We did get our heater fitted, deciding on a diesel one instead of the gas that we thought we would get. In the end it came down to it's location in the van and the outlet exhaust point. We are so happy with our purchase, as expensive as it was, it was money well spent!
After that, we headed to Caringbah where we parked the van in Betty's drive for 12 days. I used to work with Betty and have known her for as long as we have been in Australia. Thanks for your hospitality Betty, and it was good to spend more time with you. X
During our stay in Caringbah, we did slip back down the coast to Shoalhaven where we caught up with Ray and Viv, Phil and Graham's Dad and step mum. They had been away as we came though before so we decided to make a quick trip back to visit them. We also caught up with Karen in Sydney, (the wife of Chris who is the elder brother to Phil and Graham and Emma's old school friend) and Deacon, their new little baby boy. Chris is in the army and was posted to Alice Springs so we missed him but had a good time and lots of cuddles with Deacon anyway.
We caught up with so many friends, most planned but even managed to bump into a few unexpected ones. It was good to catch up on everyone's news and also all the odd jobs like car service, medical checks and bank sorted!
One more unexpected catch up was with Terry and Christine, Chris used to work with Terry at Aussie Post and they are now doing the same as us, travelling around this country with their van as their home too. We spoke of them while in Caringbah and decided to ring them only to find they were heading towards Sydney too. This was our chance to meet up as we were leaving Sydney while they were arriving back. We met and spent the night at the Richmond RSL club that provides caravan parking, free for unpowered if members of the club.
Next stop Gunnedah!!
We have just spent a wonderful 3 weeks of grandchildren overload!!!
We've had great fun with Josh and Ellie and hopefully were of some help to Emma and Graham.
Josh and Ellie have changed so much since we saw them at Christmas and kept us on the go all the time. I had forgotten how much energy you need for young kids, who ever said being a full time mum is easy?!! We enjoyed the skate park, wildlife park, swimming, picnics at the river and lots of visits to the park! We even took them to the sale yards where a Bull sale was being held. The kids were fascinated by it all and watching the cattle being loaded from the pens into the big 2 level cattle trucks.
Now we are heading up to Banora Point and our other favourite little person. I suspect we will see even more changes in Olivia as she was only 6 weeks old when we saw her last. We do Skype while we are on the road but it's not the same and as with Josh and Ellie, I can't wait for lots of kisses and cuddles.