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.