Thursday 30th October 2008

After all the miserable cold, wet weather we had last week it was great to be able to enjoy five beautiful days of sunshine at Diamond Beach where Lyn & Richard have their caravan. On the day we left to come home (yesterday) the rain started again and the showers have continued so we were lucky to take a break at the right time. To get over the dissapointment of not going on our beautiful holiday to China we (together with Lyn & Richard and George & Tosca) decided
to have five days at Diamond Beach which is near Forster. Lyn & Richard have their caravan site there which has just been updated with another caravan & some new outside paving. George & Tosca shared a cabin with us which was right on the beachfront & walking distance to Lyn & Rics van. It was a good place to de-stress & refresh after all the follow up drama of the cancelled holiday. To see more of our holiday photos you can check them all out on my travel blog www.janmartinstravelblog.blogspot.com

On Thursday 23rd it was still a bit of a miserable day so I finished off the golf wedding garden with some more plants that had been donated and we put up some more signs for the club that needed to be installed. The Travel Compensation Fund was a good source of advice and gave me some guidlines to send to all of the China travellers so that we can get some claims lodged to at least get a refund of our costs to take the sting out of the cancelled holiday. Having got all the emails away to the group it was then time to attend some meetings at the golf club which took care of the rest of the day.

Friday 24th we headed off to Diamond Beach about 9 o'clock in the morning, stopping only at Bulahdelah for coffee at our favoured Coffee Shop. We arrived at Diamond Beach in time to settle in & do some grocery shopping and have a look around the place. We spotted a Bowling Club at Blackhead Beach which advertised 'Happy Hour' at 5 o'clock followed by 'raffles'. We decided not to buy any meat as we were sure that we could win some trays at the club. Things were not looking too good in the first draw but in the second draw after dinner we won two meat trays and a fruit tray which was enough to do us for the five days so we left the club feeling pretty pleased with ourselves ( even if we did spend about $50 on raffle tickets).

During the five days there Peter & George fished every day. It was a bit windy the first couple of days so not many fish. In the last couple of days they caught some salmon, whiting, jew fish & a bit of seaweed. Lyn, Ric, Tosca & I had some good early morning walks along the beach and up onto the headland. We managed to get in two games of golf at Tallwoods Golf & Country Club which was lovely; visited two lots of markets at Tuncurry and on the Lakes Way road out of Forster; had coffee at Forster; take away dinner from a Thai Restaurant and dinner at a new resort at Diamond Beach; Tosca & Lyn shopped at Taree and went to the movies at Forster while we played our second game of golf; visited Ted & Lucy, our friends at Forster and Lyn & Ric cooked us a really nice dinner at their van. The cabin we stayed in was very comfortable & great value. Check out my travel blog for more details.

We arrived home on Wednesday 29th October for Shane's 37th Birthday & celebrated with the family and Shane & Sam's friends at the Gosford RSL Club. It rained most of the way from Diamond Beach & has been showery since we got home. We were very fortunate to get some lovely warm weather at Diamond Beach.

Today, Thursday 30th October it has been catch up day at home. Lots of mail & emails to deal with which is the punishment for taking some time off. I do feel better for the de-stress break so it is a case of carry on regardless now. Some sad news awaiting me was that Aunty Joan (Dad's sister) had passed away last Sunday. Funeral is tomorrow at Catherine Hill Bay Cemetary.

Images attached: Shane's birthday cake & family photos at the Gosford RSL last night; us watching the TV 'soapies' at the Diamond Beach cabin; the swimming pool at the Caravan Park; Ric getting out of a sticky spot at golf; George & Peter fishing at the beach; having dinner at Lyn & Ric's caravan; various photos of Tallwoods golf course; Lyn & Ric ready for golf; sunrise out of our bedroom window; the cabin at the beachfront; drinks after golf at Tallwoods; Tosca, Lyn & myself after our shopping at the pro shop at Tallwoods (note the bag drop zone sign - the boys chose that site - not amused); various photos of Diamond beach; Peter with one of his catches; the new paving at the caravan site; Lyn outside their caravan; new plants and signs at the Gosford Golf Club.

Wednesday 22nd October 2008

It was a freezing cold, windy, wet miserable day where nothing outside seemed appealing at all so I spent the day on the computer finalising all the Golf China matters that were on hand. I ventured very briefly into the garden just long enough to cut a bunch of roses for my good friend Margaret Gardiner. Ken & Margaret are long, long time friends and it was their 43rd wedding anniversary (on 23rd) which needed to be celebrated. We donned the winter gear and went to Gilberto's Italian Restaurant "Trevisani" for the second time in a week. The meal was beautiful as before and the red wine was not bad either. After a nightcap at home we finished at half past midnight which took us into their actual anniversary day which was mandatory.

Images attached: At Trevisani with red wine; desserts - yum!

Monday 20th October 2008

My poor garden is so sadly neglected lately it is basically growing by itself. Lucky we have had a lot of natural rainfall lately so the roses are reacting to that. We have had a couple of big electrical storms - one on Sunday night when a tree was hit & split at the golf club and last night when we got a downfall of hail and a fair bit of rain.

The morning was spent at the golf course cleaning up after Sunday's storm & removing a dangerous tree that had been struck by lightning the night before. We did a lot of raking up among other things and finished about lunch time.

Lyn & Richard had spent the previous night with Graham & Anne at Sydney & they arrived home at lunch time too. Lyn & I spent the afternoon browsing & shopping at Erina Fair. Peter & Richard had a round of golf. We met them at the Golf Club after their game for a "Happy Hour" then came home for a quiet dinner.

I made contact with our travellers in Beijing and everything seemed to be happening to schedule so all going well they will be in Sydney by 9.30 am tomorrow. That will be one worry out of the way.

Images attahed: My front garden looking colourful in spite of the neglect; the split tree at the golf club and areas that were cleaned up; Richard, Lyn & Pete at "Happy Hour".

Sunday 19th October 2008

After two devastating days following the liquidation of our travel tour group trying to find solutions for insurance claims & more importantly trying to get help to our Beijing group that were yet to get home from China, it seemed that life must go on. Through the day I had a call from one of the group to say that 12 of them had arrived home - not happy but safe. That leaves four more to come tomorrow.

We checked in with the golf club and the members there made room for us in the competition of the day by rearranging the groups to accommodate us which was fantastic of them.

Our playing partners were Mary Bromwich and Waren Gray & they were great company. I played with a "Golf China" golf ball (which was ironic) & belted it around the golf course all day to score 39 points after wiping a hole and came in runner up on the day. It must have been a mental reaction to the last few days. The event of the day was a Presidents vs Captains Day. We were on the Presidents side & were narrowly beaten. The trophies were beautiful Royal Doulton wine glasses so it was a good week to decide to be a trophy winner.

The other fantastic news of the week is that Rod & Anne are having their first baby next year which will make us grandparents for the first time. Now that is the silver lining to the dark cloud. Life is not all bad.

After golf we went to the Thai Restaurant at Kariong with some of our friends to finish off the day.

Images attached: Peter, Rhonda, Wally, Vicki and George at the Thai Restaurant; with Mary Bromwich and Warren Gray our playing partners; with President Ron Puiatti & runner up trophy; while I was gathering highlights to report on the blog the people at my table could not wait for me to open my trophy - they were good enough to re-wrap it ( ??) before I got back - the trophy re-wrapped!!!; Leanne & Norma trialing the wine glasses; the wine glasses safely home.

Saturday 18th October 2008

Well, how things can change in a few hours. After writing up my blog yesterday I set about packing my bags ready to go to Sydney at 2.30 in the afternoon as the start of our journey to Sydney airport tomorrow morning for our flight out to begin our China adventure for this year.


Lyn & Richard were packed & ready & we were all waiting for the time to leave when I got a call on my mobile from the Director of "Golf China" (Our tour manager) to say that his company had gone into liquidation. I was stunned to say the least and could not believe that it could possibly have happened. However after discussion with the liquidators I was convinced that it was all over and it was then a matter of scrambling to contact all of the other travellers before they left home to make their way to the airport. Some were coming from Queensland and Moree so it was a panic to make contact with everyone. I was relieved that I managed to contact everyone in time. Some were at the stage of waiting for a taxi to pick them up to take them to the local airport. It would have been a worse mess if we had actually been on our way out of the country.

The rest of the afternoon was shambles trying to find out about insurance cover & where our passports were etc etc. George & Tosca came in to give us some support with a bottle of wine & a bottle of scotch under their arm.


Feeling very sorry for ourselves we decided to call our travel agent to see if he could book us somewhere else for a week to 10 days as our bags were packed & ready to go & we thought that Thailand looked good. We discovered that it was too short notice to book a trip like that after investgating lastminute.com it all become too hard. Many phone calls and emails and a stiff scotch later we decided that we should go out to dinner at a local restaurant to comiserate with ourselves. It was Lyn & Richard's wedding anniversary tomorrow, this year was also George & Tosca's 40th anniversary which we had missed so that gave us cause for celebration.


We went to the Gilberto's Italian Restaurant in Mann Street which was a beautiful meal & we polished off some wine along the way.


During the night I got a phone call from the group that went to Beijing on Tuesday to say that they were being sent home on the next plane but had to pay their own way. With that added stress I ended up having a pretty bad night.


Today, Saturday was no better but I did get some information & phone numbers for insurance claims & managed to track where the Beijing group were. 12 of them are flying home tonight and another 4 on the 20th.


Well so much for being the travel guide extrordinaire - this is one path I will never travel again!

It has probably been the most stressful day of my life. The Golf China manager turned up with our passports this morning (to his credit) which was probably the only shining light of the day.

Lyn & Richard have gone to have the night with Richard's brother in Sydney and I think that an early night will be appropriate for me.


Image attached: Richard, Tosca, George, myself & Lyn at the restaurant last night.

Friday 17th October 2008

Another full week with not a lot of spare time. After recovering from Sam's 30th birthday party the night before we fronted up at golf to play 27 holes in the Mixed Foursomes Championship on Sunday. Photos attached of the boys having a port prior to playng their first shot (they seemed to think that they would need it to get through the pressure). Our playing partners on the day were Margaret & Peter Davidson and Margaret & Geoff Nash. We enjoyed the day (as best you can playing foursomes - I put Peter in the dam on the 3rd) & our results were not quite as good as the previous year but not too bad. We stayed for dinner at the club after golf & were joined by Margaret & Paul Ingham whom we have not caught up with for quite a while.

Margaret is a very talented embroiderer & she gave me a beautiful table napkin as a gift in Mum's memory. when I got it home I could not believe that it fitted exactly to my lazy susan table where I keep my special "Mum" things. If I had ordered it to mearure it could not have been better. (photo attached)

Monday morning was F-Troop day & I spent the day working on the second tee gardens where we have been able to work out a system of watering from the new fairway watering system. Monday afternoon I had to take care of some Estate business at the solicitors.

Monday evening George & Tosca came for dinner so we could sort out our travel plans for China. We are going to be travelling to Sydney with them on Friday & throughout the trip. Tosca has taken up golf and has been doing a lot of practice ready for our golf games while we are away.

Tuesday morning I was on the 5.30am train for Sydney heading for the International Airport to farewell the travellers in our group who were doing the Beijing leg of the tour. (photo attached).

It was a wet day so I was happy that I did not play golf today.

Tuesday evening Shane & Sam and Rod & Anne came to dinner for a family gathering before our holidays. Rod & Anne are the housesitters for the period so they get to watch foxtel.

Wednesday was a catch up day at home making sure everything was in order & a visit to the hairdresser.

Thursday Lyn & Richard arrived from Diamond Beach where they have installed their new caravan. In the afternoon we had nine holes of golf to give Lyn some practice and she went very well. Another golfer in the making I suspect. This will be Lyn's first experience of a real overseas trip having never travelled further than New Zealand. We are looking forward to having a good holiday together. Lyn gave me a lovely clock (with roses) & that has been put in Mum's special place along with Kay's angel and the embroidered cloth. (Image attached)

The Gosford City Garden Competition winners were announced Thursday night. I asked Martin Gallagher to represent the club at the presentation as I had Lyn & Richard for dinner that night.

Martin is my working partner on the Golf Club Gardens. Martin bought over the certificates we won as finalists in both of the catergories that we entered. That was a good result as there is some very stiff opposition in this competition. Last year we won the Best Commercial Garden under 1000 square metres with the "Ladies" garden that we created.

Today (Friday) it is scramble day to get the packing done. Lyn & Richard are going to see Richard's brother Andrew first & then will be meeting us at the hotel in Sydney tonight. We are leaving with George & Tosca this afternoon. This blog will continue in November with all the travel news.

Images attached: With Margaret Davidson & Margaret Nash at golf on Sunday; Peter Davidson & Geoff Nash with Peter having their heart starter port before the match; the golf club gardens on Monday; the Beijing group at the airport on Tuesday; Lyn in action on Thursday afternoon; Richard in action on Thursday afternoon; Peter keeping the sun out of his eyes with my pink visa (a good look) after golf on Thursday; Mum's special place; the finalist certificates; me with Martin Gallagher & certificates on Thursday evening.