Tuesday...29 September 2015

The friend I am visiting has only one serious regret in her life and that is that she never got her drivers licence.  Now her husband is a wonderful fellow but he does get tired of having to stop what he is doing to take her to the shops to fetch the groceries she needs to provide all this extra yummy food we are all eating. So we have a sort of a deal. When I am in town, he is happy for me to use their car to drive Miss Daisy to the shops. This works well for all of us. I get some much needed driving practice, he can continue doing man "stuff" with Himself and Miss Daisy can shop her little heart out as long as I am available to drive her. We have had some exciting trips to the shops and the markets etc, and it is nice to be able to browse the stores without the men groaning about how long we are taking. Along the way she has learnt some new words to add to her language skills. I am quite vocal with my opinion on the behaviour of the other drivers on the road! Seriously I do wonder how some of them passed their test. They make you wonder if they actually have a licence and while I am not as good as some I can at least park my vehicle properly between the lines of a parking bay.
Yesterday afternoon I wanted to nap but Miss Daisy wanted to shop! Heaving huge sighs of discontent I gave up my nap and took her to the shops. The outcome was a dessert so divine that we made lots of noises while eating it and the visiting dinner guests asked for the recipe! Another gloriously triumphant dinner. The main was Roast Pork with all the trimmings and dessert was Tia Maria Chocolate Sauce with Strawberries over Vanilla Ice Cream. Today's lunch was Chicken, Spinach and Feta parcels in Fillo pastry.
Is it any wonder we are in no hurry to hit the road again?

Wednesday...23 September 2015

Himself got his F250 back from the paint and panel shop late on Monday afternoon. It does look nice. He had the roof and bonnet resprayed as it was deteriorating rather badly and looking seriously patchy. Along with the paint job came a nice new windscreen. To paint the roof and bonnet properly they needed to take the windscreen out and the old one was due for replacement as it had several nasty stone chips in it. Then Himself and his mate noticed that the headlights looked tired so they ordered new bits and have done a renovation on them too. Himself also got out the vacuum cleaner and gave the inside a real going over before "stuff" went back into it. Hmm Hmm, all nice and new again.
While they were busy out front I got busy out back and did the washing. If this keeps up we are in serious danger of being described as "active" again!!!
The weather yesterday and today has been glorious. Cool in the morning but once the sun gets with the program the day is wonderfully warm and then it cools off again around sunset. Perfect!
My recipe collection is increasing daily as Her indoors is cooking up a storm. Who would want to go to restaurants when you have your own at home? Yesterday was Chicken, Feta and Spinach parcels in Fillo pastry. Today's lunch was Spinach Quiche and tonight dinner is Scotch Steak, Eggs and Chips.The other day we had Rhubarb cake and Rhubarb and Apple Crumble has also been on the menu. I love visiting these people. I always leave a few ton heavier but it is SO worth it!!!!

Monday... 21 September 2015

Yesterday I helped the friend we are currently visiting, cook a beautiful home made lasagne and my friend made a "to die for" apple and rhubarb crumble. Then her daughter and partner arrived with a couple of dozen oysters which made the perfect starters. Wonderful night, great food, much merriment. The evening ended with us teaching the friends daughter how to play the new board game that has kept us all entertained during this current bout of wet weather.

I  have sorted and packed as much of our stuff as I can in an attempt at tidiness and in readiness to travel again. Living in such a small space means you simply cannot let anything get away from you. I spend a large part of my down time putting away and tidying up. Cannot believe we have been here two weeks already. Time surely does fly when you enjoy where you are and what you are doing. 

Saturday...19 September 2015

We  had a couple of days of beautiful sunny weather, warm enough to take the coats and cardigans off. Today it is cold, wet and very windy! Do hope the worst of this changing weather is done by the time we set off on our travels again. We would save on fuel but I seriously do not fancy being blown back across the Nullabor!
The new leg has arrived and been fitted so we are no longer legless. The boys have looked at the slides and discovered that the couch is causing it to tilt and to work hard going in and out. Honestly we cannot work out why such a heavy couch has been installed in a caravan. It is so heavy that when they moved it, the slide rode in and out very easily. Himself and I went on a new couch hunting mission around the available furniture stores in Esperance, (choice of three) but were unable to find a suitable replacement. We will continue to look as we continue our travels.
The spray painter called yesterday and said we can have our car back on Monday, it is finished but they wanted it to sit for a bit and allow the paint to settle properly before giving it back to us so that is another job taken care of.
Himself get the hose out yesterday and gave the caravan a good wash so it is all sparkly clean and looking loved. No doubt our friends and their neighbours will like seeing the sun gleaming off it when we finally get sunshine again.

Wednesday...16 September 2015

Talked the friends into trying a new board game.
Think we have created a monster!
She loves it, she is addicted to it, she wants to play day and night!
No dementia for her, it is a game that requires strategy and lots of thinking.
Seriously we all enjoy playing this one.
Great way to kill a rainy day.

Sunday...13 September 2015

After a few days of absolutely glorious weather, it has been raining now since mid afternoon yesterday. Oh well I am sure it will return to sunshine eventually! And I did get my washing done and off the line before the rain arrived so not too much to complain about.
What to do when it rains?
Lets play a game she said. Oh what game we said. A game about Australia she said. Oh the sounds interesting we said (been there, done that, smirk smirk!). Well guess what? It is much harder than it looked and it is amazing just how much about this great land of ours the average person does NOT know. A fun time was had by all with much laughter and moans and groans when the contestant was sure they had the correct answer only to find out they did not! Will definitely be playing that game again, great fun.

Himself and his mate that we are currently visiting have been busy working their way through the list of things that need doing to maintain our rig. They have pulled out the front leg to look at why it is not wanting to work and discovered that it needs replacing so a new part is on order and is due to be delivered toward the end of next week. They have put new strips of anti slip on the front door steps, the old ones were beginning to look a bit ragged and were becoming a safety issue of their own, the F250 has been booked to have the roof and bonnet repainted and when it stops raining they will adjust the slides. Nothing major wrong with the slides, the mechanism that works them gets a bit slack with constant use and needs regular maintenance to stay level. Then we should be all good to go back on the road to continue our travels.
No rush, we are having great fun here in Esperance.

Thursday...10 September 2015

Still in Esperance, still having a great time.
Good food, alcohol, good friends, lots of warm, wet kisses from the puppies.
It's the perfect world for wandering nomads.

Saturday...5 September 2015

The noisy neighbour shut down his noise way sooner than expected and peace and quiet settled over our caravan. I have had a good nights sleep and my attitude has been adjusted accordingly!
When we arrived yesterday lunch was home made pea and ham soup. Have already asked for the recipe as it is way better than mine. Dinner last night was slow cooked lamb shanks. Divine!
This house has two adorable long haired miniature dachshunds and bless their little hearts they appear to have remembered us. They initially came out the door barking furiously and then as soon as Himself spoke they stopped barking and started "talking" to us and jumping for joy around our feet.
The weather today is looking a bit dull and dismal right now but perhaps it will brighten up as they day goes by. Bit like me really, I start out slow and miserable and improve as the bones and muscles remember how to work each day. Fingers crossed the sun gets with the program.

Friday...4 September 2015

Yesterday we moved from Mandurah toward Esperance.
We ended up free camping on the side of the road about half way between Newdegate and Lake King. We had thought we might try the caravan park at Newdegate but wouldn't you know it, yesterday was Day 2 of the Newdegate field days.
As we travelled toward Newdegate from Wagin the oncoming traffic seemed unusually heavy for the area and we found out as we approached Newdegate that the annual field days were just ending for this year and all that traffic was visitors and exhibitors alike slowly making their way back home after the two day event. What a shame we missed it. When we lived up north we often saw the ads on television for this big event and here we were at last in the area and did not know it was on and missed it! Bother!!!
Anyway there did not seem to be much point in trying for a spot at the small local caravan park so we continued until we found ourselves a fairly large parking spot and that's where we chose to stop for the night. Middle of nowhere but once again, wouldn't you know it, as we took off this morning just a few metres down the road from us there were other campers who had done the same thing.  You are never truly alone in this great land of ours.
After a fairly pleasant drive of just on 300 km we arrived at our friends house in Esperance. How lovely to see them again. It has been just over two years since our last visit. I sit in my caravan in their back yard listening to one of their neighbours being very loud and reminding myself that it is Friday night and one needs to cut the noisy neighbour some slack so that he/she can enjoy their time off, when all I really want to do is find them and smash their noisy sound system into firewood as I am very tired from our travels and did not sleep well last night and was really looking forward to a good sleep tonight! Perhaps we will have better luck tomorrow night.......

Wednesday...2 September 2015

We have had nearly a month in Mandurah and I have to say, the weather has not been the best! Today was to have been fine and sunny but sadly it was windy and overcast. Most of our time here it has been raining and windy. A shame really as tomorrow we move on again and will take with us a rather poor picture of what is usually a lovely spot. Oh well, we cannot win them all as the saying goes. Better luck at the next stop.