As we have previously recorded, as a result of “She” having surgery in August, Blue Snoopy has not been used anywhere the amount that we would have liked during the past five months.
Considering that the cost of registration and insurance exceeds $2,000 annually, it is no good having a motor home sitting in the driveway doing nothing.
Due to Christmas and the New Year and other family related reasons, we don’t have another trip planned until the end of January 2010. We needed to getaway before Christmas.
Much to our surprise, a telephone call a week ago to the caravan park at Easts Beach near Kiama resulted in us securing a booking for a two night stay. “He” was given a half days by his employer for Christmas shopping so a plan developed where we would head south shortly after lunch on Friday.
A 24 hour strike by Sydney bus drivers threw a spanner in the works regards transport to and from the city but this was resolved when it was agreed that “He” could work from home on Friday morning. And that is what happened.
With all the morning available to pack Blue Snoopy, the packing finished at 12.45pm. Even though we were only going for 3 days, it is amazing what ends up being put into cupboards and the pantry.
We refueled at Burwood (last time we refueled was at Wagga Wagga and the average consumption since then according to the Iveco’s computer was 14.71 Lit per 100k’s) and then headed west on the M4 turning off at Silverwater Road and then headed towards Bankstown, Lucas Heights and finally the F6 heading south from Heathcote. Much to our surprise the traffic was very light and our progress south appears to be guaranteed without any holdups.
We hit fog near Bulli. Visibility reduced to virtually zero and for several minutes, extreme care had to be taken. By the time we were half way down Mt Ousley, the fog had gone. We detoured into Wollongong to purchase a power cable for our IPod (we had all day to pack for this trip and the cable and several other items had been left behind) and then had a leisurely drive past Port Kembla and Shellharbour before returning to the freeway.
We had planned to visit the Crooked River Winery over the weekend and decided that there was value in a Friday afternoon visit. We had arranged a late check-in at the caravan park and we arrived at the winery just after 3.30pm. After a lengthily time spent sampling their sweet wines and ports, we joined their wine club, agreed to purchase wine over the next 18 months at wholesale price and had packed 2 cases of wine and port into the motor home. The wine was simply superb it looks like we will now focus on this winery rather than Brown Brothers.
After leaving the winery, we returned to Kiama where we purchased a gourmet pizza before heading to the caravan park at Easts Beach. We were provided with a large grassy spot in an area that had 8 camp sites. We were on the only occupied sites until another motor home arrived late on Saturday afternoon. The rest of the park was full. We were subsequently told that all the sites in the area we camped were booked from Sunday and the park did not have any available space until 23 January 2010. After finishing the pizza, we had a quite night and actually went to bed early. More than likely, the wine that we had consumed in the afternoon had taken effect.
We elected not to set an alarm for Saturday and we woke at 7.30am. First job was to extend our awning before setting up the BBQ for a rare cooked breakfast we had decided to have. Before lighting the BBQ, we took note of the accumulated dirt under the awning and we decided to clean it. Whilst we are aware that there a specialist products for cleaning awnings, water and some elbow grease resulted in the removal of 90% of the dirt. Whilst the solution was not perfect, the results achieved were outstanding.
We ended up having a very late breakfast after which time was spent writing on Christmas cards and “She” composed a letter that would be sent to a relative. Whilst this was taking place, we managed to watch “The Santa Claus” and “The Santa Clause 2” on DVD. We christened our sandwich maker for lunch and headed off for a walk that took us outside of the park to a headland and then down the coast towards Gerringong. We had admired this scenery every time we have travelled south and it was rewards to be seeing the lush green hills from the ocean side. We returned to the motor home for happy hour (needless to say a bottle of wine) and then we enjoyed a salad for tea before watching TV via our satellite dish. We headed off to bed well after 11.00pm.
We set the alarm for 7.00am and woke to another fine but overcast day. It had rained during the night. After a quick breakfast, we packed and set off for home. We stopped at Kiama at the Blow Hole, stopped again at Albion Park Rail for morning tea and arrived home just after 1pm.
As a result of this weekend we confirmed that whenever possible, we have to make these trips into 2 nights. Whether that involves a day of annual leave for either Friday or Monday or simply leaving Sydney late on Friday afternoon, getting up on the first day away without packing to leave certainly has a lot of positives.