Sunday 14th May and also Mother's Day. It is a week since I last wrote and so much has happened that I have to really think backwards to catch up with myself.

Tuesday 7th May spent the day checking out the surrounds of Iluka and all the surrounding beaches and headlands. What a lovely spot although our caravan park was fairly full it was quiet and peaceful overlooking the river. The best spot we found was Woodys Head a great spot for free camping.

Wednesday travelled from Iluka to Mann River. On the highway but beautiful place beside the river, not sure which one at this stage.

Set off on Thursday for Lake Keepit from Mann River, long drive and I was very over it by the arrival time but we did have a lovely lunch at Uralla at an alternative type place with natural foods and healthy menus. So lovely after what we have been having in the many country towns we have visited.

Friday set off for a drive to Gunedah after exploring the lake around Lake Keepit and the the dam area. Great places to bush camp around the lake, so beautiful. Wandered the township of Gunedah after a visit to the famous loos that play poetry as you while away your wee time. Lunch was a bit of a non starter and ended up at a Thai place that was a so so kind of place. Headed back to our lovely camp for a wander around. Perfect spot of quietness and no one near us which is always good.

Saturday 13th May we visited another new cousin, Margaret, at Breeza, her sister Kate is staying with her from Iluka and so we got two cousins at once. Breeza is a town about 43km south of Gunedah and surrounded by cotton fields. Margaret has worked in the cotton industry for 26 years or so and lives in the midst of it all with the house beside the silos, lonely life and her husband has recently passed away so she may not be there much longer as she may move to her home town of Iluka, near family.

So today being Mothers Day we left Lake Keepit and travelled only 120 kms or so to Nundle, a spot Wally last visited when he was around 5 as his uncle Albert was principal of the school and he wanted to check it out once again. The drive was lovely thru Tamworth and up into some mountains, only 450 above sea level but you can feel the chill in the air. Small spot but
looks lovely with some great touristy things to explore. Lunch today was at the local pub where Wally enjoyed the Mothers Day special of duck in orange sauce and roast vegies with
banana crepe with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. I had a chicken parmi…ehhh the choices was not much to my liking.

We spent the next day exploring up behind Nundle to the Sheeba dams, built by the Chinese for the Americans in search of gold of course which were quite lovely and then up further where we were searching for a trout farm. Way up the mountain we finally arrived but as is the way the tour was not happening that day due to lack of staff so we purchased a couple of fresh trout for dinner and some smoked trout pate and smoked fillets with dill and coriander, very nice. After this we headed off into Tamworth to find Ike's replacement as he has decided not to play happy gypsy caravanning anymore and so the time has come. Stopped in main street and found a great place for lunch, The Pig and Tinder Box, only because it was beside the car, fabulous dumplings and arancini balls and chilli pepper octopus, really great. So onto our reason for this excursion, we now have a Sue-May to help us in our adventures, the second I heard the voice she was named as Sue may go, Wally thinks Sue may get us there but it is good to have help in getting lost again.

The nights are cold in Nundle but the weather has been pleasant, some people keen on fossicking for gold but my view is way too cold to play in water even if it is gold. Tuesday was a shopping type day at the Ogden and McClellands and I did want to buy at least 60 percent of the store but we don't really need anything for our kitchen and I did have a male watching over my shoulder and he had the wallet. Oh well they are online if I have the urge again. Lunch in local café, erchhy but then went to Nundle Woollen Mills where we had a tour which was fascinating as this is the last working woollen mill in Australia and the equipment is over 100 years old and still working to full capacity. Wally had to buy some socks of course as our tour person said they were sooooo good, anything I wanted was in the three figure range and not at the cheap end so again I get nothing. Oh, dear the unfairness of it all.

Wednesday 17th we headed off to our next spot of Bathurst on the way home. The drive was very long and we only stopped for lunch. This was just a stopover until heading to Queanbeyan. We did bump into Wally's sister and brother in law in the caravan park unexpectedly. They were heading north and us to the south. Only four vans in the park and we were isolated up the back and only by chance saw them on Thursday morning just before departure. After a chat we headed onto the Oberon road and headed for Goulbourn for
lunch and then onto Queanbeyan for our final two nights. Met up with Laura and she fed us dinner at her new unit, 300 metres from the van park, and we got to meet her two fur babies also.

Friday was a day of chatting as we met Gail and Ross from Perth who were heading home from Canberra. We chatted for four straight hours luckily the café was not busy so we could stay there for as long as we needed. Always so good to catch up with these friends of 32 years even though we live on opposite sides of the country. Next was dinner with my sister Robyn and Peter at Mawson in Canberra. Not often get the chance to talk to my sister for so long at one time, lovely as always. Sue-May got us into Canberra and back again but her pronunciation is deplorable. We were travelling in the dark and rain and she was saying to go towards 'who me' and we kept saying what do you mean, stupid woman and realised it was Hume as in the highway. Her version of Tuggeranong was hilarious, can't even spell what she was saying. Wally has since found that the GPS was set on Australian-English and we should be Australian-Australian and our choice is Karen or Lee but she will always be Sue-May to me. We will wait and see how long till he changes it to a male voice as he can't cope with a woman telling
him where to go.

Next day packed up in the rain but it was fine enough for our trip home. So, good to get back to our comfortable abode and all looks good and doesn't seem to have missed us on our journey to the north.

Some facts of our trip.
Kilometres travelled: 4432
Accommodation costs: $894
Diesal costs: $707
Litres : 534
Average cost of fuel: $1.32 per litre

I have just found that the Travelpod website I have been using is closing down so I can no longer get my books published, I am so cranky this was such a good site and so user friendly and I wanted to do this entire years' blog in one book so not sure how we will fix this issue. No one seems to be checking our travels so it is just us that is put out. Well I will end with our saying in times of stress of Buga Buga Batman!!!!!!!!!

Well, I have since found this site and hopefully will continue my book for the year on here after much fiddling with the computer to find everything for this year. The photos may not be all there but I cannot remember where everything is now. Oh well onto the next one which will be in September travelling to West Aust for approx 2-3 months.

See you round. xxx