, are feeling better soon. Keep in touch and God bless,
Vicki
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