Saturday 28th January 2012

This last week has been very testing with the unsettled weather.  We have only had light showers at Byron Bay but the rest of the North Coast has been under deluge.

Friday 20th January 2012 I had lunch with Heather & Lorraine catching up with their latest news.

After lunch I had a visit to my beauty therapist for a pedicure etc in preparation for our upcoming holiday. 

Saturday 21st January 2012 we spent the day doing last minute things before leaving on holidays. In the morning I spent a couple of hours at the golf club gardens & then spent the afternoon packing for our travel north.

Sunday 22nd January 2012 we left home about 8.00am heading for Coffs Harbour.  It all went very smoothly until we got to the Port Macquarie area when the weather turned very dirty and we travelled through some very heavy rain until we got to Coffs Harbour.  We had arranged to meet Duncan & Rosalie Dyer at Coffs Harbour as they were spending the night there as well as they were travelling to the Gold Coast on the same day as we were going to Byron Bay.  We decided to share a unit at Coffs Harbour on Saturday Night at the Observatory holiday apartments.  We met up with them at the Yacht Club on Coffs Harbour Waterfront.  The unit was very nice and convenient to the restaurant areas.  It was Duncan & Rosalie's wedding anniversary so we decided to choose a nice restaurant to celebrate.  We settled on Latitude 30 which was on the waterfront.  It was raining so hard we needed to catch a taxi to the yacht club for pre dinner drinks.  We managed to walk to the restaurant from the yacht club and enjoyed a lovely meal there and then went home to watch the end of the tennis.

Monday 23rd January 2012 we both set off to our separate holiday destinations.  Once again the weather was not good and we drove through heavy rain to Byron Bay.  We arrived about mid morning and got some grocery shopping done before moving into our cabin at the First Sun Caravan Park.  Rod & Anne arrived shortly after us & we managed to move in during rain showers.  We had a two bedroom cabin so Rod, Anne, Joel & Emily had the second bedroom.  A bit squashy but we managed as they were only staying until Thursday as they had already had a week at the Gold Coast.  Joel settled in well and coped with having to play indoors.

Tuesday 24th January 2012 we intended to take the children to the play centre at Byron Bay to keep them amused.  It was unfortunately closed for business.  Anne & I decided to take them for a ride to the Gold Coast Harbour Town shopping outlet as we could at least get under cover there.  The rain was relentless so it was a good move.  Anne & I had some retail therapy & got some good bargains.  We arrived home late afternoon after again driving back in the rain.

Wednesday 25th January 2012 the weather had not improved.  We decided to try a day in Ballina to see if they had a play centre there.  Unfortunately their centre had also closed for business.  We spent a few hours of retail therapy at the big shopping centre there.  George & Tosca came with us for the day & we had lunch there before coming home.  I walked Joel to the beach in the rain so he would have a chance to see the waves before he had to go home.  He looked so funny all dressed up in his rain gear.  We looked after the children while Rod & Anne had a couple of hours escape by themselves as they were due to travel home tomorrow.

Thursday 26th January 2012 - Australia Day the weather was again unkind. We could not go to the beach which is what we would normally do.  We had a nice lunch with our friends that were staying at the park having our traditional meat pies, mash & mushy peas  lamingtons.   Shane & Sam arrived in the morning to replace Rod & Anne who were travelling home.  We saw them off on their journey before lunch.  By mid afternoon we had a message that they had been blocked at Grafton & could not get through.  Rod & Anne decided that it was easier to come back here & rent another cabin for a few more days until the flood waters had settled down.  That suited me as it meant we got to spend more time with Joel & Emily.   Their cabin was just a short walk from ours so Joel could rotate between cabins.  Later that night we had a Baked Lamb Dinner followed by cornetto icecreams to finish off Australia Day celebrations with our friends.

Friday 27th January 2012 we had a nice laid back day.  Anne went to visit a friend, Sam & I had some retail therapy at the shops & the boys watched the cricket.  We bought Emily some little hair clips for her hair & she looked so cute.  The weather cleared a little in the afternoon so we grabbed the opportunity to take Joel to the beach.  Joel had a ball building sand castles with Uncle Shane & swimming through the waves.  It is such a shame that we did not have good weather this week as it would have been so much better to have the beach as a playground.

Saturday 28th January 2012 (today) Rod & Anne headed hack home for the second time.  We had some heavy rain overnight but it had cleared by the time they were ready to leave.  Shane & Sam had a sleep in morning & then went for a Byron Bay tour up to the Lighthouse & all around.  I went to the beach for a few hours & then got rained out.  Peter has gone fishing with George. 

We had a message from Rod & Anne that they had again been cut off by flood waters at Grafton & have had to be diverted to the New England highway to get home.  That will mean a very slow trip home for them which is not a good finish for their holiday. 

We are hoping for improved weather so I can at least go home with a sun tan.  It is quite warm even though we are getting a lot of stop/start showers which don't really worry us now that the children have gone home.  The R & R is good and I have been making some inroads into my Sudoku challenges. I do not have any good fishing stories to tell as the boys have not had an opportunity to do any serious fishing.Today could be the day as they have been gone for quite a few hours.

I have a beach day planned for tomorrow but we will have to see what the weather has to say about that.

    



Thursday 19th January 2012

The last couple of days has been busy getting ready for a traditional couple of weeks R & R at Byron Bay which I am very much looking forward to.

Tuesday 17th January 2012 I chose not to play golf as I had a lot of catch up work to do at home as I have been spending so much time at the golf club getting everything in place before we go away.  I have been busy organising a week of golf for a group of us at Wollongong and Moss Vale in February after we get back from Byron Bay.  There are eight of us travelling so we needed to get it all locked in and booked.  I spent the day between tour organising and washing sheets, towels and sorting out travel gear.  That evening we went over to Mark & Anne Stimpson's for dinner so we can make our final decisions about the golf tour in February. We had a lovely evening overlooking the Brisbane Water from Mark & Anne's unit joined by Col Matterson who will be with us on the golf tour.

Wednesday 18th January 2012 Peter went to golf and I spent the day locking the February golf tour into cement & went to my beauty therapist to have my nails done followed by a little bit of retail therapy to cheer me up.  I have got all the washing & ironing up to date and have started to sort out what I need to take away.
Shane called in on his way home from work to borrow a sanding machine so he can do some work at his new home at Gwandalan. He and Sam have moved in but there is a lot of work to be done.  Anne messaged me to say that they had arrived at Coff's Harbour on their way to the Gold Coast where they will be holidaying before joining us at Byron Bay next week.

Thursday 19th January 2012 I had a  reflective day being my anniversary day of "turning the page" towards recovery of my health.  I started the day with my traditional walking (which I have been very focused on achieving in recent months) managing a 6klm walk to start the day which is my aim.  I have lost some weight and feel a lot better in myself which is all good and I am off medications completely which is a huge celebration for me. I am moving forward and leaving the past where it belongs & this is my special day to remember that.

Rod & Anne messaged me to say that they had arrived at the Gold Coast and were on their way to the beach on a nice sunny day.

The rest of the day I have been concentrating on getting the house up to date and preparing my check list for the holidays that I have been looking forward to.  Our F-Trooper fill in supervisor called around this afternoon so we can keep the ball rolling for F-Troopers while we are away. We are very fortunate to have a great group of very capable troopers who we can rely on.

Tomorrow I am having lunch with Heather & Lorraine (my old work friends) & it will be good to catch up with them and find out how they spent their Christmas break.



  

Monday 16th January 2012

This week was about a lot of gardening work which I wanted to get done to get the lavender plants out of their pots before we go on holidays.  It was a busy week with plenty of activity every day.

Wednesday 11th January 2012 I got to mind Joel for the day.  Peter was at golf so I took Joel on the train for a ride to Woy Woy and back.  He thought that was wonderful ad we sat on Woy Woy station having a picnic lunch while we waited for the return train to Gosford.  After that we stopped off at the Gosford Hospital to watch all the workmen in hard hats (Bob the builders) working all the cranes and graders and big trucks which Joel thought was the highlight of his day.  It was a warm day so I put some water in his wading pool so he could play between that and his sand pit.  That kept Joel amused until lunch time after which he happily had his nap until 3 o'clock.  Anne picked Joel up later in the afternoon & I got to have a nurse of Emily.  Emily is just gorgeous now with huge dark smiley eyes - very lovable.

Thursday 12th January 2012 I went over to the club to water in some of the new plants because we had some wild winds overnight.  When I got there the club grounds were a mess from falling bark & branches so I spent the day over there cleaning up.

Friday 13th January 2012 I went over to the club to work on the garden at the 16th and to plant in some of the smaller lavender plants.  It was a big day & I worked there until about 2 o'clock.  That evening we went to the Golf Club for dinner as Peter was on raffle duty.  We won three lots of meat trays which was a bonus.

Saturday 14th January 2012 we did some household shopping in the morning.  Peter played golf so I spent the day over at the 16th garden preparing the ground for some lavender planting on Monday. I worked there until 2 o'clock so it was a big day. We had some very heavy rain overnight & in the morning & then the weather cleared long enough for me to get the gardening done.

Sunday 15th January 2012 we had a couple of hours with Rod & Anne so we could see them before they left on holidays on the Gold Coast.  I played trains & cars with Joel before we had to leave to have lunch at Rosalie & Duncan Dyers place with some friends.  Rosalie & Duncan had renovated their outside deck so that required a celebration.  I was up early to cut some roses to take to Rosalie and to make a salad to contribute for lunch.  While we were there the weather changed in the late afternoon and we had some very heavy showers.

Monday 16th January 2012 (today) we were at F-Troop at 7.00am as we had a busy day ahead of us. It was still showering on and off throughout the day but we managed to get the lavender garden completed which was great.  The weather has fined up now which will dry everything out.  We worked until after 2 o'clock which was a big day.  Getting all the lavender plants in was a bonus as I do not have to worry about keeping them watered.

I had planned on playing 9 holes of golf in the morning but may change my mind.  I have a lot of catch up work to do at home which is probably more important.  The course is very wet which makes golf hard going.