Downs and Ups...

Sorry, it's been a while since our last update. This month has had it's share of ups and downs.

We drove down to Sydney on Nov 6 and were lucky enough to stay at Robyn and Garry's house at Caringbah for the whole 2 weeks we were there. Their backyard is fully fenced so Angel could stay too which was company by their lovely dog, Bella. Although Angel took over Bella's home, beds, backyard and food, I think Bella enjoyed having the company of another dog too.

Cathie and Joel's wedding was held on a beautiful Thursday afternoon at the Gunner's Tearooms, Mosman overlooking Sydney Harbour. It had been pouring with rain most of the morning so it was touch and go whether their wedding would be able be held outside. But the skies cleared up to a beautiful sunny afternoon and the wedding went ahead outside as planned. Everything was beautiful (especially the bride) and we all think she can go into the wedding planner business if she tires of legal work.

The rest of our stay in Sydney went very quickly catching up with family and friends for dinners or lunches, whatever we could arrange. While we were in Sydney, I was able to go along to the ING Direct dinner to celebrate people with 5, 10 (me) and 15 years service this year. There was 1 person with 15 years service, 8 of us celebrating with 10 years and 62 with 5 years. Quite a crowd. It was lovely to be invited as I am on a career break and luckily it coincided nicely with our trip to Sydney. Although it was a good night good to catch up with friends from work again. But don't get me wrong, I'm still not missing work!

We headed back up to Bonny Hills on Friday 16 Nov and made it back to our caravan at about 5pm. As we were planning to leave and head further north in 3 days we decided to leave the caravan on the site where we left it. Out of the blue the following day I received a phone call to say that my 86 year old father who had an existing heart condition, had been admitted to Mona Vale Hospital with chest pains and was waiting to be transferred to the San for an angiogram as soon as a bed opened up. I wanted to go back down in Sydney to be there in case I could do anything to help him. So the next day, I jumped on the XPT in Wauchope and was back down in Sydney by dinner time. Thankfully, tests showed that Dad's heart was not the cause of the chest pains and while we still do not know what caused the pains he is feeling much better now. Meanwhile, Stephen stayed with Angel back in the caravan and had to put up with the van being on a slope for a while longer.

I stayed 5 nights in my father's unit at the retirement village while he was in hospital. His retirement unit is set in lush rainforest with a duck pond at the bottom of the footpath below his unit. One morning while I was making my breakfast I a family of young ducks decided to come up the steps to the front door while mother duck stood patiently on the footpath below. They came right up to the wire door but as soon as I went to get my camera they all waddled back down the stairs again. However as soon as I returned and opened the door they headed back up the steps again long enough for me to take a few piccies.

After 5 days in hospital Dad was given the OK to go home and feeling like he had a new lease on life, decided to come back up to Bonny Hills with me to see our caravan and stay a few days with us. We arrived back up there last Friday and Dad stayed 3 nights in one of the fantastic cottages in the caravan park overlooking the ocean. He's now heading back down to Sydney staying at a night at few places along the way.

So, with all the visiting and being visited out of the way we finally left Bonny Hills yesterday and headed north. With Stephen behind the wheel, we towed the caravan up to a very hilly caravan park overlooking Nambucca Heads, but after seeing how steep the sites were decided to go further north to Coffs Harbour. We're now settled in a caravan park at Moonee Beach, about 12 kms north of Coffs Harbour. Moonee Beach has a small shopping centre with a Coles, pharmacy, newsagency, post office, bakers and a Best & Less opening this Thursday. Across the road from the caravan park is a wide tidal creek leading into the beach which is around the corner. It's nice to be in a level caravan park for a change after being on a hill for 8 weeks.

That's all for now. Cheers, Rosy