Here we are .........

For those of you who don't know your way around this great country just follow the black line for this years trip. We like it so much here that we will extend until next week. This is one of those places that you never quite know what is going to happen next eg. Got up and as usual started getting breakfast together while Ron was having a shower. I tried to fire up the coffee machine - NO POWER, checked the fridge, NO POWER and a pool of water on the floor, Frozen fish - not any more, what on earth is going on ? On checking the power leads outside we discovered that the lead had been slightly pulled out of the plug and the only explanation we can come up with is: The kangaroos bouncing past last night, hit the cord and didn't bother to stop and plug it back in - Dam wild life LOL

It's a BOY !!!!!!!!

I was always under the impression that sexing roos might be difficult, but our local here at Darlington Beach has proved that it's very easy LOL. We arrived here at Darlington Beach 25kms north of Coffs yesterday and it's a fantastic park. BIG open lawned sites with concrete parking areas, 9 hole golf course, bowling green (and yes Lyn and Lyn, we are playing Bouche, but the ducks think we are throwing food when we throw the jack ball LOL) Restaurant, pools and lots and lots of wildlife and to top it off on the beach but not in the sand LOL. So far NO children but we have been warned that the weekends are very hectic so we might just hide on Sat and Sun LOL.

The Dynamic duo

Well you have to admit all our dress sense has gone sailing out the window. Not quite the leathers and uniforms of the ol' days LOL

Play in the Disaster Zone

It's official we have been declared a "Natural Disaster Zone", now I am sure many of you will get a laugh out of that as we all know we have been a travelling disaster zone for ages LOL. But, that said it is now officially a disaster zone from Coffs Harbour to Port Macquarie with lots of houses under water, the highways cut in numerous places and generally everything is very soggy. We are still planning on heading up the highway to Coffs tomorrow and will be there for 5 days and Bruce is flying up so we will catch up with him on Monday for dinner at Vue at Coffs (fish and chip shop).

Enough of the gloom

I thought it would be a good idea to forget the rain and look at some of the latest art we have come across. This piece was from the National Park just outside Cobar NSW. You can easily see the pair of Kangaroos, a man and a women out hunting with a boomerang. Unfortunately it didn't have a for "sale sign" on it.

21 inches in 5 days

Now the plan was ................................

To wake up to the sun shining, the birds doing their thing and then we would wander up the coast to South West Rocks and get some sun etc but as you can see the reality was a tad different. The rain almost stopped yesterday and things started to dry out again. The awning area was dry and I even pulled the chairs and table out. BUT overnight while we slept (or tried to) down it came and that together with a high tide meant that no water was leaving the park and you can see the result. So, amended plans, staying another couple of days to wait for everything to get back to normal (or our version of it)and then off to Coffs.

Another lovely day at the beach

After having been cooped up for two days in the van, I decided that it was time to go to the beach, after all that was the second reason we were here. As you can see fishing was a big hit but I decided that putting D'luded into the water was a tad out of the question LOL.

Send the Ark

Here we are in Port Macquarie sitting in the rain. The last time we had a half hour without rain was 3am on the 13th. So far in the last 24 hours 73ml, I wish we could send some south where it is needed.

The advantage of this is that "Tent City" has subsided into the mud, the "weekend warriors" all turned out to be girls and have fled back home leaving us in peace, and those "LOVELY" children have driven their parents to total distraction and have also fled - aaaah peace and quiet (sort of )LOL apart from the flooding.

For those who have never met him

To all our beloved readers, some of you have requested more information about that horrible, nasty and generally ill mannered person that continually leaves messages on the blog. Heaven forbid he might even have a fan club. Well here is the latest pic of Hans and yes it's not taken in Oz but in Switzerland where he was banished too - many hundreds of years ago.

The first cut is the kindest
After another day of slopping around in the mud and clay the gem count is growing. Above is the first of the stones that we have had cut. It's a 2.5 carat orange zircon and is spectacular in sunlight. Maybe this will become a new career for us LOL, all we need is a new back, more muscles and to be 30 years younger, or as Ron suggests we just hire people that look like that and we supervise LOL.

Our Gem collection

These are the stones that are of cutting quality that we found on day one of fossicking. We also have a small treasure trove of smaller stones that will be heading down south to bailey for her "Show and Tell" at school.

Getting Dirty again

We're back, We went into a suspended state of amazement while in Bourke and then we hit Walget which has to be in a permanent state of warfare then onto Lightening Ridge. We stayed two nights at the ridge and one day at Graven (or somethings like that) fossicking for those dam opals but no luck. It was very very hot so both afternoons were spent at the pool trying to cool off. We did meet the Canadians who were doing Oz in two weeks, they had organised a tent and off they went - Good Luck guys). We are now in Inverell - Sapphire capital of the world and you can see from the above pic it didnt take long for us to get in the swing of things and YES we did find some stones.