Trip #1: — Cardiff/Tea Gardens
Monday 19 February-Friday 1 March
We left Granville at 1315 hrs and drove to Travelhome, Cardiff for some minor repairs. We camped overnight on their front parking area and on Tuesday morning moved into the shed for the work to be done. The doors at the lower front of the 5R and the adjustment of the hitch fitting on the Iveco were completed quickly. It was then Graham’s turn to add the decals to the 5R and the Iveco, which he managed to get done by the afternoon. We had to stay overnight again in the shed so that in the morning he could put the Tardis door decal on the hall door. When this was finished around lunch time, we ate and packed up all ready to leave. Oh No! When we pushed the button for lounge slide room it just stopped working. All the guys moved in to work out the problem and it was agreed that we were spending another night in the shed. They worked on it until finish time and started again very early on Thursday. It took a while to fix and then after some discussion on what had occurred they told us to pack up ready to leave, which we did at 1515 hrs on Thursday. We were finally on our way to our friends property at Tea Gardens. Traffic was quite heavy leaving Newcastle but was clear once we were through Hexam. We arrived around 1645 hrs and worked at setting up, all done by 1715 hrs.
For the next week we spent a lot of time resting, reading, watching TV and Dean worked at recording LP’s to be loaded onto our PC collection. On Sunday we ventured into town and went to church at Tea Gardens Baptist, it’s always great to catch up with long time friends. A group of us walked to the Bowling Club for lunch. It was a quiet, relaxing time and we enjoyed the interactions with the locals, and many kangaroos and cows.
On Friday morning we packed up and headed back to Granville. The traffic was quite busy with heaps of caravans on the road. We even saw three or four 5th Wheelers which is quite unusual. We arrived at Nyssa & Brad’s about 1430 hrs, it was very hot and it was good to stop for the day after setting up camp.
Trip #2: — Tea Gardens, Granville
Monday 11 March to Wednesday 13 March
We are headed off again, to our friend’s farm at Tea Gardens. We left Granville at 1030 hrs and arrived at 1330 hrs. We don’t have many plans for this trip yet. Our main focus is for Dean to finish the LP recordings and I need to work on converting the massive pile of papers and photos to electronic records. This is part of the continuing process of our downsizing from our home to the 5R. We are looking forward to relaxing and enjoying sunsets.
When we arrived at 1330 hrs it was very hot, we worked at getting set up and put the air-con on and sat back and relaxed. On Tuesday Dean set up the LP Player and started recording music for the day. As we watched the kangaroos outside while unwinding the weather made changes and a strong wind and vicious storm set in through the afternoon and for most of the night.
We woke on Wednesday to a sunny day again. As we settled in for the day—more music recording—Reen’s phone rang. It was Blacktown Hospital calling at 0935 hrs to say that the op (Total Knee Replacement-Left) had been moved to Friday 15 March. What! Only two days to get back and get ready. We immediately set about packing up to leave. Reen called the specialist for an appointment on Thursday and also organised new x-rays. We were all ready to leave by 1130 hrs and on the road again. Wasn’t it lucky we had no real plans for the time away? We had a good trip back to Granville and reversed into the driveway at 1435 hrs. Within an hour we were all settled and relaxing again.
Reen’s operation went well with her coming home on day 2. There was three visits from the physio team and then it was lots of exercises and walking to get the knee working well. While in Granville we enjoyed spending time with Nyssa, Brad and the kids and also at Silverdale with Joel, Beck and Vera.
Trip #3: — Singleton, Tea Gardens,
Friday 19 April to
We packed up and left Granville at 1010 hrs heading to Singleton Showground. The traffic on the road heading north and south was heavy and moving well. We arrived at 1330 hrs and set up for our five night stay. On Saturday morning we explored the local shopping district and grabbed some groceries and of course, coffee and doughnuts. On Saturday afternoon we headed to Brett (Reen’s brother) & Liz’s for their 20th Anniversary Celebrations. We enjoyed meeting their family and friends and a great meal. It was also good to have Nyssa, Brad & family share with us. On Sunday we visited Brett & Liz for a few hours of catching up. For the next few days we took life easy, we visited the Info Centre, the World’s Largest Sundial and drove around exploring the town. On Tuesday we took time out for lunch at the new mobile Bretto’s Food Truck (Reen’s brother), we enjoyed our Beef & Gravy Rolls with chips. Delicious!
On Wednesday it was time to pack up and head to Tea Gardens, to a scenic spot on a hill for a few weeks. We arrived in the sunshine and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and showers in the night. We ventured into town on Friday for some shopping. Saturday found us on the way to Raymond Terrace to grab some shopping from Aldi’s and enjoying some sunshine. On Sunday we headed to Tea Gardens Baptist Church for the service and then out to lunch at the Bowling Club with 11 of us from Church.
On Monday we had some heavy rain which started in the late evening and the weather bureau was forecasting the same for about 10 days. Wow! Another job completed, Dean finished the LP recordings. On Tuesday afternoon we headed into town for shopping, Bible Study and dinner at the Golf Club with friends.
On Thursday Dean got adventurous and tried out different ways of exploring. He had planned to head to Darling Harbour to meet up with Joel at an IT Exhibition/Conference. To get there he had to leave Tea Gardens at 0520 hrs and drive to Broadmeadow, then he caught a train to Central Station and then walk to Darling Harbour (with coffee ). He caught up with Joel just before 1000 hrs. They attended the different presentations and also visited the Building Trade Show next door for a walk around. Around 1445 hrs Dean headed back to the train ( coffee again, of course) and home, around 1900 hrs. It was a long, hard, enjoyable day, a break from his normal retirment routine. During all this Reen spent the day in the 5R doing lots of work on our Family Tree and enjoying the rain outside.
Trip #4: —
Trip #5: —
