RETURN TO DIARY

While at Tathra we tried fishing for sand whiting in the surf. A friendly fisherman donated some of his beach worms to us and that afternoon he tried to show me how to catch my own. Unfortunately after 2 hours I could only manage to catch one worm. The next day I caught the first whiting at around 45cm then Sandy caught (or tangled on to) a yellow braided line. We pulled in around 100 metres of line and to our great surprise there was another whiting flapping around on the end of it!!!

Next stop was at Bermagui in time for the Seaside Festival weekend. The day started off with the Blessing of the Fleet then the fair started on the main oval. The day was made up auctions, art shows, street parades, food and craft stalls finishing the day off with a fireworks display 200 metres from our caravan site. How lucky can you get.

Blue Pool

is made up of two man made pools that are flooded at high tide. A sign warns you not to swim in them when the sea is rough as you may get washed out to sea. The pool is located just behind the park but the weather was too cool and windy for any swimming.

Continued on to Dalmeny via historic Tilba in which every shop was for the tourists. Dalmeny caravan park was donated to the council to be kept as a basic campground. Unbeatable ocean views and a brand new ablution block made for a very nice stay. One evening we suffered a sudden wind, rain and lightning storm that lasted about 30 minutes. We managed to get our awning down during the storm and we were both drenched as soon as we stepped out of the caravan door. Three other campers weren't so lucky as they had their awnings whipped off their vans. All the tents in the park were flattened and we helped one camper and his son put it their tent up again after the storm passed. The campers were very friendly and were hoping we would stay longer than we did but we have to keep moving to follow the sun.

From our camping spot near Moruya we drove North to the small Mogo Zoo to see their endangered animals that are being bred to increase the species survival hopes.

Mogo Zoo inmates

Next stop was a detour away from the coast to the Exhibition Showground's campground at Canberra. Sandy says that I need a bit of culture and she's hoping to top me up here. No chance.

Every camper here is doing the rounds of the venues, with such a variety too see. CSIRO Discovery Centre, National Museum of Australia, Old Parliament house, New Parliament House, National Art Gallery, Sound and Film Archives, Australian Sports Institute. Australian War Memorial and many others.

An early Australian caravan on display in the Australian National Museum.

Sandy enjoyed trying out the downhill skiing video machine. We were the only people on our tour of the Australian Sports Institute and Sandy pumped the tour guide, who was training as a rower, on all training aspects at the institute. I won tickets to the Playhouse, seeing David Page in "Page8" a one man show on his life. An enjoyable show. On the way to the Art Gallery I dropped into a free art exhibition in the park with hundreds of paintings on show. There seems to be something on all the time here. In just over a week there has been an Antique and Collectible Show, a Gem and Fossil Show, Lifeline 2/Hand Book Sale, Home Expo and Italian Auto and Machinery Show.

Italian Auto displays on Lake Burley Griffin

The Australian War Memorial took a full day to tour with so much to see. They have many airplanes on display and a terrific sound and light show featuring a Lancaster Bomber. You can't believe how they can fit so much in the building which doesn't look that big from the outside.

We've seen everything we want to here for now. It's only going to be 2 degrees tonight so were leaving tomorrow before it gets any colder and Sandy ices up on her early morning run. If the cyclones are finished we might be heading north fast according to Sandy, looking for some heat. We will be in Sydney in April to check out the Caravan and Camping Show, hopefully it will be as good as the Brisbane one we to a few years ago.

Enjoy life, see you next month.

Peter and Sandy