Booked in to Wye River for the AFL Grand Final clash between West Coast and Hawthorn We headed down Thu late arvo and got smashed with long weekend traffic turning a 2.5 hour drive into a 4 hour drive … night time set up, in a site to small for our van Panorama of the beach An expensive tiny coffee on the foreshore from the cafe View from the pub

Wye River long weekend was locked in as the first lauching and maiden voyage of Kieron’s new sleek sit-on kayak. Ross was corralled into a support role in his fishing kayak.   Lauching, or more importantly returning, in surf conditions is not s recommended venture with fat, heavy fishing kayaks … if which Ross’ s is a great example.   The agreed time was just on low tide to minimise wave size. Ross waded out pushing the yak over the white water and Whilst Kieron was organising last minute adjustments Ross siezed on a opportunity between sets and jumped. He hit the power and [ ... ]

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Friday is our last morning away on the 2014 East Coast holiday …. spent packing the last of the gear away before we hit the road for the depressing journey home. We woke up to a fantastic day ….. bloody typical. Not a cloud in the sky, not a breath of wind … and soon not us in sight We cleaned up the last of the gear, checked and double checked that everything was away, locked, attached, cleaned, sealed, switched on, switched off. Its a long 1100km drive home: 12 hours of drive time plus refuelling, food and toilet stops. More than enough [ ... ]

It rained quite heavily through most of the night. We woke up to a beautiful clear blue sky …. which rapidly clouded over and it started to drizzle. The forecasters promised clear skies today. The weather bastards have managed to get the constant rain right … so is it too much to expect they get the one and only clear day correct At about 9.30am, the weather bastards were vindicated and the cloud started to disappear …. but only because the really strong wind was blowing it away. Better than the alternative. The sun was warm, and [ ... ]

Ross’s car needed its first service and he booked it into the Newcastle Nissan dealer just after lunch today. The weather was still pretty average here in Nelson Bay, with a heap of people packing up and heading off School starts back before the weekend, so all the families would be getting home for that. Almost as soon as the families ie. Kids vacated the caravan park, the grey nomads started to arrive. We noticed the same thing last year when we also stayed a few extra days to take advantage of the weekend to [ ... ]

We’ve seen quite a few of these Complete Campsite camper trailers during the trip. Ross checked them out online to see if there was any obvious reason they seem so popular. They must be well appointed because this particular model, with the boat rack, costs the best part of a whopping $50,000. We struggle to see the value, albeit that it might be a fantastic unit, it just doesnt look like it could possibly be worth $50,000 …. at that price its compatible to a real, and very big caravan …. with aircon, shower and toilet, [ ... ]

A thunderstorm rolled in about 9pm last night. It brought with it some rain, which we’re so lucky we are very experienced with that. Theres no actual bureau warnings, so we’re hoping it will just quickly move across, help to fill up the bay a little, wash the car and van, and move right along …. leaving a nice clean car and van for tomorrow. Barb went to bed and Ross tried to watch the Murray v Dimitrov match at the Australian Open …. but gave up at midnight. Ross was willing on Dimitrov because Murray is such a [ ... ]

A long drive followed by a few tonics is a grand recipe for a great nights sleep, and we werent disappointed We woke up to a glorious cloudless day. There was no excess kid noises about which is good, and it was warm with a nice light sea breeze. Breakfast for one out on the sundeck We all went for a wander around the park and surrounds to get our bearings. The caravan park sits under the light house at Nelson Head. The caravan park has direct beach access on two boundaries, on [ ... ]

There is a limit to whats acceptable as far as weather goes Suffice to say, this morning as we start the 9 hour drive south toward Nelson Bay no-one will sad to see the end of this crap weather. Although typically, the rain stopped about 5am and this is what we woke up to The old guy behind us was also packing up. Ross motioned to the beautiful blue sky and, in humor, suggested maybe it was one of us thats been responsible for the bad weather seeing it had cleared up when we’re both leaving. Ross then added if it [ ... ]

Its Daniels birthday today.   Our little man is 9 years old.   It seems like only  yesterday and he was 8. Woo hoo Daniel looks a little older this morning God has accepted Ross’s heart felt apology about his cheap Creator humour, and maintained that feral camper suppressing rain All night. We havent clapped eyes on the ferals yet and the peaceful, non swearing atmosphere is intoxicating. We took Ross’ s parents car back to where it lives. We planned on dropping it back later today, but it has a car cover and needs to be dry …… so, sorry mum, [ ... ]

No much to report yesterday. Ross caught up with an old retired guy he knows, Paul, and they sat around chatting for a few hours yesterday morning about life, travelling and politics … generally solving all the worlds problems from right here in the Main Beach Tourist Park. There’s NATA, CHOGM, G20, and the UN ….. and now the Knights of Main Beach After Paul left we did some running around as well as organising Daniels birthday presents. A cool street art custom scooter is super narly with street cred …. plus it looks good The last 2 [ ... ]

We certainly cant cut a break here on the Gold Coast. If its not one thing buggering up our efforts to get into the surf, its another. The list of interference is steadily growing. It rained all night last night with the odd clap of thunder, to wake us up to remind us its still raining ….. and as of 10.30am its still raining A very lazy day around the van today, which was really nice. Doing nothing is exhausting. Ross noticed the storm towel (the towel we use on the floor for wet, or sweaty [ ... ]

The aircon was turned of at 7am this morning for the first time in almost a week. Its about 26deg with a cooler south easterly breeze The forecast is for another 30deg day, but its nice to able to open up the van, give the aircon a breather, and sit outside and have breakfast. Rain is also forecast which will push up the humidity latter in the day. We had a little drizzle earlier, so maybe that was the forecast rain Theres less people in the caravan park everyday, which were still struggling to understand why [ ... ]

Our unlikable German packpacker neighbours had a very late night last night. They were giggling and jerking about at about 4am. They didn’t keep Barb awake which suggests they came back late. We had to have words with them yesterday when they were friggin about around Ross’s car This morning one was curled up in the miniature tent … another asleep in a chair. The best punishment for these short sighted halfwits is another stinking hot day with nowhere to hide from the heat ……. and with the added joy of a hangover. We rode (yes rode) [ ... ]

30deg and feels like 35. For whatever reason its really hot today even though the temperture is only marginally higher than its been the last few days. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water … a mass infestation along the Gold Coast and into the broadwater of Catostylus Mosaicus. (Thats Blue Blubber Jelly Fish to the dumbies) Although the blue blubbers arent described as dangerous, they do have a sting …. not a really bad sting like the Blue Bottle stingers that we had last week, but enough to [ ... ]

The van came with a little plug in 12v fan and light. They typically come with the windup campers. They plug into the bed light and clip onto the metal bar that the supports the canvas bed end Theyre small and look a little cheap … which Ross interpreted as a gimmicky thing. Barb found it in the cabinet and attached it, turning the fan on one of the hot nights. It was terrific Daniel starts the day off with his Yakult ….. Everybody, Every Day Off to the surf club across the road [ ... ]

“D Day” Today …. its “D Day” … Sir Daniel day, all day We’ve declared today Sir Daniel day, which puts Sir Daniel in the pilots chair and will direct all (most) of the day’s activities … with some subtle adult steering. Its a potentially stupid idea that Ross and Barb may live to regret, so they listed some practical rules in a naive attempt to keep the day in check. The first rule for any newly crown king is “with great power, comes great responsibilty”. With no possible clue whatever the hell that even means, we say, [ ... ]

Daniel was Facetiming his mate Finley last night, they were catching up on all the lastest game and App stuff ….. Barb and Finleys mum Sarah spent more time talking over the top of the boys. This is the largest Starcraft caravan Jayco manufacture, its a big unit and its the closest traditional (non Expanda) type van that compares to our Expanda in terms of layout with bunk position and bathroom etc. Its about a foot longer than ours in body, and almost 3 foot shorter inside with traditional double bed layout The Expanda of course, isnt [ ... ]

When we arrived here at the caravan park there were a lot of vacant sites. Thats not unusual given the week block booking rule, and the mass morning exitus at the end of the week. Thats generally followed by the mass afternoon influx …… but not this year. The caravan park has a lot of vacant sites, and not a lot of new arrivals since we’ve been here. We’ve been here a few times over the xmas period, and its been bursting at the seems, but not this year Even the ensuite sites, for [ ... ]