Gloucester in the New Van

The farm gate.

From Coffs Harbour, we were off to the farm. With the coast still swarming with holidaymakers, and caravan sites scarce and crazily over priced, we took refuge at the Gloucester dairy farm of Lindsay & Myrelle. 
You should all recall that Lindsay is my cousin, and I have been coming here since I was a teenager. I absolutely love the country around Gloucester, and thankfully Carolyn does too, though she would prefer less flies! City kids should all take a country break. I was so lucky to be able to have spent so much time here over the years. Milk doesn't come from supermarkets, it comes from cows, and I've seen it first hand, and when you think you work hard, take a thought about a dairy farmer. They start work around 5.00am and work a 12 to 14 hour day 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

Parked at the farm.

We set ourselves up, beside the house. The view is fantastic as we look out over the farm to the river and mountains beyond. The country looks green, but it is really very badly in need of rain. Recent showers have just coloured it a little.It is so different to a year ago, when the paddocks were lush  and full of feed. 
The previous Sunday, a mini tornado had ripped through the area. In 30 minutes it left a trail of destruction, that brought down trees, wrecked fences and dropped a little hail and heavy rain. So as a consequence, after dairying there was plenty of work repairing fences and removing fallen trees.

As always, the hospitality was wonderful. Catching up with family news, and lots of home cooked meals. Carolyn was very keen to try out the oven in the new caravan, so she gave Myrelle a break from the cooking duties a few evenings, and one morning cooked fresh savoury muffins for breakfast, much to Lindsay's shock. He kept saying that muffins should be full of fruit and come with cream, but despite the protests he still managed to demolish three!!

Feeding the calves.

Off to work.

Moving the fallen trees.

Milking in full swing.

Each days starts at the dairy. It takes a couple of hours to milk the herd, feed the calves and clean up the dairy. After that, the cows are put out to pasture, and we all have breakfast. After breakfast, there is plenty to be done around the farm, moving the irrigation, and tending to those broken fences. There are a number of cows in calf, and there is a daily search for new born's in the paddocks away from the house. With quad bikes and tractors at the ready, the days work is underway. Another regular event is checking on the neighbours to have a chat  and check on what is happening around the area. It is a great social event, and it always amazes me how much there is to talk about.

Campers at Glory Vale Reserve.

Unique way to beat the flies!

Not far from Lindsay's are two terrific free camping areas, that are really popular with caravanners and campers. Lindsay and I took a drive to each on different days, for a chat with the campers. First stop was the Glory Vale Reserve that adjoins the farm. It is a delightful spot along the river, and the locals are always ready for a chat, especially if you arrive around happy hour with a beer in one hand. The prime spots are right beside the river, which is the Manning River, and it is clear and clean. The regulars have small pumps set up, and take their fresh water from the river. We spent an hour or so solving the world's problems. Lindsay had a great time chatting to a guy who had been coming up here for years. They even had some relatives in common!

Storm Damage at Bretti Reserve.

Next day we took in the Bretti Reserve, about 10kms up the road towards Nowendoc. This is a huge area, and there are quite a few people camped in the area that is situated where two rivers meet. As we drive down the track, we can't believe the number of trees that a down or damaged. Talking to the locals, reveals it is the result of the mini tornado. Many campers literally had their tents blown away, and some caravan annexes were badly damaged, and caravans moved metres from their sites. It took them all by surprise, with its speed and ferocity. Here Lindsay also found some  regulars with common interests. Seems that when you visit the area you just keep coming back. We also came across some genuine Aussie ingenuity. Seems that the local cattle come down to the reserve during the night, and make a mess of anything left outside. So this guy went into town and bought a portable electric fence and surrounded his caravan. He also told us how stupid people are. He said you can't believe how may people touch the fence to see if it is turned on!! If it is on, they only do it once. Oh, and by the way fellas, never pee on an electric fence - water is a wonderful conductor of electricity!!

Another hard day over.

Sunday evening we had a lovely family day. The whole family turned up for dinner. Margo with hubby Adam and their two kids Alby and Ellie, and Michael with wife Wendy and their two kids Andrew an Sam. They are all great mates, and their boys were born only months apart, and their daughters weeks apart. We all cooked up a feast of roasted chickens and vegetables, Carolyn had made a lasagna, and what looked like a feast for twenty of more was demolished in no time. Margo's New York baked cheese cake finished of the night just right. 

Carolyn with a new friend.

The next couple of days were much the same, which sums up life on a dairy farm. Lindsay and I did visit a neighbour Phil and his wife Sally, who live in Sydney and have a small property up the road. The house is in a wonderful position, perched high on a hill with beautiful views up the valley. Would you believe, that they are Truffle farmers! Seven years ago, they planted rows of specially grown American and French Oak Trees, whose roots are impregnated with the spore that produces the truffles, It takes seven years for the trees to be ready, so when truffle season starts around July this year, they should get their first truffles. They will soon be training up the special truffle dog used to sniff out the delicacy.

It wasn't long before our week was over. We had had another great stay. I think Lindsay & Myrelle will enjoy a rest. All those late nights chatting and watching the tennis, have had them sleep deprived!! Off to Nambucca Heads.

Coffs Harbour and Sawtell

I started writing this 3 weeks ago, and then we got busy with the caravan handover, so the content is a little old. Sorry folks!!

We joined the endless stream of holiday traffic heading north, and immediately knew we were in for a long day! By 10.30am we were in desperate need of coffee, and stopped at the only place you can stop between Sydney and Newcastle, the Wyong Truck stop. We joined the other 10,000 motorists who had the same idea, and queued for coffee at the McCafe. It was mass produced McOrdinary!! The McCupcake was OK. We rejoined the endless queue heading north.

At Hexham the traffic stopped, as three lanes of traffic tried to cope with the one lane  engineering marvel know as the Hexham Bridge. Traffic heading south was even worse, with the queue almost back to Raymond Terrace, some 15kms away. Can someone please send the O'Farrell Govt. to Victoria to see how our tax dollars should work on infrastructure!!

Next road block is Buladelah. The bypass commenced in the last millennium is due to open one day, but it still hasn't, so we crawl through town, which is raging and full of frustrated motorists. Having added another hour to the journey, we now fully understand why we don't usually travel during school holidays.

Main street of Sawtell.

It is now lunchtime. We stop at the relatively new centre near Taree. Another 10,000 people are already enjoying the facilities. It is 34 degrees Celsius and climbing. We step through the automatic doors and are knocked back by the noise of those 10,000 people ordering junk food, yelling, screaming, chewing. There are small people running everywhere. It is amazing, and the cleaners haven't turned up to work!!! Food waste is everywhere. What must these people's homes be like???? We ordered KFC, two cokes and 30mg of penicillin each, and found a relatively unscathed table near the toilet. Scared for life, we rejoined the endless queue heading north.

We passed Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Macksville, and Nambucca Heads, the finishing post is now in sight. Ten kilometres south of Coffs Harbour we see the turnoff to Sawtell, and sigh a huge sigh of relief and exhaustion. It is now 5.30pm as we check in. We get checked into the Sawtell Beach Holiday Park, which is lovely, but packed. It is huge, and every square inch of ground is covered in canvas. It is set among a forest of huge paper bark trees, and the promise of an open sight to accommodate our satellite dish is a hollow one, again! No TV at this park! Our site is number 44. It is right on the main road opposite the Sawtell Croquet Club, and we can't see the sky for the trees. It is happy hour, so the locals take up positions to watch the new arrivals park the big van into a tight site. Sorry to disappoint!! In first time, amidst cries of "he's done that before!!" Love it.

Set up at Sawtell.

The inlet behind the caravan park.

Quickly set up, we get out the recliners, crack a bottle and settle in to watch the passing parade. And what a parade it is. The road is a super highway, an endless stream of cars and kids on skateboards, scooters and bikes. How many people live here?? This is one busy caravan park, full of school holiday makers. Every child in the park has a new bike, scooter or skate board, and it is highly entertaining watching the children of all ages dice with death as they compete for road space with the never ending traffic. The location is excellent. A short walk through the bush takes you to the beautiful inlet, where the Bonville Creek runs into the sea. There is a huge sand bank and beautiful, crystal clear water that you can walk through at all tide levels, across to the surf beach. It is a lovely spot to spend some time on the hot days.

The main Beach at Sawtell.

We can walk into town in a couple of minutes. It is a lovely village full of shady fig trees. There are a lot of cafes, and nice shops. We quickly pick out a couple of favourites, Split, Treeo and Wholly Cow, were all well worth a visit. The pub is also a beauty, with the Fishtales Restaurant excellent, serving terrific local seafood. The Salt & Pepper Snapper was amazing, both in its presentation and taste.

The market near the Jetty.

Nearby, Coffs Harbour, has never been one of our favourite coastal spots, but on this visit we had a bit more time to spend looking around town. They are doing a bit of work around the Jetty precinct at the harbour, and we found an excellent market that operates on Sundays. There were some great produce suppliers, and this became our source for fresh fruit and veggies. The other highlight was the entertainment at the market. Each day we went, there was a quality act providing the background music.

The heavy tree artillery arrives.

At the Caravan Park, we were woken early by the constant stream of traffic and the croquet players. Boy were they an active club! Bright and early every day, were we would hear the "thwack" of mallet on ball. The evenings were also a constant flow of people, and one night we got some real activity, when a guy kept bragging about how he felt the earth move. His wife claimed she had nothing to do with it, which saw the guy immediately branded a wanker, but in all seriousness, the tree next to his caravan had become unstable and was lifting the ground around his site. The heavy artillery arrived around 8.00pm, and within minutes, his van was moved and the tree removed. A huge crowd gathered and cheered every branch that hit the ground.

First night at the Showground.

The caravan handover has been well and truly covered in a separate post, so I won't bore you with more details. On the Monday we moved camp from Sawtell to the Coffs Harbour Showground. We just couldn't get moved to a sight where we would be able to make sure the satellite was working.
At the Showground, we enjoyed some peace and quiet, and got to check out the caravan and satellite. We were also waiting the completion of the annexe for the caravan. The day we moved, it absolutely poured with rain, and it lasted for a couple of days. During this time we managed to catch up with some people that Carolyn hadn't seen for 40 years, and that I had never met! Lesley and Jimmy are good friends of Bev and Fred. They have just moved into a beautiful "over 55's" village in Coffs Harbour, and Bev had insisted we call in and see them. We know she just wanted us to update her on the new house!!  It is truly lovely, and we had a lovely time talking history, and our lives as we got to know each other. Within a couple of hours we were old friends, and will catch up again when we return to nearby Nambucca Heads in late January.

Moto Cross practice at the Showground.

Wednesday morning the annexe was ready, so we checked out of the Showground to go pick it up. Before we left we got a sneak preview of the big moto cross event that was happening over the weekend. They had been building the track all week, in fact the guys building the track had been our neighbours out at Sawtell! Around 9.00am, the peace was shattered as dozens of guys on motor cycles started tearing around the circuit. It was very exciting, and Carolyn was extremely happy that we were leaving and not getting the new caravan caked in dust.

Fitting the new Annexe.

Over to Coffs Canvass we headed, where Tony and the team had done a great job of making our annexe. We had chosen a light grey, with black trim, to complement the colours on the caravan. The end result was all we had hoped. We did a full walk through on the annexe and how it goes together, and were delighted at how well made, and how much lighter in weight it is, than our old one. Boy are we now set up!!

So there it is folks, our trip to Sawtell/Coffs Harbour is complete, and we now take to the road again in our luxury new home. First stop will be down on the farm, with Lindsay & Myrelle at their Gloucester dairy farm.

New Caravan

Dinette & Lounge.

On the lot during handover.

The excitement has had us almost bursting at the seams. The time has finally arrived for our brand new, luxury caravan to be delivered. We have arrived at Coffs Harbour, to take delivery of our top of the range Jayco Sterling Outback caravan, from Watson's Caravans and RV's. Jeremy  Watson has been a treat to deal with. We had spoken to many people along the way, and this dealership had a great reputation, and we can now add our names to the list of caravanners singing their praises. Nothing has been a trouble.

Moving House!

Jeremy John & Carolyn ready to go.

We had decided several months ago that we love our life on the road, and that we wanted to continue for as long as we can, travelling all over this wonderful land. Our objective was to find a caravan that would give us those little touches of home we missed. A comfy chair to sit and read, or watch TV, and some extra space to store all those things we carry, that are in excess of the needs of someone on a caravan holiday. This model Jayco was released in the second half of  2012, and it gave us 98% of what we needed. The team at Watson's Caravans have done their utmost to fine tune the extra 2%, and have succeeded,by making some innovative modifications. "Sterling" is Jayco's flagship luxury range, and the "Outback" is Jayco's off road chassis and suspension range. We have combined both, and while our van is too big to contemplate taking  seriously off road, the robust chassis and suspension gives us better ride and high clearance, to negotiate our country roads and those awkward caravan park sites.The huge slide out is the key to so much added space. These slide outs have been used in motor homes for some time, but are new to caravans. Add to this, the huge Australia wide Jayco distribution network, to facilitate our service needs, and we hope we have the complete package. Initial indications are that we have made the right choice. We are absolutely delighted.

I have given you a photographic tour of the van below. You will all be seeing a lot more in the future months and years ahead.

Looking forward.

The bathroom

The Front Kitchen

The bedroom

Relaxing on the lounge.

Parked at Coffs Showground.

The new caravan and car.

Xmas and New Year 2012

There is a song that goes "what a difference a day makes......:, well we would like to take some poetic license and just say what a difference a year makes!! We have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year Year with our true family and friends, away from the prejudices and agendas of last Xmas, just simply having a great time. It has been a wonderful few weeks.

Katrina & Malik.

We arrived at Shellharbour, and had a fantastic week organising the Xmas festivities. On Xmas morning we arrived at Bev & Fred's house, to start the day rolling. We met Katrina's fiance Malik for the first time, and instantly knew we would get on famously. Cocktails were arranged, Mojitos were the cocktail of the day, and the celebrations began. Fred & John immediately started on glazing the ham, and getting the chook in the oven. This was closely followed by a beautiful Rib Roast of beef, Fred's famous potato bake, Bev's crunchy Vietnamese salad, and a seasoning loaf courtesy of Carolyn. What a feast!! The cork was out of the Moet, the Xmas crackers that Katrina had made were cracked, and the celebrations were underway.

The Xmas group at Bev and Fred's.

We knew we would get on with Malik, when we were told of his wicked sense of humour. He is a gifted artist and had promised to do a painting for Bev. Imagine the look on Bev & Fred's faces when the wrapping was removed to reveal an explicit nude painting of a blue  headless man, really well endowed, just leaping off the canvas!! The silence was deafening, as Bev & Fred were trying to work out where to hang this extraordinary gift from their future son in  law, when he announced he was only kidding, and produced the beautiful paintings he had actually prepared for Xmas. It was laughs all round, and "blue boy" sat in pride of place for the remainder of the celebrations.

Bev & Fred

Xmas Cheer

The afternoon called for games so we wouldn't all need a nap. Malik failed the test and napped anyway. The rest of us played Katrina's new game, Uno Stacko. What a blast. We whiled away the hours. The evening came, and some how we managed to saddle up for more food, followed by an evening of Chevy Chase as he destroyed Xmas and most of his neighbourhood for the 10th time. Followed by Home Alone, it was time for bed. A great day had come to an end.

The Anderson clan Xmas 2012.

Next day it was off to John's brother Ian's home at Picnic Point, for the annual Anderson get together. It is a great tradition, and this year was no exception. Ian & Lynette went to a lot of trouble, and the day was a huge success. Sister Jenny wasn't herself, still suffering the effects of those horrible migraines. She will be spending a good amount of time in the New Year, following up with doctors, getting to the bottom of her troubles. The whole clan was there. How much has everyone grown up. It seems so strange seeing Simon and Daniel sharing a beer. It seems like only yesterday they were sharing a bicycle!! The one thing for sure, there is always tons to eat, and constant laughter. In the background, the new generations are still watching the Boxing Day Test on the TV, and relaying the scores to us oldies. Some things never change. My dear departed Uncle Bob summed it up best at an Anderson family reunion, when he declared "the Anderson's are a big mob, and there isn't a dud amongst them!!" Good one Uncle Bob!! 

As with all great days, they come to an end. We headed back to Shellharbour, full of wonderful memories. We have had a fantastic Xmas. Thanks to all that helped make it so special.

From Shellharbour, we headed across to our other "home" at Camden, to spend New Year with Cheryl and Chris. Manager' Darren & Karryn give us the usual warm welcome, and we are soon settled into our usual site. Cheryl & Chris have wasted no time in getting organised, and that afternoon we are off to the movies for the first of the after Xmas blockbusters. First it is Les Miserables. We love the music from this wonderful play, and are very impressed by the way it has made it onto the big screen. We leave thoroughly depressed, so can only assume the movie is a success!! Next day we do it all again. This time it is The Hobbit. Being someone who loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I have to say I was disappointed. It seemed to lack the reality and drama of the trilogy. I found it quite corny. The kids in the row behind were quite traumatised, and we were only in 2D!! But still, that is just my opinion.

The rest of the week was spent around Cheryl & Chris' pool, just being lazy, and being fed from what seems an endless supply of food and drink that seems to multiply in Cheryl's fridge, as if by magic. She leaves Gandolf for dead!!

New Year's Eve 2012 with
Cheryl & Chris.

New Year's eve was relatively quiet. Dinner down in Camden at Mr.Tang's Chinese Restaurant. We were joined by Cheryl's brother Gary and his wife Pam. We all walked home, and were thankful, as on the way back, the booze bus was working overtime on the road into Camden. We had a great feed, washed down by some lovely cold beverages, and then headed back to Cheryl's for celebration drinks to await the televised Fireworks presentation. We all looked the part, as Cheryl had bought New Year hats for the boys and funny New Year glasses for the girls. We saw in the New Year in style, and Carolyn & I waddled back to the caravan around 1.30am.

The remainder of the week flew by. A game of golf at Moore Park with Keith for John. I even bettered my handicap for the first time in a year, which was nice a surprise. A day out with Robyn was on the cards for Carolyn, which we followed up with dinner with Nancy & Keith. We arrived home exhausted, and declared Thursday a rest day!

A final catch up with mum for lunch, and it was time to hitch up and head north for Coffs Harbour, and a really exciting start to the New Year.