Weather overcast after big rain last night but no rain during packing up thank goodness.
After assistance from the two neighbours we have the trailer attached and tightened up so that hopefully it won't fall off. And as you all know the motto is "What could go wrong?"
Just in case we stopped at a trailer accessories place 10 km's from Kiama, he couldn't help but confirmed that the trailer was connected ok and we wouldn't have any problems. Although as we left I did notice he called his wife and told her not to drive on the main road to Sydney for the next hour or so.
But oh ye of little faith we made it safe and sound to Sydney 130 km's later. Drive into Sydney was remarkably easy albeit a little tense as we watched for every bump and waited for the sound of the trailer hitting the road.
Lane Cove River Tourist Park is set in National Park at MacQuarie Park less than 10 minutes walk from the new North Ryde train station. It's actually closer to the CBD of Sydney than the offices of the last two companies I worked for before I
The lesson for today is: If you adjust the trailer hitch to it's maximum so it doesn't fall off, you can't get it off the car when you arrive. So in my usual response to a difficult situation - I ignored it. There was enough room on the site to leave the trailer attached, although MM did seem to be a little close to the edge of a slope. Not to worry there was a caravan at the bottom of the slope to stop us rolling too far away. Anyway, we packed up an overnight bag and headed off into Sydney to stay with Jackie & Howard overnight. As always we had a lovely evening catching up with them and then sheer loooxury, we slept in a bed in a house.
Saturday 20th November - Day 19
Our first thoughts upon waking in the morning were "wow the ceiling is a long way away" and "gee you can get out of the sides of the bed, we don't need to crawl out over the pillows"
Making the most of the location the four us headed down to circular Quay for breakfast and then round the corner into the Rocks for another coffee making the most of the availability of good coffee while we can"
H & J drove us back to Lane Cove and H, utilising his years of caravanning experience managed to get the trailer off the MM. Definitely need to get that looked at though.
Again, taking advantage of it while we can, the afternoon saw us off to Aldi on the bike. Oh dear what has happened to us in such a short period of time ;-) (Apologies to the Aldi lovers on this Blog). Apologies to the bike as well, because we overloaded the luggage rack somewhat !
After unpacking all that it was off on the bike to Gary & Mandy's place for dinner and stay overnight in Artarmon. Details are sketchy but dinner at the local Japanese BBQ restaurant and a couple(?) of bottles of wine started the evening. Then back to G & M's where, after a quick viewing of a video - Leo Sayers' Greatest Hits (both of them) it was into some serious 70's disco dancing and singalong. Gee I miss the Partridge Family. Photo's were taken but at time of blog publishing they are unavailable, and hopefully will be for some time. Another night in a real house, and magnificent home cooked breakfast and it was back to the caravanning life for Mike & Mal Kendall.
Monday 22nd November - Day 21
Steve, surprisingly, got up early and headed off for a walk along the walking track beside the river. Still gobsmacked at the national park setting so close to the Sydney CBD.
Mind you the "neighbours" in the national park are much noisier in the morning than the neighbours on the other side (MacQuarie Park Cemetry)
A quick trip to City Trailers in Rydalmere and hopefully the trailer is now fully operational. The guys there changed the hitch and while they were at it, raised the jockey wheel which had been sitting a bit low, making it difficult to fold up at times. They also recommended and supplied a clip to lock the release handle when travelling. Having consulted family, friends and now the professionals at the trailer place, opinion on the cause of the problem is divided. Many lean towards the, very plausible, theory that I did something wrong in connecting the trailer. Some believe that it was indeed a faulty hitch but we are all (particularly Di) now very happy it is safe to continue.
Having dropped the trailer back at the caravan park we caught the train into Sydney to vote in the Victorian State Elections (no - not telling who we voted for). Lesson for today: " A Sydney day return does not allow you to get on and off the train as many times as you like in the same way that a Melbourne all day pass does". But the very nice railway worker at Town Hall station explained all that very helpfully. Lesson Two - when buying a ticket from a machine (to replace the return ticket that was taken in the previous step) make sure you get the name of the station right. Sydney doesn't have zones, the ticket is for the station you are travelling to. Anyway, got to meet and talk to another nice railway worker at North Ryde and avoided a conviction.
Forgot to mention the obligatory visit to the queen Vic building while in the city and managed another great cup of coffee from a place I remembered from my working days. Also visited V & H's favourite (kitchen accessories) shop in QV and picked up sensational bread rolls and strawberry and rhubarb crumble from the German bakery.
Quiet night back at the van, although a highlight was emptying the toilet canister again :-)
Tuesday morning will pack up and head off, less than a 100 km's, to The Entrance for another 3 night stop. - See you there
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