WALTZING MATILDA: November 2011

A bit about Padre Island

Located on the tropical tip of Texas, South Padre Island is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico and the Laguna Madre Bay. Beautiful beaches, warm Gulf waters, fishing, boating, bird watching, shopping, and a diversity of year-round activities await every visitor. As the days wind down with breathtaking sunsets over the bay, night clubs and restaurants come alive with conversation, dining, music and dancing. Many restaurants will even cook your catch! No matter what your interests, South Padre Island offers one of the most fantastic beach vacation destinations in the world. .

About 2 weeks ago a few of us here in the Mission Bell/Trade Winds RV Park decided it would be nice to go and visit Padre Island and spend the night. We all had 3 days in a row of from work camping so the timing was perfect. The weather was beautiful..perfect for a walk on the beach..haven't seen the beach since I left Australia. Padre Island is about a hours drive away and very scenic. On our way out of Mission we called into some markets and strolled around, BIGGEST markets I have ever seen. I seen so much I wanted to buy, have no idea where I would keep it as our RV is just about as full as it can get. We are at the stage now where ..if we buy something we have to throw something out.. Our first port of call on arriving in Padre Island was to go out and eat some seafood. Audrey and Mike knew such a place and indeed it was a great choice.

Waiting for our meals to arrive

A sign hanging over the bar

After our lunch we went outside and walked along the little jetty and I captured this picture of a seagull landing on a pole.

With fully belly's it was time to go and visit the Turtle hospital. This is where all the turtles are taken to that are hurt by propeller blades, fishing nets. They are cared for until they are healthy enough to be let go back into the ocean.

Out of all the pictures I took of all the turtles in the hospital not a one you could see a turtle, they were all under water and when I got the pictures onto my computer NO programme was going to let me make the water invisible, so all I got was the one above of Turtle Eggs. So with that said, it was time to move on and go and check into our motel as it was getting close to check in time and all the discount rooms that change price during the afternoon. After we all checked in and got our special rates we headed up to unpack our luggage. I had a plastic bag so that wasn't to hard.Time to visit the Motel swimming pool.

It was a tad weird to see everyone enjoying the cool water and splashing around. It was only the night before on the News that a lot of The US was in for some snow, NOT US..Temperature was perfect for swimming. Dann and I decided to go see if we could buy him a pair of bathers because we had forgot to pack them. The others started without us and soon we returned with no swim trunks for Dann so we just sat around and chatted and enjoyed the sunshine and screaming birds. Of course I sat and took some pictures.

Everyone was ready for the next part of our adventure in Padre Island after a couple of hours soaking in the water and a bit of sun tanning, it was time to head out to the little Bar for Happy Hour that Harry and Marj had visited previously. Harry Plays the Banjo and he was looking to see if he could do a few numbers with the Beach Bums that played every Saturday night.He wasn't disappointed.

Cant remember the name of this little bar, but it was sitting over the water and you could SMOKE in there..YA !!! The last Frontier for smokers I’d say.

The only reason you can smoke in there is because the walls wind up and the breezes sails on through.

This made me chuckle..PeePee Station—toilets

2 man Band---The Beach Bums

Our Dinner- Nachos—Enough to feed the 6 of us

Audrey N Mike, they really needed get a room for the night Audrey N Mike are our Bosses here at Mission Bell.

Marj N Harry

We spent a few hours at the little smoking Bar listening to the music, eating and a bit of drinking. I ordered a Pina Colada and when it arrived the straw was literally standing up in the drink. I went to suck on the straw and got nothing, it was like a thick shake, BUT I managed to get through that one and another. It was like having a drink and a meal at the same time. We all had a great time and it was time now to head to Denny's for desert. Desert wasn't much chop..a bit on the dry side, but the company was excellent. Soon we were back at the motel and Marj and Harry headed up to their room for the night. It was only 7.30 I think and wayyyyy to early for me to go to bed, so Dann and I, Audrey and Mike set up a table in the breakfast area and played cards until it was a decent time for bed.

I don't know what happened but over night it turned quiet chilly and extremely windy, it was so windy we didn't get to go for our walk along the beach. We all voted we didn't really fancy our legs being sand blasted, so we settled for a quick drive along the foreshore and then of to do some touristy things

I definitely was not trying to rescue MArj--

Me and Marj, shes caught in the sharks tooth

This was a big tourist shop, a lot of stuff made out of sea shells.

Who Dat !!

Dann

Our trip to Padre Island was coming to a end, it was time to head home. I had a really good time and I definitely want to go back and smoke in that bar again

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and its on !! It was a BIG 2 days for us Work campers here at the Mission Bell/Trade Winds RV Resort. We started our food prep the day before and what a day it was. As usual our work days here are full of fun and laughter and a lot of hard work, well its not really that hard but a lot of hours on your feet, and that can be a bit taxing on the old body and legs. I am very lucky to work with a bunch of fantastic people. They are like family, and that's just the way Audrey wants us to feel.

Audrey telling me “This” is a Frying Pan Pat

Laurie was in charge of the Corn

Marj hard at work chopping nuts

How Much Water ???

Mike sneaking around looking for food

He’s on a diet and doing well !!

Patty taking a break from washing dishes

After the food prep was done for the day, we started to decorate the tables for the Many park Guest that would sit down and eat

The tables were decorated very simple with no table service this time around. The guest bring in their own plates/trays, glasses and cutlery. A lot less dishes for us.

Today is the day we feed just over 300 people a hot Turkey Thanks giving dinner. Trimmings including Mashed Potato/gravy, Corn,Hot Green Bean Salad (yum), Yams with sugar and cinnamon,Fresh Bread Rolls and a Cranberry Salad that was nothing like I have ever tasted or seen before but it was good.There was other food but right now when its important I cant remember. Story of my life