Wednesday 25th September 2013

The last few days have been all about golf.  It has been good to have a day at home to be able to water my plants.

Saturday 21st September 2013 Anne, Joel and Emily came over in the afternoon with Rod arriving after work. They stayed for Mum's Lamb Roast Dinner.  I took Joel and Emily for a walk in the twin stroller down to the railway for an ice block and to watch the trains come and go at the station.  It has become a bit of a tradition that I do this now. It keeps them occupied for an hour so Anne can have a break.  We always have to check the tomatoes to see if there is any red tomatoes to pick.

Sunday 22nd September 2013 we played golf at 11 o'clock with Col & Lauren Matterson.  We had a good day and beat the boys for the keno ticket. After golf we went to the Gosford Hotel for dinner with a group of the golfers.

Monday 23rd September 2013 Peter went to F-Troop and I went to Everglades Golf Club at Woy Woy to play in a 3BBB Team Event representing Gosford Club.  My playing partners were Lea Southon and Carol Farrell.  Carol played very well and Lea & I added a couple of pluses.  Our team finished with Plus 7 so we were happy with that even though it was not enough to win.  That evening we went to the Golf Club to watch the counting of the votes for the election of Directors before the AGM tomorrow night.

Tuesday 24th September 2013 I played golf in the Invitation Day being held at our club.  My playing partners were Barbara Stratford, Cheryl Davison & Yvonne Cumming.  We played reasonably well and good enough to win a ball. Yvonne won a nearest the pin & our team won the trivia questions ( a box of chocolates each) and Yvonne and I both won a raffle prize.  It was a good day and thank heavens there was cloud cover so it was not too hot.  That evening we went to the Golf Club AGM which was uneventful.

Wednesday 25th September 2013 I was golfed out after three days in a row.  I was up early to give the gardens a good watering as we have had some hot weather and no rain.  I have been catching up on my travel photos and are gradually getting them added to my travel blog. The weather has been lovely so I will probably have to be out watering again tomorrow.  

Friday 20th September 2013

Another couple of busy days - catching up at home and getting the garden competition results.

Wednesday 18th September 2013 I did catch up at home, washing, ironing, floors etc - all of tha interesting stuff.

Thursday 19th September 2013 I went into Gosford to check into my beauticians with some roses from my garden and then did some retail therapy at Aldi.  In the afternoon I did some pruning of our overgrown ivy in the back yard and Peter took it all to the dump.  That evening I went out to Erina Fair with Di & Anne to see the results of the Gosford City Garden Competition and were delighted to find that we had won three finalist places in the Best Commercial Garden, the Best Theme Garden and the Best Eco Garden which was a good result for us.  We did not win the big prize but considering that we are up against professional gardeners with big budgets then we did well.

Friday 20th September 2013 we did the household shopping and I caught up on all the outstanding housework so we can have a free weekend.  Tonight we went to the Golf club for the Raffles and badge draw.  Our bonus was we won a tray of meat.  The badge draw did go off to one of our supporting Members so it was a good night.

I have been experimenting with doing a rainbow rose with not a great lot of success yet.  I think the roses need to be more mature in the stems and the ones I am working with are just tender first new growth.  I will keep you posted on my progress.

Tuesday 17th September 2013

Back to reality now and getting back into routine.

Friday 6th September 2013 we had a catch up day at home, had my nails repaired at the beauticians and that evening went to the Golf Club for dinner and raffle night.

Saturday 7th September 2013 I worked all day in the back gardens cleaning out all the weeds that had materialised while we were away. Rod, Anne, Joel & Emily came over for a Mum's lamb roast.

Sunday 8th September 2013 We played golf with Duncan & Rosalie Dyer and had a lovely day.  The girls beat the boys for the keno ticket which was a highlight.  That evening we went to the Gosford Hotel for dinner with our golf friends.

Monday 9th September 2013 we were up early for F-troop.  We had a busy day and worked until morning tea.  I left at that stage because I was going out to lunch with Lorraine & Des for our monthly catch up.

Tuesday 10th September 2013 I played golf in the Ladies Pro Shop Day which meant we had to play a stroke match playing off the men"s white markers. My playing partners were Judy Verlander and Lyn Cruickshanks and we had a fun day - even if the scores were not great. After golf we had a treat with one of the girls celebrating her forthcoming wedding by inviting us to have drinks with her after golf.  Her personal trainers Matthew and Daniel were there to greet us and we had a fun afternoon - definitely the highlight of the day.

Wednesday 11th September 2013 I worked on the gardens out the front to catch up with the weeding there.

Thursday 12th September 2013 I had more catch up gardening  & fertilizing the roses and spraying for aphids.  The roses are just starting to come out.

Friday 13th September 2013 I went to the beauticians for a much needed pedicure.  That evening we went to the Golf Club for dinner and then to the Laycock Theatre to see Louise in her annual concert.

Saturday 14th September 2013 we went to Aldi to pick up some of the weekly specials and then I went over to the golf club to clean up there for a few hours in the gardens.

Sunday 15th September 2013 Rod, Anne Joel and Emily came over for breakfast.  I took Joel and Emily for a walk to the station to see the trains only to find that the trains were not running that day.  After that we went to golf.  Our playing partners were Ian & Lynda Hartley and we had a lovely day on the village green.  The girls won the keno ticket again - so another highlight.  That evening we went to the Gosford Hotel for dinner after golf with our golf friends.

Monday 16th September 2013 We were up early for F- Troop and worked through until one o'clock.  I created another succulent garden on the golf course using the timber pieces that I had bought back from Cunnamulla which has improved another ugly area.  We had some nice rain overnight which has given the gardens a good water.

Tuesday 17th September 2013 (today) I played golf with Lyn Cruickshanks and Lesley Gregory.  Lyn was our player of the day and my highlight was getting three one putt greens in a row.  We were rained on for a couple of holes when a rain storm came over, but for the most it was a nice sunny day.

I have been enjoying watching the roses all come out and they are looking good this year.  I had my first attempt at doing a rainbow rose with one of my long stem white roses and it worked well for my first go.
I am going to do some more to see if I can get better at it.

Thursday 5th September 2013

Time has got away and once again I am behind with my updates.

We had a wonderful 10 days holiday to Cunnamulla - enjoying our Motor Home Experience.

We picked up our Motor Home on Monday afternoon from Erina which gave us time to pack before leaving on Tuesday morning.  The kids came over to see the van and stayed for dinner.

Tuesday 27th August 2013 we headed off about 9.30 am.  Our first stop for coffee was at Dunedoo where we sat in the park and enjoyed a break.  We had a good trip through to Dubbo where we stayed at the Poplars Caravan Park which is right in town where we could walk to the shops, clubs etc.  It is an old park but was clean and conveniently located.  We had dinner at the RSL club which was walking distance.

Wednesday 28th August 2013 we drove to have a look at the Dubbo Golf Club and then went on to the Dubbo Zoo.  The Zoo impressed me because we could drive the Motor Home through the park.  There was plenty of parking at each of the animal enclosures and we could have lunch in the motor home when it suited us without having to hike back to the kiosk.  After the zoo we had 9 holes of golf at the Dubbo Golf Course.  Unfortunately it was Men's comp day so we had to play holes 19 to 27 which were under maintenance. We enjoyed the day and walked into town to get a Chinese take away dinner which we had in the Motor Home.

Thursday 29th August 2013 we left Dubbo about 8.30am and travelled to Bourke for an overnight stay.
We arrived about 3 pm and checked into our site at Kidman's Camp which was a nice caravan park about 7 klms out of town.  They had a camp fire dinner and poetry night under the stars for guests staying at the park.  It was a lovely balmy night and we enjoyed the experience.

Friday 30th August 2013 we headed for Cunnamulla to meet the family at Lyn's house.  Kay & Greg had arrived the day before from Ipswich, Tammy, Trent,Selina (Nanny) Bailey and Noah the day before from Canberra.
Graham & Anne & Phil & Lorraine arrived after us from Moree.  We had some lunch and a walk around Cunnamulla which was a town that surprised us.  It is an old country town but neat and tidy and we enjoyed our time there.  That evening Lyn and Richard had arranged for us all to have dinner at the Cunnamulla Hotel which was walking distance from Lyn's house.  We parked the Motor Home next door at Lyn's other house which was convenient.

Saturday 31st August 2013 (Dad's birthday - he would have been 100 years old) we all headed out to Richards camp at the Opal Mine which is about 80 klms out of town.  Richard had his camp set up beautifully accommodating all of us with ease.  We arrived in time for lunch and had a look around the mine and camp site in the afternoon. Lyn took us for a drive to see some ancient aboriginal water holes nearby. That evening Lyn & Richard entertained about 30 people for dinner and our Big O celebrations and we had a great evening.  Of course the evening would not have been complete without a rendition of Marty Robiins songs led by Phil.

Sunday 1st September 2013 we had a nice quite day at the camp - some of us a little dusty from the evening before.  Richard gave us a demonstration of the big drilling machine and how he cuts and polishes the opals which was very interesting.  Some of us had a dig in the mine to try our luck at finding some opal but we did not have any big finds.  Richard showed us some of the beautiful stones that he had for sale and the colours were amazing.  That evening we went to Lyn & Richard's neighbours place where they cooked us up a beautiful camp fire dinner at a place they call "Sunset Ridge".  What a beautiful spot that was.  high on a ridge where we could watch the sunset from a bath set on the side of the ridge.  We had a great night, nice balmy weather where we could sit out under the stars, enjoy a lovely dinner and chat. The country hospitality was great and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Monday 2nd September 2013 we had a late breakfast and packed up ready to head back to Cunnamulla for lunch before going on to Bourke for the night.  Phil & Lorraine headed back to Moree, Kay & Graham back to Ipswich, Graham & Anne Back to Moree and Tammy, Trent, Selina, Bailey & Noah back to Bourke on their way to Canberra.  We had a fantastic weekend catching up with the family and seeing Richard & Lyn's Opal Mine at long last.  It was sad to say goodbye as we do not see nearly enough of each other as we are so scattered about living in our own bubbles.   We went back to stay at Kidman's Camp again and caught up with all our washing etc.  That night we had a meal in the van after a swim in the pool.  The weather had been very hot so it was good to cool down.

Tuesday 3rd September 2013 Tammy, Trent, Selina, Bailey & Noah called in to say goodbye on their way to Canberra.  They had stayed in the cabins at Kidman's Camp.and said that they it was good.
We headed back to Dubbo for an overnight stay and stopped again at the Poplars Caravan Park for the convenience.  We walked down town to see the Old Dubbo Gaol which is in the main street.

Wednesday 4th September 2013 we decided to go back as far as Singleton that night so that we only had a short trek back home on Thursday.  We stayed at the Country Acres Caravan Park which seemed to be mainly for long term stays.  It had a swimming pool and was not too far out of town.  We went and had 9 holes of golf at the Singleton Golf Club.  It was also being maintained and it was only a 9 hole course that you had to play twice (in slightly different directions) if you wanted to play 18 holes.  It was a rather dangerous course if you got your directions wrong.  That evening we went to the Singleton Heights RSL club for dinner which was a bit of an ordinary experience.

Thursday 4th September 2013 it was an easy trip home through some nice countryside.  We arrived home in plenty of time to wash and clean out the van before returning it to Erina.  It had been very hot at home while we had been away but Shane kept it all ship shape while we were away.  The kids came over to see us when we got everything packed away.  Emily & Joel both liked their gifts from the zoo.

Our Motor Home experience was a good one and we will certainly consider doing it again next time we decide to go off and see some more of Australia.  The cost was probably much the same as driving in a car and staying at motels but it was very convenient to have everything in the one spot and the Motor Home had plenty of room and storage space including the golf clubs.

We loved the experience of seeing Cunnamulla where Lyn lives and works and the Opal Mine which is a must do experience.

 
Now we are back to reality with gardens waiting for me to do.

All of my photos will be on my travel blog as soon as I can find enough time to do it.  The above photos are just a sample lot to give you an idea of our experience.