Wet, Wet, Wet...

We've been here at Iluka nearly 2 weeks and I think it's rained nearly every day. Our first few days here the weather was wet, windy and wild. The caravan park is fairly protected as it has a world heritage rainforest on 2 sides and we're about 2 streets back from the Clarence River. It's actually a great location. Just a short walk away at the river bank is a little white pub overlooking the river where you can sit outside to enjoy a drink or meal from their bistro. Also, a bit further up is the fisherman's co-op where you can get fresh or cooked seafood just caught by one of the trawlers that is docked nearby. The beach is then just another kilometer or so further up the road. There is a ferry you can catch to cross the river to get to Yamba (dogs allowed on the ferry, too!) which we haven't done yet. The shopping centre is small but has nearly everything you need plus 2 great bakeries. One did a great job decorating Stephen's chocolate sponge birthday cake. The other one does these great little caramel tarts ~ yum!

Although it rains most days it doesn't rain all day, thank goodness. It tends to rain at night and/or in the mornings then fines up for a sunny afternoon. At least our washing gets dry. The facilities here in this caravan park are clean but old and pretty basic. I've started washing by hand as the park only has 2 washing machines and one dryer which are in constant demand and in my opinion the machines are a bit scungy. This seems to be working out quite well as not only are we saving $3 each time we need to wash but I'm surprised how much cleaner the clothes are this way. Our clothes horse is always coming in and out of the annex depending on the weather but this beats running back and forth to the clothes lines to rescue the washing when it rains.

The day after we arrived, we took a drive 40 mins to Yamba to stock up on provisions. Yamba is also a fishing town but is much larger than Iluka. It is located directly opposite Iluka on the southern side of the mouth of the Clarence River. The Clarence River was on a "flood watch" alert and with one road leading into Iluka it was still OK. The road leading into Yamba runs alongside the river and flood waters had come quite close to either side of the road and had nearly surrounded a pretty B&B. The town has a lot more tourist shops and cafes plus a shopping mall of about 30 shops and Bi-Lo. The caravan park just near the Yamba shops looked like a tent city covered in tarps.

Unfortunately, all this bad weather put the fishing fleet into dock for quite a few weeks and they have only just started to go back out to sea. Fresh seafood which would normally be readily available and inexpensive is quite pricey at the moment. Also sea water brown and the beaches are full of foamy stuff that doesn't look very pleasant. I've been told that the beach a bit further around in the National Park isn't too bad but we can't take Angel there.

We took a drive to Grafton last week while Angel spent the day in Doggy Day Care at the Maclean Kennels. Grafton is about an hour and a half drive and follows the Clarence River most of the way. It's an impressive river when you see it from the Grafton bridge. Grafton reminded us a bit of Goulburn...same era. We had a walk around but not too far as my foot is still a problem. There is a bigger shopping centre with Big W and Woolworths there plus a Bunnings in south Grafton. In the afternoon we went to the movies at the Saraton Theatre built in 1927. It was one of those lovely big old cinemas with a dress circle upstairs and a section of red velvet seats (with detachable arms I found) and the rest of the seats are in that old brown leather. Full of atmosphere and old aroma. We saw National Treasure Book of Secrets and highly recommend it - plenty of action.

Aside from that we have been keeping close to camp. Stephen has had a lot of work on the last week so hasn't really been able to get out much. Our neighbours are here with their 15 yr old dog for 3 months from Darwin and they decided to come here to get away from their summer monsoon rains and have a summer at the beach for a change. Unfortunately, they've said the rain here has been much like what they get up there in N.T. but at least they can swim in the water here without worrying about crocodiles and stingers.

Anyway, that's all from me for now. Take care all.