We
have had a great couple of weeks or more.
We
had a few days in Nambucca Heads where we caught up with Stuart's cousin Lyn
Watts and her husband Bill who kindly let us leave our van across the road and
spent a lovely few days talking and reminiscing on Stuart's part. It also
coincided with a visit to Lyn and Bill, by her brother Innes Hawke and wife
Helen who just happened to be in the area to trade in their caravan. Always
good to catch up with family and always have a good time with the Watts so
thank you so much for your hospitality.
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| Stuart with his cousins Innes Hawke and Lyn Watts |
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| Helen and Innes Hawke |
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| Lyn and Bill Watts |
We
then met up with Stuart's brother Peter and his wife Sandy at Fingal Bay in
Port Stevens for a week and had an added bonus of catching up with Sandy's
brother Wayne Trudgeon, wife Lee and son Alex for some of that time.
We
did some beach sand driving and although it was a bit of a bleak day we saw a
baby seal on the beach. Although it seemed uninjured, we let authorities
know about it as it seemed too small to be away from its mother.
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| Alex, Lee and Sandy and the beautiful surf at one of the beaches near Port Stevens |
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| Wayne, Stuart and Peter deciding who will climb the sand dunes |
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| Wayne, Lee and Alex Trudgeon, Me and Peter and Sandy Hawke |
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| A little seal we found on the beach which was reluctant to go too far away |
However
all good things must come to an end and we said goodbye to Wayne and Lea after about 6 days and Sandy and Pete 3 days later.
We
enjoyed many combined meals, Devonshire teas and talkfests before they left us
on our own while we continued to soak up the lovely area.
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| We did a quick trip back to Bathurst where we found the grave of Stuart's Great Grandparents. His grandfather Richard Hawke migrated from Cornwall in the UK. Whilst in Europe a couple of years ago we visited his parents graves and saw the home where he grew up. |
These two photos show how slow and laid back some of these mid western areas of NSW are.
We have had the pleasure of seeing some beautiful country side, lakes, mountain ranges and slow flowing rivers and streams. we are having a great time.
We have just made the trip back to Mackay and in the next few weeks plan on seeing some more spots that we have missed in New South Wales. Looking forward to exploring Lightning Ridge very soon.
