Monday...30 December 2013

Looked outside yesterday and saw a large amount of smoke that looked like it was only a couple of large paddocks away! Turned out the distance could be measured in kilometres, but the fair sized fire required 19 trucks and two water helicopters to bring it under control according to the CFA website.

In the meantime both the daughter and I instantly looked for our men and wouldn't you know it, they had all left the property and they were not answering their phones, in fact mine had left his at home. We tried the two way and you guessed it, they had that turned off too. The daughter even drove to another property looking for them. Several lectures fuelled by varying degrees of frustration and fright were delivered on their arrival back home. They only made things worse by saying they knew the fire was there before they left and that as they did not deem it to be a threat, they didn't bother to tell us! I know who I will not be relying on the next time I see smoke!

Wednesday...25 December 2013

So that was Christmas 2013. This is our table ready for lunch. Very elegant.
We got up late, shared gifts then ate until we were stuffed. The meal was wonderful and we finished with pavlova and trifle. Then we all had a nanny nap and did it again for tea only this time we finished with Christmas Pudding.  A most pleasant day and our thanks to the daughter and her family for letting us share it with them.

Sunday...22 December 2013

It's raining! A nice quiet gentle rain.
Yesterday, with help from the daughter, I finished all the shopping I needed to do.
I am not a fan of Christmas, it has just not been the same since I left home all those years ago. Through the years I tried to keep the traditions going but like all the old ways things are changing and I must change with them so this year for the first time I have not even sent out cards. That sure feels funny.
We will be having the traditional dinner but I am not required to cook it. And as the daughter has a dishwasher I will not even have to do the washing up. Wonderful!
Whilst I do enjoy eating it, one of the 'traditions' I will not miss is sweltering in a hot kitchen to cook a hot dinner in the middle of the Australian summer. There is a lot to be said for cold meat and salad........
While I have been shopping up a storm, the men have been doing all sorts of jobs. They have cleaned the header and put it away now that harvest is over. They got the down pipes onto the gutters of the new shed so this little bit of rain can begin to fill the tank beside the shed. They have pumped water out of another smaller tank that is going to be the rain water supply for relatives who have moved from a farm into town and they have realigned one of the underground water pipes to bring water to the new shed.
This new shed is beautiful and we have parked our caravan partly into it. The front end hangs out into the yard but we have shade over most of the caravan. The dogs here love the shade under the caravan and we know to look under it if we cannot see them.
As we travel to the different parts of Australia we notice the altering wildlife.
This morning I heard a Kookaburra singing his song into the rain and of course we have plenty of the ever present pink and grey Galahs and Corellas. In the tree out the front of the house is a family of owls and somewhere nearby is at least one fox. The rabbit is making a comeback right across Australia as we are seeing more and more of them. There were a couple hopping around my sisters yard in the early morning most days while we were there.

Thursday...19 December 2013

Had fun at my sister's place for the last three weeks but have now moved back to our daughters in Horsham for Christmas.
Long drive in very hot conditions today.
When we arrived the weather was 42! It is now 11.30pm and the temperature is still in the high 30's.
I have the air conditioner running flat out and will not be turning it off any time soon!!! We have parked our caravan inside the new shed which is providing a lot of shade and will be handy over the next few days until the promised rain arrives to cool things down a bit before Christmas.
Will be very busy finishing my Christmas shopping and then it will be time to sit back and relax and enjoy the time with family.

Monday...16 December 2013

I have just about given up reading RealEstateDotCom.  It appears unlikely that we will find our patch of land at give away prices any time soon. I feel that while I am personally becoming a little needy to find us a base to call home, I am reminding us to be cautious of making a hasty purchase that will turn out to be a bad decision as time passes. Some things take time and time is something we have plenty of, God willing.
The weather is improving by the day. Yesterday was a pleasant 26 and last night was cool enough to make sleeping easy. Today is going to be 31 with gradual increases for the rest of the week up to 40 by the weekend. Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Friday...13 December 2013

Guess what? Estate agents have Friday off too! Different area, different agents, same result. Four properties we would like to look at have a "contact agent for address" notation. All attempts to contact the agents met with a recorded message saying the office was unattended and please leave a message. Seriously tempted to leave a message that says, "Never mind I will take my business to another franchise" and then hang up without leaving a call back number. How do these companies do business or make money? Do they ever really sell anything?  I swing between frustration and despair as our search for a permanent base hits all sorts of roadblocks.

Wednesday...11 December 2013

Yesterday we drove up to Echuca to meet with one of my many brothers and we spent the day looking at properties all over his district. What was surprising was the lack of selling agents available to talk to about anything that we were interested in. At every office we visited we were told that the agent was not in today but would we like their card so that we could give them a call? Is Tuesday the real estate rostered day off?
So we drove all over the place and got into and out of the car several times and walked all over town to read shop windows and now my legs ache. Finding a new base is hard work!

Sunday...8 December 2013

So my sister has gone off and left us home alone again! This time her excuse is a sister in law in need of help following an operation......or so she says.
Yesterday we went to a property auction, beautiful house and lots of land but too close to a very busy and noisy main road. We then spent the rest of the day touring the district looking at available properties. Still no closer to finding a base but I guess for every district we cross off our list of possibles we are that much closer to the final choice.
The weather is being a bit temperamental. Up and down and very hard to pick from one day to the next. Today is hot and still but we have storm clouds all around us and rain is forecast for tomorrow.
I have decided to stop sending out Christmas cards. Even travelling full time in a caravan I have managed to produce an annual Christmas letter and cards for family and friends but the returns have been dwindling so I guess that is another tradition that has gone by the wayside.

Thursday...5 December 2013

So the hot weather was followed by a solid 24 hours of steady rain.  Now our caravan is sitting in a fairly large puddle of water, I guess the rent will go up to pay for the water views. It has certainly cooled things off a bit so this has made life a little less sticky. It also seems to have removed the millions of tiny green flying insects that invaded the caravan for the two hot nights prior to the rain. And the absent sister has returned home from her bush camp. She was the only female in her camp and the only one to actually come home with one of the famous Murray River Cod. Well done Sis!

Yesterday we drove to Benalla to visit the old folk. It is only a short drive and well worth the time to go and see them. The rhythm of life adjusts when you take the time to connect to your past.
On the way back we stopped off in town and met with my siblings for a family dinner at a great little Chinese restaurant. These are very special occasions for me as there have been so few of them over the years because I lived so far away from the rest of my family.

Tuesday...3 December 2013

So my sister went off camping for Cod Opening. No sign of her returning yet, wonder if it is the scenery or the fish that are keeping her away? (I am sure it is not because I am parked up at her place!)
Been jolly warm these last two days, I have still not got the hang of being hot and soggy even after four years of varying temperature zones. I spent 35 years living in one of the hottest places in Australia, but everything there was air conditioned and while this makes life bearable it also tricks the body into all sorts of false feelings. Coming back to reality sure has a way of making one dream of "the good old days".
We have started looking at Tasmania again. It is still cool over there but right now I am thinking this is a good thing! Of course one needs to keep in mind that back on the mainland things are not going to be any less hot. Perhaps I will spend my old age doing summer in Tassie and winter in the far north!.

Sunday...1 December 2013

Nearly the end of the year already.
All over the world people will begin putting up their Christmas trees today.
And in our little patch of the known universe, it is Cod Opening Day, and since the early hours of the morning the road that runs past here has been like a super highway as dozens of happy fishermen with "tinnies" in tow head toward the local river in their quest to catch the famous Murray Cod. No doubt there will be many a tale told around the camps tonight of the ones that got away and those with bragging rights will increase the size of their catch with each re telling of the fight to land their prized haul.
Lets hope that there are no mishaps and that the fishermen enjoy a great day out.

Thursday...28 November 2013

On Monday we moved from our daughters to my sister's place for a change of scenery. The last couple of days have been very warm but as I type it is sprinkling gentle rain and the temperature has dropped off quite a lot. Will not take my eye off the sky just yet as it has been known to hail and storm in this district sometimes.
I love to visit my relatives. Every so often one of them comes out with a bit of family history that shocks or surprises the hell out of me. Its a bit like reading a really thick book over years and years rather than a few days.

Sunday...24 November 2013

Well the roof is on the daughters new shed, it has been a fascinating process to watch but must admit I am no longer a fan of  the constant noise and love the weekends when the contractors are not here! Only the flashing, guttering and doors left to do. Should be finished this week.
Today my foster mother is having her 80th birthday. She will be surrounded by love and the people she cares about so will no doubt enjoy her special milestone.

Wednesday...20 November 2013

Sitting at our daughters place in Victoria watching the contractors build a huge shed that is replacing several old smaller sheds. Fascinating to watch, it is a bit like a big meccano set, but now they are up to putting the tin walls on and in the process they are taking away my view of the surrounding paddocks. All I can see out my big window now is a tin wall! Must be time to move.......to another part of the property!
The weather has been crazy. Some days are clear but cool, some are wet and wild, and we have also had glorious sunny hot days. Today is cold, windy and murky. Think it will rain. One day we have the air conditioner on and today we are back to having the heater on and it is nearly the end of November. Crazy!

Thursday...14 November 2013

So here we are in Victoria. They are having their coldest, wettest November in like a 100 years or so and we are (un)lucky enough to be here for it! It is all in the timing and we have it down to a fine art.
I am sitting here with the newly acquired heater going flat out, waiting for the temperature inside our caravan to get to double digits before I attempt to get dressed.
On the plus side, all this rain is giving the new roof a workout and I am pleased to report that so far we are nice and dry inside. Very good news.

Monday...11 November 2013

Will I remember them? Too bloody right I will. I will remember every last one of the lousy caravan parks I stay at and I will tell as many people as I can not to go there! 

I am totally fed up with the attitude of some parks to Fifth Wheeler Caravans. Some park operators treat us as a lower class of traveller and they also think we use more of their facilities while we are in their park. We are not always given the warm red carpet welcome that normal caravaners get.

Like caravans there is two of us, we have an electric jug, toaster, microwave and fridge the same as them, in fact they often have more than us as some have inbuilt washing machines and dishwashers etc.  They are welcomed, we are often shunned and given impossible sites.

We were left for more than 7 minutes before being attended to on arrival yesterday, while the female manager took a personal call and got disgruntled when her husband pointed out that she had a customer waiting.

We did mention that last time we were there a particular site had been perfect for us but no, we could not have that one, she said it was booked! We spent the night and all next morning looking at that particular spot, that empty spot, in fact there were several empty spots that would have been much better for us that we were not offered.  Last night we had to shoehorn our van onto a site between two close together trees, making putting out our slides difficult, the site was unlevel and in the back row of the park and the sullage point was blocked. 

Did they care? Of course not! They had their money, our difficulty was of no concern of theirs. We could have left, but most parks have a no refund policy for leaving earlier than booked.

So there you go folks, stay away from the biggest and apparently the best park in Pt Augusta!

This entry has been heavily edited by Himself..........I can sometimes be a little outspoken when I am upset! (I still think my version is more accurate!)

Sunday...10 November 2013

Another Nullabor crossing done and dusted!
We took our time again and camped out for two nights making it a three day trip.
Last night we stayed in Ceduna and today we did another long haul and are in Port Augusta.
Of course we saw the usual push bike riders, we even chatted to a female French bike rider who was hitching a lift across the Nullabor rather than riding it, we also saw someone pulling a cart and on another occasion we passed two people running across the damned thing! The usual smattering of roadkill and large numbers of road trains and oversized loads rounded out another interesting drive.

Wednesday...6 November 2013

Much cooler night last night and a fairly pleasant day today.
Himself went off to look at the Mining Hall of Fame and Museum and the famous Superpit.

I had coffee with his aunt who came over to see the caravan for herself at last. She liked it, she really really liked it!
After a late lunch we took the tour of one of Kalgoorlie's famous Hay Street brothels. This was an entertaining, informative, educational and highly interesting couple of hours. The tour was conducted by the madam herself who has owned the business for 21 years and is very open and encourages questions. During our tour the madam actually turned away people as her little place was too full to fit anyone else in, so there you go, a madam who turned people from the door! Would not have believed it unless I had actually seen it happening.

I would have liked to look to see if I could afford a small gold nugget but by the time we left the brothel  my back was killing me from the long periods of standing and I know I am leaving myself wide open saying it but I could hardly walk and had to forget going shopping! Never mind, maybe we will come back one day and I can get one then.
Tomorrow we head off across the Nullabor. Last time we crossed there was not a lot of mobile reception out there so we may be off air for a few days.

Tuesday...5 November 2013

What a night! Himself turned the air conditioner off late in the evening as he thought it was finally cooler, I did not agree! Come morning I moaned about the lack of sleep owing to the heat, Himself muttered about the number of trains that passed us during the night. Seriously, I hardly heard them even though we were parked right beside the busiest rail line in Western Australia. That caravan park has the Great Eastern Highway as its front fence complete with the constant flow of trucks passing in the night on their way to Perth with their important loads of freight, and on the other side of that is the main rail line between Sydney and Perth with their competing loads of freight from the Eastern States. Constant and noisy. Not a lot of sleep.

We were up and travelling fairly early today, like everyone else in that caravan park!

Somewhere during the day the Melbourne Cup stopped a nation but we motored on stopping in Coolgardie to discover that Gai Waterhouse had won her first Cup with an Irish horse.

We made it into Kalgoorlie and met up with Himself's aunt who was pleased to see us and invited us to dinner at one of the local hotels and we have just returned from a wonderful dinner and lots of catching up She will come to visit us tomorrow for a first hand look at the inside of the travelling taj mahal. So hope she likes it.

Monday...4 November 2013

Picked up the van from the roof repair man this morning and headed off towards the eastern states. Very happy with the results. Just waiting for it to settle down and if it is as good as it looks we will be telling everyone how good it is along the way.
We passed the necessary bike rider and met the usual oversized loads. All is well on the state's roads!
The weather has warmed up at last. Not sure how I feel about that. I like warm, I do not do hot any more as the old body is not very fond of that. Still it is way better than cold......
Kalgoorlie tomorrow. Maybe we will meet up with some new acquaintances who are planning to head off on a holiday in the next day or so.
Himself says he intends to do the brothel tour. Can't fool me, he probably has seen it all already!!!!!!! I am hoping to find myself a genuine Kalgoorlie gold nugget, even if it is in a jewellery store......lol.
Tomorrow is Melbourne Cup Day. I guess the winner will be a horse. We will be travelling so will save our money and watch the replay when we make camp for the day.

Sunday...3 November 2013

Himself has been to look at the caravan and says the roof is fixed! Just waiting for the stuff to cure and tomorrow we can be on our merry way. Much excitement. He has gone down to the shed to use the roof man's scaffolding to clean and polish the rest of the caravan while the opportunity is there to reach all the high bits. He might get a bit warm as the weather is supposed to reach 36 today!

There is a group of people having a club meeting in this park this weekend, much chatter and laughter floating around our cabin as old friends meet and catch up with their news. The air down this way is crystal clear and every little noise travels quite a way!!

WOW! 29,000 hits, maybe my wanderings are interesting after all. Thanks for reading everyone.

Friday...1 November 2013

Dreadful night moaning and groaning in my broken sleep from the pain of a migraine. Himself was up early and headed off to the roof man's place to fetch the desperately needed pills from our caravan and I have spent the day pilled to the gills and sleeping off the headache and the effects of the heavy medication needed to bring it under control.
This is a beautifully maintained caravan park and today they were fixing their internal roads, trust me to throw a migraine on the day they are working beside our cabin. Most of the day there was machinery of all sorts working just outside my bedroom window, quite an experience!
Did get the bug spray and sugar so all is well in our household. No more sugar withdrawal for me and the mozzies  have been put on notice with a quick squirt of the spray.
There is birds all over the place. Tonight we saw a mother duck with her nine ducklings and several other ducks plus a whole flock of beautiful green parrots and a chicken wandered past too. I think maybe the ducks are safe but that chook should check the calendar, its nearly time for Christmas dinner!

Thursday...31 October 2013

We got on the road this morning at a fairly reasonable time, (for us anyway!), and had a trouble free trip down to the roof repair man. He seems to know his stuff and is confident of being able to fix our problem, so we are feeling a bit more positive. We left the caravan with him and checked into a cabin in the local caravan park, so it would seem we are having a holiday from our holiday. Given how hot it has been my first priority was to make sure the air conditioner worked. A quick trip to the shops for supplies and we have settled in. Tomorrows shopping will include Aeroguard and bug spray! And sugar, lots more sugar. There is never enough sugar in motels, hotels and park cabins. They give you lots of tea bags and coffee sachets but only ever put half a dozen packets of sugar in the welcome basket. I drink a lot of tea and run out of sugar quite quickly. Might have to source some headache pills too. I am supposed to be relaxing and I have another of my debilitating heads. Damned annoying!

Tuesday...29 October 2013

Finally! We have found a place that seems to think it can fix our roof problem.
Apparently there is a product that comes in a can like paint and is applied like paint but turns into rubber as it cures. It is very popular with caravan and boat people. A roof the size of ours is not cheap but it does come with a 10 year warranty and added side benefit of being able to deflect direct sunlight thus making things a bit cooler inside during summer plus they guarantee it to be water proof. What more could we want? At last an answer to our all consuming problem.
Nearly time for us to leave and when we do the caravan is booked in for the rubber treatment and then we will be off and travelling again. Happy campers at last.
As always it can be sad to leave some places but knowing we will be back eventually makes the leaving easier. And there is knowing that along the way we will meet new people and perhaps even meet up with old friends and enjoy new experiences as we wander around our great land.

Saturday...26 October 2013

So after waiting and waiting and waiting some more for the repair kit we finally have answers to our phone calls and emails. Seems the seller delivered to the courier but the courier says they seem to have lost it!
So today Himself has taken off on a day trip to the first place you come to on the other side of this town as he has heard of a place down there that repairs boats and caravan roofs with something that is painted on and then turns to rubber as it cures. Fingers crossed it is not another wild goose chase and that we can get an appointment this millennium to have them fix our problem.
Meanwhile the sun continues to shine. Still cool in the evenings but not freezing. This is much more to my liking.

Wednesday...23 October 2013

The sun shines! Oh the bliss of warmth on my skin.
Still no sign of the missing repair kit. Delivery was to have been two weeks, a month ago! Enquires are not helpful either. One confirms it has left, others insist they have no paper trail on it. Frustrating. Nice and all as this sunshine is, we really do need to start moving if we are to achieve the remainder of this year's planned itinerary. We watch the ebb and flow of the caravan park and we are not part of it. We sit and wait.

Saturday...19 October 2013

I do not believe it! It's raining again. Woke up to grey skies and the rain started before I had even got dressed. What is it with this town? Do they like being depressed? Instead of looking for dirt behind their ears in the shower these people must look for mould.
Grrr, definitely NOT a happy camper.
Yes I know the planet needs water to sustain all forms of life, but seriously just how much of this wet stuff do we really need? And.... how come fish stay wet all the time but they never go mouldy?
It has rained for 28 days out of the last 39 and it is not even winter! The gas and electricity mobs will be rubbing their hands in glee at the extra income from heaters and clothes dryers. I feel for anyone with small children. Too wet to play outside and too wet to get the washing dry.
Still waiting for the repair kit for the roof, but we need to dry off the water damage to the roof before we can repair it and this is becoming a game of hide and seek with the sun.
It's enough to drive a sane person to drink.....is it happy hour yet?

Friday...18 October 2013

Is it Friday already? But I have not stopped hurting from my outing on Tuesday, it cannot be Friday!
Still no sign of the repair kit for the roof and the clock is ticking.
But guess what? It did not rain yesterday and so far it has not rained today (although the forecast is for showers). Life is improving, even the temperatures are climbing, very slowly, but they are inching upward. I even took the extra blanket off the bed. Still got the flannel sheets and doona but being able to take off one blanket is a huge leap forward into warmer times. Maybe the cold, wet, miserable weather is slowly moving away at last. Unless we have an unexpected cold snap it does not matter that I cannot buy a heater as the shops are only selling fans now. Bring on the sun.
Himself has gone to buy various oils and fluids to give the ute a service before we tackle the Nullabor again. A few last bits of shopping and a final round of farewells and we will be off, back into the wide blue yonder as we begin another loop of this great land.

Tuesday...15 October 2013

After nearly 40 years we have finally ticked a long overdue box.
Today we were up before dawn to catch the ferry for a day trip to Rottnest Island.
While we were waiting for our ferry we were able to have a look at the Leeuwin II. It is a Tall Ship with over 810 square metres of sail and an overall length of 55 metres. It is a working ship and all voyage participants are expected to be involved in most aspects of ship operations, from sailing, steering and navigating to cleaning the ship and climbing the mast. Must be exciting for the lucky ones who get to work on her.

Rotto as the locals call it is an island half an hours boat ride off the coast of Western Australia and is loved by all for an affordable family orientated island holiday. The entire island is an A Class Nature Reserve which means it is a National Park and owned by the state and managed by the state on behalf of the people of WA. The only means of transport on the island is by walking, hiring a push bike, or on the bus that does loops of the island every hour on the half hour.

We began our day by jumping on the bus and riding it right around the island to get an idea of the terrain and layout. Along the way the bus slowed four times to give way to snakes and was constantly slowing as well to allow bike riders to move to the side of the roadway and let us through. After lunch we took the trip up to the old WW2 gun emplacements and the tunnel system under them. On arrival we were met by a volunteer island guide who showed us around.

The men in our group certainly enjoyed the event and the chance to get up close to a huge cannon. It definitely was good although a few of us found the many stairs and steps a bit daunting. Going down was super easy, but the coming back up was hard work for more than one of us!
Of course we eventually encountered the famous Rottnest Quokas. These cute little marsupials wander happily among the tourists and most of them seem to have no fear of humans.

We finished the day with a slow stroll around the main township and looked at some of the oldest buildings and the history associated with them before boarding our ferry back to the mainland.

A very good day out.

Saturday...12 October 2013

It's raining. Why am I not surprised!
Yesterday there was sunshine but it was cold enough to have a jumper on most of the day, today it rains and they tell me there is more to come. Would like to leave but there is still things to do before we can move on with our travels. Fairly certain this town will be on the do not visit again any time soon list! It is cold, wet and noisy.

Thursday...10 October 2013

Heavens, time flies as you get older. I can remember how it took forever when waiting for exciting events as a much much younger person, but these days the event is over and old history before I even have time to catch my breath and say well that was fun!
Our friends arrived in our area and we had a lovely time with them one afternoon catching up on the news of their travels and then last night we went to a pub for dinner and chatted our way through the meal and ended up being the last customers in their dining area and did not realise it until the staff rather nicely asked if we were finished. Back to our place afterwards for coffee and a heap more chatting. Such a good night. Do hope we can manage to fit in another visit before they leave on the next leg of their journey at the end of the week.

Sunday...6 October 2013

Caravan Parks can be interesting places. They are usually quiet on the surface but a hive of activity underneath. There are always people coming an going. Two weekends in a row now we have had groups attending weddings accompanied by noisy late night activity as these well oiled guests return to their accommodation! Surprisingly the same people manage to make even more noise early in the morning as they depart again on their way home after what was surely the best wedding ever (if they can remember any of it).
Yesterday Himself cut the wood to make a computer desk to fit along the back of our caravan. It will be nice having a permanent area for our communications.
Later today we will be visiting with old friends who are travelling around Australia on their retirement trip and are now in our area. Really looking forward to seeing them and hearing of their travels.

Thursday...3 October 2013

Back on the tourist trail yesterday. We went to The Pinnacles.
We saw Burns Beach, Yanchep, Two Rocks, Ledge Point, Lancelin and Cervantes, all places we have never been before even though they are within a couple of hours drive of Perth.
Yanchep was home to a some beach shacks until it was chosen by Alan Bond as a base for the Americas Cup challenge.
But anyway, back to the Pinnacles  Another of our natural wonders and quite something to behold. Formed 25,000 to 30,000 years ago after the Indian Ocean coastal winds eroded the surrounding sand, leaving the limestone pillars exposed to the elements, it was interesting to see the colour variation of the yellow sand created by the weathering of the formations contrasting with the pure white of the sand dunes from the nearby Indian Ocean. And there are so many of them, that was a bit surprising. These unusually shaped rocks have been likened to tombstones, termite mounds and even fingers. Vehicles must stay within the designated paths but people may walk around the formations, which allows for a close up look at the composition of the rocks. The formations vary in size and shape, some as small as a mouse whilst many are as big as 3.5 metres high.
The information centre had some good displays too. So very glad we finally went to see them.
Could have done without the mini bus load of Asian tourists who were noisier than a mob of parrots! Why can't they show some reverence for the wondrous works of Mother Nature?

Tuesday...1 October 2013

Now you would think that after more than two weeks of continuous rain, the local water storage would be near or at least close to the top of the dam wall. But it is still a fair way off the top. Maybe that will change as water filters down through the catchment zone. I hear that another storage is full and over flowing down south a bit. I guess it is not as big as this one. Note to the bloke in charge; we do not need to try harder to fill the above dam. A few days sunshine would be appreciated by the populace so that they can soothe their somewhat depressed souls!
Spent the last couple of days visiting with a special friend. We like catching up with her, she has such a warm and relaxing home. She sure is good at cutting wood for the wonderfully warm heater! And happy hour is long and happy. Perfect.

Friday...27 September 2013

On Wednesday we went out to a pub just around the corner from the caravan park to have lunch with some friends who we last saw in South Australia as they were driving from Perth back to Sydney. After weeks of non stop rain the sun shone weakly through the clouds and we lunched outside in the garden. I even got exposed parts of me to turn a pretty shade of dark pink! The food was lovely but the service was dreadful! Still it was nice to see old friends and the conversation was lively. After lunch we all came back to my place for coffee and to look at a new fifth wheeler that had pulled into our park the day before. It is the one our friends are considering trading up to from their King of the Road fifth wheeler.

Then yesterday we finally got our new toilet from Sydney. (Side note, must go to this Sydney place one day, it is featuring in our lives a bit lately!) There was a minor hump when we found out the plumbing fitted to our old toilet is 100 mm long and the new one needed to be 200 mm long! Himself went to Bunnings for another piece of water pressure holding hose and a couple of hours later we had a nice new toilet that works and looks good too. Of course it rained off and on all through the day which added a bit extra to the outside part of the job. Trips to the tap and to adjust the outside water fittings had to be done in between showers.
In the middle of all that, everyone chose yesterday to come and visit us. We had three separate sets of visitors over lapping each other throughout the day. With the water turned off so that Himself could work on the toilet, making cups of tea and coffee required buckets of water to be carried from an outside tap and in the middle of it all the power was turned off as the park is doing some building work. Quite a an effort to appear normal and not a demented new age camper who has all the luxury items but never uses them! Do hope our guests had a fine day out, we thought it was wonderful to see each and every one of them.

Tuesday...24 September 2013

Not much rain today, just gale force wind gusts. There are bits of tree everywhere I look. So far the trees in the park are staying in the ground but the wind is ripping their canopy to pieces. The weather must be making people nervous as the park is emptying out quite a lot. Starting to feel like a wart on granny's nose sitting here all by ourselves with empty bays all around us.
A positive side note to the empty park is that I had the laundry to myself all day and got my washing caught up and was also able to put it through the dryer without fuss. Bliss.
We would be leaving ourselves but we still have much fixing to do and we are waiting on several businesses to get back to us with quotes and completed services.
Wish we could pack up and head north again into the lovely sunny and warm weather up there. Either that or we need to find a place with a seriously good heater and visit for a while! In the meantime I have made a huge pot of soup and that should warm the cockles of our souls!

Monday...23 September 2013

We have been trying to be busy but it is difficult to get on with stuff we want and need to do in the continuous wind and rain. I have no doubt that this rain is needed to fill dams and reservoirs and that it is doing a whole heap of good somewhere, but personally I am over it. It has rained now for two weeks with only an hour or two of sunshine in all that time. We seriously need to fix our roof and we can go nowhere until it is fixed but Himself cannot do anything until it dries out which right now does not seem possible this side of Christmas! The frustration levels are rising. Because of all the half done jobs, the inside of our caravan looks like a bomb hit it and while we are lucky enough to have a bit of extra elbow room compared to a standard caravan it is still wearing thin to have to live in the mess for so long. Last night we had visitors who stayed for dinner and to make room for them I stuffed all manner of things into cupboards to tidy up a little and will now have to spend today sorting out those same cupboards again. 

Rain, rain, go away, do not come again for quite some time!

Friday...20 September 2013

Did you know that Ian Fleming, the creator of 007, wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
I do love a good musical. The music is by the same blokes who did Mary Poppins.

Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we love you.......Fantasmagorical!

And as I sit here writing of wondrously magical motor cars, it rains.

Thursday...19 September 2013

We have located a new toilet in Sydney and it is now on its way, the price was very very angry, I could get four toilets for a house for the price of one caravan toilet. Still looking for a solution to our roof problem as all places we have tried so far are not what we need.

It is still raining, that's nine days straight of wet stuff falling from the sky. If this keeps up our little home will begin to develop mould inside which will be hard work for me to eliminate. We already have mould on the vent covers.

We are slowly sorting our stuff again ready for another off load. I try very hard not to accumulate excess baggage but it creeps in while my back is turned and hides all over the caravan. The only thing I am sure of is that it is not me bringing it in!!

Yesterday I made Potato and Leek soup from fresh ingredients I picked myself. Himself had never had it before but he definitely likes it now.

Monday...16 September 2013

Last night we slept on our bed which is now fixed after much banging and cursing. Apparently three bolts had sheared off allowing a plate holding one of the runners to completely separate from the rest of the machinery that moves the bed in and out. Himself had to remove the entire bed box and base to access the broken bit. One hell of a mess but it was so nice not having to lever myself up off the floor this morning.
My job today will be to sort out the stuff that was stored under the bed before it is put back.
On the broken toilet story, we can buy any number of new cassette toilets but the supply of tank toilets seems to be limited and we have been told to check with the boat building suppliers. We have also been given the name of a business that deals in repairs to rubber membranes so maybe we will end up solving the roof issue too. The patch that Himself put over the problem is keeping us dry but will not stay in place when we move again.
The sun came out yesterday and there was a long line at the caravan park laundry as we all tried to catch up on much needed washing and cleaning. I settled for getting my only set of flannel sheets washed and dried and back on the bed. We are to have cold wet days again for the next week.

Saturday...14 September 2013

I am thinking that the warranty ran out on our caravan about five minutes ago!
First the rubber membrane on the roof perished, so we fixed  it but after driving down the road it has started leaking again. Then the toilet did not want to empty, so we fixed it but that too has broken down again quite dramatically in the wee small hours of this morning. And....now that we have had to take the mattress off the bed because of the water leak, it can be clearly seen that the bed has also developed a problem. Something in the underside workings of the mechanism that makes it slide in and out has gone wonky making the bed tilt down and to the front at the pillow end. On top of all that it is pouring rain and there is no sign of it letting up any time soon to allow Himself to make repairs of any sort.
I believe this all comes under the heading of the joys of camping. It is all fixable just a bit annoying and inconvenient. On the to do list now is to source and  price a complete new toilet and to cross our fingers that the bed issue is not going to be a big expense to fix. Still if we get all these annoying things fixed we can assume that nothing too much will go wrong in the next year or two! Lets hope they are not famous last words!!

Wednesday...11 September 2013

Interesting night last night. It rained! Heavily.
Not all that unusual, it does rain all over Australia at various times of the year. When I went to bed, snuggled down and reached to pull the doona over my head only to find my hand in a large patch of wet, I was not a happy camper!
Remember the boys doing the big fix on the roof not so long ago? Not sure what has gone wrong but I now have my big rubber foot soaking tub half full of water under the leak which is a bit more than a drip or two, and the mattress is now in the middle of our living area floor which is where we slept last night while listening to the thunder and rain as a big storm passed over us. I guess this means it needs fixing again!
Not sure when or how this will happen as the forecast is for rain for the next six days and the repair cannot happen until the roof dries out and will stay dry for a little while to allow the repair to set. On a positive note, having the mattress on the floor means the bed will be level.

Sunday...8 September 2013

I had an email asking if I was sick as I have not made an entry for some time.
For the record I am perfectly well, but typing my thoughts can be difficult whilst I am leaning sideways and slurring my speech. I know I do not have to actually talk to make an entry but it helps if my brain thinks I am capable of speech.
Our hostess is very good at making her visitors feel comfortable, she wines and dines her guests with the very best and as a good guest I have been happy to do my bit especially the drinking part. Now I always enjoy that but then I am not always able to find the right letters on the keyboard afterwards.
She is running out of wine, so we feel it is now time of us to hit the road again and continue our travels.
There will be more blog entries when the alcohol levels return to normal!
We have had a grand time here with our friends in Kalbarri. Every time we come here we find it harder and harder to leave. The town is very pretty, the ocean is awesome and the weather is usually very good. We always miss our friends and their two little dogs when we leave,but we know that one day they will come to visit us and will always have the welcome mat out should we pass this way again. Our thanks to them for the great stay.

Saturday...31 August 2013

Another month done and dusted!
We went out last night to one of the local restaurants for dinner. Seriously good food. For entrée, the men ordered oysters kilpatrick and the girls had garlic bread and wedges with chilli sauce and sour cream dips.These were all delicious to eat and the service was outstanding, but then we made the mistake of trying to have a main as well. The folk we are staying with ordered the seafood pasta dish each and I had the chicken parmigiana whilst Himself ordered the fresh caught local fish and chips. The chef certainly can cook up a storm, it is just a shame our eyes were bigger than our tummys! All of us were full after the entrée and we made a valiant attempt at the mains, but ended up sending large portions of it back to the kitchen at the end of dinner. Our waitress was laughing when she asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu! We did bring home a 'doggy bag' of the left over chicken for the two puppies for their lunch today. We have decided when we go next, and there will be a next time, we will only have one course.
Ah but wait, there is more. Today we were invited to the very same restaurant for lunch!
The men stayed home and had a toasted sandwich and the girls lined up again. This time we chose a simple dish each and shared. Even then I struggled to finish my meal. I should have just had half of something and stopped!

Wednesday...28 August 2013

The boys have put the new LED tail lights on the caravan. I guess they work as they have packed away the tools.
We had some very strong winds last night. There was rain with it but mostly it was wind, great rocking gusts of it. Had to keep turning the television up to be able to hear it. It become hard to stay in my chair such was the rocking inside the caravan. Today was cold and clear but late this afternoon it rained again and now the wind is picking up too. I can hear the ocean crashing loudly on the shore. Guess it is going to be another rough night. I hardly slept last night and to add insult to my nightmare some one rang me at 6 am and after waking me when I had more or less just gone to sleep, it turned out to be a wrong number! Sorry Robert, who ever or where ever you are, my name is definitely not Carla!

Monday...26 August 2013

Big rains yesterday. At one stage it was impossible to see the house over the road the rain was so heavy. Only got serious a couple of times but was useful for checking the integrity of the new roof repairs! Dry inside so all is well.
My turn to cook today. I did the famous chop casserole and had four people with full tummies at the end of the night. Maybe that will erase the memory of my lunch which left me in meltdown when it broke apart as it was being taken from the grill. Grilled ham and cheese never looked so sad!
The boys spent the morning digging up the back yard. The irrigation needed some attention. They found a magic water pipe that was able to conduct water onto the lawn without being attached to any other part of the system. Eventually they sorted the problem and now have a working sprinkler system.

Saturday...24 August 2013

Breakfast was cooked by our host this morning. Berry scones and a mixed berry pan size pancake to cut and share with fresh cream. Very tasty and lunch was cancelled as everyone is so full we simply cannot be bothered to make lunch and quite seriously no one has room for it anyway. Dinner will be tarragon chicken.
I cooked a cake and a slice yesterday. My way of helping my hostess keep the cake tins full for all the yummy morning and afternoon teas we have. And then there is happy hour. The only excess baggage in our caravan is being carried by the occupants! While we are in no hurry to go further south until it is warmer we may have to move on to lose weight.
Yesterday the men took the wheels off the caravan and serviced the wheel bearings, they found one tyre had a leaking valve so that too has been fixed. Until now our satellite dish has been travelling inside the caravan and moving outside at each new stop. Rather labour intensive. The men have made it a new home on the rear bumper of the caravan which is a much more sensible place for it to live.

Thursday...22 August 2013

Golly gosh it sure is windy here. Every morning it blows quite a bit but it does eventually settle down and become a very nice day. Have walked to the lookout two days in a row and collected a very pink nose for my time in the sun. It is so relaxing sitting up there and watching the movement of boats and people as they go about their day. Saw a dolphin yesterday but not seeing any whales now so maybe they have finished coming past here on their annual migration.
The men seem to be running out of things to fix which is good news, but this leaves them time to trawl the internet for more "stuff". Apparently we are now waiting for new LED tail light assemblies for the caravan! And we still need a new set of wheel arch thingys. One got damaged a year or so back when we had the tyre blow out that ripped it right off the side of the van and the other just disappeared. It was there at a particular fuel stop but missing when we pulled into a free camp later the same day. No idea what happened to it. Neither of us saw it blow away and it did not flap or hang loose prior to falling off. The only set back is that the new ones will be all shiny white and the rest of the van is starting to go cream with age.

Monday...19 August 2013

At last! The new vent arrived from America today so as well as having the roof membrane fixed I now have a new rain sensor vent over the bed. I can now open that vent and not worry about it raining while we are out. It also has a fan so if we are hot we can turn the fan on as well. Wonderful. Just waiting for the fixatives to set then we will turn the hose on and make sure the whole thing is really waterproof and then we can relax and enjoy the weather again. Very pleased.
As well as this the boys have fixed the toilet. Put my foot on the pedal a few nights back and the entire pedal and its fittings fell off the toilet onto the floor. I freaked! A bit of Aussie ingenuity and some loctite and it is functioning again. Mind you if it falls apart again we will need to buy a whole new toilet and they like everything else with the word caravan in the sentence will cost heaps. I do hope it continues to work, I rather like not having to leave the comfort of my little home in the wee small hours of the night when nature calls yells loudly, this is no doubt so that I can hear it even when the hearing aids are resting on the bedside table beside the false teeth in their glass!
The sun came out after three days of cold windy weather and so did some of the wildlife! Here is a picture I borrowed from another web site as our visitor did not stay long enough to pose for the camera, however it was exactly like this one and about three and a half foot long. As well as this visitor we also saw a bob tail lizard.

Thursday...15 August 2013

From lovely sunny weather to freezing cold in five minutes flat followed by rain. Just on sunset tonight the weather suddenly got quite cold and I stood up and shut the outside door and had not even sat down again when it began to rain. Now it is cold and windy and the waves are crashing loudly on the shore. Guess it is going to be a wild and windy night. Do hope our roughly rigged tarpaulin will hold up under the strain and not turn into a flapping sail that will encourage our caravan to rock and roll all night thus scaring the daylights out of me.
We have had a couple of quiet days, the boys headed back to Geraldton yesterday to fetch all manner of 'stuff' and while they were gone the girls went out to lunch. There is something so relaxing being waiting on while watching the comings and goings of an average Australian seaside tourist town. The food was yummy and the service was impeccable. The company was good too.

Monday...12 August 2013

Still got a seriously bad headache, the annoying thing has hung on now for three days and is wearing me down.
We went on a beautifully tranquil river cruise today. The tour goes up stream on the mighty Murchison River and the scenery is really quite spectacular. The water was dead calm and smooth as silk. A bump free ride.
The people who run this trip are very knowledgeable and obviously love their little bit of this magnificent country we all call home. They gave us morning tea along the way. Very nice.
We saw lots of birds and even a white faced heron which I am told is considered a rare sight. There was quite a few pelicans and terns as well.
Very pleasing to see so many other small boats out on the water. Plenty of locals fishing and others having picnics on the river banks. The local boat hire place put five sets of picnic tables along the river. Very community spirited of them.

At one point we pulled into the bank and everyone got out to stretch their legs. The more energetic climbed to the top of a small hill. Up past that hill was another that had a lot of small caves and we could clearly see some small kangaroos in one of them.
On the return to town we went and had a close look at the river mouth. Quite scary watching the waves crashing and rolling around in the channel. I am glad I did not see that before our trip through the mouth yesterday or I would never have gone on that tour!

Sunday...11 August 2013

Today I went on a whale watching tour. So glad I went. For the past two days I have been suffering with one of my funny headaches and everyone thought I would not be well enough to go but I said I was going even if I had to crawl onto the boat and have them lash me to the seat to stop me falling overboard.
The trip starts with a nice gentle cruise down the river to the ocean and then it gets really rough and hairy for about 30 seconds while the captain navigates through the mouth of the river and into the open ocean then it gets a bit calmer again. The rough bit is often called the washing  machine, the water is unpredictable and only a couple of weeks ago three people died trying to go through this passage, so I deserve a huge pat on the back for being brave enough to take the ride!
Once out to sea we spent more than half an hour looking for the whales and then we found two females and two calves with a chaperone. The little ones did their bit and leapt out of the water but the larger females only breeched a few times. A little disappointed that they did not splash their tail fins but still very pleased to have been out there and to see them in their natural habitat. There was even a couple of dolphins out there too.
Well worth the cost and the few shivers and shakes this non swimmer had when the waves turned rough or were seriously high.
The return passage into the mouth of the river was terrifying as the tide was coming in with us and the waves along the shore were huge and we had to turn side on to them to come through the mouth. Scary for me, thrilling for the boat people who like a bit of excitement in their day.

Wednesday...7 August 2013

Not a happy camper!
Got woken this morning, (before 6 am), by water dripping on my face. I guess this means that the roof still needs fixing. And the really sad bit is that it is not actually raining. There is a heavy fog out there and it is condensing on the roof and that water is finding its way through the perished roof membrane and onto my face.
Being a seriously unhappy camper I woke Himself to complain and was told that ordering a new roof was on today's list of things to do and then he rolled over, on his dry side of the bed, and went back to sleep while I was left looking for towels and buckets to protect the mattress. Part of me is running around trying to save the one and only mattress in our home, the other part of me thinks about filling a bucket with water and tipping it on his side of the bed! I hope the sun is going to shine today, the doona is wet too.
Meanwhile the list of completed jobs is growing. The kitchen bench has again been mended and the pot drawer has been given a much stronger catch to stop it opening as we travel down the road as has a drawer in the bedroom. The kitchen sink and the shower are ready to have new silicone sealant applied today. The cupboard above the computer desk has been straightened and the water pump has been muffled. The fridge is fixed and the storage cupboards near the bathroom have nice new stainless steel rails on the shelves to stop stuff trying to fall out during our travels. All fairly simple jobs but a lot of work when added up.

Sunday...4 August 2013

The boys went to Geraldton a couple of days ago and did a spot of shopping. This included a new element for the temperamental fridge. Now we are back in control of this badly behaved piece of equipment, now it is doing things our way and at a much much cheaper price than a new fridge!
Since their return the boys have been working steadily through the list of things that need fixing or tweaking and are making good progress. They celebrated the end a little early but I am sure they will eventually get it all done when they are well enough again!
On Friday we walked down or should that be up to the lookout at the river mouth. That is a view that no one could ever get tired of looking at. A pretty river running into that endless sea. Note to self, next time wear a hat to shade the eyes from the glare of the sun on the water, the sunglasses cannot do all the work on their own!
Last night we had the other long time Para people over for a lovely roast lamb dinner. It was a good evening. Sometime soon I shall be doing the iconic sunset wine and cheese river tour with these lovely people. Also the whales are in the area so we may be able to organise to go on one of the whale watching boats too. That would be very special.

Tuesday...30 July 2013

Yesterday we moved from Carnarvon to Kalbarri. Long day, big drive.
It is wonderful to be back with friends, especially friends who seem to like seeing us! And it was even better to be able to take all that food out of our caravan into their house. We have so much more living space now. The dog and its new sister were both pleased to see us too. So all is rosy in the Kalbarri region at least for now anyway.
The temperamental fridge is still having its little attitude attack. I had hoped that once all that food was out of it and it had a rest it may have gone back to working on electricity but alas this is not so. The only way it will work is on the gas which is ok but it cannot be allowed to dictate to us how it will or will not work! The boys think that a new electric element will fix the problem so I will keep my fingers crossed they are right.
We had a visit today from other long term Para people who also live here now that they have retired. Lovely to see them too.
The weather is quite cool in the early morning and late afternoons but fairly pleasant during the daytime. As I type this I can hear the pounding of the waves as they crash on the shore and the van is rocking a bit from the wind.

Saturday...27 July 2013

Still in Carnarvon. We were due to leave here today but have decided to stay a couple of days longer due to the current severe weather warnings. Most places south of us are expecting wild storms and high winds so we think we might just stay here until it blows over. Himself is not impressed, the wind has made it unsafe to go fishing! Twice now the fishing has been cancelled owing to high winds and rough seas.
I did a big shop yesterday ready to stock up our next hosts cupboards and fridge and then got home to find our fridge had developed an attitude (problem!) and defrosted itself. It is working again now under protest and the temperature is not what I would like it to be. I will be able to use it for the fruit and veg but all the meat and dairy has had to be put into the Engel to guarantee its safety and the little bit I had in the freezer has had to be thrown out. Might need a new fridge. Caravan + fridge = bloody expensive!

Tuesday...23 July 2013

Still in Carnarvon. The weather seems to have improved. Not so cold these past two nights and much warmer during the days. Mind you, just when I was beginning to think that being here was a good idea after all, I have noticed that there is a good chance of rain for the next three days and we all know that we cannot afford for it to rain as our roof integrity has been compromised! Fingers crossed.
Himself went mud crabbing today and is going out fishing tomorrow, weather permitting. As I do not eat much fish I am not too worried about the idea of him coming home empty handed, although others have put in rather specific orders!
Still learning about the various ways of the human race. We had a couple come in next to us the other day and while she set up their camp he had a phone call that eventually had me shutting my book and retreating inside to get away from his overly loud opinionated conversation. I noticed the lady in the site behind us did the same! He followed this up with turning off the park sprinkler and using that hose to wash down his dusty push bikes....on my side of the dividing site marker! They only stayed two nights which were blissfully quiet as nobody bothered to speak with them.

Saturday...20 July 2013

We were asked over the fence for dinner last night. We had a lovely meal, these folk are so warm and giving. We lost track of time and came home quite late which is unforgivable considering they had to be up and out in the paddock just after sunrise. They have a German Shepherd the size of a calf! It is very old now and quite arthritic but it is still one seriously intimidating animal to meet. It is also becoming a bit cranky in its old age and one of the other dogs has ten stitches to show for trying to take the old ones bone!
The weather has turned seriously cold overnight (5) and the days are sunny(22) but cool. Have had to get the trackie daks and warm jumpers out from under the bed again. It would seem that Carnarvon is having its two weeks of winter. Earlier in the week I was watching folk sun baking and now these same people are rugged up like Eskimos. Never mind, as someone said yesterday, it is still warmer here than down south.

Thursday...18 July 2013

Right, that's it, no more State of Origin for me. Very disappointing.
Maybe there is a tiddlywinks championship somewhere that I could watch instead!
Using the favourite aunts recipe, I have made two batches of zucchini slice, one for ourselves and one to send back over the fence to the people who gave us the zucchini which was decreed the tastiest zucchini slice they had ever had, quite a compliment coming from the growers. Today I am going to make zucchini bread using a recipe from a dear friend. The mob over the fence liked it too the last time we were here. Then for lunch I think we will have Bruschetta using fresh tomatoes that we have been given by the shopping bag full. If we stay here much longer I am going to look like a whale.
Will close today with a photo of the birthday girl on the roof top as supplied by her husband.

Sunday...14 July 2013

Barradale was as we had left it on our last visit, big and dusty! We got our favourite spot again and had a good night, just us and fifty other caravans and a few trucks. I spent a lot of time watching the road trains rumble down the road in the dark all lit up like a Christmas tree. Some of those trucks are really pretty at night.
We have got used to trucks with triple trailers and even four trailers which are becoming more common, so now when we see a standard one trailer semi it somehow looks a bit forlorn. I noticed there was quite a lot of one trailer trucks out in the dark which prompted me to comment that they probably travel by night so that they do not have to put up with the other truckies making fun of them!
We are now in Carnarvon and will stay a couple of weeks. Himself has already been over the fence to visit the farmers we met last time we were here. They were pleased to see him and he is going back for a chat later when they gather in the packing shed at the end of the day.

Friday...12 July 2013

Up nice and early, just watched the sunrise! Big and bright.
Today we are moving again, this time to a free camp called Barradale half way between Karratha and Carnarvon. Barradale used to be a roadhouse but when cars began to go further between tankfuls, it was closed and eventually bulldozed and is now a lovely big free camp which is usually very popular.
Very impressed with the Balmoral Road Caravan Park here in Karratha. Well managed and big enough for fifth wheelers. There are actually 15 of them in here. Most are permanent homes for people who are working in the area. We will be recommending this park to other fifth wheelers.
Himself went for a drive yesterday to check out Dampier and the Burrup. Its all still there but apparently it has grown enormously in size. The boats are still coming in to be loaded with iron ore and the gas flame was visible more than 30 km out as we came down from the north. That is a seriously big flame!

Monday...8 July 2013

Karratha.
So much to see. Changes. Memories. Sights. Sounds. Smells. Sunshine.
Staying for four days to visit a lady who can perform magic with numbers!

Sunday...7 July 2013

Life just keeps getting better and better. Pardoo has mobile reception now! Nice surprise.

Friday...5 July 2013

Left Derby yesterday and came down to a free camp 120 km south of Broome called Goldwire. We have been here before and for some reason we have internet in the middle of nowhere.  There is a Community down the road a bit so think that explains it!
From here on until we reach firstly Karratha then Carnarvon our reception will be very hit and miss. Coming up next is our favourite nowhere place, Pardoo. Nothing more than a roadhouse with a patch of grass behind it but we like it although it is one of the communication black holes. There is one old fashioned very unloved and abused phone box out front and that my friends is the total capacity for communication in that neck of the woods.
We have managed to chew through our internet allowance for this billing period so not having it will not be much of a bother will it? I understand that Telstra has slowed my connection to zero speed, but I am not happy that they also choose what I can and cannot access while in slow mode. I can have emails and do Google searches and my blog it seems and that is pretty much it. Nothing else will load no matter how patient I am. Do wonder why the current plan has been ok for the past three years but has begun regularly running out before the end of the billing period. We have not altered our behaviour and depending on where we are travelling can be off air for days at a time. Oh well, it is off to the black hole again so Telstra will have to wait until we come out the other side! Sadly I know they will not miss us!!!!!

Tuesday...2 July 2013

This morning we decided to take a drive out to see Wandjina Gorge and Tunnel Creek.
They are 140 km and 180 km respectively out of Derby along the Gibb River Road.
We have been on the Gibb River Road!
It was a long day full of surprise.
We stopped at the Gorge first and found stunning scenery and lots and lots of freshwater crocodiles. There they all were, sunning themselves beside the waters of the gorge. At one point we were able to walk right up to them, well some were willing to get up close for photo opportunities while others kept a very healthy distance. We have not seen so many in the wild at one time before.
Wandjina Gorge is somewhere you definitely have to see to appreciate the grandeur and scale of the place.

After walking into the gorge and back, we had a picnic lunch then went on to Tunnel Creek. Himself went into the tunnel which is more a cavern and came back with lots of photos and half a dictionary worth of words to describe the beauty of it all.

Monday...1 July 2013

We arrived in Derby safe and sound.
We travelled from Kununurra to a wonderful free camp half way between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing called Mary Pool. The access to this hidden gem is via an exceedingly bumpy river causeway crossing but the arrival is worth the fuss. Mary Pool is a very popular spot beside a river in the middle of nowhere and is packed each and every night with grey nomads. There was more than fifty vans parked up the night we stayed. It is a 24 hour camp but some folk like it so much they stay a few extra days.
We bumped into people we had met in Kununurra, at Mary Pool. They too have imported a Patriot edition Crossroads Cruiser, so we are a matched pair when we park next to each other. They are travelling the path we will be taking so may see more of them.
We passed some runners out on the road. They were carrying burning torches like the Olympic relays do. The support vehicles said they were a Peace Run. I have Googled them and this is what I found.

The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run is a global relay that seeks to promote international friendship and understanding. Since its inception in 1987 the Run has traversed over 100 nations and touched the lives of millions of people.

Apparently they are running around Australia to promote peace and understanding. They looked very small out there in all that open country. I wonder what the cattle and other animal life think of them running past.
Yesterday we went from Mary Pool to Derby, another long haul day. We will stay here a couple of days and top up the fresh vegetables and bread before moving south again. I may even be able to get a much needed hair cut!

Friday...28 June 2013

So we have had the second coming of Kevin 07. If he does not fall off his ego again, maybe he will do a better job this time. Who knows, who cares!
The state of origin is now 1-1. That should make game three worth watching. While we wait for that we have  Wimbledon to keep us amused.
The two local teams played a derby tonight on the oval beside us. No idea who won, but the after party in the club rooms is 'going off'! The music is great, all the old classic rock legends and an occasional Neil Diamond one for good measure. I have turned down the sound on Wimbledon to listen. Himself just came in to complain that they are playing his most hated song! Poor love, but never mind it will be finished soon then he can go back to enjoying the free entertainment.
Moving south tomorrow which will put us into another communications black hole for however long it takes us to reach Derby, probably a couple of days unless we come up against flooded creeks or road damage, then it may take longer. We have extra water, fuel and food in case.

Wednesday...26 June 2013

So we have sat here for nearly three weeks, just resting up and enjoying the nice warm weather. It is now time for us to move slowly south. Just one small problem. South of us got 209 mm of rain a couple of days ago and there are road closed signs all over the place due to flooding!
On the positive side of things, we are not under water or bogged to the axles in mud, which we would have been had we moved any earlier, but it sure is going to make the journey south interesting. Here is a picture of the road south. We all know the water will disappear as fast at it arrived but it leaves a lot of damage behind that needs to be assessed and repaired. It also takes time for the land to dry out and go hard again. We will need to be careful and not get off the bitumen as the sides of the roads will be extremely boggy.

For the last couple of days there was a collection of fifth wheelers here and I have dubbed our impromptu gatherings the Kununurra Fifth Wheel Club. It has been a good opportunity for the exchange of information between people who actively travel and live in their vans. One bloke broke something under his van and has been waiting for nearly two weeks now for replacement parts from Sydney. He heard this morning they have arrived in Perth and will be on the next truck north. He was so excited, we hated bursting his bubble by telling him the roads are closed!

Sunday...23 June 2013

So the circus came and has now gone. Himself walked to the shops and the big top was up and there was a performance on and when he got back not even an hour later the show was over, the big top was down and folded and some of the caravans and assorted other vehicles had already gone from the site. No doubt about it, time is money and this lot sure have it down to a fine art. Their rhythm and organisation is extraordinary.
We had a busy day ourselves yesterday.
We started with a trip to the local Saturday morning markets and on the way home we noticed another fifth wheeler making camp so we went for a look. There are now four Cruisers and five fifth wheelers all up in this one little spot. We were invited to stay for a cuppa and much laughter and information was shared. Then after lunch some came to our place and we chatted all afternoon about the various things each of us has done with our vans. This was followed by happy hour with our immediate neighbours who have a Winnebago. At last I have seen inside one of them too! Its a shame the folk next door are so nice, it means I cannot say rude things about their Winnebago.

Thursday...20 June 2013

So the circus has come to town!
They are in the gymkhana grounds next to us. We can see camels, alpacas, horses, cows and apparently they also have cats! Hmmm I wonder what sort of cats that would be. Today they put up the big top so I guess there will be a show either tonight or tomorrow night. Might get noisy.
Our little camp is becoming quite crowded. The annual migration is obviously in full swing as more and more people and vans arrive each day, all excitedly going somewhere of interest to themselves.
I heard yesterday that soon there will a round of the WAFL (West Australian Football League) played under lights on the oval beside our van. The locals will enjoy that one. They really like their footy.
Went down town to book a tour of the Argyle Diamond Mine, however the two staff in the booking office were both on the phones and although we waited, and waited, and waited some more they never did finish their calls, so we gave up and left! Maybe just as well, it might have been expensive!

Wednesday...19 June 2013

For the third time in less than two weeks they are mowing the show-grounds oval. It took someone an entire day of stop start work last week to mow it. Just the oval, not the surrounds as well. I did comment at the time that I would not hire that person to cut hay on a farm. Then earlier this week they mowed it again and I thought that perhaps they were using this oval as a training course for mower operators but no, here they are back again, round and round they go, so far two hours and it is still not done. And they are using a ride on mower and not a push one!  Why do I comment? Because today they started at 6.59 am! 

Such enthusiasm and dedication is to be admired.....from 30 km away! Sadly for us they are only 30 meters from our van. I do know that the local agricultural show is in July and no doubt some of this is preparation for that and it does get a bit warm in the middle of the day here but if they are going to use this space as an overflow caravan park, a bit of thought would make for much happier campers!

It is hard work keeping the eyes closed when the sun gets up super early but having a mower going is like having an alarm that you cannot turn off, you cannot even push the snooze button on it. Bugger! Gonna be a long day!

Saturday...15 June 2013

Moving day....except we changed our minds and stayed for a little bit longer.
Yes I know I said it was hot but it is so easy to slip into some old habits and getting used to the heat was one of them!
Its sort of winter here, the day time temperatures have dropped into the low 30's and the night time is under 20, which means we can sleep so apart from it being dark by 5 pm there really is not a lot to complain about.
And tonight we may be part of a bit of Kununurra history and see the very first game of football played under the brand new lights which have been installed and adjusted during the week here at the Showgrounds.

Wednesday...12 June 2013

Golly it is warm here. Yes I know I used to live in this sort of environment but somehow I have grown soft in my retirement and am really feeling the heat. Early morning is nice, cooler than the middle of the day anyway, and once the sun goes down it is more bearable. It is just that four or five hours in the middle of the day that stings a bit! We have been just sitting, reading, doing crosswords, playing games on the computer and admiring the view outside our air-conditioned  caravan!
The cost of a caravan park is much higher in the west than over east but we are seeing a rapid rise in park fees around Australia. The parks quote higher operating costs and we have no doubt there is some truth in this as the price of utilities such as power and water rise, but we feel they are pricing themselves out of the market. They grumble and groan because people are using free bush camps more than caravan parks, but the people are doing this because they cannot afford the fees charged by the caravan parks everyday. Catch 22. The parks say they have to charge more because they are not getting the customers, the customers say they cannot afford the parks because of the price increases.
There are one or two parks that have lost us and we will be passing the word to others as we travel and this is because we were charged extra for being a big van. There is still only two people in this van, we do not use any more power or water than anyone else. We do not have any facilities or fixtures that are not in other caravans in fact I can think of a couple of things we do not have that they do and some caravans are actually longer than us if you add the length of their draw bar into the equation and yet we are now being charged more because we supposedly cost a caravan park more to have us stay.
From here on we will be saying no thanks to any park with that policy and if necessary we too will free camp in those areas.
Might be time to start looking for that "paddock"!

Saturday...8 June 2013

Saturday already. Where did the week go? Oh well never mind maybe I will find it hiding around a corner somewhere next week!
Big day today. We packed up and left Katherine by 9 am and headed off with a plan to go to Timber Creek, but we had such a good run we were there before lunch and decided it was way too early to stop, so continued with a new plan to stay in a free camp half way between Timber Creek and Kununurra. You guessed it, the thing was full and it was still only mid afternoon, so we decided to head to Kununurra and then realised that we were about to get 1.5 hours extra time by crossing the border into WA which meant we were arriving just after lunch instead of mid afternoon, so 509 km later here we are in Kununurra. This meant we got an extra hour and a half in our day but it also meant we had to wait that extra hour and a half for happy hour!
Passed a nasty accident during the afternoon. A road train cattle truck had somehow tipped over the back trailer and whilst the driver seemed to be shaken but unhurt, sadly some of the cows were not so lucky. Very distressing.
On a lighter note we got the usual Welcome Home at the border quarantine station. The lovely people who work there always say that when they see a WA number plate. I look forward to my little welcome reception.
We are parked up at the local show grounds and got a treat this evening with a round of the local football being played on the oval beside us. One of the Kununurra teams played a team from Halls Creek. The home team won.

Thursday...6 June 2013

A funny thing happened on our way out of town today.....
We came to Darwin last week to visit Himself's sister and her family. We checked into our usual caravan park at Lee Point just down the road from where his sister lives and works.
On arrival we did a walk around the caravan park as is our 'thing' and noticed that there was a half dozen other fifth wheelers in the park. One of them was not real close to us, but it was in our view whenever we went outside. Nothing unusual in that. They were even towing their fifth wheeler with a nice gunmetal grey F250 and every time they drove past us they tooted and waved. One of those fifth wheeler acknowledgement things.
So today we had just finished packing and hitching ready to leave Darwin when the owner of the other fifth wheeler walked past us on the way to the little shop at the office. I said to Himself that I thought the bloke looked like someone we used to know. He shrugged and wandered off for a bathroom break prior to departure. While I was waiting this particular fellow came back past us and stopped, looked at our number plates and said to me, "so what part of the west are you from?". My reply had him taking a backward step with his jaw dragging on the ground!
He is a very tall, football playing, plumber who used to employ one of my son in laws in the north west town that we spent so long in.  Small world. We had heard these folk were out on the road but what odds would you give to them being in the same caravan park in Darwin as us when we have not seen them in probably 20 years. We had a lovely quick catch up chat before hitting the road an hour late!
We are now back in Katherine for a couple of days on our way to the west. Tomorrow I must cook up a storm to use all the fruit and veg we have on board so that we do not have to hand it over at the border crossing at Kununurra.
Today on arrival at this park we went for a dip in their pool. It was very hot and I found a little pool just perfect for the non swimmer. Apparently this is called a spa. I like spas! All those bubbles, just like in my wine! Not keen on bathroom spas but I want a back verandah spa, the sort that has its own lid to keep out the bugs and leaves.

Monday...3 June 2013

I take my hat off to all those who live full time in the Top End. It is definitely not for me.
At this time of the year, Darwin with a slight breeze blowing is a lovely place. It is cooler without being cold and warm without being too hot or muggy. Every time I sit outside to enjoy the breeze, every insect for miles around comes to chew my tasty skin! Yesterday even the green ants tried to get in on the fun. I am covered in itchy bites. Time to find the antihistamines!
We went into town to the Mindl Markets last night. It is always good to see these markets. I like to find a spot to sit and just watch the mix of people that come and go past me. After a few visits the stalls feel a bit stale but the sheer number of them is astounding and the array of food stalls certainly get the taste buds doing overtime.

On Thursday we had tea with Himself's sister and then on Friday we met her for lunch and on Saturday she had us over for a bbq with some of her family. Yesterday we popped in for a short visit on our way to the markets and watched a bit of AFL on the television with them. Himself's mob really like their football.