Day 17 - Collie WA

Ok time for a whinge, I’ve been good so far but today I feel like having a good old fashioned get it off your chest moment or two.

Now you all know that I get around a little different to most of you (Except you Rodney) and you also know that I don’t really make too much of a fuss over it. I cope as best I can & I don’t expect any special treatment or attention.

But having said that I also expect that if you say you can provide something for me then you should be able to deliver!

Here is what I am talking about, when we decided to do this trip Ness spent a fair amount of time looking at logistics, where we would be, when we would be there & options as to where we could stay. So she spent quite a lot of time on the net & on the phone to caravan parks making sure they had suitable facilities (Wheelchair access to shower & toilet) although we don’t really require it as the van has a shower & a toilet that I can use. But it is always our preference to use theirs.

So Ness rang this caravan park in Collie WA not just once but twice & asked about their facilities. Both times they said “Yes no problem, we have showers and toilets that are huge & you can get a wheelchair in no problem”

So we arrived in the pouring rain, Ness checked in & paid for the time we are meant to be here & we headed down to the site. It was bucketing down so no point in three of us getting wet so I said to Ness “Take Annie into the van & I’ll set up out here” So I hooked up the power, water, levelled the van, chocked the van all the normal stuff which only takes a short time now & then the rain had eased so Ness suggested we go check out the bathrooms.

Well the first problem we had was that the whole bathroom/laundry complex had a gutter around it, there was no ramp at all, so Ness had to give me a shove up the gutter. The next issue was a step at the door of the bathroom, I can get up one step as long as there is something to pull myself up with, but once we were inside the bathroom there was a trough to pee in, but it had a huge step at the front of it. And then I went to the shower & toilet cubicles…..the doorway’s were very narrow! Now my chair is only 59cm wide & it easily fits through most doorways, but these were super narrow! No way would I get into either the shower or the toilet.

Ok so going back to what I said before, I can use the van shower & loo…. But that is not the point! If you don’t know that something will fit then don’t bloody say it will! For those of you that work in hospitality or travel….. Have a think about it, don’t say that you have something unless you have actually checked it yourself!

Needless to say we are moving tomorrow, we were going to base ourselves here for 2 weeks….. but not anymore!

Hey did you see the storms on TV that have been happening in WA? Today we left Albany & drove to Collie, we were amazed to see the number of trees that have just been blown over or snapped off, there was debris everywhere, some parts of the road were almost blocked due to trees across the road.

Apparently there is another storm brewing for tomorrow evening, glad the Trakmaster is a hefty big lump & won’t blow away easily. But having said that driving to Collie was quite daunting. I’d like to think that I am semi experienced as a tow driver, this is my second caravan so have done a bit of towing over the years, but the van was “blowin in the wind” during the drive down today!

Ness has a gripe, she reckons I have an issue with remembering where I am. Some days I ask her “Where are we?”or “where did we stay last night?”

Ok my response to this is “Yes….I do” you have to keep in mind that I travel constantly for work, it is not unusual for me in one month to be in 4 or 5 different states! I can remember one week this year when Ness sent me to SA, QLD, NSW & a job in Victoria all in the same week! So is it any wonder that I don’t really recall where I am or where I have been? So darling if I occasionally…..and I do mean occasionally, forget where we are or were …..Tough! Deal with it!!! Or stop sending me to too many places!

Somedays….more like every day you say to me, Where are we tonight?  Where were we last night?  Then you tell people we are in a completely different location/name to where we actually are?  Cracks me up every time…I am dealing with it and love it.

Our GPS is trying to kill us!... I’m sure most of you have one or have used a GPS at some stage, has it ever taken you a weird way to get somewhere? Ours has, and even worse, I think it knows we have 3 tonne of caravan on the back and deliberately takes us to places that no caravan should ever go! Tight narrow streets, streets that you can’t  “turn around when possible” like she tells us to! I seriously think that ours is programmed with an “Evil” chip, one that is possessed and is trying to get us into situations with the van that we can’t escape.

But I’m smarter than it, I’ll fight with it to the end, I’ll ignore stupid instructions if I think it is wrong, if it is a fight she wants she has come to the right place! We’ll see who wins out in the end!

Reader’s comments

Meredith said that Nathan is on dry land but not home in NZ yet, see if you can get him interested in another sport M, I hear chess is pretty safe?

Arama told us that Whale world is depressing? Huh…how could going somewhere where they used to kill magnificent beautiful whales be depressing A?.....Glad we didn’t go now. Actually when I told Dan that we were going to go his reply was “Great place to take Annie, Dad!” (in his sarcastic tone)

Annie’s Blog

Today I knew we were going somewhere, because this morning mum started packing up stuff inside the box on wheels & Dad was outside doing hoses & stuff. So that means that the box on wheels is going to follow us to another place.

When we were driving today Dad kept saying Nan’s favourite word Shit…. Shit…. Shit…. He was looking at all the trees that blowed over with the big winds. But I’m a little confused…. How can Shit make trees blow over? Can’t wait till I get older and understand some things.

I’m a bit annoyed with Mum & Dad…. When its dinner time they give me my dinner & then they put me on the floor or on the bed while they sit down & have dinner together. Don’t they know that after dinner I just want to play…. I’ve tried everything, pulling mums pants, making grunting noises, pulling myself up on dad’s chair…. But they just eat their dinner! Not fair Mum & Dad!!!

I want to say a special hello to my grandparents tonight, I’ve been gone for over 2 weeks now and I miss you all, I spoke to granny on the phone today and I spoke to Nan & Pop on Friday. I’m a big girl now and I can’t wait for you all to see me when I get home to Saltbush.

Love from

AnnieInAVan…XXX

Day 16 - Albany WA

Well today was an interesting day, Annie slept well last night, she is really dealing with this caravan lifestyle well. We had no idea how she or we would cope all travelling & living together, but so far it has been very tolerable. Sure she still wakes some nights, but usually it is just for a quick feed & then straight back to sleep.

Today we went to the Boatshed markets & guess what?  Some of the same people that were at the farmers market were there! There were a couple of different stalls, one selling candles…. But Ness reminded me that candles in a caravan are not very practical! And another stand selling fresh waffles, so that settled it, Ness had waffles with chocolate, nuts & ice cream, I had waffles with blueberries…..Nice way to start the day off.

The foreshore in Albany is quite impressive, like most coastal towns they have put some money into making it an attractive & friendly place to visit, the Boatshed where the markets were is an impressive modern building that also is used for boat & equipment storage. Outside there is this cute little man made beach with sand that goes all the way down to the water, I can imagine it would be very popular in summer.

Speaking of which it is very un summerlike here today, we got in & out of the markets before it started to rain, and we then drove down to the old whaling station which is now called “Whaleworld” we had planned to go through & have a look, but as it was pouring with rain and part of the tour is outside we decided to do it another time. We spent a bit of time driving along the coastal road before heading back to the caravan park for a quiet afternoon.

Ness asked me to stop at the office as she needed some coins for the clothes dryer, when she returned to the car she said that the park manager had said that there was a severe weather warning for this afternoon, rain & wind gusts of up to 120km/h. He suggested that if we had an awning on the van to put it up as things could get ugly. So we returned to the van and immediately set about packing up the awning & anything else that could blow away.

Reader’s Comments

Marg & Norm tried to explain to Annie why we are so pleased when she sleeps, Thanks M&N sure makes us realise how lucky we are.

Kirstin & Edward wrote to Annie, thanks Edward, nice to know you are all still thinking of Annie. Annie looks forward to hanging out at downtown YG daycare in the future…apparently it is the cool place to be. J

Annie’s Blog

Must have been good in my sleep again last night, coz dad said I was a good girl when he got me out of my cot this morning.

We have this system now where when we all wake up together Dad comes to get me & say hello, then he takes me to mum & he gets ready to go to the shower. When he is in the shower mum gives me some breakfast & she has some too, then Dad comes back from the shower & Mum gets ready & goes to the shower. Me & Dad usually play while Mum is in the shower, Dad makes really loud silly noises that I think he is too embarrassed to make when Mum is around…… But it is a lot of fun & our system works well.

We went to another market today…..Boring again! Although at this one there was a guy singing and playing his guitar, it made me happy & want to dance.

We then went to this place called Whale world, I was hoping we could go & see some whales, but Mum & Dad said it was too wet so we would do it another time. Some days my Mum & Dad are really soft!

Tomorrow we are moving the box on wheels to a different place, Yaaaaaay! I hope they don’t have any Markets there!

Love from AnnieInAVan

Day 15 - Albany WA

Hehehe….So many of you must watch Costa & the gardening program on the ABC, because some of you sent us messages saying you were jealous of us going to the Albany Farmers Markets. Well DON’T BE! Because it was a FIZZER! I don’t know what I saw on the ABC but it was nothing like what Ness & I saw when we got there! Sure there were some fresh veggie stands, mainly spring onions & Spanish onions, a few capsicums. We also saw a couple of free range egg stands, some honey sellers and a guy selling free range chicken ….. But that was about it! Looked so much better on the telly!

We did buy some veggies & honey, I had a Yabby pie that was yum as! Ness had a Yabby tart & a chocolate croissant. But apart from that it was not too flash! We came 3500km for this!!!

Hey you know on our last trip Ness took 10 pairs of shoes! I actually think it was 11 or even more. Well I was really impressed this trip when she managed to cull it down to 7 (don’t ask, I have no idea why she needs 7 pairs of shoes) but yesterday I worked out why!

She went shopping and bought Annie 3 pairs of shoes!!! So really she was just keeping space to fit in all of Annie’s shoes. Can’t wait to see how many pairs of shoes we arrive home with.

There was an earthquake in Gunnedah this morning. For those of you who don’t know I grew up in Gunnedah. It was a quiet country town when me & my family lived there, farming was the main industry & there were a couple of small coal mines that sent coal to Newcastle. Now it is a horrible place, there are mines all around Gunnedah & the town has literally gone to pot, most of the young people in town are on government benefits with no ambition to work, the ones that do work in the mines have more money than the other locals and it is a real situation of the haves & the have nots! If my dad was not buried there I’d be happy never to have to go back there! But just getting back to the earthquake, what do you think about the theory that all of the mining caused it? I mean if we keep digging holes in the ground something eventually has to give don’t you think?

Winding down. Today was probably the first day that Ness & I really did nothing, after we got back from the not so good farmers market we just sat outside under the awning & chilled out. I read the paper, Ness browsed her computer & Annie slept for a couple of hours. It was great, but for some reason I feel tireder tonight than if I had been on the go all day!

Not much to write today, still waiting for some of you to ask us some questions about our trip, how we do a particular task, or anything really. I’m having a mental blank. Help me out.

Reader’s comments

Marg & Norm jokingly asked if Ness could buy more nuts….just in case she feels like a snack! Marg you won’t believe this but today she bought two 500g bags of cashews! She really still has not got this caravanning thing yet….I reckon we have more food in the van than we do at home in the pantry! I’m sure she believes we will get stranded somewhere & will need enough food in the van for 12 months!

A big hello to Sebastien B, his mum has been reading the blog to him each day. Hey Sebastien you would not believe some of the things we have seen on our trip, Eagles as big as you, Kangaroos that tried to get into our caravan, and we have not even been too far out in the bush. Keep reading & we will let you know what we see on our trip. Sebastien have updated the map for you so you can see how far we have gone now. Ness x

Rob my mission now is to find you a walking stick with a whale tooth handle, and if I don’t find one I’ll wait till I get home & get an old stick from Saltbush & put one of Panda’s old bones on top of it!

Heather – see above, the market was a little disappointing, however we do plan on going to the boatshed markets in the morning, I’ll buy you a bangle! Or a crocheted teapot cover! 

Meredith, did Nathan make it back to dry land? When is his next venture into stupidity?

Annie’s Blog

Can anyone tell me why when I wake up in the morning after a long sleep my Mum & Dad say I was a very good girl last night? Do I do things in my sleep that I don’t know about? Last night I slept for 9 hours (well that is what I heard Mum say to Dad) and both Mum & Dad kept telling me I was excellent & perfect? I mean did I get up & do the dishes, did I fold the washing while I was asleep? Why do they tell me I’m good?

We went to the market today……Boring!.... Mum & Dad bought some veggies & honey, but there was nothing there for kids, no ice cream, no chocolate, no lollies…. You would think someone from an ice cream farm or a chocolate or lolly farm would turn up!

I’m teaching Mum & Dad another trick, when I’m in the car or in my high chair & they give me a piece of food or my cup of water……if I throw it away they fetch it for me…..they are very clever parents, today I threw my cup away 6 times and dad picked it up & gave it back to me every time. Well done Dad. You will learn Dad….just don’t pick it up.

Ok I better go to bed, I want Mum & Dad to tell me how good I am again in the morning!

Goodnight all my blog friends.

AnnieInAVan

xoxo

Day 14 - Albany WA

When I went to the loo this morning there were a couple of grey kangaroos sitting in the space next to us, they were obviously used to human contact as they did not move when I went past them to the bathroom. But when I finished and was on the way home they followed me! I shouted out to Ness & Annie to come to the door to have a look. Now some of you know that Ness just is not an animal person, she never has been and never will be. So she was a bit daunted by the kangaroos wanting to sniff inside the van! One of the roos seriously wanted to get into the caravan, every time that Ness opened the door just a little to look out it would try to stick its head inside! Ness was not having any of this and she kept trying to show Annie the kangaroo but shut the door when it got too close! Hilarious, check out the photos when they are up. Its not that I don’t like them…or any animal for that matter I was just born with a phobia of animals and they freak me out a little.  Most of you will also know that I have worked really hard to get over this and Panda(our dog) has been my best medicine.  But sometimes old habits die hard when it comes to wild animals.

Ladies & Gentleman, today we arrived in caravan Heaven! We travelled the relatively short journey to Albany (Only 178km today) and arrived at the fanciest caravan park in all of the world! Reception was modern & clean & the entrance was nicely paved. While Ness was checking us in I was looking around at the very impressive pool & spa & BBQ area, Entertainment area with electronic games & a pool table & they even have a movie theatre!

Ness came back to the car and had instructions and a map to our site, now all the caravan sites have concrete pads surrounded by lush green grass. Oh and did I mention that this park is right on the beach! There are caravan sites & then the beach, as I sit typing the blog I can hear the rhythmic thumping of waves crashing into shore. There is a family bathroom, a wheelchair bathroom, laundry & amenities block just a short distance from our site……Very impressive, and there are some very upmarket cabins here…..I reckon this place would be pumping at Christmas & holiday times.

I didn’t realise that this area was big on timber & forestry? On the way into Albany we drove past many timber plantations & lots of log trucks on the road. Now I’m not a greenie by any means, but after seeing some of the natural bush over here in WA it seems a shame that we are ripping it up to plant ugly trees all in rows!

We drove around the foreshore in Albany, did you know that this place is also famous for whaling? They had a huge processing plant here where they killed the whales & turned a huge beautiful creature into Oil from its blubber & ladies corsets from its bones, and piano keys & walking stick handles from its teeth! (the whales that had teeth that is) What a waste!

Do any of you watch the gardening show on the ABC? The one with Costa the guy with the beard? Well last week he was on and they did a segment on the farmers market in Albany, fresh locally grown produce & seafood. Well guess where we are going tomorrow? Yep…..Stay tuned and we will share our purchases with you. I’m going to get some Yabbies (otherwise known as Crawbobs) and cook them up, Ness wants some Cheese, Jam, & lots of other home made stuff.

We also might get down to the treetop walk, I’ll make sure I take the camera with us & post some pictures.

Reader’s comments

Heather reckons that we should have picked up the bike rider, just so we could have got a photo of him for her!

Dave R shared his travels around Europe in a tent with his girlfriend (now wife)….. Dave you are another candidate for a Hilux & a caravan and join us on our annual trip around Oz. Start the planning & we will get it happening in a couple of years.

Granny (My mum….but everyone calls her Granny) finally worked out how to post a comment, Welcome back Granny it’s been a long time since you gave me a hard time on the blog. Keep in mind there are lots of new readers this year so don’t be too hard on me!.....J

Rob & Juan are heading off on their own adventure soon….. Hey you should write a blog! I promise I will leave comments on it! Especially every time Collingwood lose! Guess he won’t be commenting very much as they won’t lose.

Thanks to my Brother in law Brad, tonight he texted me through updates with the NRL game storm vs tigers. It was great to be getting them live and unfortunately Storm got beat. But they do have a lot of players out for State of Origin duty.

Annie’s Blog

Today my dad yelled out to me & mum to come outside, when my mum opened the door there were these big mouses standing outside near my dad! They were huge & they had big tails…. I never knew that mouses grew this big. I knew they were mouses coz my mum didn’t like them, especially when they tried to get into the box on wheels……she said “Shoo…..Shoo!”

We drove to this place called Albany, Mum said she came here when she was 10, that must have been a long time ago mum coz you are really old now! Did they still kill whales when you came here?

Dad cooked mums dinner on the BBQ tonight, he is so proud of his little BBQ, it sits in a special compartment in the box on wheels & dad pulls it out when he needs to use it, he keeps saying to mum that it is the best BBQ in the world. Mum said to Dad tonight that the chicken was cooked perfect…… Gee sometimes these two just work so well together.

Dad told me tonight that we are going to a market tomorrow……Yaaaay! Don’t know why I said that as I don’t even know what a market is! Guess I’ll find out tomorrow.

Night for now.

AnnieInAVan XXX

Day 13 - Jerramungup WA

Last night in Norseman was interesting, firstly when we pulled in there was another Trakmaster van setting up, now for those of you not familiar with caravanning there is a lot of brand loyalty out there. Jayco’s are like your Hyundai of caravans, they are cheap & fall apart, Coromal, AVan, Coronet, Galaxy, Kedron all have their loyal owners and of course us Trakmaster owners are better than all the rest! Anyway I had a chat with the owner, he bought his when he retired and spends 4-5 months on the road & the rest at home & visiting his kids interstate!....Nice.

The other bloke I met was a classic, he tows his 1970’s Old style pop up van with a 1993 Falcon wagon on gas & has been doing the same trips for the last 20 plus years, he must be at least 75 years old and was a lovely old guy, He said to me as he was leaving “I better go & see what the wife wants to do for dinner, she sometimes forgets about eating”.

When we stayed in Madura the previous night there was a car with 3 Japanese tourists in it, 2 girls & 1 guy, they also turned up at the same caravan park in Norseman! I joked that they were following us and they said “No…No…We no follow you!” sometimes humour is lost in translation!

Anyway Ness went up to the bathroom later that night & the 2 girls were in there doing their laundry in the sink! C’mon girls, this is for brushing your teeth, not washing your undies!!!

Ness started the day in her usual way, Crumpets & Jam….. Sue our neighbour came to see us before we left and gave us a big jar of Cuncliffe & Waters Raspberry Jam, Sue I don’t think the jar will last the whole trip, but Ness thanks you every morning while eating her crumpets. Hey we can also see why you & Bill love it over here, the difference in the flora & fauna is amazing, we drove mainly on roads with sand verges & the plants that grow in this area are hardy & tough but beautiful. We will post some photos of some of the unusual ones that we find.

Have to give my wife a big blog hug, for the last couple of days she has had some sort of bug & feels like crap. But she still manages to keep me & Annie fed, did a load of washing, went shopping & soldiered on even though she was feeling like crap, Well done darling, I want all of the blog readers to know that me & Annie appreciate the effort you are putting in! She is like an Eveready battery, she just keeps going!.... Big Kiss X

You know there are people travelling the country in so many different ways, Bike (you all know what Ness thinks of these people) car (The Japanese tourists) minibus or camper, caravan and even camper trailer. Now these are the ones I feel for, basically they are a tent attached to a trailer! We are in Jerramungup WA tonight & it is raining & about 10 degrees, we have the option of our reverse cycle airconditioner, our diesel powered heater and the ever reliable hot water bottle to keep us warm, what do they have?..... 1/8^th of an inch of canvas between them and zero degrees tonight! And don’t tell me they have really good sleeping bags because that just doesn’t work for me! And I thought I was the caravan snob!!

I want to share something that our good friends Marg & Norm shared with us the other day. Now M&N (no not EMINEM!) are our travelling idols, they have been travelling and living their lives to the fullest for much longer than Ness & I (they are currently house sitting somewhere in Scotland or England),but they shared one of their tips to staying sane while being together nearly 24/7 for months at a time. They used to take it in turns at being right! For one month it would be Marg’s turn to be right……No matter what…. & the next month it would be Norm’s. Think about it, if you knew it was your partners turn to be right it would hardly be worth arguing would it? Makes sense to me.

Hey today we were leaving Esperance it was pouring with rain, just on the outskirts of town there was a bike rider with garbage bags over him (to keep him dry), his bags on his bikes and a hand written note saying Albany.  I said to Ness “We should give him a ride” he looked European & I thought we could share some stories & we were heading that way. Ness said “No” I said “Why not” she said…… “Because I’m a snob”….. at least she is honest! (See nothing is out of bounds with the blog) I need to footnote here….if I was feeling better, Annie wasn’t sleeping and it wasn’t pouring rain I might have considered it but then again my mum and dad always told me never to pick up strangers.

Fruit & Nut update, they did not get confiscated at the border!....Bugger

Reader’s replies

Marg & Norm gave us their tips on Peeing etiquette….Thanks, Norm also told us that the Nullarbor is not boring, I agree Norm….Just the road across the Nullarbor!

My sister Heather said that Annie’s snot bubble should be a 21^st birthday photo! Yes!!!

Egg also commented on peeing in the bush, good to hear from you Egg, did you read the blog where I told everyone how good the Land Rover was? Would you like me to send you your own personal copy of how magnificent it is?.....Did I tell you I love my Land Rover?

Also heard from Sarah F, thanks for the updates S.

Happy Birthday to our good mate Peter A…The Michelin Man. 

Annie’s Blog

My food is drying up, today it was much harder to get the green stuff out of my nose and onto my tongue. Does this mean I am growing up?

Elise my friend from mothers group told me that she saw the biggest TV in the world, Wow I thought we were lucky coz our box on wheels has 2 TV’s. I reckon it’s silly as the box is only small, but Dad insisted on having 2 TV’s in it. When I get back can you take me to where this big TV is Elise?

When we were driving out of Esperance we saw this man standing on the side of the road, my Dad said to mum that we should give him a lift, I wanted to too because he was so cute, he had his hair in a bun, he had dark skin and this really sexy stuff on his chin & face (Mum sometimes calls my dad’s face hair stubble…..so maybe it was his stubble too?) I reckon my aunty Heather would think he was Hot!..... but mum said no. Awwww……. He could have read me my books in his deep voice & spunky accent if he sat next to me in the back!..... I think I’ll have a dream about this nice man tonight.

Today in the car I taught Mum & Dad a trick, I was sitting in the back with my blanket and I put it up over my face and then every time I pulled it away from my face my Mum or Dad would say Peek A Boo!..... It was soooo funny, I cracked myself up, no matter how many times I did it I could always get them to say it whenever I wanted them to…… They are so gullible, I’ll have to think about what I teach them to do tomorrow!

I feel a bit better today, when it was going dark I did not feel that it was my bed time like it did over the last couple of days…… must be getting used to the West Stralian air?

Nighty Night

AnnieInAVan XXX