Rest Stop

We came across this little old school in a reserve with picnic tables, barbecues and toiet facilities. The Lynch Creek school is no longer in use but campers are welcome to stop there. A donation box is on the verandah.

 

Pinnacle Lookout

Pinnacle Lookout. Mt Warning in the background. Mt Warning was named by Captain Cook , of course, along with Pt Danger, Cape Tribulation etc etc.

How Green is my Valley

Driving back  from The Border Ranges National Park near Kyogle we came across a herd of lovely Jersey cows on their way to a milking shed. Jerseys are such pretty cows,  I couldn't resist stopping to snap a couple of pics.

We had a chat with farmer who had some interesting tales to tell, one of which was about the huge eels in the creek. Apparently one eel was as thick as a man's thighs and two metres long. It was dining on ducks and taking young goslings. A goose had hatched 28 goslings and as the mother was launching the little ones in the water they were being snatched by the eel. Glad to say, the eel met his waterloo. It was caught on a huge hook on a heavy line. Could be a tall tale but amusing .The farmer had 3 working dogs and was on a quad bike.  One of the dogs kept having his way with a bitch, which was a distraction.

 

The Great Outdoors

Feeling the urge to "go bush" we set out on Saturday to explore the Border Ranges National Park, which is in the Mt Warning Cadera area.  We drove all around the rim checking out camping areas, lookouts and picnic spots. Our ideal camp site must have access to a creek or river. Although we came across some delightful places, not one was by the water.

Ah well, still many more National Parks in the area to suss out, so the search continues.

Kingscliff

Sunday morning was a perfect day to explore the Kingscliff beaches. Kingscliff is a delightful village, with a holiday atmosphere, coffee bars, restaurants etc.

The beaches are spectacular and can cater for everyone. Surf for the adventurous and little coves for the youngsters and those of us who just enjoy dipping toes.

Steve enjoyed his first swim for the season.  By mid afternoon, the weather turned and produced a storm which has resulted in days of very wet cool weather.

Parts of Brisbane have been declared a disaster area as they  felt the full force of the storm.

After years in the tropics, it's kind of hard to get used to the changeable weather again.

Nathan's Fish

No, Nathan (a neighbour) didn't catch the big trevalley here in the Tweed. His brother caught it at Hervey Bay. The ever enterprising Nathan baked the fish in a webber which he picked up from a nature strip during the previously mentioned council clean-up collection.

Several residents enjoyed a share of the cooked fish and I, receiving a large portion, used the remainder to make fish cakes al la Maggie Bear's "The Cook and the Chef" or as A person I know calls it "Mag and Fag"

Being Wednesday, must away to watch the programme.

Daylight Saving

After many years living quite comfortably without daylight savings we now are experiencing it as we reside in NSW. It is a bit of a dilemma living close to the border of NSW and QLD. At times, when in Tweed Heads in Wharf St., if you cross the road it is an hour earlier. One side of the road is NSW and the other Qld. It does cause some confusion as Queenslanders who work`in Tweed stay on their time and vice versa. One really needs two watches.

The nomads are taking a break from the business after the devastating experience of four Shows and few sales.

We will concentrate on advertising which was more successful.

 

Emailing: Corn 002

There appears to be a glut of sweet corn in Chinderah at the moment. Twice today we have been visited by residents of the park bearing bags of lovely fresh sweet corn. Lunch consisted of sweet corn followed by prawn sandwiches. I must say the fresh corn was absolutely delicious.

It is also council junk pick up  time and I fear the residents are also cruising around and returning to the park with boots propped up by various items displayed on nature strips. Must confess I was tempted being a self-confessed garage sale and op-shop queen.

World Animal Day

Today, Oct 5th is World Animal Day, a day we remember pets past and present.

I was disturbed to read an article in "The Tweed Shire Echo" September 25, "A giant planet hoves into view" by Mungo MacCallum.

I quote from this article "It used to be said that the Great Wall of China was the only human artefact large enough to be seen from the the moon.

Satellite observations have cast doubt on this idea, but in any case, the great wall has been superseded by a new contender: Malcolm Turnbull's ego"

 

A paragraph further in this article is and, again I quote: "Then there is the story of the cat, noted by the disgraced Canadian publisher Conrad Black in his memoirs and resurrected by Alan Ramsey in the Sydney Morning Herald last weekend: it is said that when Turnbull was ditched by a girlfriend in his student days, he took revenge by strangling her cat and leaving it on her doorstep. This may well be libel, although Turnbull has never taken action over its  publication. But the mere fact that many of his colleagues find it utterly convincing goes some way to explaining why they still have their doubts about entrusting him with their future"

A Night Out

The nomads didn't roost early as usual on Saturday night. Annie noticed that a favourite singer, Graeme Connors, was appearing in concert at the Twin Towns Service Club, Tweed Heads.

The show was very enjoyable, a mix of old and new songs. Annie particularly loved "the road less travelled" and "further north". The backing musicians were great. All in all a fun night out and a break from our business planning.

Some may ask "who is Graeme Connors?" Check out www.graemeconnors.com

 

 

 

Our River Trip

Tripping down the river is all in a days fun us. Annie hadn't been in the boat, so set off down stream to Tweed Heads. We made good time going down with the river running out, and pulled the boat up on the beach in front of the Twin Towns Services Club which  fronts the lovely little bay you see in the pictures.

As we made our way down the river we found the water changing from muddy brown to clear blue and green.

I knocked a few oysters off the nearest sewer pipe I could find, with a hammer and screwdriver I had in the boat, while Annie stood around telling me not to cut myself - which I did anyway.

In heading out of the bay, and back up the river, we found the tide running out at a good rate of knots. We should have pulled back in the bay at that stage, till the tide eased I reckon, but decided to press on up river and home.

The little Mercury struggled hard to push us up river, against wind and tide.

About a kilometre from home, with both of us a little cold and jaded, and becoming short tempered, we came up to some people on the bank waving frantically to us. Thinking I had hooked up their fishing lines, I turned the motor off to ask what the problem was, to be told the river was closed for a speed boat ski race. Well, saying something like that to me is like waving a red rag at a bull, so I told them what I thought of speed boat racers - what I thought of people who watch speed boat races - and ''what did they want me to do carry the fuckin' boat home''.

Poor Annie sat there aghast at my outburst but didn't comment, except to say ( of the many people lining the river bank ) '' I thought they'd turned out to watch us'' - very witty!

Anyhow had a good day, but discovered the little motor not  really adequate to push  two people along at any speed.

 

DISCRAYSFUL

Enlarge photo and see small print to comprehend the comments.
Annie and I where shoked to see this blatent spelling error staring us in the fase at the Brisbun Show.

Right on the heals of a large artycal in the Gold Coast Bulliton blasting the literacy and numacy skills of todays high skool studants.

Aparently year twelv studants sat for tests (set for fifth class children in the fifties) and the results were less than impresive with not one student being able to compleet the test.

Do u think forieners visiting the show mite sea us as cuntry pumkins?

The Brisbane Show

The produce on display at the Ekka was excellent. We came away with three punnets of the biggest, tastiest strawberries we have ever had.

As usual, the food and drinks were overpriced and of a poor quality.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts were at the show so we sampled them and I have to admit they weren't too bad.

We may have lost Starbucks, but now have Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

On a recent visit to Australia Fair Shopping centre, we noticed a long queue and discovered that people were lining at Krispy Kreme.

A highlight of Agicultural shows is always the animals.

Some fine specimens were on display. The cats were Annie's favourite, especially a little Lynx pointed siamese.

A sign at the Shenzhen Exhibition

I was intrigued by the many silicone baking ware and kitchen utensils on display. How do you overcome the "floppiness" of silicone baking pans?

The "Ekka"

 

 

 

 

Yesterday we on a visit to Brisbane to  see the Ekka (Brisbane Show). We were interested to see the Shezhen exhibit which was our first stop. The exhibitors must have been a bit shocked, no bustling crowds or touts.

We were shocked by the cost of parking for 3 or 4 hours, $27.00. Guess we are used to living in the sticks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Big Avocado

 

Idyllic

Idyllic is an over used word in Real Estate advertising but is appropriate when describing the little hamlet of Tumbulgum on the Tweed River, a few kms from Tweed Heads.

We drove down to visit the "historic Tumbulgum Tavern" and weren't disappointed.  Picture a warm sunny day sitting overlooking the tranquil river enjoying a drink and a nice lunch.

A couple of enterprising locals, (oldtimers) have set up a stand in the pub with a display a fresh vegies, fruit and an honesty box.  One of them was going from table to table selling fresh strawberries which were impossible to resist.

Amazing Border Marker and Kylie's Arse

Erected recently on the Pacific Highway near Coolangatta is this BIG RED THING.

It marks the Queensland - New South Wales border.

Also opened recently was a new section of the expressway - upon which it sits - making travel to the Gold Coast a whole lot easier from Tweed Heads and all points south.

The local papers are saying that it will become an iconic landmark.

It always amuses me the term iconic - that the media throws around so carelessly. 

In fact the truth is that an icon has always had religious meaning attached to it.

Actually an icon ( according to the dictionary )is a religious picture painted on a wood panel.

Accordingly anything well known -  has now become an icon.

So along with Paul Hogan, the Opera House and Kylie's Arse - we now have another one.  

  

Mt Warning

I took this shot of Mt Warning from the banks of the Tweed river at Chinderah, N.S.W.

Mt Warning was named by Capt Cook as a warning to other mariners of Point Danger as he travelled up the east coast of Australia in 1770.

Shortly after sighting this mountain his ship ran aground between an island ( now named Cook Island ) and the mainland at the mouth of the Tweed River.

He named the area Point Danger and it is still known by that name.

Mt Warning is the plug of an ancient valcano, it's lava flow covering an area of 400 sqr klms.

The lava flow weathered away over millions of years, but the plug - being harder - has remained.

The town of Murwillumbah sits near the base of Mt Warning in the Tweed Valley.

The beautiful soil rich Tweed Valley is the result of the weathering lava and sits in what is called a caldera - a sunken fertile valley - that used to once be the lava of the volcano that is Mt Warning.

The Week That Was

The past week has not been worth writing about!

Having both now been struck down by the dreaded influenza (which I won't bore anyone about), there's not been a lot to report. We are taking turns at taking care of each other

I've taken some shots of the interior of the expandavan to display some of our furniture acquisitions. We are quite pleased to have done it on a budget and are almost set-up.

Steve has laid some pavers upon which we will put a shed. No home is complete without a shed for the male of the family.

My Birthday was a nonevent and has been postponed until a date to be set.

It was heartening to hear from the nearest and dearest and receive the good wishes.

The 1st Mate

Capt Salty's Latest.

As you can see me ol' salts, I've just bought a new boat - well an old one in fact. Annie and I flogged off the old one on eBay after I discovered it sailed like a dunny with the door open. Since the photo was taken I've made up some cheap rollers for the trailer - again after making the amazing discovery that to buy anything that includes the words boat or marine necessitates a bank loan.

Oh! - good news. Annie and I sold the caravan - and very lucky to do so - as we only had one looker. Quite lucky really as I misquoted the length as being 14ft ( including draw-bar ) when actually it is 17ft. I'm sure the people wouldn't have come to see it if I wasn't an idiot and had told them the true length. They must have been keen on the van as they've had to renovate their garage to fit it in.

Anyway, back to the boat. I haven't taken it out yet as the weather has been bad. Paul and I had a great day fishing in the previous boat by the way, and I'm looking forward to him visiting again.

Our Latest Friend

Annie and I had come back from shopping at Kingscliff and were unloading the shopping when Annie turned around and said ''Look at this.''

A cheeky little Butcher bird had hopped in behind us as bold as brass without so much as a '' by your leave''

So of course we rushed around for some tid-bits for him or her.

Hope he or she sticks around. No doubt Annie will we will be buying mince at the supermarket for our little guest.

Miracle Plunge?

The Gold coast Bulletin Wed June 25th.
An abseiling window cleaner survived a seven storey plunge from a surfers Paradise high rise.
Apparently Walter Torres was cleaning windows on the Solaire apartments when he fell, hitting a beam on the way down and being pulled up short 10ft from the ground by his harness.
The headlines read ''Man's miracle plunge''.
Was his plunge a miracle or the fact that he survived the fall?
These kind of stupid blunders make me feel very disheartened with local journalism and the local ''rag'' which might prompt you to ask ''why do I read it?''- I wonder myself!

Our Home Cont.....

It's here!

It's amazing!

It's stupendous!_______ and it's OURS!

Yes the mighty Expando-Riffic-Van has arrived and we're inside.

Sorry we haven't blogged for a while but we've been encountering technical difficulties with our emailing-blogging system.

Anyhow we are settling in quite nicely. .

We've been hanging some blinds and stuff - the usual things when you move into a place. Annie ordered a wardrobe and it's been fitted, minus the doors, which should be here tomorrow.

The thing is nice to live in, a sort of cross between a house and a caravan.

Our Home

Who is this man?

Annie's Club

 

Discovering the Tweed

Annie and I had a great day out with Paul. 

In the morning we drove up to Fingal Head, a long spit of land that runs from where we are at Chinderah to the mouth of the Tweed.

Annie is pictured at the mouth on the Tweed Heads / NSW side.  Across the inlet is the Coolangatta / QLD side.

The two lower buildings behind her are the Twin Towns Services Club where Annie plays the pokies. This should  work out well for us as we can boat down the river to the club.  I can drop Annie on the beach in front of the club so she can give the pokies a bashing and I can go fishing.

We then drove back down the coast to Kingscliff where Paul shouted us  lunch at a Thai place he'd found earlier. Pretty good too!

    

Ahoy there!

This is my boat. 

From now on I would like to be addressed as ''Capt Steve''

Asked the young bloke next door ( who owned the boat ) If he wanted to sell it. He said I could have it for $300 so I said I  would ask my wife.  He popped his head in about 30mins later and said I could have it for $150 if it took it straight away so I did'nt bother to ask my wife and took it.  Called in to a boat place to enquire about bits for the trailer and ended up buying a 2nd hand motor, 1/2 price, with one years warranty for $700.  After I buy a bit of the required safety gear, a bit of paint for the trailer etc should have a nice little boat with near new motor for about a grand.

I sort of want to be like Huckleberry Finn and spend time with adventures on the river.  It's such a grand river. The sort where one just has to have a boat.

Will keep you posted.

Over and out

Capt Steve.

Latest from Chinderah

All things come to he who waits -  and we're still waiting.

Our Dial - Hut is still in production so we're going up the coast today to check out what stage it's at.

Annie and I are still bidding on fridges via E Bay but keep getting knocked out at the last minute - I guess we are duds at the bidding thing.

I think we will have to resort to the ways of old and buy one out of the paper. Fridges seem hot property on the Gold coast.

The guy next door has a little fibreglass ( ex sailing ) boat and trailer for sale for $300. A bit old fashioned and heavy, but cheap enough. It will need a motor and some paint on the trailer, but is basically all there and will make a good project.I hope someone will visit us and come boating up the river.

The pictures show the river in flood, though not threatening. It goes right through Murwillumbah which is a good way up from us - and wide too. A very big river. Makes me feel like doing the Huck Finn bit.