I booked into Brighton Caravan Park - my favourite place - for a week between house sits. I was located right near the new shower blocks and O - M - G!!! The best showers EVER!!. About a 12 inch diameter (30 cms for you Metric-ites) and the water literally gushed out. It was wonderful. Some Caravan Parks have "showers" - tiny little shower head and you have to run around to get wet! My love for Brighton Caravan Park is consolidated. :)
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| Brighton Jetty |
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| Brighton |
I've certainly caught up with a lot of old friends with my Adelaide trips and this trip was no exception. I had dinner with Bob and Carol Ryan. Bob was a friend for many many years of my step father David Sando, who passed away some years back. It was lovely to catch up with them and will make sure I do again on another trip. xx
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| Me and Bob Ryan - 83!!! Him...not me |
Friday May 12th
The nights are now very cold now- got down to 3 C last night but I am quite cosy with my quilts and wheat bags and hot water bottle. I went for a 7 km walk with Vicki S along my gorgeous Brighton Beach today and had a midway coffee. Very enjoyable and a warm beautiful clean crisp day.
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| Brighton - sculptures all along the seafront |
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| Just in case you get sick of my photos of Brighton Beach - this is Brighton Beach lol |
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| Angry Brighton Beach :) |
Friday night was Aussie Rules football night with a twist. My 2 beautiful great nieces have taken up football - normally the domain of testosterone and hairy legs - neither of which Olivia and Jamie can be accused of. Father Daniel - now thats something else. He's the coach of Olivia's team and is in his element. With 2 daughters and no sons he thought coaching a football team would be on his "not gonna happen" list. I really enjoyed watching Olivia play for the Brighton Bombers - they didn't win but they certainly played well.
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| GN#1 - Olivia - Aussie Rules ready |
Saturday May 13th
Long beach walk - what else? lol. The days are gorgeous - Adelaide does autumn so very well.
Sunday May 14th
An early start on a cold morning to watch Great Niece #2 Jamie play her football. Once again a cold start but a glorious day - helped along with a bacon and egg sarny at the oval. Jamie shone and her team won. I so enjoyed watching them.
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| GN#2 - Jamie xx |
Today is Mother's Day and I'm a long way from Lee and Michael but I've been invited for dinner with aforementioned Great nieces and their Mum and Dad - Samantha and Daniel and Sam's mum Sue. Daniel cooked an exceptional roast lamb and we laughed so much my ribs ached. It was a wonderful night and I was gifted a snuggly rug - electric - to keep me warm on winter days.
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| Me and Sam...and a......box ......memory deserts me lol |
Monday 15th May
Talk about catch ups! I had lunch today with Kathy Read and Fran Bermingham. I started nursing with these ladies way back in 1969. I thoroughly enjoyed spending some time with them and I hope to catch up again in future.
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| 1969 - Me 2nd left - Fran 2nd right |
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| Me right - Fran middle - Kathy Left Haven't changed a bit lol |
Tuesday 16th May
I start my house sit at Kaye and Kelvin's house today and we got off to a good start with dinner at the Hallett Cove Hotel. Of course I got back to their house and realised I'd left my handbag hooked onto the back of my chair. Grrr. I can only blame old age...I was perfect in my younger days. Not!!
A quick phone call and a mad dash back to the Pub and all was well. I was lucky this time and will try to be more careful. This is getting to be a habit.
Wednesday 17th May
A quiet day at home with the TV and the pets. Nice.
Thursday 18th May
Because of the "heart" incident back in Mildura I decided I should give up coffee - apparently caffeine can trigger the sort of thing I experienced and it has featured highly in each similar incident so far. I though after giving up cigarettes and drinking - both of which I held Olympic Gold Medals in - that coffee would be a cinch. Well...no. Almost instant headache and felt flat and lethargic all day. I hope this doesn't last long.
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| My Giving Up Coffee kit |
Saturday 20th May
Coffee withdrawals - ugly!! Massive headache and absolutely no energy. Who would have thought?
Sunday 21st May
I went to lunch with my ex husband, Paul at the Marino Beach Cafe. What a magnificent view and the food and company were lovely. My only anguish was the car park which we could see from our balcony table. The actual car parks were sooo narrow and I was stressing that one of the many lunatics that were whizzing in and out with a half inch to spare between cars, might dent my lovely Snowball. Luckily we had a box seat and when I saw a better park become vacant I flew down and moved Snowball to a safer spot. Much better :) ..... but probably a bit neurotic.
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| Beautiful view from Restaurant. See Snowball squeezed in? |
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| Salt & Pepper Squid and Prawns - very nice indeed |
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| Paul - keeping an eagle eye on Snowball in the Carpark |
Monday 22nd May
I had "not coffee"with Astrid Eacott at Henley Square - an old friend from when our daughters started school together - probably in about 1992. It was a great catch up and we ended up staying for lunch. I hope we can repeat it on another trip. I did enjoy it. Astrid's daughter Alina is a newsreader on ABC TV and is engaged to a young man who does the sport reports on the same channel. Lovely.
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| Tasty lunch at Henley Square |
Tuesday 23rd May
Today is my last full day in Adelaide and it was spent cleaning and getting sorted for a return trip to Brisbane and taking Mishka (da dog) for a final walk....I should say Mishka takes me for a walk....she just leads me along.
Wednesday 24th May
I left about noon and travelled to Balranald NSW - another one of my favourite CP's. I didn't really think I would get this far because my plan was to take it easy. I didn't want any repeats of the trip down, but it was quite leisurely and I did 530 kms, getting in after dark. Hit the pub for dinner :)
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| Nothing like a country pub dinner. Cold night..... Big fire...and pudding |
Thursday 25th May
I got an early start and wanted to make it to Peak Hill NSW - another favourite. Not such a good day though. I'd left in the morning without so much as a cup of tea therefore depriving myself of even more caffeine. I had a crippling headache and there were big blurry spots before my eyes. WTF!!
Tumour? Stroke? No - it turned out to be a too tight Visor type hat and dirty prescription sunglasses. Doh!! A quick stop - a cup of tea - a change of hats - clean the glasses... and a cure was had.
Continuing on I again came across a lot of cows grazing in the long paddock and strolling on the road. They really were lovely to watch. Quite calm and in no hurry. Maybe they can teach me a lesson or two.
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| No Caption needed |
570 kms to Peak Hill and again dark when I got in. I hit the RSL for fish and chips and had an early night.
Friday 26th May
I had time up my sleeve so I decided to go to Lightning Ridge NSW. I thought I might stay 2 nights and have a good look around at this Opal mining town. Things didn't go quite as planned. Firstly I missed the turn off to the town - how, I don't know. See photo below - you'd think I would have noticed this.
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| How the Hell did I miss this turn off? |
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| Lightning Ridge Hilton..? |
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| Gravel Caravan Park. Every step echoed in the night |
The 470 kms I should have travelled was increased by another 60 kms because I went 30 kms past the turn off. Grrrr My preferred Caravan park was full so I went to the other one which was all gravel and the amenities block was disgusting. I decided to stay just the 1 night so I never really got to see much. Everything was very expensive and the BBQ chicken that I paid top dollar for was more like a BBQ'd sparrow. I will re attempt Lightning Ridge at another time and will book ahead.
Saturday 27th May
I couldn't leave early enough the next day - didn't bother to shower - I only had me to impress. I did make toast in my new toaster and learned that making toast in a camper van leads to the smoke detector going off. In future I will toast OUTSIDE next time. lol.
I thought I might head to Toowoomba and spend some time there. I stopped along the way at a bush cafe. This was a VERY bush cafe. Corrugated iron walls and long drop toilets. This was obviously a truck stop - my bacon and eggs was huge with snags and chips and toast and tea. Just what I needed. I'd just got chatting with another couple when a man walked in asking for a shovel. I'd been listening to a scary podcast on the way there - murder and mayhem - and the sight of this dishevelled man coming in looking for a shovel in the middle of nowhere excited the imagination. Wolf Creek 3.....? I left. I locked the doors... just in case John Jarret turned up lol.
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| Yes - I ate it all |
I was breathlysed in a tiny town called Bogabilla Qld......I've given up so many things that I doubt I would register anything on ANY test they gave me lol.
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| A great day to be on the open road |
My no coffee rule has been maintained but it IS a pest. I usually make a Thermos of coffee at the beginning of the day and when I stop every couple of hours for a break, I'd pop in the back of the van and have a coffee and a snack. I tried making tea and Thermos-ing it but it overdraws and tastes bloody 'orrible. I had also tried just water and then add a tea bag as required but the water doesn't stay boiling and you just get brown water. I've solved the problem by getting some decaff. I usually avoid this because it's generally decaffeinated by adding chemicals but Nescafe has one that is done by Osmosis using water. Problem solvered and taste is quite reasonable. Will do the job.
I've had a good day of travel - thoroughly enjoying the drive and listening to True Crime podcasts and when I reached Toowoomba I realised I was only an hour from Lee's place so I pressed on. I'd done about 750 kms and again got in after dark. My travelling rules are - stop every 2 hour - never let the tank go under 1/4 full - never stop at a roadside rest stop if there is only 1 car there AND don't drive after dark. I have broken all of these rules this trip but have given myself a severe talking too and will change my ways in future.
Derek da dog went nuts when I walked in - he obviously missed me. Just went crazy. So did I ;)
I spent the next few days just relaxing, doing some chores for Lee and looking after Derek. Lee has been working from home and has always been there to look after Derek. Now she's started a new job where she needs to be in the office so I'm here for most of June to look after the dog. After that they'll be moving to a more dog friendly location and will better be able to accomodate Derek and will be able to leave him during the day.
Saturday 3rd June
Today is Derek's first Birthday Party. Yes...I know....he's a dog, right? Well not really - he doesn't think he's a dog and I don't think Lee thinks so either. The party was at Love Street Dog Park and 20 dogs turned up. They needed to wear Monster outfits and prizes were awarded. I kid you not. Pictures below.
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| Wee Bruno in his prize winning costume |
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| Derek the Octo-dog. Looked like he was in his dressing gown lol |
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| Billy from Stafford UK won the prize for scariest internet dog lol |
Tuesday 5th June
I eventually got around to updating this blog to the beautiful sound of Derek snoring. I'm glad he's finally asleep - it doesn't however stop him from making some dreadful smells
He's obviously missing Lee and follows me EVERYWHERE.
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| HE LOVES HIS ME -MAW |
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