After five months in Castlemaine!

I will start by announcing there will be no photo's as I'm blowed if I know how to access them from my iPad,one would think that would be easy,unfortunately not.Pat and I are finally gainfully employed,both working at the Castlemaine bacon factory.Pat does the afternoon shift,3-11 working in the small goods dept  pushing very heavy trolleys full of salami's and all the variety of sausages from the smokers to the chillers.I am in a different dept on day shift,so someone is mostly here with Hub,packaging the yummy Christmas hams!! we'll do this for a few months and replenish our money box then in the new year will look at continuing our adventures.Will try to keep this current  and work on the photo side,love to all.

Vaughan Springs

 Pat and Hubby at Vaughan Springs.

 Loddon River

Me having a play on the slide at the park on one of our little drives in the country.There are heaps of natural springs in this area so while here we will be exploring,are having a fun time, however very cold!

Grace Kelly style icon.

 A photo of a photo of one of the exhibits

 Hub and Mandy at Bendigo Art Gallery

We browsed leisurely through the wonderful array of gowns hats bags etc retracing her life as an actress,Princess,Style Icon!!The 3 of us had a lovely day,it was nice for Hub as this was her era and she could journey back.We had a yummy lunch after at a near by pub, soaking up some rays, great day girls must do it again!Am off to Wesley Hill markets tomorrow good old hippy markets,can't wait,c u soon.

M.C.G. Jimmy's tribute match

 Pat n Helen on arrival.

 Darryl Braithwaite sang Horses, as a apart of the tribute.

The banner says it all,however the D's never came to the party with a win, it was very sad!We had a good catch up with Peter and his kids,Helen and Damian, Hubby stayed home and watched it all on her colour tv.Yet another week has passed and we are settling in apart from suffering a little from the cold.Pat's been abit crook with a sore back so i have done a little exploring of the beautiful shops in town(only looking!)All for now.

Castlemaine,My happy birthday

 Beautiful roses picked by my darling,under the cover of darkness!!!

 

The delightful Castlemaine bush viewed from Hubs front verandah, the Wedgie's new home.I have had a lovely day,pressies from mum n dad,my beautiful kids a card from Sylvia(very good detective work there)Out for lunch(thanks Hub)and of course my roses,wow!!!I am soon going to be the proud owner of an ipad.If i can manage to work the maps we'll be laughing,we have had a hellish time towing the Wedgie down the main street of towns,up the side of mountains nearly killing ourselves.NO MORE!!!Anyway Pat is cooking our evening meal i best go supervise 

Wangaratta

 Gundagai,Dog on the tucker box.

 Ovens river

 Patrick style fishing

Pat had a round of golf, Dodg and i explored town then went fishing!I caught a big carp(mongrels) then lost one cause i was stuck on my rather large ass and didn't  get up quick enough.Really very beautiful in a different way.On ward to Castlemaine tomorrow to our beloved Hub,Mandy and G.G.

A beautiful foggy morn to wake us at Jugiong,we had a little walk around the little town and went on our merry way.Stopped off to see the dog on the tucker box,bought some yummy apples and headed off to Albury, but kept going on to Wangaratta.

Jugiong

 The mighty Murrumbidgee.

A little stop over  not far from Gundagai right on the banks of the Murrumbidgee.Lots of evidence remaining from recent flooding, glad we missed all that.Met another lovely couple,Wendy and Ian from Coffs Harbour,only shame is they have moved on.It was very cold here last night and this morning very foggy,quite nice when we can laze around and stay in our pj's.

Berry

We stayed nearly a week in this ritzy little haven,great ,very up market shops and eateries.The show grounds are close to all facilities, a nice easy walk.We met some more nice people from S.A a young family travelling for a year around Oz,lucky for me Kathy is a hairdresser and gave me a great cut,Patrick following up with a colour,he's a great multi tasker.Dodgy now comes in at night (far too cold for the boy)however we tie him to the engel as he made himself comfy on our couch,cosy throw and all.

Shell Harbour

 Leonie,Craig and Pat

All around the Shell Harbour area is beautiful rolling hills (dairy country) meeting the picturesque coastline.We had a sleep over with these lovely friends,(Pat and Craig worked together in Emerald)the boys playing cricket on the pool table until nearly sunrise, needless to say Pat's notion of playing golf was out the window.We had a great night, thanks guys.

Kiama

Bombo Headland was yet another amazing sight.An old quarry now resembling skyscrapers.Third photo is Cathedral Rocks.

Kiama

Today we went for a little drive around Kiama,very appealing,postcard stuff,beautiful views!Kiama Blowhole was our first stop,unusual rock formation spouting spectacular plumes of water with matching sound effects of 'whoosh'.

1.  A quick 5 min ferry trip from Bombah Point to Tamboi near Myall Lakes.

 Pelicans feasting on fish frames of a fishermans catch(not ours)

Poor Dodgie shagged after a workout with Pat.

We explored a little more south around Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest.Very touristy but quiet nice.We had no luck fishing near the pelicans however witnessed plenty being caught.I had a yummy coffee and milk tart from a cool little shop i found (our old neighbours use to make milk tart, it's delicious!!!)

Berry

We left Bulahdelah early for us ,enroute to Berry...Well.. We were cruising along quite nicely always listening to 2way in background, accident between Gerringong and Berry.We were diverted in all directions then re routing with the help from Samantha (our tom tom ) we ended up climbing Mt Kosciuszko, towing the Wedgie believe me it was horrific!!!! I am so relieved Patrick was at the helm,somehow reached the bottom unscathed thank God and everyone i prayed to. (3 cheers to Patrick!)
I have seemed to have misplaced our camera ,so for the minute no photos,sorry! love to all.

Golf in Tuncurry

Pat played golf at Tuncurry golf club on Satdy 7/2012 which he really enjoyed. A championship course and in great condition but it was tough with very tight fairways and if you hit it in the tee tree rough, hit a provisional ball. A bloke he met at Bullahdelah said to take plenty of balls but he managed to play 18 holes with the same ball. Very good. His front nine was ordinary to say the least (53) but he rallied on the back to salvage some pride with a respectable 43. Also met a couple of nice fellows, Macca, Bob and Paul all of whom were older than Pat but nice blokes. Catching up with a mate from Emerald who has relocated to Shellharbour on Thursday for another game. Not sure what course yet, will keep you posted.

The light house is at Sugarloaf Point and as far as walks  it was pretty savage but worth it!We cruised north along the coast enjoying peeks of Myall Lake the whole way, ending up in Forster and Tuncurry.We lunched in a park right on the very busy waterway enjoying smoked trout and salad.

Bulahdelah

We had yet another lovely catch up with special friends from Emerald,Bron and Steve.We went to the Bulahdelah bowls club for a yummy lunch for Steve's dads birthday then armed with local knowledge returned for the Thursday night raffles and won our Good Friday tucker.The yellow fin fish is Ocean Jacket(apparently nice)we'll keep you posted on that one.

Buladelah

We are again staying in show grounds in this quaint little town of Buladelah.Quite centrally located to the great lakes district and central n.s.w.coast.As it is mostly National Park hugging the coast we can't stay in most places because of Dodgie,however , here we can do day trips.Today,Good Fri,was fantastic! I went for the most beautiful swim of my life!Seal Rocks is spectacular.The water was the most Divine teal colour and crystal clear to boot.The waves were perfect,water temperature exhilarating,I probably could have been mistaken for a seal myself, a very happy one.

Grafton

We stopped in Grafton for two days at the show grounds, to do a little housekeeping,shopping for groceries,a new amplifier etc.I was very nicely surprised to nearly literally run into our first neighbour we had when we moved to Emerald Leanne Daveson,I'm so glad we went to aldi that day!We had a lovely catch up, plenty of power talking!! Grafton was a pretty little place, terrible bridge entering town though, lucky  Patrick is such a great driver.We fished in the river at Corcoran Park with no luck, enjoyable spot to watch the sun set.

Natural Arch

We took a little day trip to see Natural Arch near Springbrook in Gold coast hinterland,wow!!! I had visited about 30 years ago with my mum and dad and almost forgot how amazing it is.Our wonderful tour guides, rob and braz,showed us a great day,fresh local prawns for lunch,fudge and coffee a bit later and a cool roadie from a funny little shop for our scenic drive home,how much better does it get?

Potsville

 Pots-Full Tavern...Below Potsville golf course.We stayed with an old friend of Pats, Braz and his lovely wife Robyn, they live in a little pocket of paradise with their horses and little Foxy.Pat and Braz played 9 holes at this beautifully manicured,very hilly course while we yakked.Had nice lunch at Cabrita beach life savers club,cruisy afternoon and fishing after tea.Sunday we started with cool markets then for day trip up to springbrook.Thanks to for support in my new gluten free way of life, i'll hopefully soon be half the woman i am  currently!All for now I,ll leave you be.

Jimmy Stynes funeral

 Pat n Pete at Young and Jacksons,home of the portrait of beautiful nude Chloe, opp Federation Square,Melb

 A Jimmy fan

While we spent time at the Quinn's we actually spent time doing maintenance on our Wedgie.Our eagle transfer was peeling off so we sanded it, re painted and re lacquered it now it's beautiful.Are still waiting for our loo s.o.g. which will make that end of the situation much better!

We went to the most fantastic show at the Outback Spectacular last Sunday.Now they have a tribute to Phar Lap in the spirit of the horse show.A yummy 3 course meal, plenty of grog and as we went with our lovely Irish friends, great company!A must see for all.

Brissie

We, with much sadness left mum,dad and Surawski's on Straddie and returned to Brisbane.A few little jobs had to be done on the Wedgie so in between we have had fun catching up with more family and friends.Helen came visiting with our beautiful niece,Maddison, she loved investigating the new surroundings.We are currently parked up with our lovely Irish friends Angela and Seamus at Burbank, they have 6acres mostly bushland backing onto Mt Petrie. Our leisurely stroll turned into a gruelling hike however once at the top too overgrown to enjoy the 360 deg view!

Straddie

 Pat worming at Main Beach,I caught my first worm,most rewarding,very good bait.

 Mum killing our spanner crabs.

 Oh... What a feast!!!

 Dodgie in his beach hat,below enjoying a relaxing spa!

P.S new cow ruggie

Jacque,customising my new cow ruggie.

Above you will see my beautiful new cow hide that fits perfectly,ty Jac and Pat!