Heading for Home.

Wed 20th we packed up and left lovely South West Rocks by 9.30, and got ourselves yummy icecreams at the Kiosk, that we'd promised ourselves the week before! Went south thro Kempsey, to Pt McQuarie where we had another deliciuos fish lunch at a little sidewalk place near the shore - and I was a bit stunned to get a phone call from a bus company, booking in a coach load of people to our Martha's Coffee Lounge on 9/12! I sent out letters to 40 coach companies before i left here, so it was good to get a response, just a bit out of context! Found another little pwk shop, then headed inland over the mountains ... and they sure were mountains!! Was hard for Dad to look and drive, so I drove for a while and he took photos out the window as we drove past ... some good ones too! Certainly some spectacular scenery - one thing we must concede to the NSWelsh - they sure do rivers well!! At Moonbi Hill there was an amazing look-out, and Dad got a photo of the view, and also one of the lookout - it was a HUGE rock, with steps up the side!

At Tamworth Dad chose the Cara Park that didn't allow pets (he doesn't like dogs!) and we were a bit disappointed to discover we had a dry dusty stony patch to put the tent on! We'd been spoilt at SWR! Then as we got the tent up we watched lightning over in the west ... getting closer ... then we could hear the thunder .... and we watched it move right around us!! After our usual tuna and salad tea we went for a walk, telling our neighbours we were gonna make it rain! It wasn't cold - still in short sleeves! We went out thro the gate (radical I know!) back in the opposite direction, then walked around the building right next to our tent along the side fence of the cara park - and discovered that it was the Tourist Office ... and bus station! Oh lovely!! Buses arrived and departed between 4.30am and 11.30pm .... and I reckon we heard every one of them!! Was kinda funny! But back to our walk - it started to rain, so we raced back to the tent and listened to it while we played ONO99! Both read a while too, and the rain stopped and the storm fizzled out, and we slept faily well - buses excepted!

Dad went for a run next morning, and came back very excited as he'd found a patchwork shop for me! What a dear ....! We headed up the street and just browsed, did a bit of christmas shopping, and I bought some lovely earrings and a very pretty little plate (that he gave me for my birthday!) We found a Powerhouse Museum - did you know that Tamworth was the first town in Australia to have electric street lighting??! Neither did we! But we do now ... the guide at the museum was just so passionate and excited and knowledgable about his subject, we didn't have the heart to cut him off!! Was a bit interesting, but more as a study of human nature, rather than of electricity etc!! We had coffee, and lunch (Subway!), and then another coffee and cake .... the pwk shop was also a very classy coffee and gift shop, and was back towards the cara pk, so we were ready for a sit and an iced coffee by the time we got back there, after 4 hours of wandering along the street! When we got "home" Dad had a sleep and I took my chair out in the shade and read. It was pretty windy by then, and very dusty! He cooked us our last steak onions eggs tea and we had with salad .... was very nice! It's become our tradition for Dad to do the meals while we're on hols - I figure I get them the other 11 months of the year (generally!) so is fair enough! Mind you, I usually decide what he'll get, which is half the battle .... !

Friday we packed up again, and headed east again! Lunch at a lovely little bakery at Gilgandra - the Rock Bun bakery! Very nice pie and latte! As we got nearly to Dubbo there was a little locality called Brocklehurst - what a surprise! But we didn't think quickly enough to stop and take a photo! We had a wander around Dubbo, for a break, and even had Gloria Jeans coffee! That's also where Dad realised he'd forgotten that last Sun was the last Sun of the month, so he was meant to be preaching in Renmark - and he'd forgotten to organise it! Ooops! He made a couple of phone calls (Friday afternoon!!!) and one couple very generously offered to help him out!! I think he visited them on Thursday and ate humble pie!! On through Parkes and Forbes, and got to the same very basic little Motel at West Wyalong about 5.30. We went for a long walk, all along the main street and back, then had usual tea, read, watched footy, and played ONO99.

So yes .... we did get to stay in our tent, and it did stop raining! And I really have no idea who won most of the games .... sometimes it went very much one way, and others the other way! Which is a pretty fair thing to happen I reckon! Our Holiday Saga is just about over ... but I might write some more one day! Bye all! Love Mum

The Saga continues - our blissful week!

Clive and Sarena stayed here the week we went away, and took us out to dinner the night before we left. Clive spent years in Newcastle (in Air Force) and recommended we check out South West Rocks, just south of Coffs Harbour. Wed 13/9 we packed up and left Coffs, enjoying some sunshine for a change! We went through Scotts Head, and Stuart's Point, and found South West Rocks .... and it looked promising, so we checked in for two nights. To cut a long story short, it was even lovelier than it seemed at first and we ended up staying a week - which was good as it meant we got the 7th night free! The Park wasn't too full, there were lots of parrots and kookaburras ... and magpies! And Kangaroos that came grazing each evening near the tent, taking no notice of us! One Mum had a Joey that would lean out as Mum ate, and would have a nibble on the grass too - was very sweet, but sadly too dark by then for photos!

We did lots of walks, and Dad went for lots of runs, and more walks than me, and we found a very nice restaurant up the top of the hill, overlooking the beautiful bay. We actually went there 3 times - once for iced coffees, once we had wedges and iced coffees (very nice lunch!), and on my birthday I had yummy fish and Dad enjoyed his steak! It was a very special spot - and very popular! Right at the top of the hill was an old gaol (Trial Bay Gaol) a bit like Pt Arthur only not so big or so haunting and sad. We had a good look around that.

We both read lots - I'll try not to say too much about Dad's choice of Mills & Boon rubbish from the "library shelf" in the laundry at the park ... I guess it was "chewing gum for the eyes" ... or something! We played ONO99 each day too, and Dad cooked us bacon and eggs, or steak onion potato etc etc most days, over at the camp kitchen near the pool. We went to the little church there on Sunday morning (8am!!) and the Minister is Peter Martin who was in College with us! They invited us to lunch on Monday, and that was quite an interesting experience - Peter was Presbytery Minister for Central Q, with half a million acres for his "parish" and we heard a bit about that! Lorna's a Minister too, at Gladstone Q until January when she's moving down near Newcastle, a bit closer to Peter! She was there, as she's just got back from visitng her family in Canada and had a few more days leave.
It was a really nice week there, and we were both a bit sorry to pack up and leave on Wed 20th ... but, yes, it DID eventually stop raining! Stay tuned .... Love Mum

Next episode - not quite so dramatic!

Fri 8th we left Blacksmiths Beach, bought our new tent at Belmont and headed north, checking out the little bays and more stormy seas. Decided to stay at Pacific Palms, just south of Forster, and it was a really awful crappy tatty old cabin, $45/night, no hot water, with a half mile hike to the loos! But it had a bed, a heater and TV, so we coped - I couldn't work out why the Ladies had 8 showers and only 2 loos .... and one of those was blocked ... as I said, really crappy! We went for a walk between showers, read, watched the footy (Melb/St Kilda), and slept OK! I wasn't impressed next morning when Dad said we should stay another night, as he thought we'd have trouble finding somewhere else on a Sat night ..... he may have been right, but ...yuk! Sat he went for a run, I walked around the cara Park and had a chat with a bloke who told me he was staying in his brother's on-site van, and he wished he'd bought one himself when it was offered to him 10 years ago ... for $1m!! My goodness!! I'm sure some of the "permanents" are very nice (esp if they have en suite!) ... but $1m!! Position position position I guess! We had bacon eggs etc for lunch, Dad had a sleep, we watched the rain (!), and I wrote 8 postcards, stitched and read! Watched footy, drove car over to loos, and went to bed. Lots more wind rain thunder etc overnight, and we were glad we weren't in a tent!

When we checked out Sunday morning the lady in the office said they'd had 110mms in the previous 24 hours (that's 4 1/2"!) - I can beleive that! And it kept up all that day too! We headed north again, thro Forster to Pt McQuarie, where we had lunch - scotch fillets and vegies for $12!! Posted postcards and birthday cards, then on to Coffs Harbour, where Dad checked us in at Park Beach Holiday Park. $60 for cabin, or $71 for ensuite cabin .... gee I wonder ...?! We got the ensuite! Was very comfy cabin, compact - and dry! Still raining and blowing outside, and we could (just!) see the sea! Settled in, Dad slept, I stitched, we watched TV, played ONO99, and read. Dad stayed up and watched a Grand Prix!

More heavy rain Monday, and we went out of town a little way, to a very nice patchwork shop we'd visited 8 years ago on LSL! It's still a funny little shop with SO much stuff in it .. and the most amazing views way down to the coast ... I bought birthday presents for Agnes, and Lyn K ... and some other bits and pieces! At a big shopping centre back in CH we got thongy scuffy footwear for both of us, and a big golfing umbrella - figure we may well need it next year, too!! (Funny thing is, we didn't ever actually use it!) Had Subway lunch (just for Dad!) back to cabin and he went for a run (not actually raining just then!) I did the washing and drying (wet again by then!), stitched, we read, ate, watched TV and played ONO99.

Forecast still not too flash so we booked in for another night, 5 minutes after the folk who had it booked for that night, had rung and cancelled ... we would have been a bit grumpy if we'd had to move! Were lucky! Still raining, so we drove up to Grafton, just for a look! Found a good book shop with some cheap books (incl pwk books!), had nice counter lunch at a pub on the river, with 16 old ducks celebrating someone's birthday - it was quite a funny study of human nature!! But $8.50 for chicken parmi with chips and salad was worth waiting for! Back to cabin, read, slept/stitched, watched Tv, ate, and played cards .... and that'll do for this "episode"!

Will they actually get into their new tent?? Will it ever stop raining?? Who wins the card games?? .... will they run out of books?? Stay tuned for the next exciting (?) episode!
Love Mum

My Holiday. by Karen Kitto

We left Loxton 9.30am Tues 5/9, had lunch at the nice bakery at Mildura, and checked into motel at West Wyalong about tea time. We went to the Club and had chinese tea, back to the very basic motel (what can you expect for only $50?!) and slept early ... was a long day! Left about 8am Wed and headed east .... Dad very ably found the Cumberland highway and sort of skirted round Sydney, and we got to a little place called Blacksmiths Beach, south of Newcastle late afternoon. Set up our tent in a lovely caravan park there, had our usual little tin of tuna, with beetroot, grated cheese, little toms, cucumber etc for tea, then went for a walk. Lovely little town, smell of the sea in the air, and it was very calm and very pleasant ... and we were delighted to be in our tent - felt like we were really finally on hols! Was another long day, so another early night, and we were woken about midnight with rain dripping on Dad's face ... and gales blowing the tent way over nearly flat, and more water finding its way in .... not a comfortable experience! We both stood holding the side of the tent, leaning into the wind, and were very grateful when it all eased soon after 1am. Not much we could do about anything then, so climbed back into bed and slept again. Think I went over to shower about 6.30 (sort of a bit silly, when I think about it ... but it was HOT water!) and the gale blew up again before I got back, so while Dad went adn had his hot shower I held the tent, adn got very scared adn sad ... was horrible! We spent the next little while just holding the tent against the wind - then decided to just get out of there! While Dad continued to hold the tent I packed everything up as quickly as I could and got everything in the car, more or less .... got absolutely saturated in the process, bare feet as i didn't have enough shoes to have any soaked! I put our table over in the laundry, as things weren't packed in properly and it didn't fit in the car, and we flattened the tent and went over to the Office. We'd booked in for two nights, and were very pleased that there was a cabin available for us to move to .... cost $85 more than the tent site (ouch!) but was necessary (and VERY nice!). We moved our gear and put on our fan heater and the air conditioner to dry everything out, took rather damp (!) self portraits ... and we had hot showers and got dry clothes on! And we laughed!! I think it was about then that Dad told me the tent was stuffed - very sad! It fined up a bit later and we went over and collected our table, then packed up the poor old very soggy sad old tent, and dragged it over to the dumpster!
That was definitely the most dramatic bit of our holiday, and I'll be happy not to do it again!
We drove up to Newcastle, took speccie photos of stormy seas, had coffee adn cake, adn looked in some camping shops. Back at cabin Dad cooked us steak and onions adn vegies for tea, adn we looked at the camping guide and tried to work out what to do next!

That might be enough for one instalment .... hope you're all doing OK! Love Mum xxx

Granny n Grampa

As you probably heard, on Friday we went up to Crystal Brook to visit Granny n Grampa. They both appeared to be doing quite well - Granny certainly is enjoying it there and Grampa was not as grumpy as he often is. They enjoyed meeting Sam and showing off their family to some other residents, and of course seeing us too. Granny read Jacob a story and he liked going for a ride on her frame. When we were leaving Albert got a ride on the frame and Granny and Jacob pushed it together... unfortunately at one point Jacob was going a bit quick for poor Granny! No major dramas and after that he was very good at going slow with her. It was very cute and they did appreciate our visit.
We then went to the farm and had dinner with Andrew and Maria which was also lovely - all morning Jacob was excited about going to the farm ('Farm? Pigs? Sheep? Chicks?') so he enjoyed his 'Farm Tour' with Uncle Andrew. They are very hospitable and are more than happy to have people stay for a meal or the night if that makes it easier to visit Granny and Grampa. We hope to go up again once Al's finished Uni for the year.

So where are the holiday snaps?

Come on parental units. Where are the photos? Where is the holiday story? Come on - get with the program!

Whyalla News

It has been so long since we posted something that I thought I would throw up something quick to let you know that we are still here and still living life.
Last weekend Stuart was down in Murray Bridge for the Internation Pedal Prix (a 24 hour recumbent bike race) with a team from school. He had a wonderful time and one day he will write a blog about it. He has been drumming up support to send a team again next year and is quite keen to enter his own adult team in some of the shorter races throughout the year - but I'll let him tell you about that. I will say though that they still do not know what their placing was in the race as the pedal prix computers crashed 6 hours before the end of the race and so they are going through the data now trying to work out the positions of the 219 entries!
The night night before the pedal prix Stuart was fortunate enough to stay with Heth and Al (thanks guys) and -as Heth already wrote- got some lego for his birthday from them. He finally put his rescue helicopter together the other night and it is SOOOOOOO cool. Thank you Heth, Al and boys.
While Stuart was away I popped over to Orroroo for Saturday night and was able to bring mum back to Whaylla with me on Sunday. It was nice to have Grandma around and we were able to get a couple of housey jobs done as well as having Grandma join with us at playgroup and mke Natalie a lovely new veil for her dress ups. We took Grandma to Pt Augusta on Thursday where my dad met us for lunch whcih was lovely.
Katt had his stiches out today and is enjoying not having to be in the cage anymore (yay, no more cleaning kitty litter!!!) The vet nurse said that he has healed very well which was nice to hear.
Stuart is now out playing poker and is hoping to come home very late (and very victorious). I'm hoping to get some sleep! (though might try and updat our blog - very over due!).

Oh welcome home to Nanna and Grandpa too. Look foward to hearing (and seeing) about your holiday.

Brocks Stuff

Thought we'd stick up a few photos for you to enjoy... We're all doing well and are loving having Daddy on holidays! Jacob's a real chatterbox and loves to be involved in everything we do. We have some 2yr old issues but that's to be expected. He's still very affectionate with Sam but usually takes it a bit too far and completely squashes him but it is with love (apart from yesterday when he was frustrated and stepped on his head - good thing we were both there in grabbing reach!).

Sam's doing really well and is a very smiley little fella and very alert and active when he's awake. Being 2 months now he's awake for longer and sometimes I forget he's not a newborn anymore. Kicks a LOT! He's very good at night too and is a quick feeder and puts himself back to sleep - a few days there he was only feeding once overnight which was wonderful! Twice isn't too bad tho when it's so stress free.

We've been going for lots of walks lately and Saturday when we walked to the playground for a picnic Jacob pushed Albert Bear most of the way in the stroller. Took longer than usual but he enjoyed it. What else...? Looking forward to the footy on Saturday! Go the Crows ;) Ummm... my birthday was good but you can read about that on our blog. Better go it's getting to that feral time of night... Much love to you all! xox

Happy to NannaK

That's right, enormous birthday greetings and songs sung like a 2 year old to NannaK. We know you're nowhere near a computer today but we hope you enjoy this when you get home. Trust lunch was lovely and you got a bit spoiled like you deserve :) Jacob and Sam are very much looking forward to seeing you on Sunday and so are we!
Many Hugs and Pisses,
Love Jacob, Sam, Heth & Al
xox

Inspired...?

Think Tim inspired him, when I got home this afternoon Al was cutting down the apple tree! The idea is to put the little garden shed in the corner back there at some stage but I didn't realise it was gonna happen just yet. Ah well all good wood!

Wood Blessings

On Saturday our neighbour Tim was cutting down some trees at his place and was very happy for us to take the wood! So now we have the HUGEST pile of wood sitting out there, what with Tim's, and stuff The Nannas got from around the corner, and from some trees cut down on the block next to us, and bits Grandad gets for us. We'll be toasty all winter!

Happy Birthday Heth!

Happy Birthday Heth (for the four hours you have left of it!). Sorry I didn't get anything up here earlier, but instead I have decided to send my ambassador to you in person to bestow upon you some birthday blessings.
Thank you so much for having Stuart stay tonight.
Hope your day has been great (and that your boys have given you wonderful gifts of blissful sleep). We love you and we hope all the best for you.
Love Debbie, Natalie and Calvin (and Stuart can bestow his own love when you see him!)(and Katt)
###

53!!!

I'm freaking out here... The Wiggles are the house band on Rove tonight and as we all know are celebrating their 15th Anniversary, and someone mentioned if they're around for another 15 years Jeff will be 68. WHAT!!! So I googled it and yup, Purple Jeff is 53 years old! 53!!! No wonder he's always falling asleep! (And in case you were wondering, Murray is 46, Anthony is 43, and Greg is 34)

Washed out

Not sure if you've heard much from Mum and Dad but their tent holiday has been rather washed out! They're at the north coast of NSW and one night last week got entirely soaked in a huge storm which broke part of their tent. Since then they've been staying in cabins and on site vans, and they bought a new tent which they're hoping to use soon when the weather clears up! One place they stayed had 4 1/2 inches of rain in 24 hours which is a bit ridiculous. I spoke to them this morning (they're in Coffs Harbour) and they sounded happy and are nearly able to see the funny side of it all. I doubt it's quite the holiday they anticipated but will be good for them both anyway. And they were going to buy an umbrella today too. I'm sure that we'll all hear a lot more about it soon and we look forward to the piccies on the blog!

We love them because they cost us SO much!

Katt got into a bit of trouble this weekend when a thread from his collar got caught under his front paw slicing through all the skin there - ewwwww. We took him to the vet today where he was cleaned, stiched and bandaged. The full story is on our blog, but the short news is that he is now home in a cage in the dining room where he is to be "strickly" confined for the next 2 WEEKS! He was not happy with the first 2 hours! Not sure how the next 2 weeks will go but I guess we'll all have to learn to live with it. Tomorrow I'll go and buy him a new, softer bed so that he can rest his arm (sorry, paw).

RIP Brocky

We went to Playschool

Calvin and I joined Natalie and her kindy to go and see Playschool today in Pt Augusta. There is more about the day on our blog, but I did think of Uncle Rob when I took this picture of Calvin! Calvin was certainly excited about meeting Karen.

Nanny B's visit

We had a lovely time with NannyB. Apart from all the gardening, dishes and washing she did (for which we are very greatful!) it was lovely that she could spend some time with the boys and us. Jacob had a great time playing outside with her and learnt all sorts of new tricks, and Sam got quite used to being cuddled to sleep (that's gotta change now!). She said that she could really notice the change in Sam just in the 2 weeks she was here - he's a lot more alert and aware (boy can he kick!) and he's holding his head better too. We also picked up a few toddler taming suggestions which she would not have dared to mention until we asked so will be interesting to see how we all go. Was also fun having 'TWO Nannys!" a few times and Jacob got them sorted out quickly and knew which one to go to for what ;) Not that he's got Nanna around his finger or anything! Not quite sure when we'll see her next but we'll still get a weekly phone call and shall send lots of pics. They'll soon be busy over there with the arrival of grandson number 7 in November!

We also went to the show ...

... and also spent LOTS of money! Oh well, I guess that is what you do at the show. Here is a pic of Natalie and Stuart enjoying the Crazy Coaster. Like Cherie there is more about our weekend on our blog (I have been busy this morning).

Show me the money!

Yep we went to the show, and we spent a lot of money! :( Here are Rob and Michael enjoying themselves in the fantastic conditions that we had yesterday. To find out more info about why Michael looks so spooked, see my blog at http://noiseworker.spaces.live.com/ it also has more images too! 

Warning!

Hi all! Will be good to see you all soon! Last weekend Dad got a dose of a wog, and my skin was really awfully sore and ugly and itchy and generally disgusting ... so on Tues we had "his n hers" Dr appts! The cream and anithistamines Dr prescribed for me have worked wonderfully and I'm very pleased about that! It feels so much better - not to mention looking better too!
Dr said Dad's was just a virus, continue the rest n panadol etc, and he noticed it was over 3 years since Dad had a cholesterol test. So Wed morning Dad went up and had his blood test, and was a bit startled to get a call from the clinic that afternoon asking him to have a repeat test, and go back to Dr! He had the test befror he went to Renmark Thurs, and yesterday morning saw Dr again .... his cholesterol is 6.2, which is a bit high, and there's some "anomaly" with his liver .... possibly a "hang-over" from the glandular fever he had when he was 21! They want to keep an eye on that, so he'll be checked again in 3 months! We're both very releived that that's all it is .... a warning for Dad to not have a block of chocolate or a whole little camembert for his supper! ... and to be a bit more careful about what he eats, and more disciplined with his exercise! (By the way, Dad shared the wog with me and now I feel pretty crappy!)
Our computers have been a bit "off" too, and it seems we need a new modem, but we're coping (just!) at the moment with dial-up ... boy is it slow! I think Dad's gonna get a wireless one, but not sure when! After holidays maybe .... start tomorrow .... yippee! See you soon! Love Mum

Growing up FAST!

Calvin had his first hair cut today! I can't believe how different he looks. More on our blog.