Poor Peppers Painful Paws

I tore one of my toenails jumping up into the van the other day and Mum and Dad had to take me to the Vet and have it removed.

They decided to have my dew claws removed while I was under the anesthetic.

Daddy might not get scratched so much now when we have a play together.

I was very sore for a few days till I got my stitches out, but I was a good girl and got lots of sympathy from everyone who saw my new socks - they said that I looked cute.

Nature watch - Osprey

A Family of Osprey and their nest at the inlet at Tweed Heads.

Eileen and I stood and watched them for quite some time, they are amazing.

Great to see them soar on the thermals and they catch their prey plunging in feet first. Very strong tallons and feet.

A Seafood Platter

As Eileen is allergic to crustaceans, I don't get to eat them often.   When we learnt that our friend Dave had the same allergy and his wife Linda was in a similar predicament to myself, we decided to share one for Sunday lunch.

Galah

Eileen and I just love our morning Spring walks.

This Galah has found a nest in the bowel of an old gum tree.

A Big Week For Us

This past week has been full on with a lot of excitement and a little worry:-

We drove to Brisbane on the Thursday so that Eileen could have her heart check up ( apart from the cholesterol count) which went ok but has to be monitored and then to the Dentist to have a broken tooth repaired.

We called in on Hector and Rondell for smoko and a chat and a look at the bonsai (looking good). It was nice to catch up even though time was short and came home with a pile of books to keep us busy for quite some time.

We knew that Dad had to have another operation on his hip to repair the damaged joint and given his last experience we had some concerns as to the outcome, but are happy to report that Dad appears to have come out of this one in much better condition and is standing straighter and I'm sure that with a bit of exercise he will be in much less pain and be more able to get about.

Anthony had an emergency appendectomy at the Mater Hospital and had some complications but is home now and although in some pain, and with a drain still attached, he is recovering well.

We had three lovely days with our old neighbours and good friends Geoff and Pauline and Pepper sure enjoyed their company and being off the leash for the period. Geoff and I went to the Broncos v St George and it was great to see their support on home soil and even better to see them beat the Dragons..... Wayne who????



Bradley stayed with us for a few days and we all enjoyed a walk along the beach at Fingal.

Welcome to our family Muhammad Sideeq Mutijima Chown

Salaam aliekum, Muhammad Sideeq Mutijima Chown, our sixth grandchild born 9.00pm on the 16th September 2009

He looks just like his Mum and cute as a button.

Yesterday there were only two

You keep watering them Len and you'll have more than you will know what to do with.

Bats in the Belfry

This colony of bats were nesting in the mangroves and were very interesting to observe.

Koala

A plesant surprise as we rounded a corner on our walk this morning.  

We could almost reach out and touch this little fellow.   He must have been lost  as he was perched in a mangrove on the rivers edge.

A day at the beach for Pepper…..

Wanting a quiet day, we decided to take Pepper for a run along the beach at Fingal, she loves it here and it really gives her a work out.

This has to one of the nicest beaches down this way, quite long and not crowded at all with the added benefit of dogs being allowed off leash.

Today Pepper met George and they had a short tussle together
in passing

There were a pod of Dolphins just off shore having a rollicking good time.

Then it was back to the pet shop to give Pepper a bath to get the salt and sand off her and make her smell all nice again.

Lorikeets getting ready for spring……

On our morning walk this morning, I saw a flash disappear into a hole in a tree and after a short time out popped this head and with a little patience a short time later I managed to capture the following sequence.

Figbird

This fellow was sitting quietly in a Casurina tree thinking about his next feed.

Brahminy Kite.....

These birds are just amazing to watch as they catch the thermals and glide around looking for their prey.

We have both been happy to see the diversity of bird life that abounds around the lake.

Our Neighbours at River Retreat

Nick and Judy and their Scottie Nessie were our wonderful neighbours during our stay at River Retreat.

We enjoyed playing Mahjong and chatting and had many memorable evenings in their company.

Big Rigs along the way

As we drive around Australia, I'm sure that we will see many varities of transport that people choose to adopt for what ever reason.

I will share these rigs as we see them and if you are interested you can see them all by looking up the label titled 'Big Rigs'

We saw this one at the Tweed.   It is called Bou-Baloo.

Pelicans

Pelicans skimming across the crystal clear blue water of the lake.

It is amazing to watch these large birds take off and land, they almost defy the laws of physics and are extremely graceful in the process.

Sunset over the Tweed

What a lovely way to end the day

Daily walks

Thanks to Peppers demands, Eileen and I have made a habit of early morning and late afternoon walks. When you take the time to enjoy these moments, it is amazing to see and witness the beauty that surrounds us.

The Bird life around the lake is quite varied and we have decided to attempt to log the different species that we see and to photograph if possible.

Murwillimbah, Tumbulgum and Mt Warning.

Today saw us take a day trip to Mt Warning via Murwillimbah and included a lovely counter lunch at the Tumbulgum Pub.

The climb up into Mt Warning was very nice but as we had Pepper with us we could only go as far as the National Park signs.

Family Visit on 2nd July 2009

It was great to have Alexandra, Dylan, Lela and Aminah visit us for lunch and a look around. We went for a short walk through the mangroves and along the boardwalk.

A very relaxing and plesant day with family - long overdue.

Lots of things to catch up on and look forward to Christmas hollidays when they can come and stay for a few days.

Good times had and friendships made.......

We are sure that along the track we will meet a lot of great people and Peter and Barbara Weigans will go down as the first couple we met who were not only extremely helpful but good fun to be with also.

A couple of plesant entertaining nights and lots of helpful caravaning information to add to the growing list that we have already discovered.




Peters rig was a tri-axle 36 footer.... huge.

Fishing for fun

Bradley and I wet a line and caught a couple but Eileen made us let them go.

Bradley, Pepper and Grandmar.

Bradley came for a visit and stayed three nights, I hope that he enjoyed his stay as much as we enjoyed his company..... Grandmar can't wait till the Christmas holiday's.... hint hint.

Mistletoebird

Mistletoebird

This little fellow is not all that easy to see, so we were quite happy to catch this shot of this one





More information can be read here
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=134

When a Van is a Home......

Eileen has almost finally converted the van into our home and I have to say that it is nice to have some of the memories around.

It is surprising just how comfortable such a confined area can be when it is just the two of us and we are both happy that we chose this lay out with the slide out and head height. The recliners are very comfortable and I find that I can sleep in them just as easily as I did at home.

The table not being in a fixed position allows us to push it up against the front wall while we only need the use of two chairs. We will move it back when we entertain guests...... hint hint.


While the absence of an oven was originally a concern to Eileen, we have found that between the webber BBQ and the Cookwell that we have purchased, we may well save the $800 required to install one.

The Kitchen is fairly well layed out and the fridge is more than adequate for our needs, I have made a couple of moderations to two of the cupboards to give us a little more useable space.

The front loader washing machine is located under the sink next to the entry door and I fear that I may have to do some modifications to the plumbing as it is fitted into the galley gray tank and we occasionally get a bit of odour from the vent.

The Dining and Entertaining area could not be better and there is ample storage for those things that we seem to need like, DVD's, Books, Cameras, Alcohol and Puppies toys and tid bits.

We had a little difficulty with the DVD player and to their credit PlayMore sent us another DVD player which I had wired in to the back of the Jensen and we have since found that we can play some DVD's on the old one (different regions).

The Jensen has speakers outside in the Annexe area so we can listen to music while relaxing in the cool in the evenings.

Rainy, rainy nights.....

After four nights of reasonably heavy rain we were baptised into wet weather living in the van and must say that we found it more acceptable than we had expected. The sound of rain on the roof was strangely quite calming.

The grounds around the campsite got rather waterlogged and it was good to eventually see the sun break through the clouds

It was, however, quite nice to get out and have a short drive around to see what the area had to offer. We drove over to Coolangatta and up to Greenmount lookout and captured this wild looking photo looking back to Surfers Paradise.

The seas were fairly choppy and I'm sure the water would have had a cold chill to it, not to mention the gusting winds blowing sand all over the place.

Tweed Heads River Retreat. 12th June 2009

We took delivery of our new home and set up camp at the Tweed Heads River Retreat caravan park situated on the bank of the Terranora Lake.

Talk about steep learning curve for the first week or so as we discovered all of those little things that are required in order to 'set up' that we did not have. It was all fun while we rose to the challenge and I'm sure Bunnings for one were very happy that we decided to make Tweed Heads our new temporary home.

I must say that our first night was very plesant and both Eileen and I slept well in our new bed as did Pepper in her beanbag in the living room which she has made her home. Pepper got us up early and we went for a short walk along the bank of the lake - very peaceful at 7am in the morning and the smell is clean and clear.

In The Beginning......

It is not easy to explain exactly why Eileen and I have taken the path that we now travel, suffice to say that it was a combination of the effects of the World Financial Crisis, job dissatisfaction, high debit levels, health issues, getting older and not having had a great deal of time for 'us'.

It was Eileen who first planted the seed and it took me some time to understand that I was somehow trapped on this invisible tredmill of going to work to pay for all of those 'things' that we now find are mostely superficial and can be easily done without.

Having devoted much of my (and Eileens) time to 'The Business', it was a shock to finally realise that we had only had two actual hollidays over the last 18 years, both at Tangalooma and both thoroughly enjoyed with many promises to each other to 'do this again soon'.

We realise that we are not getting any younger (or healthier) and it did not take long, once we were on the same page, to realise that it was time for us to get out from behind the pressures that we had placed ourselves and have a look at a bit of the Big Paddock that is Australia.

Once we had made the decision to take this route, it was surprising just how quickly things eventuated. We placed the home on the market and sold it at the first open house, we sold (or gave away) all of the 'posessions' that we had accumulated throughout our lives, we closed the business down, cancelled all of our accounts (Phone, Power, Rates, Security, Internet) and paid out all of our debits and then went to the Brisbane Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show and purchased our new residence - a 24' Play More Drifter fifth wheel van with slide out in the living room and a Holden Rodeo Crew Cab 4x4 to tow it with.