April 7th-9th, 2011- Tamworth- Lake Keepit State Park

We an early start on Thursday April 7th south to Tamworth on the New England Highway. It was a beautiful sunshiney day and a nice drive. We had a bit of stress finding a dump site and a place to full up with water as both required attention after our 3 days of free camping and the expectation of no facilities at Lake Keepit according to our camps book. We found a dump site at the Tamworth Rest Stop just north of Tamworth and filled up our water at the Tamworth Tourist Information. This was a pain as the tap was in a spot that you couldn't get a vehicle near. Had to handfill with our Jerry can. Several trips later and dripping wet the tanks were full and we were on our way West to Lake Keepit towards Gunnedah. About 50Km west of Tamworth we pulled into the state park. Much to our surprise Sandra had reserved a fully serviced site. Turns out the stress re the dump site and water replenishing was totally unnecessary. The park is very nice with several serviced sites, a number of toilet blocks with showers,  a laundry, and dump site. Great place for family with kids as has playgrounds, water park, swim area, tennis courts, BMX track, and Kiosk. Surprisingly, given school holidays have started it is remarkably quiet.

We had a bit of a challenge setting up in the site they provided us as was on quite a slope. Could not lift the jockey wheel high enough to get off car to get caravan level from front to back. Fortunately a fellow named Peter who camped across from us assisted us with some caravaning knowledge and with a number of steps with stacks of wood we finally got the caravan level. The draw bar is basically touching the ground at the front. Another lesson learned and hopefully we will be able to reverse engineer to connect the car back up in the morning. Peter and his wife Janet have been very helpful and shared a number of places to see and do. He has been interested in my solar panels and Jerry Can holders so it would seem there is always a sharing of knowledge and assistance amongst the caravan crowd. It is an interesting community. Sandra and I have even been of assistance to a few greener (it is possible) caravaners already. The sharing of knowledge is also an expensive experience as you are always seeing something being used by someone else that you just have to have. The latest for us was a special hydraulic jack that replaces your jockey wheel. Sandra has decided that I need one for Father's Day. I think it would be a better Mother's day gift as she is the one that struggles with the Jockey Wheel. Feel free to share your opinion on this especially if it is favorable to my position.

Once settled in we enjoyed a cold drink (beer for me) to relieve the stress. Sandra explored the laundry facilities and we had a nice Salmon dinner on the Barbeque.

Friday April 8th was supposed to be a relax day where we caught up on cleaning, Blog, laundry, etc.
I decided to do a small plumbing alteration to install a shut off valve in the line to the water filter canister. This would allow us to turn off the water to the device when we need to change it. All was good until I cut the line and realized the shutoff valve I had was slightly too large for the pipe. Luckily I found this out after I cut the line so the caravan's complete water system was unuseable until I completed the project. That being the case I convinced Sandra that a trip to Tamworth to find correct size shutoff valve might be worthwhile. I also decided to find an extension to our gas lead to the barbeque so it could sit on the caravan's foldout table thereby freeing up the BBQ table for our outdoor eating etc. After numerous stops in a great number of Tamworth businesses we had the parts required to complete the projects. The extension for the gas lead proved especially challenging as there are a huge amount of threads, fittings, hoses, etc involved. I will put in a Kudo for Tamworth businesses as all 5 businesses we went to were very helpful and more than happy to recommend another business that might be able to help me. We felt a bit like we were on a scavenger hunt but I finally found success at Barbecues Galore. I had to buy a hose and 3 different adaptors but I now have the Barbecue sitting on the table. The plumbing job was completed with a minimum of fuss and water service has been restored. We enjoyed a nice steak on the relocated BBQ and enjoyed a beautiful sunny evening.

Saturday April 9th has thus been my catch up day for the Blog. Hope you all enjoy our adventures (and misadventures). Beautiful warm sunny day today with a few boats on the water. We enjoyed a walk around the campground today but are still amazed by the lack of people given the school holidays. We had about 100 motorbikes pull in this afternoon but they must have just been having a pit stop as they have all left now. I will sign off now and enjoy the rest of the day with my darling wife.
We will pack up and leave tomorrow for the Warrumbungles. Talk to you soon!