Christmas 2016

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Christmas Greetings from

Peter & Wendy

It’s that time of year again, and as every one is catching up, we thought it would be a good idea to update you all on the year we experienced. It’s been a big year with a lot of travelling. We have travelled some 20,000 kms in our motor home and car. (10,000 km + 10,000 km)

This year we lost a dear family member – our dog Chuckie. Chuckie has been in the family now for 18 years and is sadly missed by all. Although he has caused us some tense moments (especially when he went missing for 3 days) we all loved him very much. Over the past 7½ years, while we have been on the road, he has been resident in Lismore with Mel’s family. Chuckie has had a good life, and we are missing him very much, especially when we visit Lismore. Rest In Peace CHUCKIE

We started the New Year of 2016 on a train trip to Lismore to be with family, and when we returned to Jilliby for a week with Judy Gordon and family, we visited with Wendy’s Mum, other family and friends, before hitting the road again. We also used the time on the Central Coast to do medical, optical, dental, etc. appointments and running maintenance.

On 9th January we headed south again and back to Werribee South Caravan Park (Victoria), where we did another Relief Management job for around 3 weeks. After Werribee South we travelled north to Castlemaine where we spent a night with Chris & Ian Robbins on their “Walk for Life”, walking around Australia.

It was raining very heavily when we left there and travelled to Junee Tourist Park (NSW). As we had been recommended as relief managers by some friends (Rosemary & Richard) at Werribee South, we called into Junee to prospect for work. We negotiated a position but we had about 5 days before starting work. That allowed us to go exploring another part of NSW. Our “mini road trip” took us to some more beautiful places like Cootamundra, Young, Grenfell, West Wyalong and Temora.

Junee is a lovely town and we worked there managing the Caravan Park for 13 weeks (minus a couple of weeks in March/April when we returned to Werribee South for another gig). Junee has lot of history centred on the railway, a Haunted House, a gaol, and Wendy’s highlight is the chocolate & Liquorice Factory. We enjoyed our time at Junee, and we had visits from Peter’s two sisters, Judy & Dierdre and their husbands, our son Tim, friends Peter & Mary & Jet (the dog), Ian & Chris Robbins & Crystal (the dog), and our new friends Chuck & Kay. Many good evenings were had.

In May we left Junee and headed back to the Central Coast, spending a couple of lovely nights at the Mutton Falls B&B with our good friends and awesome hosts Lyn, John & Dierdre (the dog). It was freezing cold there (near Oberon) but with the open fire and lighting of the fuel stove in the kitchen, we kept very warm, well lubricated and fed. It was also while we were there that the chooks laid their first egg.

Then it was back to the Central Coast for around 3 weeks for a Close Family Reunion and the launch of brother-in-law Ron’s latest book. That was a busy time for everyone as Peter was the Master of Ceremonies for the day. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed meeting so many new relatives on the Close side of the family. Ron’s book is an amazing achievement after all these years.

While in Jilliby we also took the opportunity of catching up with medical appointments and some vital repairs and maintenance done on our motor home and car, before heading south again on 4th June.

We decided to head off down the South Coast to St Georges Basin to see Peter’s Uncle John & Rhondda and cousin Rhonda. We departed Jilliby in heavy rain and the rain and wind just got worse as we headed south. It was the first of about three East Coast Low Pressure Systems that hit the coast over the next couple of months. We don’t recall having travelled in such wild weather and at times we thought the motorhome would just blow away...with us in it. Our plan was to stay one night at St Georges Basin, but the rain persisted and the next morning there were floods everywhere and all the jetties in the canal were under water. Our stay was very enjoyable and Peter helped with some important repairs and maintenance on the home while waiting for a break in the weather. It was a lovely stop over – despite the weather.

We left the South Coast on 6th June and worked our way through flooded creeks, rivers, bridges and roads to Wagga Wagga in one day, where we met up with Tim, who was doing a course at Wagga Wagga RAAF Base. We enjoyed a lovely dinner with Tim, before dropping him back to the Base, and then we parked up in North Wagga Wagga for the night.

On 8th June we were back at Werribee South caravan Park, for what turned out to be our last gig there after 2 years (more on that later). We were only there working for a week this time, but it had many challenges including boom gates and computer failures, terribly cold, wet & windy weather, and Peter accidentally squirted cleaning chemical into his eye. We managed the technical issues quite easily and the eye specialists gave a very lucky Peter a clean bill of health before we left.

Our next stop was for a week with our lovely friends Lockie & Tracy at Mockinya (between Wonwonda and Brimpaen). We love staying there as we have so much fun and excitement. We had a wood-fired Pizza night, picnic in the paddock, we repaired the machinery shed and the bedroom door, took a huge load to the tip, went to the movies, enjoyed some amazing wines, cheese and meals, and we had some really cold and wet weather. The weather was so cold that we decided to drive to Mount William (near Halls Gap in the Grampians) to see the snow. It was quite a heavy fall, and the wind and snow was bitterly cold as we walked the 3 km up the mountain. The scenery was spectacular.

We truly have loved our visits with Lockie & Tracy, but they are moving to Tasmania next year. So…guess what new destination will be on our agenda soon?

We didn’t have any assignments booked at Werribee South for the next 7 months so we decided to travel where we haven’t been yet…and there are plenty of places. This time we decided to head up the Centre of Australia to Alice Springs, to escape the colder weather to get more work and to meet up with our friends Christine and Michael. Of course we had to travel through Adelaide so we spent a week at Gawler and spent a great time with Tim, Georgina, Matilda, Gabrielle, Jared, Esther and Bethany. We spent time at the park with the kids and they stayed in our little home with us and we went on bike rides. It was nice, and we didn’t know when we’d be back that way.

We departed Gawler on 5th July, the day after Wendy’s 62nd Birthday, and headed for The Centre. We travelled at a fairly slow pace taking 5 days to get to Alice Springs, but we also spent 2 nights at Coober Pedy. (That’s an interesting town to visit, but we don’t want to live there.) Except for 2 nights in a caravan park, we free camped in rest areas and met some nice people. It’s a very relaxed way to go.

We arrived in Alice Springs on July 10th and we stayed at Blatherskite Park (the local Showground and event centre) with Michael & Christine. The next few days were spent getting orientated and changing driving licences to get the ‘H’ Endorsement to drive buses. We achieved that in 2 weeks (the prediction was 6 weeks), in between some sight seeing adventures. The next day we both got jobs driving coaches with Alice Wanderer Tours. Wendy was doing airport shuttles while Peter was mainly doing Guided Four Wheel Drive Day Tours to Palm Valley, plus some airport shuttles.

It was so nice to get away from cloud, wind, cold and rain, as we had experienced some 4 months with all of those events down south and east. While Alice was still cold at night (frozen water hoses some mornings) the days were generally beautiful.

Over the next 4 months we worked long and erratic hours, got to know the area and local culture very well, had some lovely times with Michael & Christine (who were also working) and we had time off to sight see (The East MacDonnell Ranges and West MacDonnell Ranges) and did heaps of geocaching (www.cgeo.com) The work was interesting and Peter loved conducting his Palm Valley tours. It is a unique part of Australia and a must-do tour for everybody. He was also honoured to have our friends Jenny and Fred Vile from the Central Coast visit Alice Springs and join Peter for his last Palm Valley Guided Tour.

While the climate and weather in Alice were perfect most days, we did see the Todd River flowing twice during our visit, (They say if you experience it in flood 3 times you are considered a local). Alice Springs is a lot of fun, with some cultural, sporting, community or other event happening every week.

Well, our plan was to head north to Darwin, but the weather became too hot, wet and humid up north so, as we’d had enough of Alice Wanderer Tours, and the weather was also hotting up in Alice, and Michael & Christine were about to head south again, we too decided to part company for now with our friends and Alice and head south to Yulara.

We left Alice Springs on October 2nd and drove to Erldunda Roadhouse, where we stayed for 2 nights. The reason we stayed was that our friend was taking a day tour from Alice Springs to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and offered for us to join the tour. We did and had a wonderful day with everything from breakfast to a sunset BBQ at Uluru. Our thanks and gratitude goes to Dave and Miguel.

The day after the tour we drove on to Kings Canyon where we spent 2 nights, so we could enjoy the 4-hour Canyon Rim Walk and a special dinner for our 42nd Wedding Anniversary. Kings Canyon is also amazing, and another must see. The Canyon Walk was so special with the incredible rock formations and special places - like the Garden of Eden.

The next day it was off to Yulara. On the way we met some new friends, Paul & Deb0rah while we were geocaching on top of a sand dune at the roadside. We also found that our first night at Yulara Camp Ground we were right next to some people we had met in Alice Springs (Paul & Margie). We have met some lovely people on the road.

We had some car battery trouble when we arrived, but that was ‘almost fixed’ the next day. Peter made a quick phone call that night to a contact at AAT Kings Coaches and the very next morning we had coach-driving jobs…we mean ‘real coaches’ this time. AAT Kings has the contract for all Voyagers Resort Tours (Voyagers Resort is the whole of Yulara) plus airport transfers to and from the resort and a resort shuttle service (i.e. special bus to transport people around the resort so private cars are kept to a minimum). As new staff members at the resort we were given a Resident Card (gave us discounts on food, fuel, etc.) and we had cheap staff accommodation on a special powered site. The big saving at Yulara was that all the money we earned (which was pretty good) couldn’t be spent…because there is nowhere to spend it. (We made up for that when we returned to civilization.) Our site in the staff camp ground was right at the bottom of a sand dune which doubles as a lookout for beautiful Uluru sunsets, so when we had a chance we enjoyed the view from there.

We really enjoyed our work. Wendy finally got experience at driving large coaches (49 seats on an MR licence) and Peter was able to upgrade his licence to HR, driving the largest coaches (up to 65 seats). We had so much variety in the work and rosters, and while we were working 6 days a week, we managed to cope with the hours (anything from 3:00am to midnight). We did Resort Village shuttles, airport transfers, Sunrise and Sunset Tours, Sunrise coffee set-up, Foreign Language Tours and transfers, Dinners under the stars in the desert and Field of Lights.

Our work only went for 6 weeks, as we didn’t want to be working through the heat of summer, although the temperature on some days reached 44°C while we were there, but the nights were quite cool - as it happens in the desert.

We had some amazing opportunities to see Uluru and Kata Tjuta at their best, and they are different in different lights every day. Wendy’s highlight was on her last shift, watching sunrise on her way back to the depot. (Yes, a 3:00 am start that day!). The sky was quite dark with clouds that morning and the sun just lit up Kata Tjuta like she’d not seen before.

The wonderful part of the Red Centre was that it was so green (after substantial rain in April through August) and the wild-flowers were amazing. It was quite a sight and some of the wild-flowers have not actually flowered for 10 to 12 years.

Finally, our 6 weeks was up and it was time to move on. But, the day after we finished work we took advantage of going on a guided tour of Kata Tjuta sunrise and the Valley of the Winds walk. It was beautiful. Kata Tjuta is absolutely beautiful and so under-rated.

Before we left the car battery played up again, so we managed it to tow it Gawler where we spent $250.00 having the fault found, only to discover later that Peter caused the problem by being a bit lazy. At least now we have an additional isolation switch to ensure it doesn’t happen again…we hope. We’ve had many learning experience like that.

Leaving Yulara after such a short time was an interesting experience as we had made some friends and many were shocked and disappointed that we were leaving. We did enjoy our time and we plan to go back next Autumn/Winter/Spring for around 6 months. Hopefully, the AAT Kings the experience will also give us access to other coach driving jobs in between.

So, on November 21st we departed Yulara in 40°C+ temperatures and headed south to Adelaide. We did initially plan to head for Western Australia, however when we decided to return to Yulara it made no sense to travel so far, and back again, without having the time to enjoy the experience. So South Australia for a while sounds good. And we have family in Adelaide to spend Christmas with.

We drove along the Lasseter Highway to Erldunda and then south along the Sturt Highway for the next 5 days to Adelaide. Actually we decided to geocache along the way and achieve our goal of 1000 caches before Port Augusta. We did it, and it was a lot of fun. We ended up spending 2 nights at Coober Pedy again, mainly because we thought the fridge was playing up again, but once the weather cooled down, it was all good.

We spent a few days at Gawler, and then some days in Burton at Tim’s to help celebrate Peter’s 63rd Birthday with the family before flying off to Coolangatta where we spent a lovely week with Melanie and the family and another week with Shannon and Jerry in Brisbane. We met Jerry’s parents, Ray & Beth, and brother, Arnie in Caloundra. Also while in Brisbane we had a lovely catch-up dinner with our newest friends, Paul & Deborah.

When we returned to Adelaide we moved back to Gawler after a few days to get organised for Christmas. We had the pleasure of seeing granddaughter, Matilda and Tim doing a violin/viola recital, and other pre-Christmas activities. Of course, while in Lismore we participated in pre-school/school pre-Christmas and year-end activities. All of these contacts and events made us very proud grandparents.

Well, Christmas is only a few days away and its time for us to relax a bit, after a very busy year of work and travel. Of course we will be enjoying the Christmas spirit with Tim and family in Adelaide. After Christmas we hope to be working somewhere…who knows what will happen? That’s the joy of letting the Universe decide for us!

During 2016, we have both been extremely grateful for the ongoing personal contact and other technological contacts with our family and friends. We are blessed to have such wonderful family, extended family and beautiful friends. You all mean so much to us, and we know that you are always close by, regardless of where we might find ourselves in this wonderful country of ours. It is also a blessing that we have been able to spend some time with all 3 children and their families just before Christmas.

We have enjoyed a wonderful year and we trust that your year has been equally fun and rewarding, and that your year ahead brings you everything that you wish for.

We send you all our Love and Best Wishes for Christmas and the 2017 Year ahead.

Love, Peace, Joy and Good Health to you all,

Wendy and Peter

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Photos

Peter had the pleasure of looking after these Major Mitchell Cockatoos and some of their feathered friends.

Comments

[Lee]

Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas- great update... you both look fabulous. Can't believe it's been seven and a half years. All the best for another adventure filled year. Cheers, lee