Homeward Bound

We stayed at Kiama just a bit south of Wollongong so we were in range of visiting rellies near Botany Bay. It was good to meet them after such a long time, last seen when I was in England.
Kiama is a pretty place with the dog friendly caravan park right on the beach. The problem was that all round the caravan park was not dog friendly, so we were restricted as to where we could walk Tiffany and Hannah. The cliff top walk was good, with great views of Kiama, (see pic). We are currently in Narrandra and expect to be back in SA tonight.

The Garden of Eden

We are in the Garden Of Eden. No, we have not passed over to the other side, it is the Caravan Park at Eden on the NSW Sapphire Coast.
We were here last year when it rained and flooded the caravan park. The pic shows the back gate last year and this year. In the distance you can see the board walk where we take the dogs on their daily walks. The top pic shows the board walk almost under water, it did disappear for a while at the peak of the flood. The highest we saw it was just below the key pad lock, that is the black square in the gate. Today the water is at its normal level and we can take the dogs without needing waders.
The trials and shows start on Friday, when the rain is forecast. Until then we will be tourists and have a look around Eden.

Bermagui again

Since we got here we have had just about every kind of weather you can have apart from a blizzard. A big storm came in when we arrived on Wednesday, there were 2 hot, humid days until a thunder storm came in on Friday, just in time to frighten off most of the dogs for the trial. Saturday was windy with some rain, (and a pass in the trial for Tiffany), then the wind and rain came back for Sunday. The last couple of days have been pleasant and we have dried out, cleaned up and cooled down ready to be off tomorrow to Eden and more trials and shows.
The dogs are having a rest from eating hats, chewing books, (Hannah as taken a liking to Alistair Maclean), gnawing the floor mat and opening the cupboard to get to the Scooby Snacks. As Jackie Gleeson put it "One of these days Hannah; Smack! Right in the kisser."

Bermagui

We are in Bermagui at last. The pic shows the smoke blowing across the caravan park at Orbost. The fires jumped the Princess Highway south of Orbost and took out the power lines in the process. There was no power for miles, fortunately I had topped up the Navara's tank earlier and we were able to leave.
Just pulling out of Bega when we were stopped by a road block. A bad accident up the road meant that all traffic was being turned back and sent down the coast road to Bermagui. Narrow, road, narrow bridges, lots of traffic, perfect for towing a caravan. We arrived at Bermagui, met up with friends, and then the storm hit and wet everything. At least the oval is not flooded this time!

Orbost fire

There is a big bush fire south west of Orbost which has blocked the main road to Melbourne. Fortunately we are heading North today and will not be affected by the fire. Just in case anyone hears about the fire, we are safe, the evacuation point for the district is the oval next to the caravan park.
Should be in Bermagui by tonight.

Orbost

Orbost caravan park is a favourite of ours because it is shady, well grassed and near the town. We found a nice site surrounded by trees so that we would be in shade all day. Expected temperature is 38.
We were halfway down a bottle of Chateau Tanunda white after last night's dinner, when the lady from the next caravan told us we had water running from the van. It was hot water too. A quick check and I found the hot water pipe had burst near the hot water tank. The tank is under the bed. Under the bed was 20 litres of water, soaking all the stuff stored under there. The pic shows all the wet stuff piled up in the annex, and the inset shows the bit of pipe with the hole in it. I managed to cut off the faulty bit, slide the connector down and re-connect to the hot water tank. So far it is holding, but we wont leave the van with the water connected.
We had planned a rest day here, but it has also turned out to be a washing and drying day too.