Wandering M&M

Flower power ball

2008-08-28T21:07:00.001-07:00

I will try one more time

Love

Marg

Fw: Flower power Ball

2008-08-27T00:36:00.001-07:00

----- Original Message -----

From: Mike & Marg Malaxos

To: Blog MM

Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 4:50 PM

Subject: Flower power Ball

Flower power Ball

2008-08-27T00:20:00.000-07:00

Wandering M & M

2008-08-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

Hi again,

It has been two weeks since I have last updated our whereabouts, and what 2 weeks it has been.

After leaving Lake Monduran we slowly made our way up the east coast towards Rockhampton and then we turned west along the Capricorn Highway and arrived in a little town called Emerald. We stayed in a free camp area outside the Botanical Gardens, they were so beautiful. Next morning we got talking to people who told us of a Gold Fest in Clermont (about 100 kms north) which was festival weekend, where we could also learn to use our gold detector, we have not had it out of the van yet. So we decided to go. Could not get a camp area in town but we were directed to a very nice spot 22 kms away called Lake Therese Dam. There we paid for 3 nights (had to put that in as you will see in a minute). We set up camp and while I was making a cuppa Mike volunteered to get me a bucket of water from the Dam,after about 15 mins he has not returned (coffee's ready) I went looking for him, he usually goes off talking and forgets the time. But this time I found him kneeling in the dam looking for his glasses. He had slipped into the water while filling the bucket. I asked if he was cold and he said no, after about another 10 mins I suggested (rather forcefully) that maybe he should forget the glasses until the next day when the sun would be in a better position to see. He got out and mentioned that there was a bus like ours, when I told him it was our bus he could not remember getting there and parking it also he did not know where he was. I got him back to the bus and gave him a hot shower and drink put him in warm clothes, by this time I was getting really worried as he kept asking the same questions over and over. Anyway to cut a long story short I decided to go back into the town and get help. All the people around us helped me pack up. I got him to the hospital where he was admitted overnight thinking he may have had a mini stroke. However all his neurological signs were good and it was decided he was suffering from hypothermia. The hospital were marvellous and allowed me to bring the bus right outside his room window (as we had the dogs, otherwise they offered me a bed)

Well we did not go back to Clermont so we did not learn about our detector and we lost our three nights camping fees. Oh well I was happier knowing everything was ok.

In Emerald we had to get Mike another pair of glasses, once again the people there were marvellous, they rang Perth and got Mike Prescription and had a pair of glasses ready for him next day

We headed west again and came to the first caravan park where I was going to do some washing and move on next day, but the people there were so friendly and we ended staying 4 nights. What a great time we had. On the Sunday night they had what they called a "ball" (only for the park residents) every one had to dress in "flower power" dress. Well the only thing I had was my doona cover, which I undid and used as a sarong with my pyjama top. Following is a photo of us on the night. They had a pig on the spit and all the ladies bought a salad or vegs, what a great night we all had.

We left the Anakie Caravan Park on Tuesday Morning reluctantly.

We are now in Longreach, (Wednesday 27th August) arrived this afternoon camping by the river. We had a look at the Stockman's Hall of Fame Museum and decided to go back again to morrow, and also we want to see the Qantas Museum evidently this is where Qantas started from. Tell you more about it next time.

today has been our first hot day it was 30 dec I believe and tomorrow is going to be 31

Well that is all for now

God Bless

Love

Marg & Mike

Our Trip

2008-08-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday 14 August 2008

Hi again from the Happy Wanderers,

Not a lot to report this time, we left Toowoomba on Wed 6th and headed North West towards Caloundra staying overnight at several free camp spots as per our camping bible (Camp Australia Wide 4) A day or so after leaving Toowoomba we started getting trouble with one of our batteries and every time we got it checked out we were told there was nothing wrong with it, but it would not last the night out. Finally in Bundaberg we found someone that agreed that there was something wrong and the sent us to Battery World, they had come across the problem before and their tests were conclusive, so RAC had no option but to honour their 2 year warrantee. ( Our battery was only 1 y/o. We stayed 2 nights in a caravan part in a small community called Moore Park 18 kms from Bundaberg, we had a lovely spot over looking the ocean.

the weather this past week has been lovely and sunny but there has been a very cold wind ok out of the wind.

Today we have booked into a very nice caravan park at Lake Monduran about 50 kms from Bundaberg going north along the Bruce Highway. We have booked in for 2 nights but maybe we will stay longer.

One of the main things I have found lovely is the amount of wattle trees in flower all along the east coast. Especially northern NSW, not quite so many here.

That's about all the news for now.

God Bless

Love

Marg & Mike

Our Trip

2008-08-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Here I am again. We have now been in Toowoomba since last Thursday 31 st July with our friends Janice and Bruce.

After we left Wollongong we travelled along the Pacific Highway North. The next 2 days rained and rained and so we stayed 2 nights at a little place called Karah alongside a river, it was a very nice little place on the old Pacific Highway. Talking about the Pacific Highway they are upgrading it along the east coast and there were delays everywhere. After leaving there we continued along looking at our Camp 4 book and stopped in at a lovely caravan park called Stoney Park at a place called Telegraph Point. We stayed there 2 nights and from there we went into Port Macquarie which was only 18 kms away.

After leaving telegraph we wound our way up towards Grafton, in Grafton we stayed in the worst caravan park we have encountered so far. It should have been nice but it has been left to just disintegrate, with disused caravans falling to bits every where. From Grafton upto Lismore where we took the Bruxner Highway. In Casino we spent 2 nights at the CMCA Motorhome Village where it was like being at a big rally, we met lots of Motorhomers. From Casino we went to Tenterfield and then onto the New England Highway arriving in Toowoomba on Thursday 31st July.

July 31 was Stephen's birthday and we rang him, only to find that Bev had been taken to Goulburn hospital the Tuesday before. When we spoke to them they (the Drs) were not sure what had happened whether it was a malfunctioning pace maker or what. We spoke to them again Friday but still no news but Bev had been discharged from hospital. She has to go back to the Drs Monday (today) and I will ring her this evening.

Mike and Bruce have been having great fun in Bruce's shed. Yesterday we went to a caravan & camping show at the Toowoomba show grounds. Didnot see anything we would like to have bought.

We intend leaving here Wednesday 6th

Oh nearly forgot to tell you it is Harry's birthday tomorrow. Last Friday we got Harry shorn, he does look funny and on Friday night it got down to 1 dec so I had to wrap him up for the night. Lucky we were here as we were able to keep the air con on.

Don't really know where we will go from here, not sure if we will go up to Rockhampton and then go across to Mt Isa or go upto Townsville and go across. Anyway I will tell you all next time.

Till then God Bless

Lots of love

Marg & Mike

Our Trip

2008-07-23T23:12:00.001-07:00

Saturday 19th July (Kevin's birthday - Happy Birthday Kev) (first draft)

Hi again everyone,

Life on the Farm at down town Marulan is pretty low key they have 14 sheep,1 old horse, 2 Shetland ponies, 4 cows, 1 calf and 4 very old hens, all how are being hand feed each day, together with 2 dogs (of the owners) 1 dog (Bev & Steve's) and of course our two. Harry is still not liked very much by other dogs. Also I have never seen so many kangaroos, there was literally 100's The farm house was something to be seen, it was a large shed divided into a main room, a bedroom and bathroom, a lean-to on the back was another sleepout, a saddle room and what pasted as a kitchen. In the main room was very old comfortable furniture, a pot belly stove and the biggest 4 poster bed we have ever seen made with 4 big tree posts.

We stayed with Bev & Steve for 10 days. For the first 2-3 days Marg had a touch of gastro so did not venture too far from the "homestead".

Marg & Bev decided to have a day out without the boys and went to Berrima. Berrima is a little village lovely which reminded me of Margaret River 30 years ago and very much into tourism. WE did not buy very much but had a lovely lunch and wandered around. While we were there we went into Goulbourn ( where we saw the Archibald exhibition - We did not agree with the judges winner, neither did Steve but Bev did. Steve took us for a look around the district and then loaned us his car to go out in. Bev was not too well and so did not venture out too much.

We left Bev & Steve on Tuesday 16 July and went to Mittagong where Mike had all the tyres checked on the bus . (We got another puncture when we were in Gundagai, just as well we did as the wheel linings were "had it" and were rubbing on the tubes so we would have had more trouble)

after leaving Mittagong we headed towards Moss Vale and then onto Wollongong, stopping overnight in a caravan park in Kangaroo Valley, the trip there was spectacular and Kangaroo Valley was gorgeous, so much so we decided to spend another night. The little village was delightful, with lovely little cafes, galleries and specialty shops. In one of the galleries we bought Chris birthday present - a bike chain worm. After leaving Kangaroo Valley we headed towards Berrie and we have never been on such a steep road in all our life, it was a bit scary - it made Greenmount look like a dead flat road, but the views and scenery were out of this world.

We arrived in Wollongong on Friday 18th July and stayed with our friend Wendy for 5 nights. Wendy is looking very well and everything has now been settled with Joe's estate.

We said goodbye to Wendy and Jessica and Chris (Wendy's son) on Tuesday 22nd, we delayed our departure a day as there was mass exodus from Sydney due to the Pope's visit. However we skirted around Sydney (heading north) via Singleton where we spent the night.

We are now on our way towards Toowoomba to see our friends Bruce and Janice who have just come back from a trip to Canada and we have been told they have 4000 photos to show us.

I wont have that many photos as I keep forgetting to take some or either leave the camera behind in the bus.

Anyway till next time

Lots of love

God bless

Marg & Mike

Our Trip

2008-07-05T17:07:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

It is ages since I added to the page, mainly because our silly computer was (is) playing up. While in Victor Harbour we had a major crash and it looked like it was going to be fatal, but with the help of Jan we were able to find a man who was able to bring it back to life (for how long who knows). His hard disc was completely wiped and I lost all my photos. The ones on the blog page are the only ones left. Doesn't Blake look gorgeous getting his hair cut

We ended up staying in Victor Harbour longer than anticipated, I ended up with a chest infection and had to go onto antibiotics. Then Gill got the wog and we did not want to leave her sick (my excuse). We had a lovely time in Victor. While in Victor we caught up with a second cousin of Mike & Mea's Jan Hanger. Mea found her while she was doing the family tree. Mike had a great afternoon with her going over old family photos. Jan's maiden name was Buzza. Her father and Mike's Mother were first cousins. Jan is a volunteer of the whale watching museum and would you believe the whales arrived in the harbour 2 days after we left We ended up staying 3 weeks with Gill and it was such fun. While we were there Gill was helping a neighbour Taffy who had just come home from a hip replacement, he is a bachelor and he was sent home with no support. However together with the ladies from his church he got the best of treatment, the Sunday before I left Victor I took him to church where he was so warmly welcomed. We left Victor on Tuesday 24th June and headed to Melbourne.

We found a couple of really nice camping sites enroute and arrived at Mike & Maria's home in Montmorency ( North of Melbourne) on Thursday 26th June. Mike took us on a drive to DockLands which is quite impressive. Also he took us down to the Mornington Peninsular which was very picturesque and we had a lovely lunch at the Sorrento Hotel. While we were in Melbourne we caught up with Cam and Joo Lee they are looking so well, though poor Cam is working 12 hr days 6 days per week and is on call 24/7, we had a lovely lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant just around the corner from their home. We said goodbye to Mike & Maria on Wednesday 2nd July which was very hard.

After we left Montmorency we travelled a staggering 45 kms to Wandong to visit a very old nursing friend of mine Edna Johnson, Edna is not very well with Auto Immune disorder syndrome and it has left her with Type 1 diabetes. We stayed 1 night at Edna's and it was lovely to catch up on old times.

Today is Sunday 6th July and we arrived at Bev & Steve's in Marulan (Just 24 kms North of Goulburn) yesterday. They are house sitting a 100 acres we haven't had time to see it yet will describe it later. Bev is still not very well after she had a pace maker inserted a few months ago, she gets very tired but that is to be expected.

Harry & Reg are enjoying their holiday living the good life.

So until next time, a little sooner than the last gap.

Love & God bless

Marg & Mike

Our trip

2008-06-04T02:32:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 4th June 2008

Hi everyone we are back on line, Mike has been having a bit of trouble with the computer and I have-not been able to get to it.

After leaving Arno Bay we travelled to Iron Knob. what an interesting place that was. We arrived there mid afternoon Friday 23rd May and had look thro the museum, very interesting, the childhood home of BHP. There are reputed to be 330 people in Iron Knob but we only saw 3 local, though we did met 3 lovely travellers. We stayed the night in the local park, where Emus roamed the streets and chased the dogs.

Next day it was off to Adelaide and Kev & Gwen's (not to forget the main attraction Blake). We arrived about midday, thank goodness for the GPS (Mike has christened it the "Bitch" as it keeps tell us it needs to recalculate when we do not follow instructions to the letter. At one stage coming across the Nullarbor if we had followed its instructions we would have gone over a cliff into the Southern ocean. But it did lead us to Kev's very accurately. Kev & Gwen's house is lovely, it is on the side of a hill and we had no where to park the bus, so it was left on the verge at a sideways 45dec angle. Blake is an absolute darling, and so grown up, he never stops chattering. We had a wonderful week in Adelaide, met up with Gwen's Mother and Sisters and families. Did not do too much as we were only there to see the family. Unfortunately we did not get to see Dot Fenbow (Marg's late cousin's wife, unfortunately Ed passed away on 24th April before we were able to see him, but we will be going back up thro Adelaide again on the way North and so maybe I will be able to catch up with her then, Dot has been staying with her sister.

We left Golden Grove on Monday 2nd June and travelled down to Victor Harbour to see our very dear friend Gill, who we had know when she lived in Helena Valley. We arrived at Gill's and found she had another visitor from WA, and would you believe she lives across the road from Liz & Len in Mandurah. we got a wonderful welcome from Gill, its nearly 9 years since we have seen her (last time was when we came to SA for Kev's wedding).

Yesterday we stayed around the house and chin wagged and then today Gill has taken us around and shown us the sights of Victor Harbour.

So until next time

Love and God Bless

Marg & Mike

Our trip

2008-05-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday 22nd May 2008

We have now been on the road 2 weeks and loving it.

After arriving at John & Cherie's we discovered we had a flat tyre, thankfully it happened there and not on the Nullarbor, John helped Mike get it off then took him into Coffin Bay to get it repaired. We were told it was a piece of rust from the rim which had worn a hole. The weather turned nasty and for 36hrs hail and storms so we were glad we were there, the next few days it rained off and on and were able to see the area and go fishing, we had oyster by the dozen in all sots of way. John & Cherie live in a shack right on the beach front and the ocean wild life was amazing. We had a lovely 5 days in Wangary, it is an amazing part of the Eyre Peninsular right on the southern tip, the view is spectacular, even we were able to catch fish. The area seemed to be back in the 70/80 very unspoiled. Cherie's daughter has just bought 5 acres near her parents and before we left Mike went over it trying to divine water, he thought he found a couple of likely spots, so we will see in the future if any of it comes to fruition. After leaving Wangary we went into Coffin Bay and Mike got all our tyre rims checked to make sure they were OK. We then went on to Port Lincoln and stayed in a lovely caravan park 10kms north had a look around the area, did some shopping and fuelled up $1.78.9c/lt. Last night we stayed in Arno Bay (about 80kms north of Port Lincoln- we don't travel too far at a time) We have decided to stay here another night in Arno Bay the weather has fined up and there are some lovely board walks over mangrove swamps.

Till next time

Love and God Bless

Marg & Mike

Our trip

2008-05-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

We finally left home on Wednesday May 7th around midday with our two dogs Rex & Harry

After fuelling up our first stop was Bakers Hill to purchase pies for lunch. They are still the best pies we have found, but no doubt we will sample a lot more as we continue our trip.

Our first overnight stay was just outside Meriden. The next day we travelled to Kalgoorlie to meet a very old friend of the Scobbie family Stewart & Vera Ritchie, who I have not seen in 45 years, and who heard of the class reunion that Liz is organising and got in touch with her after all of these years. We spent a lovely few hours catching up on old times

Next day we went to Norseman and had a look at the old stomping ground of my youth. That night we camp at the foot of Mt Jimbilana known to me as Trigg Hill.

Sat. 11th May

Our start of the trek across the Nullarbor

Sunday May 12 (Mother's Day) I got a lovely card From Mike (about mid afternoon when we remember it was Sunday) and one from the dogs

Mike even cooked tea that night sausages & mash) with a little help. At night we stayed at 24hr parking bay stops,which were quite nice and usually other people camping and most had drop toilets. We stayed at a very nice overnight stay about 10kms West of Mundrabilla, where we met a lovely couple from Ravenswood (In WA) Len & Jean. Jean is into Patchwork.

Fuel was $1.89.9c/lt but at Eucla it was $2.06.9, fortunately we did not have to fill up there and only put in enough at Mundrabilla to get us to Nundroo where it was $1.66.9c/lt (a big difference)

Wednesday we arrived at Ceduna and stayed at the Shelley Bay Caravan Park, where we again met up with Jean & Len.

Thursday we set off for Wangary (on the Eyre Peninsular) to see Cherie and John (who we met on our previous trip up north at Quobba) and then they came and stayed with us for a couple of weeks while they were in Perth.this is my first attempt to send to the "blog" here's hoping it works.

God Bless

Marg & Mike

Preparation

2008-04-07T01:59:00.000-07:00

Departure date being delayed but preparations are well on the way.