Hello everyone
Friday 14th
October
Well last
night the live music was good but the volume and the base were very much over
the top and it started to cause me to spin – so Darryl walked me back to the
van. Had to take some extra medication
to get me settled L
I was unable to
get up until about 11.30am this morning.
I was still quite unsteady for the rest of the day. Darryl noticed that the fridge in the car
was not getting enough power to keep it running so we had to turn it off and
take the car for a run to charge the secondary battery. We headed to Delungra and then west to
Warialda. Six kilometres out of Warialda
we saw a sign for ‘Cranky Rock’ recreational grounds. So we decided to investigate. Four kilometres of reasonably good dirt roads
bought us to a campground and our first sight were three Emu’s grazing.
There were another couple there from the ACC
and we stood chatting to them for a while.
We then went for a walk to the lookout and saw the balancing rocks
Cranky Rock
and
then down into the creek area for a different perspective.
Reedy Creek
We had to walk across a suspension bridge and
Darryl waited until I was half way across and then he started bouncing the
bridge…… L
Not a good move…..
Suspension Bridge
Back to the car
and called into the kiosk come office.
There are three powered sites here and they can fit up to 28 RV’s in the
area. Whether this be campertrailers,
tents, caravans, motorhomes or campervans.
Reasonable rates of $15 per powered site and $10 unpowered. Reasonable amenities also.
Back into the
car and off to Warialda. We had visited
Warialda last year and it is still a lovely little town. Continued on our way
to Bingara and returned just in time for the Blue Ribbon Afternoon tea. (This
was to raise funds for prostate cancer awareness amongst the men. And the group raised $800 to go to the cancer
research).
Doreen and Ken
Saturday 15th
Today we were
up early and off to the township and the iconic Roxy Theatre for a day of
presentations.
Roxy Theatre built in 1936
Inside the Roxy
First up was a local
truckie who runs a big business and he was promoting safe travel and
communication between truckies and the caravanning world. He gave us some good hints and tips and he
was also taking notes to take back to his drivers.
There was a
bit of delay before the next presentation so they screened part of the movie “The
long, long trailer” with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez. What a great old movie and you can just SEE
some of those events happening today.
Long, Long trailer
Next we had
the ACC legal-eagle give us a talk on most legal matters and the best way to
get things in hand. This was a very
interesting talk and we got a lot out of it.
We then took a break for lunch and to return for the AGM. We took the opportunity to check out the 1950’s
milkbar that is attached to the Theatre.
The council is trying to get someone in to re-open the milkbar and
operate it in the 50’s theme.
milkbar
ahh milkshakes.....
We were then
entertained by the Inverell Male Choir.
12 men aged from 62 to 85 performed for us for about an hour. It was very good.
Inverell Male Choir
Back to the
van and getting ready for a group photo before dinner. This should appear in the ‘Caravan and
Motorhome magazine’ issue 168 J we then went in for the Dinner. This was very well catered for with lots of
well-fed attendees. Afterward we were
entertained by the band ‘Brumby’s Run’ from Newcastle. The music was fantastic and to prevent a
recurrence of Thursday night – I had the use of earplugs and was tapping along
to the music quite happily until about 10.30.
Once we returned to the van I was able to remove the ear plugs and sit
and listen to the music – what a great way to be ‘rocked’ to sleep J During the night we had a huge thunderstorm
and big winds that truly rocked the van.
Sunday 16th
Today started
out with a communal breakfast at 8am and some people came in their PJ’s as it
was early :D. We were treated to juice,
preserved fruit, danishes, eggs, bacon, toast and coffee or tea. All for $7.50 a head. Not bad.
This was then
followed by the raffle draw. Darryl and
I won two bottles of wine and Ken and Doreen won a set of wheel chocks that can
take 8 tonne. We were very happy to win
anything and there was $2,500 raised from the sale of tickets – so another good
effort for funds for the local Community fund that supports people with
illnesses that are struggling to keep their heads above water.
We then had
the closing ceremony. This did not take
long at all and we had people leaving whilst this was going on. This was disappointing as some were only
leaving the showground to go and camp by the river. I think there must have
been at least 50 vans pulled out on Sunday afternoon.
Our dear
friends Doreen and Ken left Sunday afternoon to go to Bellata to visit Doreen’s
sister and mother. This would take them
about an hour and a half. It was sad to
see them leave but it was fantastic having the week parked next to them and
sharing so much time together. Reminded
me of when we lived next door to each other in Raymond Terrace J J
Happy hour was
quite subdued as we knew that tomorrow many more would be leaving L
Monday 17th
There were
people who pulled out at 5.30am this morning !!!!!! L Seemed a really silly time to
be leaving when we knew some only had to travel a couple of hours to get home. By the afternoon there were only 14 of us
left……. Everyone gathered at 5pm for
happy hour over near the main building and then we all went our separate ways
for dinner. We were hoping to have Chinese
but when we got there the restaurant had just closed at 7.15pm L so off to the Imperial pub for dinner and a
very filling one it was too.
not many left
'Nigel-no-friends' :(
Tuesday 18th
We were up and
packed up by 9.30am. By the time we said
goodbye to those left behind it was 10.15 before we drove out of Bingara. We arrived at Glen Innes at 11.45 and stopped
for lunch before proceeding to the van park.
Whilst having lunch we met up with a couple of ACC members who were on
their way home to Queensland. We pulled
into the Glen Rest Tourist Park and met with Helen and Bill again. We met them when we were here last November
with our friends Jenni and Gordy from Maitland.
It was so COLD here compared to Bingara.
Only got up to 22 degrees…. And we
had had 31 at Bingara.
Glen Rest Tourist Park
We joined
Helen and Bill for Happy hour and then returned to the van to cook dinner. We rang Darryl’s brother Neville to check on
our niece Samantha. Sam suffers from Crohns
Disease and had to have major surgery on Friday. She went back to surgery today to remove more
of her intestines. When we rang she was
only just coming out of theatres.
Hopefully all will go well now.
Wednesday 19th
Up early this
morning and it was very cold again, only 5 degrees… We got the two loads of washing done and then
headed into town. We got some groceries
and then went to get some supplies for lunch.
When we got back it was to find that Ross and Brigitte the owners of the
park, had returned from their holiday in Townsville. It was so good to see them again. They have made some really good changes to
the park and improved it immensely. We
are going to stay an extra night and spend some quality time with them tomorrow
and leave for home on Friday.
Our trip is
almost to an end. L It is hard to believe that we have been on
the road for 18 weeks today. We are so
used to this little space that we are calling home – that I think we will find
it strange to be in a whole house again…… J It will be great to get home and see the
family and spend some quality time with them.
Then there will be the chore of emptying out the van and giving
everything a really good clean. We want
to put the van over the weigh bridge as we think that the weights they have
given us are incorrect. We think it
actually weighs MORE than the rego sticker says. So for peace of mind – we want to get it
weighed empty and then full to make sure that we are not going over the weights
specified.
There are some
things to come out of the van and the car that we have NOT used over the past
18 weeks.
Hoping that
you are all keeping well.
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