 Eden, NSW I had a quick change of mind re our campsite for tonight and we came on ahead of our plan, to Eden on the Sapphire coast of southern NSW, halfway point between Melbourne and Sydney. Eden, situated on the deep harbour of Twofold Bay, is a picturesque and quiet town and offers a wide variety of waterway, forest and mountain attractions. As we are members of Family Parks, we checked their book for a dog-friendly caravan park in Eden and chose the Fountain Caravan Park. The drive into Eden from Victoria was as pretty as I remembered it and views of Twofold Bay, as we drove through, were beautiful.  Twofold Bay, Eden.  The Fountain Caravan Park was easy to find, it is located on the Princes Highway, the first park you encounter as you enter the town from the north. As soon as we turned in toward the entrance to the Fountain Caravan Park the sounds of bell birds welcomed us and made us feel we were entering park land. Indeed the park was sweeping lawns surrounded by beautiful tall timbered forest and there were shade trees. The park has unpowered, powered and ensuite sites, we chose a powered site as we have our own ensuit van and the amenities block was one of the best with one thing I do like to see, if I stay at a caravan park, plenty of mirrors. Lol, that is about the only thing I do not have in my own caravan. I had both a very friendly response when I rang ahead to book our site and an equally friendly greeting on arrival. This might sound normal but sadly hospitality in the hospitality industry is not always present and I like to praise it when I find it as I personally think friendly management, is one of the most important assets a caravan park can have.  Fountain Caravan Park, Eden. Lush lawns, sourounded by bushland, shady caravan sites and bird song. Just what Reg and I love.  Photo is of Reg, setting up our Eco Tourer caravan on site ar Fountain Caravan Park, Eden, ready to begin exploring this area, tomorrow. REGION: NSW > Sapphire Coast > Eden. Places to Visit while staying at Eden. Twofold Bay Eden - Wonboyn Lake Ben Boyd National Park flanks Wonboyn to the north and Nadgee Nature Reserve National Parks Regional Office - Far South Coast Region Cnr Merimbula St & Sapphire Coast Drive | PO Box 656, MERIMBULA NSW 2548 Phone: (02) 6495 5001 | Fax: (02) 6495 4137 Mt Imlay National Park provides bushwalkers with spectacular views of Twofold Bay and adjacent mountain ranges. It is a steep track to the summit but well worth the effort. Wallagaruah Forest Drive and Maxwell's Rainforest Walk starts 30km south of Eden at signpost. This easy rainforest walk is accessible for all ages. Lots of great exercise here. Walking along the boardwalk of Eden, the beach and exploring nearby Boyd Town, the historical whaling museum, township. Discover Boyds Tower on the southern headland of Twofold Bay, a massive sandstone tower built by Benjamin Boyd in the hope of establishing his empire in the area, the tower was also used by whalers. Access is from Edrom Road, and there is a sealed walking track with disabled access to the tower and sweeping views along the coast. Lookout Point, Rotary Park and Seamens Memorial Wall are up the hill from Eden Wharf. They offer panoramic views over beautiful Twofold Bay to Mt Imlay. There is a Picnic area, toilets, and playground. Boydtown and the Seahorse Inn, were built in 1843 on the shores of Twofold Bay by an early whaling king whose name it bears. The historic inn has been restored and the ruins of Boyds church can still be seen. More locations to visit on the Sapphire Coast of NSW Cobargo BermaguiBrogo BembokaBega Tathra Candelo Wyndham Merimbula Pambula Wonboyn  Inside the family size annex of van annex and Pergola for sale. I STILL, have our original summer retreat, on site van up at Goughs Bay, where the Victorian snow fields, mountains meet Lake Eildon, for sale, Site 43 Goughs Bay Caravan Park, Van and hard annex with verandah and plenty of parking for a car and trailer with garden shed for storage. Air conditioner Comfortably sleep a family of 4 or 6 Great position close to BBQ area and amenities block Shaded in summer and sunny in winter. OFFERS OVER $10,000.00 NOW $8000.00 o.n.o I have reduced the price, because we love our summer retreat in the Goulburn Valley so much, there just seems no need to go to lake Eildon when we have a lake here on our own property. I had a great walk around our lake, tonight, with the dog. Our new summer home is in a small settlement beside a lake where a group of similar minded retirees all live close together in a village setting, with our home being on the outside of the village so we have an unbroken rural view, yet benefit from having neighbours who are home almost all the time. This is the perfect set up for security. One of our neighbours a couple of doors down from us, has a Jeep he is exceptionally proud of and he is doing it up, always looking for Mopar performance parts and he can hardly wait until we ‘hit the road again’ so his jeep can come into our garage, off the street. I am happy because with him watching his jeep closer than he would watch over his home, I know our place is as safe as if we were here ourselves. We are also in what’s called, ‘the dog section’, everyone in this part of the park, owns at least one dog and because the place is residents only the dogs all know the sound of the locals and don’t they let us know if there is a stranger around. This place is a great for what we need, an ideal, gray-nomad, summer retreat.     Victoria to Far North Queensland, tour plan. 12/05/2009
 The gray-nomad, and doggies blog, 2010 review of dog-friendly caravan parks, tour. Reg, Indigo our poodle and will be touring Australia, in 2010,reviewing dog-and J people friendly, caravan parks and I am going to do some on location paint outs. Our first tour will be of Victoria, beginning in summer and continuing into early autumn 2010. Currently our focus will be on the northeast scenic location around Goughs Bay and Mansfield, where our family own an onsite caravan and we can holiday with the family at Goughs Bay Caravan Park. Check out our on site caravan for sale page if you would like a great family holiday van at a bargain price as our travels do not allow us to use this van enough to warrant keeping it. The second phase of our review tour will take us to another favourite location of ours, beautiful Grampians region, in Victoria’s west. We will stay at Grampians Gardens Tourist Park.  Then we will tour into NSW reviewing dog-friendly caravan parks and we will revisit two of our favourite areas, the Kiama Coast, staying at Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park and South Ballina staying at Ballina Beach Holiday Park Then we tour into QLD, and will be staying at Captain Cook Holiday Village adjacent to a national park, magnificent beaches, in the beautiful town of 1770, near Agnes Waters. Then touring further north towards Cairns, we will stay at the Flying Fish Point Tourist Park. See photos. I am purchasing a new camera so I can better capture wildlife and bird photos and I plan to paint, on location and I will be keen to hear local interesting stories that I can share with my readers. Every year, Reg and I feel that ‘this is our best tour ever’ and J 2010 certainly is forming up as one of our best. Once we reach the top end, of QLD, who knows which direction we will take at this stage, Email me, Kathy, if you have a dog friendly venue you would like me to review during this tour or if you would like to view art or book an art tutorial.   It is lovely to feel you can happily recommend a caravan park you have stayed at and I am going to heartily, rave about our stay at the Captain Cook Holiday Village in the town of 1770. Named for the historic landing of Captain Cook in 1770 on the 24th of May 1770. This was Cooks first landing in Queensland and hence why it is now considered by many to be the birthplace of Queensland. Captain Cook was accompanied by Botanist Joseph Banks and Dr Solander having anchored the Endeavour a couple of miles offshore. The Captain Cook holiday village is the Caravan Park on the hillside, not the one on the foreshore as you enter the town of 1770, near Agnes Waters, in Queensland. Reg, Indigo our poodle and I stayed at this caravan park in 2007 and we plan to return in 2010. I remember the amenities block was clean and pleasant, I cannot recall details like ceramic tiles, because it was the outdoors, the scenery, the walks and wildlife, that made such an impact on Reg and I. We just loved every moment of our stay at this park and I am eager to stay there and review it again, in 2010. To begin with the Captain Cook Holiday village, is alongside natural bushland on several sides, and the swimming pool is high on the hill side so you swim with an incredible view over the ocean Overhanging trees are filled with birdlife and I have swum with kookaburras diving into the water nearby,J and loved the experience. It is a nature lover’s paradise. I remember the owner managers as being extremely friendly, I am assuming it is the same managers now, as the reply to my recent email asking about booking a caravan site for sometime in autumn or early winter in 2010 brought a similarly friendly response I remembered from our last visit. Reg and I (and the dog J ), stayed at a site, in the top right hand corner of the park, very quiet and peaceful and it was near a walking trail that lead down to the beach where we took our late afternoon early evening walks. The local shops provided quality fresh produce, there is local entertainment venues, even a shop where you could have a bathing costume custom made to measure. You can take tours out to the Great Barrier Reef and to the nearby islands. The surrounding beaches were all beautiful. The town of 1770 is a little bit of paradise and I can highly recommend The Captain Cook holiday village as a place to stay.  Our 2010 review of dog-friendly caravan parks, tour planning, is progressing well. Reg, Indigo our poodle and I are going to review dog-friendly caravan parks and I am going to do some on location paint outs, in Victoria during summer early autumn 2010 and plan another tour of the beautiful Grampians region, staying at Grampians Gardens Tourist Park. Then we will tour into NSW reviewing dog friendly caravan parks and we will revisit two of our favourite areas, the Kiama Coast, staying at Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park and South Ballina, staying at Ballina Beach Holiday Park So watch out for some lovely coastal on location painting work and stories. I will update this list as we plan it and add actual dates we will be in each location closer to the completion of our tour plans. Email me, Kathy, if you have a dog friendly venue you would like me to review during this tour or if you would like to view art or book an art tutorial.  Reg and I are planning our 2010 Australian tour, Every year our tour has a theme and for 2010 our purpose and theme will be to review dog friendly caravan parks and venues in a permanent location in our two travel related web sites, our Gray Nomad and our doggies blog, web site. We will visit many dog friendly venues and accommodation places suited to having a powered site for our Eco-tourer slipstream caravan with a preference for a drive through site and a scenic locations with a swimming area and bush or beach walks. Our tour locations must be pet friendly as we will be travelling with indigo our miniature poodle. This 2010 tour will be a self-funding writers and painters working holiday. Please contact me, Kathy if you have a venue or a caravan park that you would like me to include in our dog-friendly caravan park, review tour Twilight walk! 11/30/2009
 Reg and I had a lovely walk tonight around the Vara-Ville Village at Mooroopna, near Shepparton, Victoria, enjoying the twilight, full moon, early evening, enjoying the rural views and the water channel leading into Lake Dorothy.  Bird life was prolific, little willy wagtails prancing about, the black swans were out on the lake with their young signets. It was very peaceful and thankfully, no sign of that dog that ran at us, a couple of weeks back. I had a long walking stick with me, as self-defence, just in case.  I commented to Reg that ‘it was this time, last year when Reg had that silly accident where a TV set fell on him, and hurt his leg, broke his ankle.’ That set him right back, he was only just walking again by the time we headed away for our trip last year, in autumn and then coming home with whooping cough, set him back for another three and a half months, he has only just started walking again. It has been a year of physical setback for him and it has only been this last week that we have started to go our together again. I told him he would be ‘right by Christmas’J and he is indeed doing well.  I am encouraging him to walk more, and I have my old exercise weights by his chair for him to do some hand weight work. He still needs some pain killer relief, and I am hoping that as he strengthens up and becomes more mobile he will need less of that. He has made huge improvements this monthJ. My gray nomad, man,J, is getting his a for active back again. The TV set is also in solid plasma mounts, J, I’ll not knowingly, risk another preventable accident again.  Do not quit if you get a setback, the best advice from the Arthritis Foundations, for arthritic or rheumatic pain is to ‘use it or lose it’ and lol, I’m not going to let my man, ‘loose it’, for a long time yet. J  He just needs a bit of lubrication of the joints and he will be all go again J I have my walking companion backJ, and we are planning our next big Australian tour.  Vara-Ville Village, Mooroopa, Victoria. 11/16/2009
 Vara-Ville Village Midland Highway Mooroopna Vic 3629 Phone: 03 5825 2409 187 kms N of Melbourne. Travel by car via the Midland Hwy, or from Shepparton via the Goulburn Valley Hwy. Daily rail and coach services available from Melbourne.  PARK FACILITIES: The park has pet and no pet areas and is suited to single people or couples who are in their 40's onwards, no children. On the grounds is lake Victoria. You can walk around this lake, sit beside the lake, picnic, lay or simply sit and watch the water or animals. On site homes and caravans with built on annexes are available for purchase.  SITE FEES: There is a live-on site fee which is $75 a week, which is for the cost of site rent, hot water service, full unsuit, laundry, washing machine, drinking water and maintenance of caravan village. For power to your on site home, you have your own meter box and pay for your own power.  DISTANCE TO: 5 minutes from Mooroopna, 10 minutes away from Shepparton (the Show Me city). Country living, close to a city. Aquamoves Gym, four supermarkets, major cahin stores, theatre. Spacious tree lined streets, rural souroundings, many sites have unbroken views over farmland.  ADDITIONAL INFO: You get your own mail box and you can send items/letters from where you pick up your mail as long as you have the required amount of stamps. A phone line is already set up, you just need to get the phone company to connect.  | Kathy Shell on Facebook  Advertisers, This 160 x 160 advertising space, could be yours. See our advertising page above then contact Kathy to arrange your advertising package. Kathy Shell,
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