AVAN RALLY - COFFS

The 10th National Avan Gathering was held at Coffs Harbour/Sawtell on Nth Coast of NSW. They do things like games, trivia, make avan models or kites, movies (The Castle), have a market day (see photos of Fay's clever Aussie scenery placemats), have a 10th Anniversary Dinner, have zillions of lucky prizes provided by generous sponsors (no, we didn't get one this year), have a jam session, a hootenanny night, a brekkie put on by the campgrounds, and all that sorta stuff.

Everybody is over sixty - well they look like they're over 60 anyway!

Vans come from NSW, Vic, Qld, WA, ACT, SA and Tassie. About 290 of them. Think there were about 550 people that sat down for the annual dinner at the Coffs Ex-Services Club on Saturday night. That's a world record for the number of Avans assembled at one place - although we were really at 2 places! We chose to stay at Sawtell Beach Caravan Park. If you stayed there you'd know why!

Here you can see folks having brekky amongst the trees, avans in background. They even have an avan member singing a few numbers while they're into their pancakes or whatever. It could only happen at an avan gathering.

Fay did pretty well selling her placemats and bags (below). One lady was hoping Fay lived in Tassie so she could take lessons with her! Sure made Fay smile.

Would you believe the couple that started the Avan club 10 years ago as Pres and Sec are still in those positions! They must both be over ..... well, they're even older than us! Congratulations on a great job Joan and Brendon. Bit like the Queen, how she just keeps on doin' the job. Same with Bren and Joan.

We've owned our avan for about 8 years now and been member of the avan club for maybe 6 or 7. We've travelled about 50,000 km in the avan.... well, towing the avan behind our car. Sure helped us see quite a bit of this great land. Next year... they say the annual gathering will be held in South Australia.

MAJOR SPONSORS INCLUDED:

A'van Campers Pty Ltd, Pakenham Vic,

Amazing A'vans - Seaford Vic,

A'van Adelaide

A'van Guildford WA

A'van NSW - Morisset, Nowra, Penrith

Coffs Coast Holiday Parks,

Hayman Reese

Harbour City Caravan Park, Coffs

Kratzmanns, Qld

Nissan Motor Co.

Unreal, and we didn't snag a thing! Maybe next year.

WARRUMBUNGLES

Early glimpse of Warrumbungles...... crooked mountain?


That's the "breadknife" sticking straight up on the left. Can you see the small tree on the top? A bit to the left. Right at the top.


Can you see that tree again? Just above the horizon. We have reached the mighty "breadknife".

Fay and I had 4 sleeps at the Warrumbungle National Park some 165 km north of Dubbo last week. Thanks Jan and Jim for taking us on a tag-a-long trip. (We both took our avans.)

We did some awesome walks including a 6 hour hike on day 1. It was pretty solid with some quite steep bits chucked in. There were times when some members of our group (there were only the four of us) chose to slide up or down on either all fours or even bottoms! Tricky stuff. Fortunately between Fay and I we had ONE GOOD KNEE. Unfortunately for Fay I was unwilling to share it. Jan's problem was that the length of her legs made it difficult to get up and down some of the roughly made steps.

Goanna, lizard, butterflies, wild goats, emus, roos, wallabies and one koala. Think that was the extent of the wildlife we came across during our stay.

They are doing work up there on some of the trails - putting in extra state-of-the-art steps which ceratinly make life easier. Material had to be dropped in by chopper for the work.

While there we went to the Crooked Mountain Concert (outdoor gig) with James Reyne, Felicity Urquhart, Adam Rennie and a band from Dubbo - Altitude. Turns out a few of the band attended Orana Heights Public School during my stint there. The drummer was only fourteen! Others ages between 15 and 19 I believe. Good kids even if I couldn't understand any of the words to their songs! I still remember the Stevenson kids from OHPS days.

The highlight for us was certainly the Breadknife Grand High Tops Walk (the six hour dude). We camped at Camp Blackman which had power, toilets, showers and water.

Ever been to the Warrumbungles? It was our first outing there. Won't be our last either.

If you check out photos 2 and 3 you might just be able to see a tree (small tree) at the very top of the tallest mountain. See it? Same tree in both photos. Then in photo #4 I've got a shot of it close up. Shows:

• how far we walked
• how good the zoom lens is on the Panasonic camera

We walked up to and along beside the "breadknife". Awesome. Looked like you could push it over; but I didn't try.

FAMILY TIME AT SALAMANDER BAY

Dear Wil, Brendan and Kerry (well they're the only ones I know that read this blog!!!) Kerry's from saddos!

The resort was good fun. LJ enjoyed the pool and Jeremy just.... well, he just enjoys everything (usually). Especially when you've just turned 30!

SALAMANDER BAY – LE MEILLEUR HORIZONS GOLF RESORT

Tuesday – Deb/Bren/Logan and Owen and Gra and Fay arrived at the Le Meilleur Horizons Golf resort at Salamander Bay around 4 pm. The resort is situated about 50 km from Newcastle or 150 km from Sydney. We spent a quiet evening getting used to the place.

Wednesday – We visited Oakvale Farm and Fauna Park where we got up close and personal with lambs, kids, calves, emu chicks, ducks, geese, wombats, dingoes, ostriches, pigs, koalas, roos, wallabies, wallaroos, peacocks, chooks of various colours and breeds, cockies and more. The ideal place to take a young bloke who’s just turned 2! Logan Jack (LJ) certainly enjoyed the animals and saw quite a few he’d never seen before. His vocab sure got extended. There was a minor hitch when he got between a bottle of milk and a hungry bunch of lambs and kids! The small animals weren’t too worried that LJ had been felled in their midst. Fortunately grandfather and father came to the rescue and extracted him quickly from the line of fire before he was trampled underfoot and scarred forever. It resembled a mini version of “running of the bulls”! His great grandfather Jack (whom he’s named after) would’ve been more amused than concerned once the danger was over. Jack (my dad) passed away sixteen years ago.
Dinner at nearby Soldiers’ Point Bowling Club was enjoyed by the team. Having play equipment right outside was an added bonus.

Thursday – The team (minus Brendan and three and a half month old Owen) went on a whale and dolphin cruise in the morning. Once again there was good news and bad. We saw a few whales and heaps of dolphins. The dolphins enjoyed racing along at the front of the catamaran (right under our eyes) much to the enjoyment of all including LJ. The bad news – I got terribly seasick and chucked up FOUR times! Fortunately it was all done in the privacy of the onboard loo! (No cameras... sorry.) My recovery was as quick as the decline itself. Next time, remind me to take a tablet would you? It was still a beaut trip. Today Jeremy (our #3) turned 30 (see earlier photo). In his absence we celebrated his “coming of age”!
The barbie by the pool at night was great.

Yep, this was just one of the dolphins.

Friday - A quiet start to the day. Off for a swim at one of the many beaches in the area. Met up with friends Margaret and Walter who just happen to own an Avan, ride a tandem and share our faith! Not a bad trifecta! They showed us a good spot with a lovely shade tree owned by Mary. Thanks Mary. Fay headed off to collect Jeremy (the birthday boy) from Newcastle – about 50 km away.) He lives in Sydney. We had more swimming in the afternoon and then a BBQ at night after Jon and Peta (daughter #2) arrived from Newcastle. Ros and Stuart Manley joined us for the BBQ which was an added bonus. Ros is a 2nd cousin of mine. They retired here from Canberra a couple of years ago. Fay and I headed back to their place to sleep the night as previously arranged. We’d run out of beds at the resort!

Saturday – PJ and Jon headed back to Newcastle in the morning to feed their dogs. The rest of us headed to Little Beach where we met up with Earl and Julie Hughes from Karuah (an hour or so north of us here) for a picnic lunch. I bought a pair of sandals in Nelson Bay enroute. We often buy sandals here as we’ve found Jane’s Shoe Shop seems to have sandals that suit us in style, comfort and price. Lunch was purchased at the small kiosk at the end of the beach. The tucker turned out to be spot on. How privileged we were to catch up with Earl and Julie. Julie was my teachers college girlfriend back in 1962! Wow! More swimming in the afternoon followed by great tacos for tea. Turned out to be really scrumptious meal appreciated by all. Plus the benefit of eating “at home” in our apartment. A couple of bottles of champagne plus a bunch of beers and even a red were enjoyed by the team. Fay and I finished up at Manleys’ once again for a bed. Thanks Stuart and Ros. (I'll bet Kerrie from Saddos wishes she was here!!)

Sunday – Fay and I got to chat with Manleys’ daughter Janet in Denver via Skype before heading back to the apartment. We hadn’t seen her for maybe 15 or 20 years! How long guys?
After deciding against quad biking (would’ve cost us $130 per person for 2.5 hours), PJ, Jon and Jeremy headed for Toboggan Hill for tobogganing and mini golf. LJ and friends went swimming yet again in the resort pool. Think Bill would've given that a go!

Deb, Logan Jack, Jeremy, Peta and Owen Cooper at "home time".

The “clean out the fridge” lunch was successful and nutritious. Then the kids headed off to their homes. And we were left with a morgue-like quietness in our lovely pad. Serenity, isn't that what the guy (Michael Caton) in The Castle used to say?

We headed down town for Fay to buy a top at one of the cool clothing shops and then proceed to Derek and Yvonne Whitmore’s via one of the lookouts. These folk are Servas friends we’ve known for many years. We share a great love for travel with these friends so a number of stories were trotted out during the afternoon. A lovely arvo tea with some friends of theirs - Graham and Doris (also Servas folk).

Then it was to Walter and Margaret Lamond’s for a lovely pizza and salad followed by fruit and slice. Always great to spend time with these folk we originally met at a tandem bike rally maybe ten years ago. Finally home to our apartment for our last sleep in a very quiet pad. Very quiet compared to the action that had taken place over the previous six precious days.
Our family gathering turned out to be a ton of fun. We are really blessed with our family. Thanks Fay for engineering the tucker scene with one hand tied behind your back. You are indeed a living legend… but then Coult told me that over forty years ago didn’t he?

PERTH PLANS

Well... we got here!
Had a great time with the other 221 Avans in Busselton (Busso) from 30 Apr to 6 May. Familiar faces from Vic, Qld & NSW and new faces (to us) from Tassie and WA and even SA. (Photos following.)

In Busso we caught up with Smokes (rode with her Perth to Adelaide back in '03.) Also met up with Pammy in Mandurah and Alex and Lucy in Rockingham. (These places are all south of Perth, capital of Western Australia.) All these folk were on the Bike for Bibles ride from Perth to Adelaide in 2003.

Now we're staying with David and Vicki IN Perth and will head to Wembley (another suburb) to stay with Wendy when the Kingstons get sick of us hanging round.... mightn't be too long eh? Will also catch up with Sue and Tris Chivers who are across from Calgary! An old cricketing mate.

Gotta do's:

1. visit Rottnest Island
2. York
3. New Norcia
4. Kings Park for BBQ lunch with Cyn and Kommer on Wed
5. maybe slip back to see Lucy and Alex again.

Once we depart from Perth we'll head to Geraldton and Kalbarri before setting our sights on Adelaide (look out Di Di!). Maybe a week or so there and then off to Dubbo.

Any questions?

Will try and get some photos here shortly.....

TRIP TO WA - Cobar & B Hill

16 Apr
Don't know how but we got away! (Turbo diesel Pajero towing the Avan - Matilda.)
Trip to Cobar was uneventful. Saw an emu (Fay is the greatest spotter of emus) and heaps a dead roos. Got away at noon (goal was 11 am!) Arrived Cobar (town of 4WDs and young blokes who work at the mines) at 4 pm. Booked into the Cobar Caravan Park for $23 (cash price!) We'd travelled 298 km.

17 Apr
Headed off at 9:30 am for Broken Hill. Fay had giant sleep overnight and felt much better. (Yesterday she was aching all over - arthritis.) She had a short drive yesterday and again today. She's a different girl now with a good kip under her belt.
15 degrees when I got up this morning and 19 when we left town. Most of the day was about 22 - 24. Very pleasant.
Today heaps of goats. Heaps! Vegetation quite different - a lot of scrubby shrubs with some sections of small trees. Occasionally some bigger trees. Always the RED EARTH! Heaps of road trains and quite a few dead roos. Saw a wedge-tailed eagle and one bunch of 14 emus close to the road. Average speed today (towing the Avan) 85 - 89 kph. We'd travelled 448 km.

18 Apr
Rest day in Broken Hill. We cycled on the Banana Split (tandem) to Silverton and back - total 54 km. Pity it was against the wind on the way back. Also filled the Pajero with diesel 65 L @ $1.599 which is cheaper than in Dubbo. How's that? Saw a dozen or so wild horses on the ride. Enjoyed a cuppa and a muffin from The Broken Earth Cafe and Restaurant perched high above the town on the SE edge. Looking into the sun wasn't the best for photos... we'll see how they turn out.
Tomorrow off into South Australia. Port Augusta a is about 450 km from B Hill. We have enjoyed Broken Hill. The mines here have produced a staggering one-third of the world's silver! Unreal eh?
Hopefully I'll get some photos to add to the blog next week.

BIKE FRIDAY - COWRA

Fay and I with Banana Split

Graham Brown with our Tikit

Lynette Chang repairs a puncture

Our Avan setup

118 cycling enthusiasts joined together for a great weekend in Cowra. Their common bond – Bike Fridays!
Bike Friday cycles are built by Green Gear Cycling in Eugene Oregon in the United States. Each year the Australian Club has a gathering to which about 100 – 130 attend. There are all sorts of models – Crusoes, New World Tourists, Two’sDays, Qs, Traveller XLs, Tikits, Gnus, Llamas, Air Fridays, Twin Airs and Pocket Rockets. We rode our tandem Two’sDay (which is named Banana Split Sundae!) but we also took Fay’s new Tikit. It was lucky we did because our mate Graham Brown (vintage cyclist from Rutherglen in Victoria) found his rear hub was stuffed and so was very appreciative of Fay’s loan of her blue Tikit.
Fay and I along with Bronwyn and Walter and Margaret had organised the weekend and planned the routes. We rode 54 on Thursday, 47 on Friday, 82 on Saturday and 27 on Sunday. I didn’t wan the weekend to end and was riding quite slowly on the Sunday. Fay had had enough and wanted to get to lunch destination NOW! (It is important for the captain – person on the front of a tandem – and the stoker – person on the back of a tandem – to communicate and even AGREE!)
The cyclists came from just about every state in Australia. Next year’s ride will be at the end of March at Halls Gap in Victoria. I think we’ll book early!
Peter “Kooka” Berra came out from Eugene to ride with us, to answer questions, to sort out people’s individual concerns and share his knowledge. He’s a good bloke, and if we could only do something about the way he speaks, he could well be considered one of us.
Margaret Day is our “leader” and keeps us on track. What a task!
We raised money this year for the Amy Gillett Foundation.
Next year – Halls Gap!

IT'S FRIDAY, SUNDAY'S COMIN'

Above - a whole bunch of Fridays!!

Well, things are a bit quiet at present. Peta and Jon’s wedding is over, they’ve had their honeymoon and we have a few things ahead:

• Thur 27 Mar - Bike Friday gathering in Cowra
  Wed 2 Apr – Visit to my dentist (Phil) in Tumut
  Sat 5 Apr – Liz’ wedding in Cooma
  Sat 12 Apr – Stuart & Bec’s wedding in Wollongong
  Sat 19 Apr – Bill departs for Canada

After these events we will head to Busselton, Western Australia for the annual Avan rally. We’ll probably depart about 21 April…. Just depends on Reidy.

I’ve been getting right into the cycling this week… 60+ on Mon and Tue and then 103 on Wed. (That’s km of course.)

Tomorrow (Good Friday) is a special day for me. It’s the day we remember the death of Jesus. He died an horrific death on the cross a couple of thousand years ago. Thanks goodness … I mean… thank God he rose again!!!

Here are the words to a couple of songs we sang today (yes, I'm adding this on Good Friday!)

It's Friday.... but Sunday's comin'!!!

ABOVE ALL

Above all powers, above all kings

Above all nature and all created things

Above all wisdom and all the ways of man

You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones

Above all wonders the world has ever known

Above all wealth and treasures of the earth

There's no way to measure what you're worth

Crucified

Laid behind a stone

You lived to die

Rejected and alone

Like a rose Trampled on the ground

You took the fall And thought of me Above all

WORTHY IS THE LAMB

Thank you for the cross, Lord
Thank You for the price You paid.

Bearing all my sin and shame, In love You came

And gave amazing grace.

Thank You for this love, Lord,

Thank You for the nail-pierced hands.

Washed me in Your cleansing flow,

Now all I know: Your forgiveness and embrace.

Worthy is the Lamb

Seated on the throne,

Crown You now with many crowns You reign victorious,

High and lifted up Jesus, Son of God,

The darling of heaven crucified.

Worthy is the Lamb.Worthy is the Lamb.

Darlene ZschechCopyright © 2000 Darlene Zschech/HillsongPublishing/Kingsway Music