Day 7 - Adelaide

Well we have been away for a week, Ness said last night that she is unwound, her normal day is one of juggling work, Annie, domestic duties, Me, Dan & anyone else that is around us. But in the Van it is much simpler, the biggest decision of the day is what to have for dinner! Annie just fits in with whatever Ness is doing or she spends time with me while Ness works or cooks. How easy is this?

I worked today, had a 630am session & then an 8am session, I was back at the van by 930am & done for the day. I guess I’m lucky that the work I do is in short bursts, but even luckier that it is all over nice & early. I got home & planned our trip across SA, that was exciting as we are going a slightly different route to last time, I’m looking forward to sending Dan & Brad Atkins pictures of the HUGE fish I am going to catch next week!

I was wondering why I had not heard from my sister Heather, she was a regular contributor to the blog conversations last trip……Turns out we had the wrong email address for her! Sorry Heather, but we did ask in our last newsletter for everyone to update us with the email address that they wanted the blog sent to.

Have any of you watched “An Idiot Abroad” on the ABC? That is currently my favourite show, we brought season 1 & 2 with us to watch, it is all about this half simple guy called Karl Pilkington who gets sent to amazing places but really doesn’t want to be there, he experiences the culture of these countries but doesn’t really enjoy any of it. Sounds like a crazy idea for a TV series but it is hilariously funny….if you get a chance watch it! We have a system in the van where when Annie is asleep we can watch a DVD either through our laptops or on one of the TV’s in the van & we then hook our headphones up to it so we can watch without disturbing Annie….. except for me laughing, I can’t help myself! Karl reminds me of my brother in law Brad, in that he cannot hide how he feels, you can see it in his face, my sister always cracks up when he meets “Interesting” people, you can almost tell what he is thinking by the look on his face.

Happened again this morning, went over at 5am to have a shower, pushed the button in on the wall, jumped onto the shower seat & really super quickly washed & towelled dry only to hear the “Pop” of the light switch and the silence & pitch black as the light went off & the fan stopped! I must have only been there for 4 mins & 45 seconds! I then had to transfer into my chair in the dark, feel my way to the door, find the switch & angrily push it into the wall, I’m thinking of getting my Bear Grills knife out & modifying it! Complained to the office & they said “Yer we might have to get someone to have a look at it!”…. Bloody South Australians!

Teresa had a great idea, I feed the fruit & nuts to Annie’s Magic Flying Fairies!..... But what if as Karen suggested they are off & the fairies die…..or choke! Nar better not T, I’ll wait till the expiry date & take great pleasure throwing them over a cliff somewhere on our journey! (not really, I’ll find a way to dispose of them that does not litter) 

Hey is it too early for Whales? We will be crossing the Bight over the next week to 10 days & I wonder if it is worth going down to see if we can spot a whale or two? Anyone know when they swim across the G.A.B (Great Australian Bight)?

Happy Birthday to Ben Stockdale & Ilsa Bione

Annie’s Blog

Last night I cracked it, I got this huge big fang coming through my gums & I just couldn’t sleep. It was awful, Mum put this stuff on my gums but that just made it worse, and it tasted terrible. I got short bursts of sleep, but when I woke I decided to wake Mum & Dad too, not fair that I have to be awake & in pain and they just sleep through it all!

Today I met a new friend, he is called Ashwin. He is 5 months old and his mum & my mum used to work together. Mum took me to visit him today & Dad stayed at the box on wheels, I think he enjoyed the time alone. Me & Ashwin were on the rug together, we didn’t say much coz we’re only babies but I’m sure we will make up for it when we get older. Nice to meet you Ashwin.

My Dad came back from the shower this morning complaining that the light turned off while he was still in the shower, he said something about fixing it with his Bear Grills knife, I’ve heard my Dad say that name heaps of times. Who is this Bear Grills person? What is so special about him? My Dad says he can survive anything, and he can find food in the bush & in the desert and everywhere! So can I, today I was on the grass and I found someone’s old piece of chewing gum and started to eat it! So what’s so special about this Bear Grills guy?

I had a fun night tonight, me and Dad were on the bed together and he was wrestling with me, I was laughing so much. Mum was laughing at us both, this is the funnest thing I have done in my whole life. All my Mothers group friends should tell their mums and dads to come caravanning, it’s the best!

Love from Annie

Day 6 - Adelaide

Finally some of you are replying to my blog, I was wondering if anyone was reading it. I do the blog to share our experiences with you all, but it is great when you share some of your thoughts with us. Makes us feel like you are part of it with us.

Neil, my neighbour shared the fact that he grew up on the road through the Bullshit National Park. That explains your passion for cars Neil, I can imagine you hooning through those roads in the 70’s in a hotted up EH Holden? Or was it something European? Or maybe a little Cooper S. A big hi to Neil’s daughter Ally, who is currently recovering from an equine incident (ok…she fell off a horse!) Get well soon Ally, Annie will be a lot bigger when you see her next & if you take her for hugs & walks we want to make sure you are fully recovered.

Flick sent a message through, she reckons this tour should be called the fruit & nut tour…. speaking of which they are really starting to Pee me off, I went to get into the car & they were just sitting on my seat today, unopened….just sitting there! Maybe I should just throw them out & Ness won’t notice? But my luck is I throw them away & she feels like a snack….Finally.

Heard from Meredith in NZ too, good to see you are along for this tour M, you were a big part of the last tour. She sent Dan a message…..But NZ is 2 hours ahead of us, so I’m sure Dan was happy to have his phone buzzing at 4AM.

Rob sent a message saying that Annie was already a Collingwood supporter, Rob she was just being polite posing for that photo, she didn’t sleep the whole night after you exposed her to those horrible black & white colours!

Anyway today I have to work; I guess we have to pay for this trip. And my accountant reads the blog so I have to justify it to him too. I’m working for Bosch Electrical. The division I am working with does all of the antilock braking & stability control systems for major car manufacturers. It’s very secretive, some of this technology is years away from production. Being a car nut it is very interesting, I might see if I can get them to design an antilock braking system for my wheelchair!

I work tomorrow too & then on Saturday we will head West, well actually we head north before we head West, if you look at your map you will see that to get to Pt. Augusta you have to head North, someone should put a ferry across the Gulf St Vincent & then the Spencer Gulf to Pt. Lincoln. It would save a lot of travel by road. Oh and the road to Pt. Augusta is sooooo boring, compared to some of the scenery we have just seen….. the drive to Pt. Augusta is like eating cardboard!

19 degrees here, just wanted you Melbourne people to know that I have a T-shirt on & Annie is not rugged up like the Michelin Man, Ness did her work outside the van under the awning today. Hope it is not too cold in Melbourne? Hehehe…

I have not heard from any family members? I hope you are all getting the blog. You were all a big part of it last time so feel free to comment either via the blog or email direct. There is a comment button under the blog so leave your comments here…it is also fun to go back and read others comments. We love it…we waited with baited breath every day for your comments.

Hey I have another caravan park gripe! The bathroom here has one of those light switches that you push in & it slowly comes out & after about 5 minutes (4 minutes & 47 seconds actually) it pops out & the lights & fan turn off. So my question is what if you are sitting on the loo for longer than 4 minutes and 47 seconds? Or having a shower & the button pops out? Do they not think about these things?

Annie’s Blog

Hey Ava & Jack, thanks for backing me up on the Poo thing…. Oh and another thing? At what age does it change? Just before we left Dan went to the bathroom & then after he was finished Dad went in & came straight out again saying “Dan that is disgusting!” so at what age does it change from “Good girl, that is a nice Poo…… to Annie that is Gross!”

I want to say hi to my friend Ally too, we were all shocked when we heard about your accident. Especially my Dad coz he had an accident too, just not off a horse. I hope you get better and come see me when we get back, I was just getting used to you taking me for walks around our house and yours.

Unca Rob & Flick… you are silly….. how could I ever go for those Yucky black and whites, My brother would not talk to me & Dad would never take me to the footy. I think I’ll just ask Unca Juan to teach me to dance & you can all have your silly football colours!

Arama, I might listen to you & go for the all Blacks, but my Dad says ill have learn how to speak funny? Don’t know what he means by that.

Ok we have to go as Mum & Dad have promised to take me for a walk along the beach, I hope the Magic Flying Fairies are there today.

Love to you all

AnnieInAVan

Day 5 - Adelaide

Do Me A Favour?

Hey can you all do me a favour, my 15yr old son Dan applied for a part time job the other week and he got it! I have rang him & congratulated him, but I thought it would be funny if he got a heap of texts congratulating him on getting his job from people he knows and even from people he does not know. So his number is 0448 723 377 so if you get a chance can you please send him a text & congratulate him.

One for the Boys (& some of the girls)

Have I told you how much I love our Land Rover Discovery? It is actually becoming quite weird, but the more I drive it, the more I like her and what she is capable of! For those of you who don’t know her she is a 2011 Land Rover Discovery 4 with the 3 litre twin turbo diesel engine & 6 speed automatic transmission.  To get even more technical the engine has a capacity of 2993cc, but produces 180KW of power and 600NM of torque, that last bit is the sexy bit to me, I’m not sure if any of you have been in a vehicle with 600NM of pulling power but it is pretty damn hot! My neighbour Chris once described it as “She pulls like a 14 year old schoolboy!” That is so wrong….

I think the reason I like her so much is that I actually understand how she works, I’m a diesel mechanic by trade (long time ago) but I have a fairly good understanding of what she does and how she does it. And I drive her according to how she works best.

A good example was yesterday we were driving into Adelaide, there are lots of hills as you get to the city limits and we were driving up a long steady incline. There was another car and caravan in the left lane about 500m ahead so rather than slow down and wait to follow it up the hill (Bloody caravans) I changed back a couple of gears manually and got the motor into its peak torque range and pulled out into the right lane where I stayed on 100km/h till I got past the slow moving van. Love it! Oh and when we were going through the Bullshit National park yesterday, rather than constantly braking she holds onto a higher gear and uses the engine as a brake, how clever.

And the 4WD system is smarter than Professor Julius Sumner Miller! It thinks for itself and has modes for different surfaces, mud, sand, rocks you name it……

Did I tell you that I love my Land Rover?

No under the breath comments from Mr Egg here…by the way Mr Egg, Happy Birthday for the other day!

How does the van work?

A couple of people have asked how a guy in a wheelchair can cope with a 20 foot caravan, the answer is “Easy…Ness does it all!.....Ha”

Actually that is not true, the van was designed so I can pretty much set it up all by myself. Hooking it up & unhooking it is easy, just back the car up to roughly where the tow ball meets the drawbar. That’s the part I am really good at.   I then have an electric jockey wheel that I just raise or lower to hook up or unhook. I can hook up the safety chains & electrics release the handbrake and off we go. When we stop for the night the van also has electric stabilizer legs so no winding up & down. I have an electric hydraulic hoist on the back for me to get in & out. As far as power and water goes we can carry nearly 300 litres of water in built in tanks, and have 3 gell cell batteries that are powered by 2 x 80 watt solar panels on the roof. So in reality we don’t need to stay at caravan parks for weeks at a time, the only limitations are water and if we are getting sun on the panels.

There’s just something about it.

Some people have asked what it is like to just pack up & take off, the answer is “Unreal!” I reckon it is one of those things that you either love or hate, I was a bit concerned when I met Ness, she comes from a background where 5 star is acceptable & red dirt is something that you see on TV. So I was a little worried when I told her that I’d like to work & travel by car & caravan. But to her credit she has taken to it like a pig to mud, she even said the other day it’s just “less frantic.”

I know the self help gurus all say that we lead hectic lives & we need to simplify things. Well it doesn’t get any simpler than this! Drive, stop when & where you want, see different things, meet different (sometimes really different) people, pull up for the night, eat, sleep & then repeat again the next day!....Or if you don’t want to go anywhere then don’t!

I know, I know….you have mortgages, leases, commitments. So do we, and we can still do it! We even have an 8 month old & one of us is disabled (I shouldn’t talk about Ness like that!)

I reckon you all have 12 months to work out how next May you can give up your normal life for 3-4 months, set yourselves up in a car, caravan, bus, kombi, pull kids out of school & join us on one of our trips! I guarantee it will change your lives! We will be doing it for the rest of our lives!

Readers comments & Special mentions 

Sue & Bill our neighbours, thanks so much for your support, Sue came out on the road & took photos of us driving past. We will send you pictures of the unidentified flora that we saw on our last trip, hopefully you can solve the mystery!

Birthdays

Egg & Campbell both had birthdays this week, sorry guys we did not forget, but we were probably admiring some amazing coastline somewhere & had no phone reception to call you both. Happy Birthday to you both from the travelling Woodies.

Ilsa agrees with me about Ness being a Nuffa for putting my Grabber Thingy on the top shelf.

Marg, you & Norm are our Van idols, when I look at a place on the map now I ask myself “Hmmm Wonder if Marg & Norm have been here?” and the answer is probably YES!

Lou, great to hear from you from Dubai, you will enjoy being back to work for a rest from Chelsea! Ness read me your FaceBook post today, very funny! Tell Box to be careful about that corporate ladder, It’s a long way to fall once you get up that high! I reckon he could come up with a really well pimped up caravan & tow vehicle to join us on our annual journey. Chels would love the outback towns & caravan parks.

Annie’s Blog

The last few months I have noticed something, when I am sitting in my high chair or car seat or anywhere really and I need to do a poo, Mum & Dad look at me & smile, I even heard Dad say to Mum the other day “Look Ness she is doing a big poo!”

Whats the big deal? I’m trying to push it out & I have to strain, I mean have you ever tried to do a poo while you are sitting up with a pillow strapped between your legs, its hard work….so of course I’m going to make a funny face and my eyes will water! But I don’t see why Dad & Mum think it is funny!

And you know what is worse, when I have finally done a poo and Mum or Dad have to change my nappy, they get all happy and say to me “Good Girl, That’s a lovely big poo!” now I’m only 8 months old and this world is new to me….. but do we really have to celebrate big Poo’s? Is there a holiday for Big Poo Day? Do you get in trouble if you only do a small Poo?

I’m so confused with this world!

Mum took me out to the grass today, we put a black & white rug down but for some reason I didn’t like it. I don’t know what it is but I just don’t like anything that is Black & White. Some days when we were at home Dan & my Mum & Dad watch the football, there is a team that wear black & white colours and I just don’t like them! I really like the team that wears Red and White though, my dad really likes them too, I hope he buys me a red & white footy jumper! Annie…best you rethink this, your Pop is expecting you to like Black & White, just like your Mum!!

Goodnight for now, I’ll write more tomorrow.

AnnieInAVan

Day 4 - Adelaide

Interesting start to the morning, as I was hooking up the van to the car, I lowered the jockey wheel which was sitting on blocks of wood to stop it from sinking into the soft ground and the Van started to roll back!.... It had been sitting on a hard plastic levelling block, but when I raised the stabilizing legs it rolled back 12 inches off the levelling block and the drawbar dropped to the ground!

Now we have a drawbar weight of 250+kg so there was no way that Ness or I could lift it back on to the ball. Luckily my Bear Grills skills came to the fore & I quickly grabbed a shovel, slid it under the jockey wheel to stop it from sinking & then raised it back up and on to the tow ball!....Phew!!!

Now the handbrake was on extra hard, but it obviously is not holding the full weight of the van! Will have to get that checked!

So once the van was hooked up & checked, I jumped in the car & Ness put my chair in the boot, the last thing we do before we drive off is check that the gas bottles are off & the handbrake is released. Ness yelled out to me ‘I can’t get the handbrake off!’ she tried a couple more times with no luck so I said to get me out, so poor Ness had to get my chair out, I got out and released the handbrake! It was on very tight I must add. I really need to grow some muscles.

So we eventually dragged ourselves away from Mt Gambier, early start and on the road by 8.30am, just in time for Annie’s morning nap.

Drove out through some amazing timber plantations, timber is one of the biggest industries in Mt Gambier, employing and supporting thousands of locals and small businesses…. And then the current S.A. state government goes and gives the contract to harvest this timber to overseas companies! What are we doing to this country, selling everything to the highest bidder regardless of the consequences? When will governments start to look past what they need to do to win the next election? What this country needs is leadership! Not “you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” imbeciles that don’t see further than 4 years ahead.

We travelled the coast road from Mt Gambier to Adelaide, this is one really nice road, some of the small coastal towns along this route look like they have been untouched by the developer or touristy dollar, awesome. Some of these blogs sound like I’m writing for tourism SA….. you reckon they’d pay me?

The GPS nearly killed us tonight, we were driving into Adelaide through Tailem Bend & then about 30km from Adelaide it told us to turn off the freeway and go via the Belair National Park! Now who are we to argue with the GPS but I don’t think it actually realises that we have over 3 tonnes of caravan behind us! It started to take us up and down these winding mountain roads. From now on we will call it Bullshit National Park, because every corner I went around I was saying “Oh Bullshit!”

We eventually got to the caravan park in Adelaide,(Christies Beach) right on the beach & nice grassy sites, have a look at the before & after shots of the van. These shots will go up tomorrow….

Just a few reader questions, Brad Atkins said that my blog should have a “Like” button. That is only because he is too lazy to write a comment!

Karen asked about the expiry date on the nuts, seeing as they have been in Vanessa’s car since January! They don’t expire till July Karen, I have been going to throw them out for months but every time I say something she says “Leave them in the car.”

Juan commented on the shower, which reminds me of a story that happened to me last week, I went to the State of Origin at Docklands, just before half time I decided to go to the loo to beat the rush, only to get around to the wheelchair toilet to find two able bodied (drunk) guys standing in the loo with the door open just peeing on the floor! They were not even using the bowl. I told them they were weak So & So’s but they just looked at me…… but then I noticed there was a drinking fountain nearby & a couple of empty plastic cups!....I filled them with water and went back to the loo and threw water on the two guys. I turned & bolted, I hope they froze the rest of the night! Don’t use a wheelchair toilet unless you have to!

Hey the last thing I have to share with you tonight, before we left I bought this Grabber Thingy, it has a trigger that when you squeeze it closes two arms. It is for picking things up off the floor or reaching things too high. I needed to use it tonight & asked Ness where it was, she said “On the top shelf!”

Great, now I need to buy a Grabber thingy to reach my Grabber Thingy! Check out the pics. Oops…

Annie’s Blog

Today was another great day, the box on wheels is still following us, I kind of like it now. We drove past lots of big baths today, I never knew there was so much water in the world, I guess there are a lot of things I don’t know yet.

We stopped at Meningie and guess what? The magic flying fairies followed us all the way, mum took me out on the jetty and they even flew out there with us, I’m so lucky to have magic flying fairies with me everywhere I go.

When we got close to Adelaide we went down this really scary road and Dad kept saying “This is Bullshit” and Mum doesn’t swear much but she also said Shit, Shit…..I think she felt bad about saying it in front of me….. But I am used to it, Nan says it all the time!... I love you Nan XXX

I also heard from my Granny tonight, I was a bit quiet on the phone to her but I smiled when I heard her voice, she speaks funny! Maybe I’ll speak like my Granny one day?

Night everyone.

AnnieInAVan

Day 3 - Mt Gambier

I thought this was meant to be a road trip? We are still in Mt Gambier! Decided to stay here another day & do some more exploring, oh and have dinner with Craig & Helen (Again).

How’s this…. Today Ness, Annie & I went for a wander through Mt Gambier, we parked at the end of the main street & went the full length down one side & back up the other side…..It’s a long main street. Anyway we were all walking/rolling one way & this guy was walking towards us & he looked at me & said “G’day James” and then turned and walked into a shop!

I immediately looked down to see if I had one of my work shirts on that has my name embroidered on the pocket but no!

Now I didn’t want to chase this guy into the shop to see where he knew me from, but for the rest of the day it has been driving me crazy where I know him from!

We had lunch at this really great café called the Whistling Cat, you know when you go into a place & it just feels “Right”….. this is one of those places, the food & service were great & it is very cosy, I’d spend a lot of time there if I lived in Mt Gambier. Annie had a piece of cucumber from Ness’s lunch & she devoured it in no time flat, certainly loves her food.

 The Hot Water Debate

Yesterday I told you how good this caravan park was, but I have managed to find a fault. In the accessible bathroom there is a water mixer that is set to 38 degrees. These things are designed to prevent people from scalding themselves if they can’t feel parts of their body. Now I’m going to sound a bit Seindfeldish here but what if you don’t want your water at 38 degrees? Who are they to tell me that I need to have a shower at 38 degrees? In fact who are they full stop? Is there a government department that goes around setting temperatures on showers? And if so how do you get a job with them? Is it something you have to work at for years till you get to the ultimate Shower Temperature Control Regulator Superintendant?...... Hmmmm got you thinking huh?

Had an email from our accountant today letting us know he was lodging our BAS, don’t you love the age we live in. Ness & I can run our business with the support from all of the people we need to help us just the click of a button or a mobile phone call away! We have Skype so Annie can see family & friends, mobile internet, Bluetooth, facebook & twitter, it’s amazing what you can do and where you can do it from! Thanks Sanjeeva, keep up the great work.

Worried about my dog! Panda is my beautiful Border Collie dog, she is an amazing animal & friend. We have friends looking after the house & Panda so I’m sure she will be fine, but I often think of how she is coping without me as I’m sure she misses me too.

Fruit & Nut update

Arama asked me when the fruit & nuts expire! Great question, I’ll check it tomorrow, I might finally have an excuse to throw the bloody things out! Hey you two...Arama and James, check out the picture it is very clear they are still edible.

Annie’s Blog

Wow I love this box on wheels and my new bed, I slept from 8pm till 4.30am….I don’t know what the am stands for but I’ll learn it one day, woke up hungry & had some boob then went back to sleep till 7.30am. I’m going to try to talk Mum & Dad into doing more trips in the box on wheels coz its comfy as and Mum & Dad & Me all get to stay together all the time!

Mum took me for a walk around the caravan park today, I didn’t say anything (Because I can’t talk) but this is a really frustrating age, I saw all of these things that I want to play on but I just can’t yet, there were swings, a blow up pillow that you jump on, climbing bars, mum called them monkey bars but I didn’t see any monkeys. Mum said to me that I will be able to do it soon, but I want to be able to do it now! But I also heard my dad say in the car that he remembered when he was little he used to wish that he was older so he could do things. But now he wishes that he was younger so he could still do things that he used to be able to do easily, he said it gets harder as you get older!

Parents and old people just don’t make sense sometimes!

We went down the street today and this man walked past us and said my Dad’s name, Mum turned to Dad and said “Who was that?” Dad said “I don’t have a clue”….. but for the rest of the day Dad kept saying “I wonder where that bloke knows me from?”…… I just reckon that my Dad is famous, Mum says it happens all the time….. I got a great idea, coz my dad is so famous I reckon he should be the Prime Minister of Australia!....  I’ll write more about this in my future blogs! Oh no not this again….for the new readers this is an idea James had on our last trip. Now he has our daughter as his campaign manager, it is going to be a long 3 months.

Thanks to my friend Jack for writing to me, when we grow up we should go to the big bath together? That would be fun. Not sure about my new seat though, coz when Dad is driving he can see me in the mirror, sometimes he spends more time looking at me than looking at the road. Mum keeps telling him to “Keep his eyes on the road”…… I didn’t even know that eyes came out of our heads, let alone put them on the road!

I hope some of my other playgroup friends write to me, or their Dad’s or Mum’s could write to us on the blog, it’s fun keeping in touch.

Arama you don’t have to worry about me & MacDonalds, my Dad is really fussy about what I eat. He reads all the packets to make sure there are no colours or numbers in my food, which is really weird because he wants to teach me about colours and numbers but he doesn’t want them in my dinner? Some days I just give up!

Speak to you tomorrow

AnnieInAVan XXX