A warm interlude

After the cold cold of the Canberra winter and quality time with new G-Kid Charlotte May we headed home – mainly to thaw out.

But within a few weeks we had itchy feet and off we headed – north this time to follow the warmth. And warmth we found – a gorgeous 23 degrees at Patonga Beach.

We stayed in a small caravan park over looking Patonga Beach and although this is nothing new (many caravan parks that are lined along the east coast of Australia) what was quirky about this one is the row of homes across the inlet.

Don and I looked dreamily at the homes thinking how lovely it would be to live there. Semi secluded, power, tank water and no road access. The occupants had to hop in a little boat and cross the inlet – all of 20 metres, anchor the boat, then hop out to either dump rubbish or better yet, hop into their cars which are all parked along the shore to head to work/shop. How idyllic!

the idyllic lifestyle we decided against

Then we started discussing well what if we had run out of milk and need a quick trip to the local store? Mmm – you cant just pop down the road for milk and bread. Then of course it would be weather dependant though with the drought currently sweeping most of Australia, this may not be an issue, but still it would get cold and very hot at times.

the idyllic lifestyle we decided against

The dream abruptly ended as Don and I processed the reality of living in such a spot. Yes doable for a week possible two, but a bit longer?? Nah we have become too used to shopping daily.

Bateau Bay

We mossied up the coast a bit more and came to Bateau Bay. Another gorgeous beach side town. Although both Don and I have seen numerous sunrises and sunsets here and across the world, we still marvel at them.

Pre-dawn saw these colours gently shading the sky and it was different than the blazing colours of sunrise.

pre-dawn

What’s more was the walk across the rocks – with moss so green and fresh and made intricate designs across the beach.

the mossy rocks

the mossy rocks

And then there is the vista – take a closer look – can you spot the bus??

spot the bus

Several RV’s we see in the parks have names(like ours Zingara) and just sometimes I feel a bit cheeky as was the day I looked at one of the big caravans in the park. Their name? Happily Uprooted. I so wanted to scrub out Up.

As we left the caravan park at Swansea I got talking to another fellow traveller. The usual questions exchanged ie where you from, how long you been travelling but the best line was when he said so you’re just wandering up the coast. This struck me and I replied, Well, yes at this point of our lives that’s what we are doing – wandering!

Swansea

A little further up we came to Swansea. Tucked away on a point with water on both sides. By this stage an injury to my left arm and elbow which had been bothering me for over 2 months, had still not eased. I had a niggling pain in my left shoulder too. So, I was determined to find a good massage therapist. I googled Thai massage and met Rosie. Initially we booked, but she rang later to change the date and was most apologetic and promised I look after you! mmm.

Wow was this woman game changer. Once on the table she immediately cracked my back and I heard it settle into place. Next, she “walked” over my legs and at times she had to scrape me off the ceiling. Well, she said you did say firm and I had.

I arrive and she tells me I must pay cash. I didn’t have much on me and was short $30. I didn’t have my cash card was only credit. She simply said, no problem I trust you. So glad she did as I didn’t want to re-schedule.

She found a very stubborn “knot” in my right shoulder and spent ages unknotting it. She did these in several other places. She went overtime but as she promised to “look after me” she didn’t charge me more.

Result? The next morning after 2 physio sessions and 3 acupuncture sessions my arm miraculously was fixed!

Best Thai massage I have had, and I have had quite a few when in Thailand. I came away floating and fixed!

This time we stayed in a caravan park overlooking the water, but it was west rather than east, so we were treated to a spectacular sunset!

Don enjoying the sunset

Dancing

details in case anyone wants to go!

Well we can’t go long without a dance somewhere. As Swansea was only half an hour or so from Newcastle we though we would visit DanceVibe Newcastle run by the friendly Adrian. He was operating from a new venue on Wednesday so in our excitement we entered the address into Google who led us straight to the school. Don and I saw the long length of cars parked outside the school but for the life of us we couldn’t work out how to get in.  The school had huge steel fences and gates all around its perimeter.

We tried a couple of gates but locked solid. We wrestled the heavy bolts on the door, thinking how do we enter? Odd said Don there is an air conditioner on.  Yes, said I, and a gate to a building is opened, but how do you get in?  So, we tried the gates again walking back and forth between the two gates, watching if cars arrived and which entrance they were using – assuming they were going dancing. We ended up concluding that they were picking up their kids from the nearby park where sport training was in progress.

 

A sign on the gate said the entrance was from another road, so we got back in the bus and went around the block of the school bringing us back to the same spot. We just couldn’t work out how to get in. Then as we circled for the second time, I spotted the Macedonian Club and as we went past the door was opened and I caught a quick glimpse of people dancing. That’s it, I said!! As Google had directed us to the school and seeing it was in School Street, we assumed it was the school. We had spent the best part of 20 mins trying to break into the school looking for our dancing fix.

Nevertheless, it was a great night of dancing. We enjoyed it so much we headed to the West Coast Swing class in the odd named suburb of Kahibah, the next night. As we hadn’t booked a place to stay and there were only two caravan parks that we could find in Newcastle with both bad reviews, we decided to free camp. We asked the boys behind the bar at the club where we had been dancing and asked if we could stay in the car park. They looked at us oddly. No-one has ever asked us that before they said. Well the car parked isn’t locked and no security comes around so yeah should be ok.

So we slept in the club carpark and it was very quiet and what’s more the ground was level!

Locals told us that there were hot showers at the Merewether Baths. So, at 5 am Don drove us around and we were treated to the most wonderful pre-dawn sunrise.

pre dawn again

Gaudi lookalike

We were also taken on a tour of Newcastle by the bubbly Nikola (a dance friend of ours) and ending up at a pub for a lunch. Nothing like being shown around a place by a local giving the local perspective and knowledge. Amongst the many new and old buildings one that took my eye was the one that had a balcony which reminded me of Gaudi.

The walk across the Anzac walkway gave us stunning views of the ocean and Newcastle itself, and a walk to the light house highlighted Newcastle harbour and we got to see the big boats coming in and out. We were also treated to dolphins frolicking in the harbour, but we weren’t quick enough to catch a pic.

light house Newcastle Harbour

The incident

We visited the harbour 2 nights in a row as we thought it was quite pretty. The first night as we were leaving, we came to a T-intersection. Don turned right, just as I said to him there is a sign there saying all traffic to the left only Don swore he didn’t see it.

The next night as we were leaving, at the intersection I said to Don you need to turn left. The car in front had just turned right. Don said oh he did it, so it must be ok. Just as he proceeded to turn right a police car with flashing lights pulled over the car who had turned right. I think Don sighed a sigh of relief as the poor driver was pulled over. However as we passed, the policeman had gotten out of the car and was pulling Don over too.

I just kept quiet.

The policeman was lovely and explained there was a sign to which Don answered he hadn’t seen it. Nevertheless he was told a fine will arrive in the mail.

Apparently the fine did arrive, but nothing more was said....

oh and our next edition