For those of you concerned about Wendy’s health, worry no longer! She is as fit and pain free as she usually is. She cancelled the surgeon’s appointment, owing to the fact that his sole objective would have been removal of the “offending” organ. With no pain, and knowledge of alternative methods of dealing with the issue of gall stones, we are avoiding surgery and she gets to keep her “bits”.

Whilst on the Central Coast at the beginning of August Wendy got to pick up a few shifts at Woollies – Oh how she missed those 4:30am starts! We had some fun times with our 2 granddaughters from Wyong – Matilda had just turned 3 and Gabrielle was a very healthy 4 months old.

We were also invited to the sponsor’s box to watch a CC Mariners game at Bluetongue Stadium. Thanks Amanda from Sure Optical at Lisarow http://www.sureoptical.com.au/ .

Before leaving the Central Coast we were able to catch up with some more friends and family and were pleasantly surprised to stay overnight at Mt Penang, Kariong, between the Tourist Information Centre and the new high school under construction. There was a bit of noise from the highway but not too unpleasant. We even entertained guests for dinner! This seemed to be a very big waste of very useful resource for the council. It’s a perfect spot for a rest area for travellers.

One of Wendy’s friends recommended that she read “Roadside Sisters” by Wendy Harmer. Wendy had already heard of the story and was keen to get her hands on it. A copy was sent through the post.

Our next stop was Sydney RV for more warranty work and some more gadgets to make life on the road easier to manage. The service guys are a delight to deal with – always pleasant and obliging. If any of you reading this want to get away from it all – go see our friends at Sydney RV at Narrabeen or check out http://www.sydneyrvcentre.com.au/ .

Before leaving Sydney, there was 1 more friend we wanted to catch up with. “Where to meet her?” was the big question. She lives near Strathfield so Wendy suggested that Bicentennial Park at Homebush may be suitable. It turned out to be a great choice. We just had to be gone before sunset because that’s when they lock the gates for the night. Another great rest area for travellers gone to waste!

OK – We headed back down to the South Coast because Wendy had received a call from Woolworths advising that her transfer application had been received and that it would be wise to visit the Bega store to see what positions they had for her. How deflating to travel all that way to be told that there was not really anything available and that the transfer had not been approved. Mental note – listen more carefully and confirm what you think you are hearing!

The positive out of that situation though was of course we got to spend some more time with Mel, Maya and Gareth. We also revisited a favourite caravan park – Eden Tourist Park. The park is located just across the road from the beach and is on the edge of the lake which is home to a large flock of black swans. The managers are such nice people, and we’ve spent a lot time having interesting discussions with them. Time was available also to take a day trip to Mimosa Rocks National Park, which Wendy had wanted to visit since we started planning our new life. Setting out from Bega after a night of horrendous winds, we were not disappointed. The day turned out to be very warm and sunny. Our first stop at Nelson’s Beach and lagoon had Peter willing to give up the Winnebago for a park ranger’s job here. You should see the ranger’s house! It is the most idyllic spot.

Motoring on to Gillards Beach in time for lunch, we noted the great camp sites for future reference.
The next day Wendy Harmer’s book arrived for Wendy. It’s been a long time since she read a novel and was keen to get started. It was an easy read and there was often a squeal of delight as the author’s tale was revealed, aligning so very closely to our very own journey.

Two days after our picnic lunch at Gillards Beach, Wendy was reading about “Nina, Meredith and Annie” camping there in their motorhome. Girls, “Roadside Sisters” is a great escape.

Ben Boyd National Park. We visited the Green Cape lighthouse on a cool, blustery overcast morning. We set an “adventure goal” to visit every lighthouse in Australia. Wendy’s personal goal was also to avail ourselves of the accommodation provided at some of these establishments. The Australian fur seal colony lolling about in the rough seas below us seemed to be right at home – which of course – they were! With binoculars poised at every opportunity to spot a whale or two, once again they eluded us! One day- soon, we hope! Somewhat of a compensation was the fact that we got back to Aslings Beach, Eden just in time to see a pod of dolphins lazily ply their way through the gentle surf, very close to the shore, without a care in the world. One day we’ll swim with dolphins, but the water is way too cold to do that here, just yet!

We came to the nation’s capital city to cheer for the Central Coast Mariners on Friday night. If

Canberra is successful in getting an A-league team, it will obviously be due to our support of the code. Mariners won the game 2:1 against perth Glory. The crowd wasn't as big as the officials had hoped, but we had a fun night anyway.

The things some people will do to be close to the action!

Our newest granddaughter Maya, was not even 3 days old when we went travelling towards Bermagui to fill in time before afternoon visiting hours at the hospital. After enjoying a cuppa and a few tasty rice crackers for morning tea in the park at Tathra, Wendy began to experience severe abdominal pain. Unable to be seen by the local doctor for another 2 weeks, it was decided to head for Bega Hospital for immediate attention. The pain had quite significantly subsided, however common sense dictated that we should have it seen to. Our travelling companions, Maya’s other grandparents, were gracious enough to alter their plans for the day. We were deposited at the emergency entrance to the hospital at noon, and within 5 minutes Wendy had been ushered into a bed in Casualty. Many questions, tests and proddings later it was concluded that there could be a gall bladder problem. At about 5pm it was decided that she should be admitted, observed overnight, have an ultrasound the next day and take it from there. A bed was found ….. in the Children’s ward –an overflow ward, actually. Wendy had not been able to see Melanie and the baby, and there was no way we wanted Mel to come visit the Emergency Department.
At 8:30pm, with no food or drink for about 12 hours, Wendy was taken to her room for the night, “Nil by Mouth” in preparation for the ultrasound, hooked up to an IV drip, nothing to do, and her daughter and baby downstairs. What to do? Just dozing off, and a visitor arrives in her room. Ah, it’s Mel offering books about newborn babies, and food – oh if only! Gaining permission from Wendy’s nurse, the 2 of them toddled off to Mel’s room so Wendy could make sure Maya was still as beautiful as she remembered. No pain now, but they turned a few heads, IV drip in tow.
Meanwhile Peter and Gareth went home to Nethercote to batch for the night.
The ultrasound showed up many pebbles in the gall bladder, Wendy was able to eat (more than 24 hours without food won’t kill you), and once that appeared not to present any further pain, was allowed to leave, with a follow up appointment with the surgeon in a week or two.

That’s NOT camping!
2 days later we moved to Pambula Beach Big 4/Discovery Caravan Park/Resort. Yet another challenge with dump points, but way too many compensations. Heated floors in the shower dressing areas, heated “Adult Only” lounge area, great camp kitchen, indoor heated pool and spa, mini golf, jumping pillow – no, we didn’t try that, a mob of very tame kangaroos with joeys, large white sandy beaches and blue water filled with many species of fish to be caught, and sunny winter days. Ah Heaven!

We booked in for 2 nights, but then – like their motto states “Discovery Parks – Easy to find - hard to leave”, we decided to stay for one more night. This gave us the time to cycle into town for coffee, cycle around the wetlands conservation area, walk to the river mouth, and indulge in a dip in the heated pool and spa. We also got to have a shopping spree at Pambula Wholefoods (Mel’s favourite shop). I felt like a local when the lady in the shop asked me how Mel had got on and I was able to report on Maya’s arrival.
Before we began to head for Nowra for repairs on leaky water tank, we got to enjoy bathing Maya and have one more cuddle.

That night we stayed in a park just outside Tathra, and with our van packed for an emergency departure, we were amused to see a P-plate driver come into the park, drive around twice tooting his horn very softly. Is that the best that Tathra hoodlums can do?

The next day we discovered Mystery Bay, 5 minutes south of Narooma. It’s a sleepy little settlement bordered by Eurobodalla National Park. The camping area was very shady and not too many large flat areas for a camp spot to set up. After morning tea we walked along the beach in the sunshine and then we wanted to check the notice board for the camp area. The closer we got, the more we realised that the camping area extended further on up the hill and around the bend. Here we found large flat sunny camp spots. Ah yes, let’s stay here for 2 nights. We can have our first campfire for this trip!

We can open the bottle of red that David gave us to drink around a fire. We met Allan from South Australia who had been catching salmon from the rocks. He told us of a few great camp spots in Western Australia that we noted in our “Camps” book, and the next day at happy hour, Allan wandered over to tell us that they were heading south the next day. He had been fishing again but had to throw them all back because he had no room in his caravan fridge to keep any more. We could have cried – we would have loved to fry up fresh caught salmon over the fire. We must get our fishing gear out of the storage shed. We walked into the National Park and discovered that the area was quite a popular social gathering point in the late 1890’s and that the first bicycle velodrome in Australia was built here by the local community.

We had an arrangement with Peter’s Uncle John to be at his St George’s Basin home for lunch on Thursday, and we would stay with them for four days. On the Friday morning we took the van to Nowra for the repairs, we bought a fishing rod, and were back at the house by lunchtime. There was a lot of chatter about industrial relations, because Uncle John was influential in Peter’s career choice, and actually Peter worked with John in his consultancy business in Parramatta before Peter started his own business. It was great to spend some time with John and Rhondda and catch up on old times and family additions (photos, etc)

We left St George’s Basin on Monday morning around 9:30am and arrived safely back to our favourite camp site on the Gordon’s Jilliby Estate at 5:15 pm. Not a fast trip, but we don’t need to do those tiring express journeys these days.

Now we are back on the Central Coast for around 10 days to sort out some family and business matters and exchange things in the storage unit (i.e. discard those things we don’t need and gather the missing important things.)

She's finally here!

She’s finally here and you’re finally getting to hear about it!
Our third granddaughter, Maya Joy Hockings was born at 3:40pm on Friday 17th July at Bega District Hospital. The vital statistics at birth were 3.4kg, 50.5cm tall, 36cm head and stunningly beautiful. (Her Daddy’s words!)2 weeks on and the official word is that she is thriving, and Mel is doing very well too.





Stay tuned for the next travel blog.
Cheers, Wendy and Peter

The Journey Begins

After a lovely birthday breakfast with our son Tim and his family on Thursday 25th June, we finally hit the road. Making it to the south side of Sydney for our first night deserved a celebration. A year of planning, organisation and hard work and we are starting our new lifestyle. It’s a great feeling, I can tell you! After a scrumptious dinner at the Post House Restaurant in Berry, we woke to the news of Michael Jackson’s passing. We decided to take our time travelling down to Nethercote (near Eden) so we also spent nights at Batehaven (rest area) and Tathra (caravan park) We arrived at Merimbula on the Sunday to meet up with our daughter Mel, her husband Gareth, and their Canadian friend Orianna, who were all set for a 6km bushwalk in Bournda National Park (did we forget to mention that Mel is 9 months pregnant???? )

The look of joy when our Canadian visitor saw a mob of kangaroos and wallabies, and the squeal of terror when she spotted a spider in the toilet, were highlights of the day.

Waiting for a baby to be born can be quite a boring process, but not so! We helped out with walking the 2 dogs (one, being our old dog Chuckie) through the bush near where Mel and Gareth live, shopping in Bega, and collecting firewood – we like to keep busy and being helpful. Mel and Gareth introduced us to the TV show called MasterChef – now we’re hooked too! Go Julie! To celebrate Wendy's birthday (thanks to those of you who sent messages or called) we enjoyed a delicious (and filling) late breakfast, to be followed by a very yummy lunch at the Seahorse Inn at Boydtown. We made our way back to the house to stoke the fire, watch a movie and then stay up till midnight playing a favourite card game called “Grass”. Gareth won, of course.

After parking at Mel & Gareth's for a week it was time for a change of view, and perhaps an incentive for that new grandchild to make an appearance, so a caravan park in Eden was our next location for 2 nights. The new technologies we have needed to learn have been intriguing, but most curious to us is how some people in the caravan and motorhome industry DON'T HAVE A CLUE about some of the basics! Large motorhomes like ours have holding tanks for waste water. When we stayed at Tathra, we found we couldn’t dispose our waste water because there was no dump point for gravity-draining holding tanks. Oh well, we decided to make sure before we booked into the next caravan park. This time we asked all the appropriate questions and explained our concerns. Yes, indeed they had a dump point. The lady kindly showed us on the map, where the appropriate facility was located. We were both gobsmacked to find the “Dump Point” in a little shed at the end of the amenities block, and was definitely not designed our type of system. Back to the lady in pastel pink in the park office. She had NO comprehension of what our requirements were. “Most motorhomes have the cassette system …..” was her belief. After consultation with her husband, he came out to assist. Thank heavens for male ingenuity, and some old sewer lines that allowed us to empty our tanks and then went to another area in the park to find a sunny spot for our 2-night stay.

Mel brought the dogs for a play on the beach and after a glowing recommendation from Mel, we made our way to Mallacoota Foreshore Holiday Park (MFHP). We crossed the Victorian border and made our way east from Genoa along the winding road through forests and farmland. MFHP lived up to its reputation. Mallacoota is a sleepy little holiday village, in the most amazing location with all services provided - except that the fish shop is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. To top it all off, we were able to witness (and capture) the most amazing moonrise reflecting over the wet sand and the calm water. Magic moment no. 1

Next morning was time for our first bike ride in a long time. (the bikes have now been hanging off the back of the Winnebago since 18th May, so they were pleased to get the exercise too). First on the agenda was to check out the size of this caravan park. Over 600 sites and at Christmas time is 100% full, catering for 2000 people. (Glad we’re here in the “low season”). It’s a huge place with lots of amazing camp sites to choose from. In the top part of the park, we passed a mob of kangaroos standing like statues under a huge tree. (Magic moment no.2)





Today the people in the office told us there was a koala wandering around last week. As the name implies, the park is on the edge of the water, the fishing is meant to “go off” in summer, although we could catch a feed without a doubt at this time of the year. (Must get that fishing gear out of storage!) We really miss our kayak right now too. Miles and miles of waterways to explore. We had intended to head back to Eden today, but as the baby still hasn't made the grand appearance, we decided to stay for another 2 nights. (We’re in no hurry, either!)

As we write this, we have been away from the Central Coast for almost 3 weeks and are missing you all very much, but almost every day we ask each other tongue-in-cheek, “Are you having fun yet?” We are!

The name on a van here in this park is “Leisure Technicians” – we love it.

Please write so we know you’re reading this.





Wendy & Peter