30 Sept 2010 - Home and Farewell

Twelve weeks and four days have come to an end and as we left Port Macquarie in our little 'convoy' for the last time I am sure we were all wondering where the time had gone. As much as we were looking forward to catching up on family (especially the little ones) and friends it only seemed like yesterday that we left. For Max and myself it has been a most enjoyable experience and to explore this wonderful country in our comfortable caravan has been an absolute delight. To our travelling companions Pete, Lyn, Karen and Kevin....thank you for your company and laughs along the way. I think I owe Kev and Pete for many newspapers delivered to our doorstep before Max and I had surfaced but I still have to square the ledger on them for many shoes tied together and other misdemeanours!!!! To anybody out their in 'blogland' if you are even thinking of heading off on an adventure... do it. All being well we will certainly take off on another trip....next 'big one' will be to Western Australia as previously have only touched on the Kimberley region. We are off to Nagambie for a short trip in November before getting ready for Christmas....did I say that word....I thought I only packed last years decorations away a short time ago. Bye for now until I blog again. My next task is to organise our photos into an album as when left on the disc we never look at them. (That also includes about 30 years of neglected photos in shoe boxes that is on my new 'do do' list.) I wonder how I will go. Until next time.............Faye and Max

28 - 29 Sept 2010 - Rawdon Island

Monday morning arrived quickly after a very enjoyable couple of days seeing six of our grandchildren whom we had not seen since the beginning of our journey. We were now on our final leg as a two night stay with Max's brother Ken and Judy at their farm was next on our agenda. What a great place to 'park' our caravans by the river....I remarked to Ken we should mark it as 'free camp no. 1001 on our Hema map of free camps.....only joking!!!!!!!! As usual we were indulged with some great cooking and all enjoyed their hospitality. We enjoyed the fruits of the boys fishing up river as they managed to catch enough flathead for the evening meal.

25 - 27 Sept 2010 - Meeting the boys at Forster

Well we are getting close to home now as today we will arrive at Forster to meet up with two of our sons who enjoy a skiing holiday at the river near Tuncurry. The trip through Sydney was very good with a congestion free run which is great when towing a caravan. It was not long before we were all set up on our sites beside the Wallamba River and we all took the opportunity to catch up with some housekeeping duties. The weather had warmed up compared to Berrima which was 4 degrees when we woke that morning. It was good to find a pair of shorts again even if it was only for a few hours in the afternoon. Forster is a very pretty place and just the place to enjoy a bit of local seafood and a bit of retail therapy. The boys arrived the next day and after a hurried set up of camp, the boats were soon in the water for everyone to enjoy a long awaited ski. My son would not take no for an answer so on with the wet suit for a ski for me....it has been a couple of years since I have had a go so was quite surprised that I had not forgotten. Thank you to Ross for taking me. The grandchildren are all very good little 'skiers' which is great.

24 Sept 2010 - Wagga to Berrima

Kev and Karen left us and travelled via Canberra to visit family and were to catch up the next day, whilst we travelled norh joining the Hume Highway on our way to Berrima. The country is looking great and is always enjoyable travelling with the only thing to think about is which town do we stop in or where are we going to stop for the evening. I must say I am surprised at how easy it is to ease into this lifestyle. Berrima has always been a favourite little stopover for us as it has that little village atmosphere that I love and at first we thought we would not be able to stay as the little camping ground has been closed to caravans but a very friendly lady offered a grassy patch in her backyard so we had the afternoon to visit the shops. Our preserve supply was boosted and the lolly shop is hard to resist!!!! By the way the wine bottles on the table were not drunk by Lyn and I....we only wanted a photo of the beautiful tree.

23 Sept 2010 - Homeward Bound

Leaving Swan Hill was marking the final few days of our caravanning adventure as we were now on our way home through familiar country. Our journey took us through Kerang crossing the border into NSW at Barham for a lunch stop in Jerilderie which is a lovely little town with an early connection with Ned Kelly. The buildings in the original main street are still intact and tell the story of a hold up in 1879. The lake beside Billabong Creek was the perfect spot to park and enjoy lunch in the sunshine. We intend to explore this area and further along the Newell as many times we have driven through but never had the time to linger to appreciate the countryside. Continuing on we headed for Wagga Wagga which was to be our overnight stop.

20 - 22 Sept 2010 - Swan Hill

Well it was back to the area of my childhood and is always good to visit again and catch up with the remaining family members on both sides of our family. We stayed in the Riverside Caravan Park and with the mighty Murray River flowing past our sites at full capacity was truly a site to see. The journey from Adelaide on Monday morning along the Murray Highway to Swan Hill was interesting as we have not travelled that road for many years and again the crops looked marvellous. I enjoyed the wonderful early morning walks along the Murray each morning and Max managed to fit in a game of golf with his nephew. The sound of the paddle steamer "Pyap" on her twice daily run was especially nice and I imagined how wonderful that sound must have been to the isolated people along the river in the days of the river boat.

19 Sept 2010 - Happy Birthday Max

We all had a very memorable night to celebrate Max's birthday and today birthday wishes also to Ken and Smudge. Today we were all happy to have a relaxed day to recover and start to pack up the camp to move on tomorrow. We have enjoyed our visit to Adelaide and surrounds and looking forward to driving into Victoria to see the countryside on our way to Swan Hill. Many thanks to our wonderful friends for their wonderful hospitality and a birthday dinner we will not forget.