Wednesday...29 July 2015

Nullabor done and dusted!
It is a long long way to go just to see what is on the other side!
As well as the usual convoys of trucks, there were lots of caravans out there, mostly going east. It was sort of nostalgically nice to cross cattle grids again, been a while since they were a regular feature of our travels.
We stopped at the Head of the Great Australian Bight and spent a couple of hours whale watching. Apparently that particular spot is one of the Southern Right Whale nurseries and we saw at least fourteen whales and calves. Fascinating creatures to watch and the new board walk that goes right to the edge of the Bight allows the illusion of being close to them as they feed and frolic close to shore in total safety.

Of course we saw the usual push bike riders crossing the iconic Nullabor. The total count for our trip was 13 going east and 2 going west. I am not sure if I think they are completely off their rockers or if they are the bravest of the brave to take on that part of this enormously arid and empty country.
The road signage included warnings to watch out for kangaroos, emus, wombats, cows and camels. Sadly we saw most of the same animals as road kill, including a camel!
We camped out for two nights and at one of the spots we stopped for lunch, we found a tree with a beautiful aboriginal painting. Guessing it is an accepted meeting spot for various groups. I love dot paintings and of course the colours are always so vibrant.

Monday...27 July 2015

Today sees us head out onto the Nullabor. See you on the other side!

Saturday...25 July 2015

Pt Augusta to Ceduna. 456 km. Another long day but felt shorter because we were not constantly slowing down or stopping for town after town. Out here there is a long way between stops.
We will park up for the weekend so that Himself can watch the end of the Tour de France and then it is off to cross the Nullabor. Before we set off, I will cook up a storm and use as many of my fresh vegetables as possible otherwise I will have them taken off us at the SA/WA border control station. They took all our fruit and tomatoes back at the SA/Vic border. They left the vegetables, not sure why but the next mob always take the lot.
We have just been told that there are whales visible in the Great Australian Bight so might take a bit of extra time to stop and have a look as we go past that point of our journey.

Friday...24 July 2015

Buronga to Pt Augusta. 541 km. Via Renmark, Morgan, Burra, Crystal Brook and Port Pirie!
This was not the plan! However as always Himself got a little carried away with the driving. He says his bum is not as sore now but golly I think mine is!!!
Look out Ceduna, here we come!
Isn't it funny how the minute Himself looks like getting out on the wide open road he goes back into north west mode and drives all day?????

Thursday...23 July 2015

A big days travel today for Himself and his sore bum. Echuca to Buronga which is on the NSW side of the Murray River at Mildura.
We got up this morning in a pea soup fog which made the camp pack up a little bit cold and damp. Could not wait for the engine to warm up so that I could turn on the car heater. When we got on the road visibility was not good but we expected it would improve fairly quickly, but it stayed that way until nearly lunch time! As soon as the fog did finally lift and the sun was shining through the big front window of the ute, we had to put the air conditioner on! Crazy!
We have stopped for the night at a caravan park we have used before and bless them, they gave us a lovely drive through site so we did not even have to unhitch.  Perfect.

Tuesday...21 July 2015

Began our travels again yesterday.
Only up the road to the next big town but at least we are on the way!
A couple of weeks ago Himself had a coughing fit and initially suppressed the cough but then when he went to take a breath, nothing happened and down he went, crash bang boom! I think he passed out. As he fell he hit his head on the bench and his back on the cupboards and his bum hard on the floor. Anyway we got him back to his feet and he was walking alright but said his bum hurt. I said he should go to the doctor and he said not to be so silly it was only a bruise.
A week or so later he had to admit it was more than a bruise when it was uncomfortable for him to move around and to drive the car. We had been to visit the other daughter, a two hour trip each way and he was unable to sit for that long. So off he went to the doctor for X-rays.
He has a dislocated coccyx and can expect some discomfort for at least six weeks. This makes travelling difficult for him.  He is on pills for pain and anti inflammatorys. We have bought a foam cushion for him to sit his sore bits on and this helps but right now our best progress will be town by town instead of state by state each day! Mileage will be low and I can see us doing a lot of free camping to balance the budget but every days travel is another day closer to warmer weather.

Sunday...19 July 2015

Daughter and I went to the Sheep and Wool Show today. Himself went yesterday and stayed most of the day. We saw craft including ladies actually spinning fleece and weaving and knitting. We tasted jams and chilli's and ate burgers and donuts. We watched a shearing competition and a wool classing display. Having walked into and through every building we could find and watched the fashion show we headed up the other end of the oval and entered the sheep judging buildings. Ahhh, the smell, it never changes! 

Anyway daughter was in heaven walking around looking at all the beautiful Merino's and then we entered another building with various other breeds in it. With permission from the handlers she was allowed to "pat" a sheep and feel its lovely soft fleece. 

We heard a stud auction and watched a sheepdog trail. And to finish the day off we visited the display of black sheep. I can remember when being black as a sheep was a no no but now they are prized by home spinners for their natural fleece colours. 

Quite a day out and there is still work to do here at camp. Tomorrow is moving day and I must tidy the rig ready for the off in the morning. Then it is off to dinner with the daughter and a last play time with the grandchild before our departure.

I do like the facilities this town has, just not very keen on the winter chill. We will return when the weather warms up again and this camper is less grumpy!!!

Monday...13 July 2015

It is cold.
It is windy.
It is raining.
It is grey and miserable.
Apparently, it is Winter!
Do I feel like adding anything more?
No.

Thursday...9 July 2015

Still in the cold country. How people can willingly spend time in this much cold is beyond me. This is why I think houses must be warmer than caravans. I know caravans are cheaper to heat then houses but sadly the heat does not stay around very long in my caravan. We have a long list of stuff we must do before moving again but the cold has made getting them done hard. Still we continue to make plans to travel again soon.
Usually I love television at this time of the year. Wimbledon and the Tour de France and the AFL and the NRL and the State of Origin and for an added bonus we have the cricket happening too! I used to stay up half the night to watch Wimbledon and the Tour. Sadly I think most of the sport available now is unwatchable.
I gave up on ladies tennis years ago as I hate the way they carry on squealing and grunting. Nothing ladylike about any of that! And now the worst examples of unsportsmanlike behaviour is coming from two of our men. Disgraceful! These two should be banned from playing any of the top tournaments for a year and be made to earn their right to the grand slam events again. And channel 7 should refuse to show any of their matches on national television. Until there is cause and effect these idiots will continue to bring their sport into disrepute. I also wonder how they got to be so bad without anyone doing something to pull them into line much sooner.
The press is full of stories about the Tour and the AFL and NRL and drugs. How can we have any respect for the participants or believe in the results as being true and fair if they are running on illicit substances? And according to some sections of the media, the cricket is decided by the bookies!!! Such a shame that sport, the opiate of the populace, has been tainted so badly that it no longer holds any real joy for the average man on the street. I for one turn it off more than I turn it on. Really Sad.

Saturday...4 July 2015

Went into town yesterday and got a much needed haircut. While we were there we popped into the youngest daughters new store. Great shop, lovely staff. Could not resist such beautiful clothes even if they are a bit more than I usually spend and came away with two heavy bags and a much much lighter wallet! On the way back to camp we stopped off to visit with the new grandchild. What a happy happy baby. Always smiling, rarely grumpy.
A couple of people have commented on my recent posts about the caravan hiccups.
They have suggested that maybe the caravan is reaching its use by date. Not really, it is just ongoing break down and maintenance. If you think about your house and the leaking taps or broken pavers out in the yard or the big oil leak in the drive way or the crack in your shower screen etc, ours comes under the same heading. Just ongoing "stuff" that happens! And you only know about this because I write about what ever is happening in my day, good and bad. Mine may be a little more frustrating than yours or I may not handle it as well as you do and mine may impact on me more as I have no other alternative than to deal with whatever comes my way. There is no putting things off in a caravan! Things break, things get fixed, well most of the time they do, and we move on with life.....after I have a big or little sook about it depending on how much the event affects me.
The caravan is as sturdy as ever and still attracting a lot of attention. I have long since got used to the size and splendour of it all and find peoples amazement a bit surprising. We are still giving guided tours, and explaining the finer points of a fifth wheeler for full time travel. Several people have expressed interest in buying one, but so far none have come back with a healthy check book or their bank manger to talk to us!
We looked at a lot of property in Echuca last week but so far nothing has got us excited so we will continue to travel looking for a place to call home. Who knows, maybe we never will!!!

Thursday...2 July 2015

Moving day again. Echuca to Bendigo........sort of!
Up nice and early, have you seen how bloody cold it is first thing in the morning? Anyway, unlike some of the occupants of this caravan, I was up just after seven o'clock. I did have the alarm set for half past but the little room was calling me very loudly so gave up and just got up earlier than planned. Then we went through the usual routine of me calling him and him ignoring me or just plain rolling over and going back to sleep for a while before reluctantly getting up and getting started on the moving day routine. Hooray. Progress.
So we did eventually get packed up and hooked up and off we went, just before the mandatory ten o'clock check out time.  Five minutes later having just exited the caravan park and established our travel sequence there was an almighty metallic CRACKING that was loud enough to have every one walking in the street we were driving down, stop and look at us!
Now we all know this cannot be good!
As soon as we could, about five hundred metres further along our route, we pulled over to check out the rig. Hmmmm he says as he disappeared under the wheel area of the caravan. What what what I said as I wondered what the hell had happened. Himself eventually came out from under the caravan to inform me that we had a broken spring hanger. Yep, know what he means, keep breaking hangers myself!
Apparently not so simple. We had to unhook the caravan beside the road and I got to sit in it and be guard dog while he drove off to see what he could do about spare parts. So I sat with a cup of tea and a biscuit and a magazine and several crosswords and a novel and my phone to wait for his return. Three hours later he came back....... empty handed.
Next move was to ring the youngest brother and ask him for technical information in the form of local knowledge for likely places to acquire the needed spare parts. We also asked for a couple of lumps of wood of a certain height to help raise the caravan to enable the repairs to happen. Bless him he dropped everything and came to help. Thanks LB, much appreciated.
Himself eventually sourced the needed bits and then spent nearly an hour on his back in the dirt under the caravan to replace not one but two spring hangers as he found that the other one was also broken. Clever man bought four on the off chance he would need them so now he will make time and replace the other two as well and then we should have no further trouble with them as the ones he used as replacements are way stronger than the originals.
By now it was three thirty and we could finally head off to Bendigo. It was nearly five o'clock when we arrived and then we had another hiccup. The site we were booked on had been taken off us and given to a bigger rig that was staying longer. Damn! But the park owner personally escorted us to the area we were assigned and offered us a double site which is actually better than where we were meant to be. Win win for us.
We were way late for happy hour but golly that first glass tasted sooooo good!
By the time we got to site it was getting dark so we did a lick and promise set up and will fix everything properly tomorrow. We are way too tired today to bother any more.