Mallacoota #4

Hi all,
Well tonight is the last night we will be in Mallacoota. :(  We have had a fantastic week (once all the problems at the start got sorted) and have had some great people around us.
We still have Peter and Janet next door - they will be leaving with us in the morning.
We will make our way to Cann River and then up to Bombala and on to a bush camp north of Cooma. Peter and Janet are heading up the coast to Eden.
There are still about 20 ACC members here and they will be leaving over the next three days.
Today the weather started out freezing cold with a northerly wind coming across the lake and then by this afternoon it had reached 24 degrees and hardly a breeze.  The view out over the water was lovely.
We even took advantage of the dogwash facility near the amenities block and gave Buster a good bath - he smells so fresh tonight with his cologne finish :) :D
We will be making our way up to Yass and then across country to the Newell Highway and onward and upward to Queensland. 
So looking forward to seeing the family within 2 weeks.....

Mallacoota #3

Darryl's back is getting much better and the TENS machine seems to be really helping him .
We have had some interesting weather here at Mallacoota.
Thursday we had a bush fire that blocked the road out to the highway - all had to sit tight and wait for it to end, Friday we had a windy and sunny day and then the COLD winds came and we froze, and today we have had rain, sun, wind, more rain and froze. :) :)
Thursday Darryl and I were in the semi-finals of KLOP and won - so went into the FINALS on Friday night and WON that too :).  We will have the awards ceremony on Saturday night.

Details are a little sketchy, but it is thought that noise was an important feature of Klop’s early days. Woodsmen from Carelia, near the Finnish-Russian border, would carve the blocks from the birch forests and fling them around erratically, breaking the enduring silence.
Apart from being tremendous fun, legend has it that the sharp sound the wooden blocks made as they hit each other, klop, caused enough ruckus to keep the hungry bears at bay. So out of much fun and wood flinging the game we now know as Klop was invented.
The secret of Klop is that anyone can play it. All you need is a knack for some block rocking feats – an ability to fling the chuck and send the pegs flying. Let's Klop!

a person playing Klop

Set the klop pins up in a tight circle bunched together with the numbers 10, 11, 12 in the middle.

Place the box 5 medium steps (3-4 metres) away from the klop pins. This is where each player throws from.

One underarm throw per turn using the klop pin (longer & unnumbered pin) at the numbered pins.

If one pin falls, the player receives the number of points on that pin, if two or more pins fall, the player receives one point per pin that falls.

Klop pins must be knocked over fully and not leaning on another pin to receive points.

The pins that have fallen are placed upright where they lie after each turn. (As the game progresses the pins move further from each other)

If a klop player does not knock over any pins for 3 turns in a row, the player is out of the game.

Each klop player has one throw per turn until a player of the game reaches exactly 50 points.

If a player's score goes over 50 points, the players score drops to 25 and continues the next turn around.

 

We went today for the Muster and Community Markets and met Monte Dwyer - we remembered him from when we lived in Katherine and he was the Weatherman on Imparja Television before he moved to 'Sunrise' on Channel 7.

 

Monte's bus

Mallacoota VIC

Hi all, Currently sitting in the van at a very wet Mallacoota for the National Muster of the Australian Caravan Club [ACC].  Will come back later and update the blog.
We arrived here at Mallacoota on Friday after a VERY LONG drive from Genoa - a whole 23KM. :P  We were originally to be up with the bulk of the group (there are 189 vans expected here for the Muster) and then because we had Buster with us they moved us to the 'doggie area' [600metres away from the bulk of the Muster] - well the EXTRA area down the hill and another 400metres away :( - stating that because the Shire had not completed the installation of extra powered sites [they only had 2 years to do it] that we had to move to another area where there was power.  The only thing is that we are so far away from what is happening that we feel really alienated and left out of all the fun and cameraderie that we have experienced previously.  There are 7 of us down this end and 3 of them don't have dogs - not sure what happened there :(
We had a very traumatic set up on the site that they have put us on as we were told that we HAD to park parrallel to the road.  The rear of our van is about 4 feet from the next tow bar and originally when we set up our step intot he van was almost 3 feet off the ground.  When we put our mobile step near it there was still a 2 1/2 feet step to climb.  We then saw that someone had dug a hole to let their outer wheel go lower than the other - so we did the same.  The land that we are on slopes from left to right and also front to back.......  Since then we have spoken to the current managers wife and she says that we are supposed to back into the site - which means we would have room for the annex and the car on the one site.  To add to the trauma we have found out that the people behind us will be leaving 2 days BEFORE us - and for them to get their van out - we will have to pack up the van and pull it out so that they can get their car in to attach to the van.  NOT HAPPY JAN!!!

I know I sound like I am just bitching - but I feel really pissed off that we and our fellow other 6 campers have been separated from the rest of the 'doggie' owners when there are vacant sites up in the 'doggie area' and then feel that all us people with pets are really alienated from the rest of the group. Surely 40 people with dogs shouldn't upset the other 149 vanners...........

We have had torrential rain overnight and then again today - the awning has taken a battering and now will now wind itself up - so will have to wind it by hand when we have to leave.  May have to make up some velcro straps to put around the arms of the awning as an extra precaution.

We have got lots of good things on this week but because of the distance from all the activities - we will have to drive to them.  If we were with everyone else we would be able to walk to the activities.

OK I have whined enough - now we will try and enjoy ourselves. :) :P

Darryl has spent most of the day in bed with a bad back and his knees have been really annoying him.  I don't think that the cold weather is helping.
Buster is being a good little dog - most of the time :) - and everyone seems to fall in love with him.
Tomorrow we are having a community breakfast - so hopefully that will be good.

Our plans

Hello everyone,

Hoping that you are all safe from the flooding and that none of you have had any damage to your homes.

We are ok here – only had a little rain on the south side of Brissy but friends on the north side have had lots of rain today.

Darryl and I are preparing for our BIG trip.  We have to get the van serviced this week and then we need to get new tyres for it as one is terribly worn.

We have slowly been adding food and belongings to the van and then we will leave on the 14^th March with our dog Buster.

We will visit a lovely friend at Grafton for 2 nights, We will then head to Port Macquarie to spend three nights with Uncle Max and Aunty Kath. 

From Port we will go to Taree for three nights with Darryl’s family. 

We will then head to Lithgow.  Not sure if we will stop along the way or travel all day to get there J  Depends on the weather and also the fatigue levels.

From Taree we hope to visit Darryl’s cousin Warren at Bathurst and then head out to Condobolin to visit with Ian and Family.

We will also be doing a side trip to Wagga to see Mum, Lyn and Jenny.  Call into Wagga Wagga High to check on the preparations for the 100 year celebrations.

Hope to see Aunty Nancy and family and Uncle Jack and family whilst there.

We are planning on doing a trip to the ‘Corner country’ for Easter with Ian, Wendy, Holly and Rosey – so are hoping that the weather settles and the roads have a chance to dry out in the next month .

We will then make our way to Broken Hill by the 21^st April.  From there we will be joining up with quite a few other Grey Nomads and we will make our way across through the Flinders and then up through to Alice Springs and Katherine and on to Darwin.

We also hope to head down the west coast and then across the Nullarbor so that we can meet up with our campertrailer group friends at Wellington in Late September and then down to Mallacoota in VIC in mid-October.  We have to be home in November for specialist appointments.

We will then restock the van and head to Wagga to celebrate Mum’s 80^th with the family.

Keep safe everyone.

Love Barb and Darryl