Plaster off Plastic on

Since the last post, we've done a few bits and pieces.  The most exciting, is that my Mum & Dad came down for a night - which was wonderful.  It was so good seeing them and having that support, even if just  for a night.  I thought I was doing ok until I saw them and then just needed a cuddle from them - funny how a cuddle from your Mum and Dad just seem to make everything so much better.

They arrived on Friday mid-morning, and we had a yummy roast pork dinner - our belated Christmas lunch/dinner..hehe.  Again, the caravan oven made the yummiest pork - crackling of champions I tell you! Before dinner and after they'd had a bit of a stretch and we'd caught up for an hour or so, we were keen to show them around the area - as if they hadn't done enough driving for one day.. oops.  We took them to Bellingen and had some lunch at the Old Butter Factory, which was lovely and had a look around the shops again.  Then headed up the mountains to Dorrigo - Dad loved the trains.  Aaron was able to do a bit of sightseeing in the passenger seat, as he wasn't able to fully appreciated the scenery on the way down, as he was concentrating too much on the driving and keeping the caravan from the hundred metre cliff drops!

After Dad had fixed a few bits and pieces that I wasn't able to, and after dinner we sat down and watched Soul Surfer (the story of the American girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark and is now a professional surfer) again - which again put everything into perspective.  Mum and Dad camped in our annexe - so we now know we're able to house visitors quite easily .. so feel free to come visit anytime anyone :)

Mum's Lunch - complete with a tomato sauce face

Our lovely guest suite .. inviting isn't it

On Saturday, we started our "Maintenance 101" course - I tried to fix the side of the van - the external cladding popped out of the trim (I know!  I even sound like a true maintenance woman!!) .. but have now found out that my wrists aren't quite strong enough for the drill, so will be working on that one.  I had to hand it over to Dad to finish - who made it look extremely easy.  Next I attempted a new washer on the tap on the front of the van - SUCCESS!!!!  Easy peasy .. until Az told me that it was a super simple one to fix - buzz kill.  I tightened the hose clamp to our water tap and then started on the car .. oh yeah, I was on fire!

Not the most flattering photo, but I had to show you my maintenance attempt .. hehe

So onto the car - I attempted to tighten the air-conditioning belt - I didn't do too bad, only had to get a little help from Dad.  We did a few other little bits and pieces, and by the end I was exhausted - my brain was on overload - so much to remember!  It felt good though, learning something new and challenging myself to push through the automatic 'I give up' when it got hard. 

After we'd finished all the maintenance that we could possibly think of before Mum and Dad left, we had a bite to eat and then it was farewell to M&D once more.  

Sunday we did a drive down towards Port Macquarie, to have a look at the roads and see where we might stop next - I had to work out which roads to take the caravan on that weren't too hard for me.  We stopped in at South West Rocks - it was nice, but didn't really take our fancy, Scotts Head - where Aaron managed to get asked into a caravan he was checking out (the owner was very proud of it - picture a sun drenched older lady, dripping in gold and wrapped in an animal print sarong .. with no bra) and went into a "Recycling Centre"at Nambucca Heads, but it turned out to be just a tip .. no tip shop *insert big sad face here* .. so we figure we'll head to Port Macquarie and try and find a free camp around that area and then push through and get down to Newcastle.  

Ummmm..... ok, I'll watch out for the wild elephants .... 

The pool at the caravan park has been a saviour - there have been quite a few muggy days, so a nice dip in the pool has been just the ticket!  

Az enjoying the pool .. you can visualise him swimming like a submarine .. all body parts under water, except his arm

Enjoying the water together .. 

Today was our follow up appointment with the Hospital - to get the plaster taken off and start Physio.  The plaster was taken off (actually Az had to take it off for them .. short-staffed) and the 25 staples were taken out by a medical student from England - after Az's arm was looked at by an Indian Doctor - both had started today.  We overhead the Nurse talking to the medical student telling him that they don't really "go to too much effort" - about the small details .. ummm, ok.

So the verdict - the thermoplastic splint (a big piece of plastic moulded to his arm) has to be on for 4-6 weeks, then back to the Physio to take it off.  He has exercises to do with his hand every hour.  They were happy with the healing of the wound - well when I say happy, they said it was good enough to take them out.  The Physio/Occupational Therapist was hilarious - she would have been about 45kg and every time she sat on the office chair, she had to jump up and down on it for it to go down.. gee, what a problem .. hehe.  They seem to think that he won't be able to do any hammer/drill type work for 12 weeks and then he should be able to get back into it.  Apparently the nerve grows back at an inch per month, so they estimate that he'll get complete feeling back to his index finger in about 6 months - about 99% of feeling has returned to the rest of them .  All in all, Az was quite happy with the prognosis - he said 3 months was a lot sooner than he had anticipated being able to work, so that was a good thing.  

Az playing with the off cuts from the splint .. nice moustache honey

Az doing a Leyton Hewitt impression

The plastic splint

This does mean that I'll be doing all the driving and towing for the next 4-6 weeks.  We were planning on leaving tomorrow, but we have had another turn of luck.  The front wheel bearings (right side) have decided they need a change - a job Az would normally do (when both hands are in action).. so we took the car to the mechanic this afternoon and are now carless.  We're hoping to get it back tomorrow, which means we'll probably leave on Wednesday at this stage.  Our goal now is to get to Newcastle and stay there for a few months and try and get a bit of work - and then do trips in the Troopy to the places we may not be able to see on the way down.  That way we can have a base and then work and come and go when possible.  At this stage we're thinking maybe a few months in the area, but we'll see.....

While we were at the hospital, we were able to catch up with Robyn Luke, our celebrant and good friend from our wedding.  It was great to be able to catch up and spend her lunch break with her.  We were all surprised when we worked out we'll have been married for 2 years at the end of this month - wow!

While we were initially a little disheartened about Az's predicament, we have been made to realise that life is too short to worry about the small stuff.  I awoke this morning to someone standing outside our van (on the road), and was asked if we were missing anyone from our van.  Apparently they had found a lady in the bathroom, collapsed, and didn't know where she was from - ie. from the park or from outside.  The lady outside our van was waiting for the ambulance.  It turned out that the lady who collapsed in the bathroom was a camper in the park, who had a husband and two teenage boys with her.  No-ones knows how long she was in the bathroom or what happened to her - so the ambulance came and took her to hospital but she passed away a little later.  She had just celebrated her 47th birthday..yesterday.  

It really goes to show, while we've had a few unfortunate events in our lives recently, we are still alive, still healthy and still able to live life.  From this point on, we will be endeavouring to live life to the fullest and not take anything for granted.

Day Trippin'

So we got up nice and early so I could go for a surf.. but didn't end up surfing.  We went down to our 'local' beach and the waves weren't really inviting me in, so we decided to take a drive to another beach.  The Northerlies were starting to get up, so there wasn't too much to choose from.

We went from the beach to the Tip Shop - oh boy......  You should see this place - it was a combined tip shop and builder's yard - soooo much stuff.  So Az and I were both drooling .. while he was outside looking at timber and stuff, I went on inside .. and as I approached one aisle, it was like the heaven's starting their orchestra .. OH MY GOD!!!  Milk bottles and soo many of them!  And it wasn't just milk bottles, there were old soda bottles, mason jars (like the ones in America.. very crafty), old film projectors, scooters... I had to hold myself back!  Being on our traveller's budget (which I wasn't liking at the time), I bought 4 bottles (such a crime to leave the rest there!!) and a tiny cake stand, that will work perfectly with my mini cakes ..

Are you jealous??  I would be :)  

It isn't this big in real life - it's only about a hand length wide.. so cute!

The Tip Shop even had a car ...

and a bus .. cause you never know when you'll need one

I was super tempted to go back and buy all the milk bottles - and then got to thinking that I'll be doing some markets soon and every market I go to, I'm asked if I sell the milk bottles that I have as a display... sooo, the perfect opportunity to make a bit of "milkk money" .. hehe, excuse the self promotion and pun.  So, today, I'm going back to see if I can't get a deal on buying the remaining 26 milk bottles.  Oh, I love our life!!


Once we'd finally managed to pry ourselves away from the Bellingen Recycle Centre, we decided to see where the road took us..  conveniently, it took us to another antique shop... where we found the most adorable little tricycles and scooters.  The owner of the shop was so full of character - he was a tall, skinny tattooed guy, who had more facial hair than a grissly bear and so scruffy that you just wanted to get a comb out and just give him a hand.  He had two sheds, one for restoring old furniture and the other was the retail shop - he'd come in every few minutes to let everyone know that he was there if they needed any assistance and to tell us again that he's got a great range of rare spare motorcycle parts.  I was wondering why he kept telling us this, but then I saw the shirt Az had on - it was an Indian Motorcycle shirt...

We drove from here to Sawtell, to have a look at the surf and a look around town - it's really pretty.  We drove through a caravan park to try and get to the beach, no access to the beach but this caravan is so big that the campers can actually do their jogging circuit around the park... seriously.  We saw about 10 joggers/walkers just in the time that it took us to drive around the park!!  Once we departed the caravan park and the throngs of joggers, we found ourselves on one of the lookout points at Sawtell, overlooking the North and South .. just beautiful.  We thought we'd go for a dip in the sea bath that's there, but once we got to the edge, noticed all the slugs in the pool, and I opted for the photographing (with my new underwater camera that Az got me for Christmas!) rather than the swimming.  Az said it used to be a lot nicer, but I guess like most areas the Council doesn't have the cash-flow to be able to keep it maintained.  The weather was just spectacular - such a good day to be outside.

Az's crab hand .. hehe

At Sawtell 

The sea bath at Sawtell

Just in case the stairs covered in moss weren't warning enough ...

The slugs that had taken over the pool .. they were mesmerising when they swam

Our bellies were starting to rumble by this stage and while on our way back to the caravan, we got distracted and ended up in Urunga - another lovely little town.  The caravan park there was awesome - it's situated right on the river and there's this wooden boardwalk that just seems to go forever, and takes you down to the beach.  The boardwalk would easily be 1km long .. well in my mind it would be anyway!  We did a stroll through the park to go down to the river and were so impressed with the Park that we went to the Reception to see what the rates were like, thinking we might relocate once our days are up here..  we'll see how that one pans out once we go to the hospital :)  I think the pub just over the road overlooking the River was a slight advantage for this caravan park.. hehe

As you can imagine, we were really starting to get hungry by now - it was about 10.30 and neither of us had had any breakfast.  So we hightailed it back to the caravan and devoured anything we could get our hands on.

The rest of the day saw us go for a dip in the pool - well Az up to his chest with his arm sticking up out of the water, and Az watched some DVDs, while I did some Milkk Money creating.
As the sun started to sink into the horizon, Az thought he'd give left-handed shaving a go ... and he did extremely well.  He only ended up with one cut (that bled for about an hour), so was pretty happy with himself.  We have an appointment on Monday 9th to get his cast off.. as you can imagine he's starting to get super super itchy and even more curious to see what's underneath.  We've already got a makeshift scratcher in place - he's seriously just like a little kid!  So Monday can't come soon enough :)

Day Trip #1

After a day of rest and relaxation (which pretty much involved a lot of sleeping), we decided to do a bit of a day trip .. well a bit of a drive around this area.  We drove down to Repton - turns out we're super close to the beach!!  Very exciting.. tomorrow morning = surf .. yay.

On the way to Bellingen, I spotted a sign that leads to my dream shopping experience ..  a tip shop!  We drove up there, but being a public holiday, it wasn't open ... bugger.  So I think I might be going for a little drive tomorrow... wooo hoooo!  After this slight detour, we arrived into Bellingen and our first stop was the Old Butter Factory.  Az and I have found our ultimate house!!  It's a converted Butter factory - so 2 levels, all open plan and the second floor has a large walkway around it - with enough room for bedrooms .. oh it was amazing!  So I think we're going to have to start drawing our house.. and put it with all the other designs we have made after seeing amazing structures...  I wonder what we'll end up building or buying??  The Butter Factory had a collection of little shops - art galleries, handmade goods, imported eclectic collections and a beautiful little cafe..  which were all located around a beautiful garden in the centre that featured great handmade ornaments and sculptures.  I found so many little bits and pieces that would be perfect in our house... but they stayed there :)

The town is very reminiscent of Byron Bay or Bangalow - chic stores and cafes, in period buildings.  We found a really cool little coffee shop that doubled as a vintage store - they even do trade ins on vintage goods.  The furniture is all mismatched and there are awesome little collections of goods on the tables - just to tempt you further.

We ended up having a coffee at a little coffee shop off the main road - and were entertained by a brother and sister piano playing pair (there was a few instruments that people could play if they wanted to) - we were just a little jealous of their talent.  I even got Az to admit that he wouldn't mind listening to some classical music ... might put that one on the "TO DO in 2012" list.. hehe.

After meandering up and down the street, we found a beautiful 3 story house conversion to have lunch at.  To compliment my burger, I had a homemade lemonade .. yummo!  The views were pretty good too.

Az's cast is starting to get a bit itchy .. and the curiosity is growing to see what's actually under the cast

See ya later 2011

Can you believe that it's finally (well not even finally, cause it's flown by!) the end of 2011?!!  What a year!  Here's hoping that 2012 brings many great things to everyone out there.  Universe, if you're listening, we're looking forward to all the wonderful things coming our way - thanks ... in advance :)

Well, we spent yesterday morning going down to the Dangar Falls - so pretty.  The path was DEFINITELY not too wheelchair friendly (not that it was signed that way.. but still) - at some spots you were walking on nearly a 40 degree angle on the footpath... while being greeted rather closely by some ferns - getting close to nature :)

I'm as big as the waterfalls.. hehe (and yes, it was pretty chilly here, hence the long sleeves)

So a slight hiccup in our travel plans .. Az had an accident with some glass and has damaged his right arm.  He managed to cut through a few tendons and did some nerve damage, so went into surgery last night after a trip to the Coffs Harbour hospital in an ambulance - and who says we're not having lots of new experiences?!  He's got a nice looking cast on and we'll be doing a bit of physio in the coming months to get him back in tip top shape again.  It puts a slight dampner on the travel plans, so we're just going to take it all one day at a time.  The good to come out of this is that after I felt like a completely useless female - having to get an 80 year old NRMA guy to tow our van to his petrol station - I can now say that I have towed the van and set up our caravan (with some help from the all-knowing one of course) & feel much more equipped to potentially continue on with our journey if we decide to go that way.  Of course I'll be requiring some more practise, as you can't really travel at 50km/hr on the highway, can you ..  or can you??  Kidding!  

And for my next trick... tomorrow I'll be cutting a new window for the caravan (it was the caravan glass that he damaged his arm on) out of ply and siliconing it into place.  While we were in Bunnings to get all the required materials, we were picking up the silicone (apparently messy stuff if you don't know what you're doing) and Az looked at me and then without saying anything, picked up the silicone clean up liquid.  Naturally, I scoffed and said I don't need it - I'll be able to handle it... hhhhmmmm.. we'll see.  I then joked to him and said we should get the silicone that you can paint over.. just in case.  We didn't get either the clean up stuff or the paintable silicone... so the pressure's on!  Hey, if I can tow a caravan, I can silicone - and the pressure won't be there, cause I won't have a line of 20 cars behind me all willing me to hurry the hell up (am sure they weren't thinking it that politely though)! 

Az with his cast - if he holds it upright, he looks like the guy on the KFC add - the Cobra ..

We're staying at Bellinger River Tourist Park http://www.bellingerriver.com.au/, just 15 minutes outside of Coffs Harbour.  It's a really nice Caravan Park, and it's right on the river.  And close enough to everything that we are able to do a few day trips and still explore in the Troopy - once Az is up to it.  The couple Managing it are absolutely lovely.  If you're looking for a Caravan Park that you can bring your boat to and ski, fish etc, this is perfect!

We'll keep you updated with our travels - am sure this won't keep us down for too long... so stay tuned, new adventures coming soon.

On the Road .. and loving it!!

We've finally left Yamba and are on the road down south.  We decided to try the inland road .. and wow, were we in for a surprise.  What amazing country-side!!  We had no idea what we were in for .. the roads ended up being extremely steep and they seemed to go FOREVER..  every turn there were more hills and they seemed to get steeper and steeper.

We left Brooms Head about 10am this morning, headed to Yamba and had a hot shower (sooo nice!) and waved goodbye to the yacht (still no solid offers .. although there are a few things in the wind).

I found a church on the way that I'd like to buy, only need a cool $199,000 - and it's right across the road from a Timber shop and two antique stores.. and a river.. beautiful!

It was so refreshing to be driving through country side that we haven't been through .. and the mountain areas up to Dorrigo are really beautiful.  It's funny, looking on the map, you have no idea what the roads will be like - smooth, rough, steep or windy.  I guess we need to read a little more into the places we are headed to so we have some kind of idea what we're getting ourselves into!  We passed a small town that had a petrol station - but knowing that there was only about 100km to go and 4 small towns in between,  we wouldn't worry about it.. oops.  Mental note to self, start carrying more fuel and fill up more often.  I'm getting a bit of dejavu here writing that sentence.. and seem to recall we might have said something similar in Cape York as well.. you'd think we'd learn wouldn't you?!

As we were driving up yet another steep hill through the glorious mountain side, we came across a Jeep on the side of the road, one of the occupants was holding her head in her hands.  Here we were thinking the worst, that someone had had a heart attack or something .. so as we were racking our brains for the last time we did any CPR, we pulled over to offer assistance.  Aaron is the first one to pull over if there's a car on the side of the road to help out - just one of the many things I love about him.  Turns out they were out of fuel and a car going the other way had told them that the first petrol station was another 2.5 hours away...  Major crisis averted!  Although, as we were listening, we were also thinking, "Oh boy, we're in trouble" .. although you can imagine the language we were using in our heads :)  We were nearly at the red light zone (in petrol terms) .. and here Aaron was pulling over to offer assistance - hello knight in shining armour!  The Jeep took petrol and we luckily had some in the jerry can on the roof - that we were using for the tinnie.  So ol' Macgyver (aka. Aaron) got out a coke bottle, cut off the end and using it as a funnel poured the last of our petrol into their car.  Our Troopy runs on diesel, so we couldn't have used it anyway.  So as the boys were doing their manly duties, we got the maps out to try and work out how far to go until the first petrol station... we had no idea!  After all 5 of us looked at them, we decided it wouldn't be too far .. or perhaps that was just wishful thinking!

We took off.. and you guessed it, more steep hills!  We hadn't even gone 3km and the red light came on in our car.  Which sucked donkeys balls, because we went passed the best photo opportunity - and we couldn't stop, because we didn't want the other car to worry about us and use unnecessary fuel to come back to get Aaron to get more petrol.  As we were making our way up another hill, the Jeep came back with flashing lights and arms flailing outside the car to tell us to pull over. .. yep, you guessed it, there was a petrol station!!!!  Although not sure you'd even notice it was a petrol station if you blinked on the way passed!  We stopped and got our Diesel (at a very "competitive" rate of 171.9/L) and were on our way.  We asked the lady who was behind the counter (you need to picture this place.. there were no lights on at all, there were random groceries on shelves, two dogs with very peculiar growths on their underbellies and then a brand spanking new Mac on the counter) what we could do in the area, as we were heading to Dorrigo.  I don't think she was a huge fan of the area - as everything we asked about, she told us was "Shit" ... sooo, we made an executive decision to make up our own minds and disregard everything she had told us.  And after arriving into Dorrigo, we are very glad we disregarded what she was saying!

The mountains up were nothing compared to the countryside we experienced once we got up the mountain - words can't describe how beautiful it is.  The air is fresh (albeit quite crisp) and the meadows are a brilliant green - and the houses are so quaint, cottages and old houses .. beautiful!  There was a river running along most of the way to Dorrigo after we left the "petrol station" .. and it was crystal clear - just magic.  The properties are beautifully manicured and you can see how much they love the area - so much pride taken in everything.

Just before we drove into Dorrigo, we looked down the mountainside and saw just lines and lines of old trains .. and it turned out to be a private collection of trains and train memorabilia that they are working towards building a Museum to house for public viewing.  They had spent over $7 million of their own money to acquire the collection and are all putting their own time into building the infrastructure.  It's a shame that the Council don't see the potential and help them out - but they won't give them any assistance.  Such a shame.

Can you see the lines of trains???  And that wasn't even half of them

There were some HUGE cows overseeing the trains .. thank goodness there was a fence!!

We did the touristy thing and pulled over and took photos of the trains, as well as the potato farmers harvesting their potatoes on the way in.

Potato farming .. was pretty interesting to see how it's done

Once we got into town, we both just fell in love with it.  You can imagine the feel - old buildings that were still in their former glory, funky little stores as well as the old Pharmacies and Butcher.  And the most amazing shop EVER, was a second hand/antique store .. I don't think I've ever seen such a great collection of antiquities in one place.  The store itself used to be an old Department Store.  We found so many little trinkets that we would have loved to buy, but we were strong and didn't buy anything.

Dorrigo Antiques, Hickory Street, Dorrigo

I did cave to a little handmade chocolate at the sweets store (just doing my thing to support the little guys) .. so quaint!  A wattle seed flavoured chocolate .. yummo.

My Wattleseed Chocolate from Dorrigo Sweet Shop

http://www.dorrigosweetshop.com.au/

And then across the road was a Vodka Distillery .. all distilled right there in the shop.  I tried the Truffle Vodka .. very different.  There was also a Lime Vodka, Potato Vodka (apparently the most popular) and heaps of other really unique flavours.  We got talking to the owners who were locals and they were such lovely people - they were telling us about the area so we got some real insight to the area.

Dangar Falls

We are staying at a little camp ground just outside of Dorrigo, next to Dangar Falls (not pronounced Danger Falls.. as the shop keepers were very quick to point out.. hehe).  We can hear the Falls from the caravan.. beautiful.  It's quite fresh - I can only imagine how cold it gets in Winter!!!!  Apparently there is snowfall in Winter sometimes but it melts before it hits the ground.  We ran into the Owner, who is a weathered old guy, we think probably over 70 years old, and was telling us about his property and how he got the house transported here... really interesting.

Our camp site for the night .. 

Our view from the van

So we're here for the night and then tomorrow we'll do a bit more sightseeing.  The Vodka shop lady was telling us about Crystal Falls and you can walk behind it, which would be amazing, but then she told us to  expect a few leeches .... *shudder shudder* ... so I might have to carefully consider that one .. hehe.  As I type, Aaron's checking out the maps to see where we're headed tomorrow .. only time will tell where we end up tomorrow night :)


And now some photos...

 Not your usual "Slippery When Wet" sign .. that's when you know it's going to be cold in Winter!

Such a great initiative - free filtered water - more towns should have these!

A log just out of town - it took one of these logs to build one Australian cottage

Christmas .. gone for another year

Christmas Day has now come and gone .. and both Aaron and I agree that it was pretty uneventful.  We had both decided to do something, but in the end, we both ended up thinking we wouldn't bother.. BIG mistake.  We were both miserable and were both wishing we had of made a bit of an effort.  No regrets though and it will make each coming holiday a reminder and will encourage us to make an effort, no matter how small.

The weather has been good and then bad .. Christmas Day we were expecting huge rains and wind, however it ended up being relatively pleasant.  We woke to a very heavy rain shower - both jolting up and doing the customary shutting of vents and windows and then falling back to sleep.  We ended up jumping in the car and driving to Coffs Harbour and then stopping in at Pebbly Beach.  Our Christmas lunch consisted of a ham and camembert sandwich in a park somewhere near Coffs Harbour.. and some chocolate to numb the Christmas spirit.

Today is such beautiful weather - if you didn't know of the preceding days, you'd think it had been like this all week.

I decided to try my hand at shortbread the other day - trying to get a bit festive.  And I must say, it turned out surprisingly well :)  And all in my awesome caravan oven.  Aaron said this morning that he thinks we've used the oven and stove more in the last week than the previous owners did in the van's lifetime.   And I think he is probably right.  It was definitely a good decision to have the oven!
I didn't pack any cookie cutters (part of my culling.. insert sad face here), so had to use a piping bag nozzle.. which I think actually worked out much better than a normal cookie cutter - I cut out with the big end and then used the star end to make a pattern in the centre... very festive!  I shared it with our new carabuddies and then Aaron and I seemed to devour the rest of them in no time.. oops.  I think I'll have to make another batch though .. might try some chocolate shortbread... or choc chip ones... maybe just half a batch.

The shortbread, prior to the oven

 We've had the boardgames out lately - Aaron's favourite, Scrabble, and then an oldie but a goodie, Monopoly.  Our gnome friends joined us... as you can see below.  Our new addition is the little fella to the left .. Mum and Dad bought us this one  - doesn't it remind you of Aaron?!  Giving everyone the finger!  So we had a bit of fun posing them in the game..

 Gnomeo and mate (still unnamed) playing Scrabble with us ..

Aaron looking up his words in the dictionary - I kicked his butt TWICE .. it's unheard of I tell you!!

 The boys kicking back enjoying the fire and some drinks... note the goon bags (red wine & Pina Colada) to the right.. 

Aaron showing his artistic side - Gnomeo farted flames at his mate .. you can see he didn't appreciate it

In between the yacht maintenance and being un-festive, we haven't been doing too much.  The other day Az was amped for a surf, so we headed to Brooms Head to check it out..  unfortunately it wasn't any good, so we sat around and charged all our electronics - which was actually a pretty funny sight.  We had batteries, phones, computers, cordless tool batteries, ebooks - you name it, it was out on the table with cords twisted and tangled around each other, all vying for the power points.  Each time we'd driven into Brooms Head, we'd noticed a sign that mentioned a waterhole.  We were curious and as we were so bored and undecided on what we should do, we took the turn!  

Boy, we had NO idea what we were in for.  It was like we were in another world, so very different to the open bush and beach we had been camping in and driving through the past week.  Once we got through the open bush scape and down a bit of a bumpy track, we found ourselves in the middle of the thickest, lushest rainforest we'd ever seen.  The colours were just amazing - the rain had bought out the greens and the blacks, as well as the yellows in the wattle trees.  It was just beautiful - the photos just don't do it justice.  And the tracks were really challenging (well, I thought they were.. hehe) - I nearly had to bring out the sports bra again!!  We both agreed that we had expected this type of track in the Cape - so not expecting it here.  Aaron has been through this area hundreds of times, and even he didn't know it existed - I was pretty excited that we'd finally had a 'first' for him in an area that he'd been to just a few hundred times... and I was there to experience it too :)  We had no idea where we were going, or where it would bring us out - we turned on the GPS and while it picked up the road we were on, it didn't actually take us anywhere.  We drove up this super steep hill (we hadn't taken our haymen reese tow bar off the back of the troopy, so it kept hitting on bumps whenever we'd go over something .. imagine the scraping sound.. not nice) and were awed by the scenery  - there was a thick fog curling around the trees and as far as we could see was just thick forest.  It was so foggy that we couldn't even see the ocean, and could only just make out a few houses back at Brooms Head.  We had no idea where we were!!  We got to the spot where the GPS told us we'd come out to town... only to be confronted with another steep hill and corrugated roads.  We decided to head back (the 12 or so kilometres we'd just driven) because at least we'd be sure that we would come out somewhere familiar and it was starting to get quite late.  Luckily we're in daylight saving!!  

On the way in we had passed a guy in a Landcruiser who had a few real Christmas trees poking out the windows and squashed up against the back... he cautioned us on the roads ahead and the water crossings .. Az smiled cordially and you could see in his mind that he was thinking "You haven't seen half the stuff we took on in the Cape.. this is going to be a walk in the park!" .. I had a quiet giggle to myself.  As we were coming back after about an hour and a half of driving and exploring, we passed the same guy again - windows were wound down and pleasantries exchanged.. then Az asked, jokingly, "You blokes come back to check on us?"  .. and they had!!!  They were worried about us... Az thanked them and they exchanged 4WD tracks they'd both accomplished - very macho.  So we were on our way out and then Az looked back and couldn't find them, so then WE waited for THEM, cause we were worried about THEM..   All was well though - we think they may have been scouting some more Christmas trees.. hehe.  We both laughed when we suggested that we might see them selling them on the side of the road - to ourselves of course.  So it turned out to be a great afternoon - you've got to love on the spur of the moment exploration sessions!

 Az testing the waters to see how deep it was .. we were told 'over the bonnet' .. um, not quite

 This was the view at the top of the big mountain we went up - can't see much apart from fog .. was very pretty though

You wouldn't think that I'd spent hours cleaning our Troopy before we came would you .. just a little bit of mud and grime ..  

The beautiful contrasting colours of the yellow and the black - so much better in real life

This is how the track started - as you can see, totally different from the thick forest we ended up in

Not sure if you can make out the tiny bump in the middle of the photo - that's the mountain we drove up - this is from the road outside our caravan

 When we were playing Monopoly, this guy was checking us out ... yep, another green tree frog.  I'm now positive I have a green tree frog magnet somewhere on me.. no matter where I am .. they'll be there.

 So we thought we'd give Scrabble a rest for the night and bought out the Monopoly.. big mistake.  I think I am the world's worst Monopoly player .. EVER.  Aaron, being the clever strategist that he is, whipped my butt, BIG time.  I thought I was going so well, I'd bought property, had the whole colour lots, and was gradually putting houses up..  He went straight through the houses and put up hotels.. on EVERYTHING he owned!  So clever.. I never had a chance.  It was so depressing!  He was loving it though, especially after I had kicked his butt at this favourite game, Scrabble.

Happy Aaron with wads of cash in hand - enjoying the moment

At the finish line... He even had a hotel on Mayfair!!!  Thank goodness the game finished before I landed on that one!  

I've decided that Monopoly might just conveniently end up in the post back to Mum and Dad for safe keeping...hehe.

So we're back at the yacht again today - the last day before we have someone come and inspect it.  Keep your fingers crossed people - we need everyone's positive thinking to have it sold tomorrow.

We were looking over some maps this morning and deciding where we are headed next.  We figured that seeing as we'd driven through to Coffs yesterday that we might head inland and go to Dorrigo and do a bit of sightseeing.. and then head back to the Coast and head down south.

If anyone's got any spots they can recommend, feel free to drop us a line and let us know - we're just looking at maps and reading touristy stuff.. so would welcome any 'local knowledge'.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas day, and enjoyed spending the day with loved ones.  We were thinking of everyone and sending cyber hugs.

Until our next post xxx