Annual Holiday at Nelson Bay

We arrived home from Nelson Bay yesterday after five days staying at the Oaks Lure Resort with Kerry-Ann, Felise and Jake. Tony came up to spend the last day with us. We had perfect weather although rain had been predicted. We left last Sunday and stopped on the motorway refreshment shop for lunch just outside of Gosford. Afterwards we continued on to our "holiday home" as the kids kept calling it, and settled into our 2 bedroom apartment (one upstairs with bathroom and one downstairs with bathroom). After unpacking we ventured down to the supermarket to pick up some supplies then into the heated pool for a swim. For dinner we picked up some fish and chips and went down to the marina to eat. The children had a play in the park and then we carried our weary selves back to the apartment and watched an episode of Glee before turning in for the night.

Next morning after breakfast we went to our old haunt "Dutchies" and pitched our tent. The children were not impressed much with the sand but we managed to build a couple of sandcastles. They were not too fussed about the water either unless we went in with them.

After spending a bit of time there they wanted to go back to the "holiday house" which we did and had lunch. While they were all having a rest I went for a walk around the town and it came to mind that not a lot had changed over the years. Nelson Bay's structure was the same except for some new apartment blocks. Nothing like its sister, Salamander Bay. When I arrived back Kerry-Ann made up some spaghetti bolognaise for dinner after which we watched some more episodes of Glee before retiring.

On Tuesday we went to visit Oakvale farm at Salt Ash. However, when we arrived we were engulfed in goats all around us with their slated beadie eyes and the kids started screaming and crying. After fighting our way through the goats we went to see the other animals but Jake always had one eye on the back of him in case a goat appeared. Even when we got on the tractor for a ride a goat jumped on and Jake was a nervous wreck until the keeper got him off. We saw the cows being milked and Kerry-Ann fed the lambs. There was this little piglet and I wanted to take him home. I did manage to let a couple of goats and a couple of sheep out the gate. I tried to round them up and got the goat and two sheep back in but when I coached the other goat back in the other three got out again. I then gave up and the last I saw was two sheep wandering up to the shop.

The children did enjoyed the snakes and lizards though. We then went back to the"holiday house" for lunch and a swim in the pool. For dinner we had some leftovers from the night before then headed down to the Marina for a special ice cream treat. The children then run themselves ragged and we plodded back to the "holiday house" for a good nights rest.

Wednesday was Australia Day and we thought we would go back to Dutchies for a swim. However, because of the public holiday all the parking around the area was taken up so we went on to Little Beach and found a spot. The water was beautiful and I could have spent all day in it as it was rather a hot day. Quite a lot of people were all set up for their family BBQs. We stayed until lunch time then went back for lunch and the children had a sleep before going down to the pool.

We treated ourselves out for a nice dinner at the Bowling Club. As we were entering the club Felise remembered going there last year. When we were having dinner Felise squeezed one of those sachets of tomato sauce to put on her plate only she had it pointing the opposite way and when we looked she had sauce all over her face. I tried to take a photo but my camera did not work....a pity. It wasn't Felise's night as when we arrived back at the ''holiday house" she run straight into the closed glass door nose first. It reminded me of the birds that fly into the window then fall down stunned. Poor little Felise! She was ok in a little while..... no broken nose.

More episodes of Glee then off to bed.

Thursday Tony arrived and we all went down to the pool for a swim, then down to the Marina for a play on the jumping castle etc and back home for lunch and a rest. Tony and I took it in turn to go to the shops while the others were asleep. In the evening we had dinner at the Hogs Breath and on the way back to the ''holiday house" Jake saw this back cat meowing and coming towards him and let out a piercing scream. He was terrified. He is not fond of cats......or goats....or Pinto. He probably now has nightmares about goats and cats. We thought we would go for a night swim and all got ready but there was a notice on the pool that it had shut at 7.30 tonight. The children were disappointed but we told them we would have a swim first thing in the morning.......and so we did.

We then packed and loaded up our cars and away we went back to Sydney stopping again at the half way cafe for lunch.

This Photo was taken by Felise

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Felise turns six on Tuesday and it is also her first day of school. Tuesday is also my first day back at Tebbutt Lodge after a rather long break of six weeks.

Queensland floods

Queensland's capital is preparing to face its worst flood disaster in 118 years with the Brisbane River expected to peak on Thursday morning as floodwaters head toward the city.

Yesterday Toowoomba was hit with a huge wall of water which they describe as something like an inland tsunami. Nine people were killed and about 60 are missing.

The area in Queensland that is flooded is about the area of NSW. So many people have lost their homes and belongings.

Today we went to the tennis at the tennis centre at Homebush. We watched a match between Chris Guccione, Australia and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain. This game took four hours as they had to keep stopping because of showers and Garcia-Lopez ended up winning 7-6, 7-5. We had tickets to watch games on the outer courts and began watching another girls match before the rain took over and we went home.

The other night I watched a movie which was a true story about a French journalist, author and editor of the French fashion magazine Elle. His name was Jean-Dominique Bauby and in December 1995 at the age of 43 suffered a massive stroke. When he woke up twenty days later, he found he was entirely speechless. He could only blink his left eyelid. Called "locked-in syndrome" this is a condition where in the metal faculties remain intact but most of the body is paralyzed. In his case his mouth, arms and legs were paralyzed and he lost 27kg in the first 20 weeks after his stroke.

Despite his condition, he wrote the book "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by blinking when the correct letter was reached by a person slowing reciting the alphabet over and over again using a system called "partner assisted scanning. He composed and edited the book entirely in his head and dictated it one letter at a time.........amazing! His book was published in France in March 1997 and he died of pneumonia two days after the publication. He is buried in a family grave at the Pere-Lachaise cemetry in Paris. What an inspiration he was.

Trip down the river

Hope you all had a Happy New Year and that this year brings new hope and happiness for everyone. Tony and I brought in the New Year with a quite night at home. Not that we weren't invited to parties but this was our chose. However it was not so quiet at midnight when our neighbour, Victor across the road decided to let off these rather large fireworks that shook our windows and sounded like bombs going off. We looked out the window and there he was like a little kid running in and out of his garage lighting them and giggling.

I have put the new calendar up and marked off all the important days ie birthdays, appointments etc. We really rely on our calendar these days as we need to write everything down otherwise we will forget.

Today I am taking down all our Christmas decorations and packing them away for another year.

I think you are supposed to have them up twelve days before and twelve days after but I will take the opportunity today. Wednesday and Thursday I will be looking after Felise and Jake so I will need time to plan our days.

Last week we were invited on a trip down the Georges River. Barbara and Roy, friends of Terry and Janet (our Ghan trip companions) who we had meet a couple of times previously, invited us all on a BBQ on their boat. I, who do not really have sea legs, was a bit apprehensive at first but agreed. As it turned out I survived ok and didn't get sick even when we stopped for lunch and the boat was rocking. We started our trip with Midori cocktails and finished with a delicious bbq lunch. Barbara and Roy have a lovely big home at Picnic Point right on the Georges River with

their own jetty. Apparently Roy made all his money from spares parts and scrap metal.