The Wandering Tews

Monday 29^th June 2009.

Yes we are still around, and it is hard to believe that it has been nearly three weeks since the last report. It would not be hard to guess why it has been so long, as we are just doing what we came up here to do, just relax and enjoy the warmth. The caravan park is now full of the winter visitors from down south in Victoria and NSW, so there are plenty of people we have come to know to catch up with again. I am hearing a lot of stories of people missing us last year, or is it just my TV skills they missed, but it nice to know we are missed. Barry from Vic had his 70^th birthday on Sunday and we all got together for a party and all enjoyed it very much.

Thursday 11^th June 2009.

Another week has passed by and nothing is different, enjoying the sunshine, even though the evenings are a bit chilly lately, but I wouldn’t pass it up for much at all. I have been rather busy lately with a lot of people having TV reception problems, and my reputation for fixing it is obviously being spread around. There seems to be a lot of people finally realising that they have to go digital and are swapping over now, and a problem in the park at the moment is that there seems to be something around the vicinity that is causing a lot of interference with digital reception, and being on the fringe area of the local transmitters there are a lot having problems by not having a really suitable aerial system, but I am managing to get a reasonable reception for most of them, fixing faults and replacing inferior cables and such. If nothing else this work is keeping me busy and I am even learning a few things with the different equipment different people have. I have even had to purchase a new aerial myself to overcome the interference problems, because we are not in a good area ourselves, and I am hopeful that the new aerial will also overcome our reception problems in Kilmore if we choose to stay there when we return to Melbourne later in the year.

Friday 4^th June 2009.

We are now all settled in again after the evacuation, being nearly two weeks ago one would think we should be too. All the regular visitors from down south are now settling in for the winter so we now have heaps of company. I am also getting several TV repair jobs, I don’t know what they did without me last year. Again there isn’t a great deal to report as we are still just enjoying the relaxed lifestyle. The weather still isn’t great, it has rained a fair bit since the bad weather and evacuation weekend, but we still find some time in between rain spells to do our exercise thing whether it is walking or bike riding, and I am sure we will get some sunny days soon, at least it’s not cold.

Sunday 24^th May 2009.

We are back home again. The weather alert turned out to be not as bad as was predicted as far as the caravan park was concerned and we were given the all clear to move back this morning. We were well looked after at Nambour, in the showground, with under cover parking with plenty of power points for all. The local Apex group even came around last night and provided a bar-b-cue meal at a very minimal cost and a good time was had by all. So as said we are now back by the beach and all is just about set up at home again, but what is left will have to wait till tomorrow as after two days of rather frantic packing and setting up again we are now a little bit knackered and could do with a bit of a rest.

Saturday 23^rd May 2007, Nambour.

Things have changed a fair bit since yesterday with a day of excitement happening today. It started last night with the park management coming around and advising people that the weather was about to cut up rather rough and was expected here at about 4:00 AM with strong winds and large sees. It was apparently expected that the sees might break into the caravan park so the sites closer to the see from us were advised to vacate for a few days. I accessed the weather reports on the internet and they advised that there would be 100km winds but not due till later today so I was not worried at that stage that our setup would have any hassles handling what was to come. Then this morning the SES were roaming the park telling us that we must evacuate the park and be gone by midday as they are now expecting the rough sees and wind to coincide with a very high King tide at about 7:00 PM and were expecting the caravan park to flood. Much to our disappointment we commenced to pack up for a move to Nambour show ground, being the recommended shelter area, and after getting here we are now seeing it as another adventure as all in the park were effected and are mostly here crammed into an area together for the next few days. All it means is that, apart from things just being thrown in this morning, it is no different than us making a normal move, so in a couple of days when all is given the OK it will just mean moving back and setting up again. If nothing else this incident has bought a lot of us from the park a lot closer together, literally.

Friday 22^nd May 2009.

Well it has been a couple of weeks since the last report, but it just goes to demonstrate how things are going this end, just enjoying ourselves and the surrounds. The weather of late has detracted something from the enjoyment though, with heaps of rain and floods and things, but we haven’t yet been personally effected. It is forecast for a little more rough stuff over the next couple of days so we will see what that brings. A friend informed us today that while setting up their annexe his wife had a fall from a stool and broke both her wrists when hitting the ground. She is at present in hospital for surgery and all we can do is offer any assistance they may need when she comes back home, but they have plenty of friends in the park so I guess all the help they need will be on hand. Now all we have to do is batten down and prepare for what is in store for the next couple of days.

Monday 11^th May 2009.

Nothing really to report at this stage, we are just enjoying our time here in the warm weather. We are getting a little rain at the moment so the temperatures are a little cooler of a day, but at least the nights are still warm enough to not use the heater. We have been doing a few small chores, such as we have once again decided to purchase a couple of push bikes, so between looking around for the right purchase, putting them together, taking one faulty one back for replacement, and mounting yet another bike rack on the caravan we have been quite busy over the past week or so. That’s now two weeks down and about seventeen to go.

Friday 1^st May 2009.

We have been here for almost a week already! And enjoyed every moment of it, even if we have been busy cleaning. Linda has almost finished the spring cleaning in the van, the car has had a very good wash, and we are just about fully settled in. I had my usual flu-vac on Monday, as I have for the past 15 years or so without a problem, and would you believe that this year it seems that I have had a minor reaction to it with now having several symptoms of a cold or something. It hasn’t gotten real bad so far so I am hopeful it won’t last very long. One thing that makes this area much more enjoyable is the weather, I am noticing that our minimums the past couple of days have been equal to, or higher than, that of Hobart and Melbourne’s maximums, just goes to explain why we are here.

Monday 27^th April 2009, Sunshine Coast.

After being here for three days we are almost settled in. Now we are in an area that doesn’t have water restrictions we have taken the opportunity to do a bit of washing, and the annexe walls badly needed a good wash and they have been done, but that was after the van got its first wetting by hose for at least 18 months. Those that aren’t aware of the shortage of water in a vast amount of areas around Australia may get a bit of an idea now by our lack of washing, believe me it is not because we are lazy. We still have some to go though, as Linda intends doing the inside van walls, and I have the car to do, and it will get the best all-over wash it has ever had. I also have a couple of ideas I want to try with the annexe setup so we will be busy in setup mode for a few days yet. With all this work Linda has still found time to go for her retail therapy, and we have both found time for the compulsory walks on the beach.

Saturday 25^th April 2009, Anzac Day, Sunshine Coast.

We are finally here. We are going to take a fair bit of time to settle in this time as we have to spring clean the van and annexe. It has been something like 18 months since we have been in an area where we could use water to wash the van, being no water restrictions on the Sunshine Coast we are free now to give it a good wash. The annexe walls need a good wash as well so we intend doing them as well before we put them up. It is times like this when one finds out how fit he is, as I am now feeling a little stiff having made more arm movements today than I have in the past months, having had a nice hot shower I am now felling a bit better. Oh well more tomorrow.