I am now down to 3 nails, I feel naked without them. I have not done a very good job fixing them myself. Shirley will need to give me some more lessons before we go away again.
Rain and wind all day Monday at Hawks Nest, so we stayed inside and read books, what else can you do. On Tuesday we drove to Stroud which is a lovely old town, heritage listed. It was built by AAC as a company town. By that evening there were 13 vans in the park near us, up from 3 in the morning. Everyone is running for cover because of the wind.
Wednesday we went for a ferry ride to Nelson Bay and walked around the town a little before heading back on the ferry. Dolphins followed us for part of the way. In the afternoon we went for a walk along Jimmy's beach, then back to the van to pack a few things for tomorrow's trip to Sydney.
The trip to Sydney was good, the roads now are nearly all two lanes. After surviving the Pennant Hills Road horrors we arrived at Parklea and set up, then visited mum. Later that afternoon we visited Aunty Joan and then went onto the Blue Gum pub and had dinner with Joan, Stephen, Shaunagh, Brent and their families.
Friday was a busy day, first Stephen visited us at the van, then we met Geoff W for lunch at Mt Druitt, then back for Annie and the girls visit and that night to Dee and Geoff's for dinner.
Saturday we visited mum again and then Brett visited us at the van in the afternoon. He told us about a great Chinese restaurant at Winston Hills so we went there for dinner.
Sunday it is home and unpack the van. It was a big warm and muggy so we were worn out by the time we finished. We left the van parked out the front overnight and some )(mailto:*%5E$#@$# people threw a full beer bottle at the back of the van and put a big hole in it. They also threw eggs at the land cruiser which was still hitched up to the van. We were not impressed and it left us with a bad feeling after such a great trip. We have reported it to the police and now will have to go through the insurance turmoil and get it fixed. We have parked the van at Mathew's after giving it a thorough wash inside and out. It looks like a new van except for the hole in the back.
No more travelling for a while. We will settle in at home for a few months at least. First job (after I make an appointment to get some more nails) is to clean the back patio and get rid of all that dust.
