Well we have reached the 50 day mark, we left home on the 26th May and here we are in Tom Price 50 days later. And while we miss our home some days, I miss Panda all days, we miss family most days & we miss friends occasionally speak for yourself I miss friends and family equally…many of my friends are my family too!!….it is still a great trip and we are all glad we are doing it. The positives are that we are all together almost 24/7 apart from the time I go to work, we eat, sleep, travel & share every minute of the last 50 days.
It’s just not normal! Tell me about it!! I mean you think about your personal situation, you or your partner don’t see each other during the day (unless you work together) you have a bit of time after work & then it’s off to bed & do it all over again 5-6 days a week. And for some people the days that they do have off they go and do their own things. So in reality what Ness & I are doing is just not what most people do. But it works! We have had a really good trip so far and are looking forward to August when we head back across & through the centre of Australia. Got some dirt roads to travel & will catch up with Brad in Alice Springs. Awesome!
We went up the hill today. There is a mountain called Mt Nameless, well actually it does have a name Jarndrunmunhna but the whitefella’s couldn’t say that so stuck with Mt Nameless. There is a track that takes you up the hill & when you get there the views are amazing. We took some pictures but the photos don’t really do it justice, it was really breathtaking. And the drive up and back down was fun too, the Land Rover was in its element.
DG saved our lives today. We had a major computer meltdown. Ness went to close her laptop & there was a piece of Annies clothing in between the keyboard & the screen. It cracked the screen making the laptop unreadable! We didn’t realise this until came back to it later and I opened the screen and was like WTF??
Now this computer is our life, it has or schedule, our accounting system, our calenders, our client database…..Everything on it! For those of you who know Vanessa she is pretty well organised, in fact she has been called ANAL on occasion and she has backups & copies of everything! But that was not going to help us in the middle of the Pilbara!
We were pondering solutions, use my laptop and transfer all the backups, remove Ness’s hard drive and transfer it to another hard drive so we could then transfer it again to a new computer when we found one (that’s a lot of transferring). While this was all happening I have to add that I was very proud of myself for not losing it…I stayed very calm and collected and knew that at some stage we would find a solution.
DG happened to ring shortly after we found the problem and just said “Can you get another monitor and plug your laptop into that? If it is only the screen that is damaged.”
Ness & I looked at each other and thought “That is brilliant!”
There is a shop here that sells electrical equipment and passes itself off as a computer shop/internet café. We went in and were not holding our breath for a solution. We asked if they had any monitors & the lady said “Only what is in the window” which was fine as they had 2 twenty inch monitors still in their boxes. We then asked if they had any computers in stock. They said they only had one laptop and it was a display model!.... We took both!
Ness spent part of today backing up her old laptop, then transferring all the things we need onto the new one! Who says you can’t find a solution for just about anything!
But it was DG’s suggestion that gave us hope. You will make an IT guru yet Dad!!
Reader’s Comments
Kristine D confessed to her coffee addiction, but used the twins as an excuse! S&K we know what it is like to travel with Annie, if we had two with us we would be on more than coffee!
Jack got his pig! Congratulations Jack, and then it got away….Congratulations Pig!
Tereasa explained the Dilemma about being a Dilemma…..It’s a long story but it will give me lots to take the crap out of her for years to come!
Annie’s Blog
Oh dear, my Dad is complaining all the time. For the last couple of days he gets up and gets on his bike. He rides on these roller things for a while and then gets off and has a shower. He says it is so he gets fit & doesn’t get too big & cuddly. I like my Dad big & cuddly. But he also wants to make sure he is healthy so he can play with me for years & years to come.
But why does he then complain to me & Mum that he is sooooo sore! C’mon Dad, harden up a bit!
We drove up this great big hill today, it was very bumpy and rough. Do you remember me having to prop your head up with a little pillow so it didn’t roll around while you slept and we drove up the bumpy hill? Dad kept telling me and Mum that he loves his Land Rover & how good it was…. I’m starting to worry about Dad, he has this weird thing going with his car! Get used to it Annie…your Dad is a Petrol head and loves his cars!!
My friend Jack from Steels Creek (Not Jack from Point Cook….soon to be Sydney…..or Jack from Hawthorn with a broken leg. Hey how come you three got the same names? I’m confused) got his pig! Yay Jack, but then it got away…. How did you crawl after it Jack? I tried to catch birds today but it did not work!
Edward & Jack, this morning I was lying in bed with Mum, Dad was making her some smelly stuff called coffee and I got near her ear and Crunched my teeth! It was awesome, Dad laughed at the face Mum pulled, she said it was a horrible sound, but it was soooo funny.
Ok I have to go, In The Night Garden is just about to finish, I like it when Dad watches it with me & Iggle Piggle doesn’t go to sleep. My dad makes a shape with his hand and points it at Iggle Piggle and then he makes Bang Bang noises and Iggle Piggle drops down! Wonder what my dad is doing???? Such a positive influence…your Daddy is on you. J
Good night & sweet dreams
AnnieInAVan….XXXX OOOO
Sunday, July 15, 2012 at 07:52AM