I scootered 4kms along the bike path to Fingal Bay. This bay is outside Port Stephens but I was surprised to see a Surf Life Saving Club because the sea was absolutely flat. The sand spit can wash away during high tides stranding people on Mount Stephens.

There was no wind this morning so we went across the road for a swim - well Anita swam as it was too cold for me. Instead I picked up glass from the beach. After 150 metres I had a handful of pieces of glass, some sharp. We were lucky to see a half dozen dolphins swim along the shoreline, including at least one young one. At the Little Beach Boathouse we enjoyed the view and our meals - pork belly and Jewfish. At the end of the beach the road leads up to the Nelson Head Lighthouse Reserve, marked by the aerials popping up from the trees. The first light to aid ships was set up here in the 1800s. The lighthouse keeper's cottage is the oldest building in the area and now houses a museum. As the views of Port Stephens are so good the Marine Rescue unit is also located on  Nelson Head.

From 1942 to 1945 the entrance to Port Stephens was guarded by a number of artillery guns. The Newcastle Steelworks and Williamtown aerodrome were considered to be attractive targets. This area is listed on the NSW heritage register. I rode my scooter back to the entrance of the national park and stopped to check my map of local walks. Astoundingly my nextdoor neighbours walked from their car and we met at the park entrance. I had no idea they were in the area, nor did they know we were here! Bruce and Helen are on their way to the Hunter Valley for their daughter's wedding. The wind was so strong I could hardly stand up at the end of this point where the remains of a gun emplacement are located. The northern headland shown in the photo is Mount Yacaaba. The distance between the headlands is only about one kilometre.

We caught up on our washing and took it easy today. The winds are quite strong across the bay, but our caravan park is fairly protected. I haven't bothered putting up the awning as we get shade from a tree in the morning. All the kids have gone as school holidays are over. The caravan park backs onto the Tomaree National Park. Most of the buildings at the foot of the Tomaree Headland were built during WW2 as an infantry camp. Currently there is a state run home for people with disabilities. We need to build up our fitness to tackle the climb to the top of the headland.

Our friend recommended we stay at Shoal Bay and we think it is wonderful. We are set up at the caravan park and will stay for a week. We had no traffic hassles driving here from Tamworth, except for idiots driving way too close behind other vehicles. There was a lot of traffic headed towards Sydney, with many stretches of stationary vehicles. At the Shoal Bay Country Club (by the beach?) we had a lovely pizza and salad. We plan to spend our time walking, swimming and touring the area. The temperature is 10° lower than Tamworth and there is a sea breeze - phew!

Stinking hot at the Longyard Hotel, but I came to see the Bushwackers'  Chardonnay Show. This is the last main gig of the Festival. The fiddler in the middle is Claire O'Meara, the "in demand" musician who plays a variety of instruments and sings harmonies.

After our exciting show last night we weren't up to seeing the Cavalcade at 9am in the extreme heat. Beccy and Libby had to get there as they are part of the show, even though they were partying till 2am. Back at Diggers we saw our second show by Amber Joy Poulton Man I Feel Like a Woman. Great show featuring female country singers whose hits were not just country or western. We had a terrific lunch at Deco restaurant in the CH boutique hotel. This used to be the Central Hotel where Beccy Cole and Kasey Chambers were busking 27 years ago as part of the Dead Ringer Band. Tonight we are going to the Golden Guitar Awards hoping Beccy's Lioness album is successful.

Libby's concert was in a small room so we were able to hear her wonderful voice very clearly. Between gigs we ate dinner at Wests' main restaurant - roast beef - the food is OK but not brilliant. Beccy's show was in Blazes Showroom and was fantastic. Her son Ricky was the first support act followed by Kelly Brouhaha. Our one complaint about the shows at Wests is bright lights are often shone in our eyes. Some of the lighting engineers seem to think we are there to see a light show, instead of a musical performance where we want to see the musicians and their onstage entertainment.

We started at the Diggers' Club at 11am to see Amber Joy Poulton sing and chat through her fun  Queens of Country show. She gives a good overview of the history women in the US country music industry. Anita saved a table for us at The Pub for the last Bill Chambers' show for this Festival. Bill just dropped his guitar - the only one of 65 guitars he hasn't dropped! Now it doesn't work so he is using Harry Hooker's guitar. These shows always showcase other singers and musicians Bill has met along the way. We have to save some energy for the Libby O'Donovan show at 5pm then the second Beccy Cole show at 8.30.

One of the benefits of being at Tamworth is the musicians know each other and go to each other's gigs as they are all in town. Last night Kasey started her campfire concert with Bill Chambers, Brandon Todd of Grizlee Train, and Alan Pigram described as a family friend and indigenous elder from Broome. There were several guitars, banjos and ukeleles on stage, By the end of the show she had been joined by Troy Cassar Daley, Catherine Britt, Harry Hookey, Lucky Oceans, her son Arlo and the son of her roadie known as "Worm". This was clearly impromptu and Kasey had a ball singing with her friends. We were treated to the most amazing show where Kasey stayed on stage for almost three and a half hours.

Last night we crowded into The Pub to see the only concert given by Shane Nicholson during the Tamworth Festival. He is a great songwriter and entertainer - when relaxed he also very funny. Today I went to Sara Storer's concert at the Tamworth Town Hall - a fine historic venue. Her brother sings and writes many songs with her - the backdrop is a huge photo of Sara from her Raindance album. She has won 21 Golden Guitars over the 18 years of her career as a singer-songwriter and she sang many of her winning songs during the concert.

Today we went to the sausage sizzle put on by Beccy Cole for Roadies and VIPs (people who pay extra for VIP seats at her concerts - not us). Amber Joy Poulton sang with Kelly Brouhaha. Beccy and Libby sang a couple of songs but had to leave to get ready to perform at the 40th anniversary concert for Toyota Starmakers. Beccy was the 1993 Starmaker. Many former Starmakers performed, but it was testosterone overload at times with so many blokes. Of the 40 Starmakers from 1979 to 2019, only 16 have been women. Lee Kernaghan finished the show with The Outback Club . At least that song includes women as members of the outback club.

Yesterday was full on with great music! After unexpectedly seeing Troy Cassar Daley at the Albert, we saw the Hussey Hicks' show. I went to the Toyota Fan Zone to see Catherine Britt who was joined by her friend Amber Lawrence. In the evening we were back at Wests for the Women Behind the Songs concert with Beccy Cole, Gina Jeffreys, Tanya Kernaghan and Lyn Bowtell. This fabulous concert was planned while they were all at Beccy and Libby's wedding last February.

I spotted our friend Kieran pulling his toilet cassette across the rugby field on his way to the dump site - with a beer in his other hand! When we arrived at the Albert Hotel, Troy Cassar Daley was in the middle of an unannounced gig at the front bar. I couldn't get close but heard a few of his numbers. If his appearance had been broadcast, Peel Street would have been choked.

We have come to the Hopscotch Restaurant at Kids' Corner in Kable Avenue. We've not been here before. The play facilities for kids are amazing. There is also a splash pool and park. Another plus is we had no problems finding a car park. There were some mild thunderstorms overnight - not a drama for us when we are without dogs who would be scared. The grass at the rugby club has started going green. It should not be too hot today with a predicted max of only  32°. I indulged in French toast made with raisin bread and topped with dried strawberry pulp. Yum but next time I will ask them to hold the syrup syrup.

We have come to see Bill Chambers at The Pub (that is the only name for this venue). For those not into country music Bill is Kasey Chambers' dad. I bought a couple of his CDs and a tee shirt quoting Bill saying "Don't be a dickhead", apparently this is the best piece of advice he ever gave Kasey. Kasey's mum Diane passed on her advice that you don't need to be a bitch to be strong, and you don't need to be strong to be a bitch. The picture is of Bill Chambers with bass guitarist Andy Toombes (who we know from our early Aussie Road Crew tours).

Coffee was essential after the late finishing show last night. We are headed to The Pub to see a Bill Chambers' concert.

On Saturday night we went to the Beccy Cole concert at Wests Leagues Club. The concert was wonderful but stage lighting was very annoyingly directed at the audience. I complained during the break after the support act and fortunately this stopped. Some people were ready to walk out because of the bright lights. There was a little rain Sunday morning thankfully dropping the temperature a few degrees. We made a short visit to Peel St to see the buskers and market stalls. I went to the Hillbillys' concert where their 11 year old daughter joined them on stage for her first Tamworth concert. She was very good especially considering she only started guitar lessons last November. Anita watched the tennis and cricket at Wests, and won a small jackpot on thepoker machines.

Still can't post with photos, so just brief updates The Kennards generator was tripped again on Day 2 before we even had a cup of tea. Some people don't think to turn off their air conditioning before boiling the kettle or burning their toast. We planned our escape before the inside temperature of our van reached 30°, then the power was back on. Our first free concert was the Bushwackers at Shopping World where we had to wait for a table at Coffee Club. We then went to the Albert Hotel to see Allison Forbes' show - she is one of the mussos we met on a couple of Aussie Road Crew tours. She is a great performer - half the audience were Roadie converts. The show was in a marquee fitted with a misting system to help keep the temperature down. Anita discovered parts of the system were more like a sprinkler so had walk outside to dry off - at 41° that didn't take long.

The power supplying our temporary caravan park failed in the heat on day one so the large Kennards generator had to be replaced. We couldn't make toast for breakfast, and our van quickly became a sauna. We went to Tamworth Shopping World for breakfast where there is undercover parking, good air conditioning, a Coffee Club and free entertainment. Chris and Neen came to lunch with us at the Glasshouse Restaurant at Goonoo Goonoo. No sooner had we sat down there in the cool dining room than their air conditioning failed!  It quickly got hot but we persevered and had a wonderful lunch. Our evening was spent at Wests Leagues Club for the Women of Country show. We met up with other "Roadies" met on our Aussie  Road Crew tours. On the first night of the festival there was the traditional free opening concert, but it is held outdoors. Since the temperature was still 34° outside, we made a wise decion to stay inside.

My posts keep failing so I am trying another way to post - without photos to see if it is a size problem. Maybe the problem is me as we had a very late night at the Country Turns Pink Concert which is a fund raiser for the McGrath Foundation. It was a fabululous night with Beccy Cole and Libby O 'Donovan performing their showgirl and the cowgirl routine as the final act. Anita was one of the successful highest bidders in the silent auction and is the proud owner of a pink cap signed by Glen McGrath.

For some unknown reason my posts of the Festival have failed. Hopefully this problem can be quickly resolved.

We left home today headed for Tamworth. Our wonderful house sitter Roz is looking after Coco, Miki and Riki for the next 7 weeks. We will spend 2 weeks at the Tamworth Country Music Festival (where the temperature is predicted to be 40-42 degrees for the next few days!). The following 2 weeks will be in the Bushtracker going wherever we feel like going. For the final 3 weeks we explore the North Island of New Zealand and catch up with some of my cousins. It was sad leaving our elderly critters this time. We miss our Max and keep expecting to hear her get excited as we approach each new destination. On the plus side we have heaps more room without 2 dogs and 2 cats in our car and caravan, which smell a lot better! Our overnight stay is at the Big River Holiday Park on the Clarence River 15 minutes out of Grafton. We have never been here before but will certainly come back. We are on a huge site overlooking the river. Water skiing is a big attraction here so there is a boat ramp. I was