Day 68 – Last day in Tom Price
Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 08:35AM Moving on tomorrow & we are all excited. Packed up most of the van today, tomorrow its just a simple matter of unhooking the hoses & power lead, rolling in the awning & hooking up the car and we will be on our way. We could stay here an extra night & leave Friday morning but we are so eager to get out of here that we will leave tomorrow and probably camp in the bush somewhere on the way to Pt Hedland.
We went out for dinner tonight, Tom Price has a very limited choice of eating establishments, there is the Mess at the camp in town, this is where the workers eat, but some enterprising individual (or greedy bastard) decided that they would allow tourists to eat there for $35 a head, all you can eat!
But we decided we wanted a change and went to TP’s one and only Thai Restaurant! It is called The Red Breeze. And on a scale of 1 to 10 it is probably about a 2.5…. But it was awesome, we booked for 515pm to fit in with Annie’s sleep (& mood) times! And we were fed & home by 630. It was not bad and the best thing was it was a change of scenery for us all.
I worked today, I went out to the site & spoke to about 50 or 60 guys & girls that had just flown in from Perth on their days off. Anyhow I told my story, we had a bit of a question & answer session & then they are meant to get on the bus & go to work. But as is normally the case a few of them hang around to ask me questions “One to One” or some people even tell me their stories, I mean we have all had near misses in our lives! One girl hung back until the rest had left & she came up to me and I could tell she was a little “Uncomfortable” she then went on to ask me if the people that found me after my accident were traumatised? But she then said the reason she asks is that she was the first on the scene at an accident where a ute lost control & there was a guy in the back standing up! He smashed into the back of the ute and broke his neck (amongst other things) and is now a quadriplegic! He has to use an electric wheelchair that he drives by blowing into a straw! She went on to tell me that she had to keep him alive while the ambulance arrived. But the thing that really got to me is that she said she had to have counselling, she had months off work & in fact couldn’t go back to that workplace because she had to drive past the site to get to work! I was listening to her story and it just reinforced a lot of the things I say in my talks, when someone gets hurt there are so many other people affected by it!
Anyway that was a bit serious, just typing as I think. Speak to you tomorrow from a different place!
Reader’s Comments
Arama agrees with me that the Olympics are just not exciting this year, we wouldn’t know as we don’t get any TV coverage of them up here apart from the ABC or SBS news. And Arama also encouraged Annie to hold her breath until she goes red to get what she wants, but I read somewhere that you can’t pass out from holding your breath! So go ahead girls!!!
Susanne sent a message admitting to her poor reversing skills, but she makes up for it in forward skills! And she told me about Beetroot chips! But that wouldn’t work for me S, I don’t like the crunchy noise that chips & biscuits make. And it would take the fun out of trying to eat real beetroot while driving the car in a white shirt or dress! Oh I can just see you in a dress James!
And Susanne is also intelligent like me….cause she can’t remember names either! That is why you both have me. :)
Meredith also commented on the cleverness of beetroot as a snack, C’mon ladies be a little creative here, don’t sit at home and dunk your Scotch Finger Biscuits in your cup of tea for the rest of your lives! Oh and please don’t encourage my daughter to give me “The Look”!
Tereasa had a different take on Beetroot, I’m sure she deliberately tried to scare me out of it by mentioning blood & doctors & bums!!! Ha…Didn’t work T, I still love the taste of Beetroot! Ness is also my memory for names, c’mon you can’t expect us guys to do everything can you? Sorry did you mean to say, ‘Do Anything?’
Oh and my sister Georgia who is a teacher & the assistant Principal (or is that Principle?...I’m sure she will tell me!) chastised me for not spelling Aboriginal correctly! C’mon Georgy, Year 9 english at Gunnedah H.S. did me pretty good, I spell better than most people, I don’t use a spellchecker and I’m happy with my writing skills, so if I make the occasional grammatical error or leave a capital (or is that Capitol?) letter off then I’m sorry. Tereasa commented on my sisters a while ago, she reckons its good they pick on me, I think they can be pains in the A@#E!
Annie’s Blog
I liked Edwards’s suggestion last night so much that I tried it today! I just decided to scream! I was happy & clean & fed but I just let it rip & scared my Dad. Did it a couple of times to Mum but she just ignored it, I’ll try it with her when she doesn’t expect it.
I’ve decided I’m going to be a jewellery person, when people come to visit I like it if they have jewellery on. For some reason I am really attracted to the shiny things, I like gold and silver and sparkly bits…..Mum says they are dimunds!
Anyway Mum says I have to have an early night as we are moving the box on wheels tomorrow ! Yaaaaayyyyyyyy!
Love very much
AnnieInAVan….XXXX
Reader Comments (6)
James - enjoy Aussie tinned beetroot. The vacuum packed stuff - or part vacuum actually, but still "stuff" - that you buy in UK is just unreal. I mean BAD. no vineger, storage life for literally months (it is not canned remember) and it is soft, squelchy and tasteless. or what taste there is is horrible. I love beetroot on hambergers, in salads, and even hot, but NOT the stuff you buy here.
I know exactly how you feel about moving on. Enjoy the bush camping - maybe you could pee and wash in the nude and no one would know or care....
Love you all.
Time to move that wagon out. Did the Annie fan club give her a fond farewell? Did you oust all the bathroom to van runners of their crimes - would be quite a laugh to leave photographic evidence of all the offenders behind the bathroom door.
Am up bright and early (5.30am) as Nathan had an early flight to Christchurch. The early bird sure did catch the worm today....my reward was Men's Gymnastics Finals were on........sure made up for being up so early. Think that's going to put a spring in my step all day. Count your lucky stars you don't have coverage of the Olympics - must say the coverage provided in the far Eastern state of Australia has been beyond terrible..... Where oh where do they get the track / pool / arena side commentators from???They talk such dribble whilst filling in the gaps....
Enjoy bush camping and enjoy your new 'hood.
On a side note - the codes you need to put in to confirm your post must be created by some super geek spy - some of them are impossible.
Hey team
Another dissappointed swimmer winning silver! What is up with this? The Kiwis win Bronze and the whole country goes mental with pride. It's such a weird reaction to be upset at being second n the Olympics. The TV coverage has been crap and I agree with Meredith about he commentators - they are quite bad (with the exception of Phil Legget in the Cycling cause he rocks - so knowledgable about the sport!)
Have a safe move team! Hope the box on wheels follows nicely and you get to explore more of this great country!
My husband has a fabulous beetroot salad that he makes on occasion made with fresh beetroot, potato, spanish onions and boiled eggs (and other things that I cant remember, but that's the main ingredients) - it is so delicious!! (a receipe that comes from his mum in Mauritius) .. Having said all that, I was cleaning the pantry the other day & I came across a tin of beetroot which has passed its expiry date & somehow it started forming a hole on the top of the can where you open it .. All I can say it was VILE!!!!! The beetroot turned black, the vinegar was putrid & the smell was so offensive!!!!! It was something that I will never forget - I'd hate to think what it looks like when its been sitting in your stomach to digest! I'd think twice before eating beetroot from a can in future - fresh is best as they say! I am suprised that no-one has mentioned the fact that if you attempted to eat the beetroot as a snack (presuming you are not using cutlery whilst driving), the stains on your hands!! Not only will Vanessa being attempting to clean the red earth from your clothes, she's also be attempting to clean the beetroot stains from your clothes!! Time to buy shares in napisan I say!!
Speaking of snacks, has Vanessa eaten her fruit & nut mix snack yet? Vanessa my hubby gets annoyed when I leave things in the car also (in case I may need it down the track!).. I thinks it's a man thing! As men can't muti task they don't understand how we can do it? Do the other bloggers agree?
Glad that "Ride like the wind" is a constant tune in your head James! I hope you have been singing it proudly?? (are you singing it in your head now James??, just when you thought you'd stop singing it!!) hehehehe, Hahaha! :)
Ashwin is excited that he can join Annies crunching teeth band, currently he can get the gig as the lead vocalist for the amount of screaming /squeeling (at the highest pitch possible) he is doing at the moment! I'm glad I'm not the only one privy to this newest found skill!!
As all the other bloggers have mentioned, good luck with the new location & camping tonight!
Take care & safe travels!
Celeste & co. xxx
I am also wondering how Ness' fruit and nut snack mix is going??? I completely agree Celeste about leaving things in the car that annoy hubby, my other half tells me my car is full of junk and is a disgrace....YET its my car he takes into a muddy cow SH!T paddocks to take the kids spotlighting, It's MY CAR he leaves his empty BEER stubbies in! My car is used to ferry children around including a 10month old! He complained about the way I stacked the pram in my car the other day, BUT I have never seen him trying to load a screaming baby into the car whilst it's raining when your parked outside at the shopping centre with some impatient person waiting for your parking spot!!! Yes I just chucked the pram in but who wouldn't!
The Thai restaurant is called the Red Breeze??!! Is that cause every time someone opens the door that bloody red dust flies in??? Just wondering?
T the Thinker!!
I have to agree with Meredith - I don't know how many times I've typed a comment to your blog (intelligent yet full of attacks on you, James, of course), and after the third attempt at typing in the security 'code' I have given up. So you've missed some beauties.
As for moving location - that's the main attraction for my goal of joining the Nomad population. If you don't like your neighbours, you're not stuck with them!