I've just realised I've rarely posted about anything we did last year and although it didn't amount to much, I did make the effort to capture a few moments. I will admit to high anxiety level, no mojo to do my usual take the camera everywhere we go and just not coping with the Covid situation, so now you all know why I've been a little hit'n'miss with my blog.
Just before Christmas, we really needed to try and get up to Sydney to catch up with my brother and his carers and maybe see our 2 boys and their offspring, all being well. We left on a Tuesday and were back the next Tuesday just before Christmas, so away for a week. Packing up the caravan, we left early to be in Eden for our first night. We arrived, parked the van and opened the door, only to be greeted by our TV flat on it's face on the floor. It still actually worked, minus part of the back and the mountings. Headed off the next morning and it was a very hot day and we had a few hassles with the car on the journey. As we neared Nowra it got worse and we had to call the RACV who found that it was an intermittent fault, not liking the heat. We made it to Shoalhaven Heads and had no more troubles with said car, but have decided to be brave and replace it, which isn't what we had in mind for this year, but so be it.
Thursday saw us wend our up to Sydney, only to find that we couldn't see my brother as there had been a Covid scare at the centre he attends & he & others were in isolation till they got negative results, which meant our trip up to the harbour city had been for nothing.
On the way back to the van via the coast we stopped at a place called Stanwell Tops where you often see hang gliders and to our amazement one was in the act of taking off and I snapped his progress.
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| Ready... |
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| Set...... |
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| Up...... |
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| and away.................... |
Now for some more photos..........
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| Our caravan site at Shoalhaven Heads with the ensuite on the left, which we like to get when we are away rather than using the larger shared facilities. |
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| Hubby relaxing under our awning. |
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Not the best photo, but can you see our visitor in the centre. A gorgeous lizard and there were quite a few about.
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On the Friday, we took ourselves off on a local walk and although we lived very close to here for 10 years, we'd never been to the Botanic Gardens.
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| A lovely expanse of grassed area surrounded by trees and shrubbery with 2 sculpted kangaroos sitting middle rear of photo. |
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| A beautiful tree. |
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| Another I suppose, sculpture of sorts. |
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| Exiting the parkland we were confronted by this gorgeous mural. |
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| Heading down towards the Shoalhaven River I took several photos showing that it is a large river at it's mouth. |
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| Then we saw this group of elderly gentlemen playing with their remote controlled sailing boats. |
A lovely walk with some interesting moments.
We did saw our 2 boys on Saturday, their partners and 2 of our grandchildren who are both way taller than me now at 14 & 15. We'd not seen them for over 2 years Little E informed me. Our eldest son's 4 couldn't make it due to either work commitments or close contacts. Sunday saw us head to my cousin's place and we actually saw her parents, my Aunt & Uncle who are 96 & 93 which was wonderful. Been so hard during these last 2 years.
On Monday we headed for home for home, stopping for a night in Eden again and arriving home on Tuesday afternoon.
We had morning tea on Tuesday in Orbost, a great country town in the east of Victoria and I actually took a few photos there. It is on our famous Snowy River and the next photo shows it very full due to some heavy rain we'd had leading into December.
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| The Snowy River. |
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| Emu sculpture at the Information centre dressed in Santa gear. |
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| The beautiful old building housing the Information Centre. |
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The Man from Snowy River sculpture on the nature strip.
The Man from Snowy River is a well known poem written by Banjo Patterson about our iconic high country and which all children of my era would recite at school. |
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| Another snap of Info Centre from across the road. |
OK, if you've read all that, my hat off to you and a big thanks as I keep thinking you are probably perplexed with some of the locations & other bits.
We are just about to have another thunderstorm after, a big one yesterday, and it has cooled a little after reaching about 32deg and very, very humid again.
Take care all, stay safe & hugs.
Susan.
So glad you managed to get a bit of a break and see some of your family, even with those frustrating intermittent car problems … I know only too well how annoying and worrying they can be, especially when you’ve a long journey ahead. I love the idea of those en suites when staying in a caravan. I know only too well the horrors one can face in communal facilities, unless you get in just after the cleaner. I hope 2022 is a better one for you. Take care 💜
ReplyDeleteThanks Carol. Not sure whether en-suite sites are an Aussie thing or whether there are other counties who do it too.
DeleteThat looks a lovely week away even though you couldn't see your brother. What a shame about your car problems and the TV. Those en suites are such a good idea, no idea if they provide those here in the UK. It must have been lovely seeing your sons and grandchildren and your aunt and uncle after all this time. Lovely photos from your week away.
ReplyDeleteThanks Eileen & yes it was great, even with our mishaps.
DeleteSuch a shame that you didn't get to see your brother, but how lovely to have a week away and see other members of the family. It's been such a hard time being unable to travel or visit relatives, more so when they don't live close by. I hope you get to see your brother again soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jo & it was nice to get away even though everything didn't go to plan. Good to see familiar bits along the way and catch up with our boys & other relatives.
DeleteI'm sorry you had car problems and you didn't get to see your brother but there were still many positives - you had a break away from home, you did see other relatives and you visited some nice places. I love those en suites at the caravan site, even the 5-star site I stayed on recently doesn't have anything like that and I've not heard of them anywhere else. I like the emu dressed in his Santa gear and love the mural, it looks amazing :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Eunice. Mechanical problems were OK when cars of old broke down, but too complicated these days. We also love staying where there are en-suite sites & they do have many now and.... pet friendly parks.
DeleteI've really enjoyed all your photos and words, Susan. So sorry you didn't get to see your brother but glad you saw many other family members. I love those 'en-suite' pods by each caravan place, such a good idea:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosie. The en-suites are great, though not all parks have them, so we are a bit choosy.
DeleteSuch a shame you didn't get to see your brother but it looks like you had a nice trip away anyway. Love the idea of en-suite pods for showering, I didn't know such a thing existed... but we have never caravanned so it may well be commonplace.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cherie. We hope to get up to Sydney some time in the next few months to sort out a few things for my brother. The en-suites must be a bit of an OZ thing maybe, but they have been around for quite a while with many more parks installing them. We are quite a caravaning nation & most parks have good ablutions blocks with a laundry too. Most have a kitchen area, games room, barbecues, great kid's play areas & usually a pool.
DeleteSorry you didn't get to see your brother, hopefully you will get there another time.
ReplyDeleteI certainly enjoyed seeing your photographs.
All the best Jan
Thanks Jan & so glad you enjoyed.
DeleteIt always amazes me that folk will just 'take a leap of faith' when they set off on a paraglider - it is something I have wanted to try in the past but suspect it will not be something I will ever do!!
ReplyDeleteSorry you didnt get to see your brother, hopefully next time there wont be any covid issues x thank you for your card - it arrived Saturday (as did another from Australia) :)
I doubt that I'd ever have the guts to do it either. We hope to see my brother around March all being well. Glad the card finally arrived.
DeleteWell I did enjoy all of this, narrative and photos! I looked up Eden so I could have a bit of an idea where it is in relation to Sydney and Melbourne ;-) I'm glad you were able to get out and relax (such a great idea the ensuites at a campground!) and see some of your family at least. Yes, two years is much too long to go without seeing daughters and sons and brothers and aunts, etc. etc. I've enjoyed all the green in your post; we have gorgeous blue skies and white covering the ground here with more on the way this week.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandra. I'm hoping this year we'll get to see a bit more of kids/grandkids & my only brother, although I think the UK side will be a way off yet. Glad you enjoyed seeing some of Oz.
DeleteI'm glad you managed to get away for that week - it looks like you had a lovely time! xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Joy, it was great to get away for a short time.
DeleteYou know I don't think I've ever been to Shoalhaven Heads. I have been through Nowra as you read in my blog. It looks just lovely! I just adore the whole South Coast region. So green and lush and so many interesting sights. I really like your van. We have an old camper-trailer but I don't use it often. My partner uses it when he goes out bush with his mates or up to Bathurst for the car racing but it's a very 'rough and ready' set up where I don't feel relaxed. I'd love something like what you travel in! I'm so sorry you didn't get the chance to see you brother. This pandemic has been really tough on family visits. It just straight up sucks big time. Sending hugs xox
ReplyDeleteThanks Louise, we do like what we have these days after tents when the kids were young, then a camper trailer & as we are old now, the caravan is much more comfy.
DeleteIt looks like you had an amazing trip in spite of a few setbacks!
ReplyDeleteIt's been cold here so seeing all your beautiful green photos is lovely.
Thanks Astrid. I hope your weather starts warming soon.
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