Weekend Adventures
Monday, October 7, 2013 at 06:40AM The blog is back….. Well sort of
Hello family, friends & others that read the blog. It’s been so long since we have chatted. This year has been huge for Ness & I, I've been overseas for work & we went to Scotland to catch up with my side of the family. Add into that the turmoil & excitement that our little girl brings each & every day and it has been fun. Brad & Dan are also a big part of our daily lives & even though they are both out there doing their own “Thing”….we still think of them always & enjoy their company when we can.
But you don’t want to know the boring stuff, you want the “Good” bits…..
A couple of months ago I was feeling a bit flat, the overseas travel sucked & I’d been busy with work so I said to Ness….. Lets jump in the van and take off for a week!
So down to the back shed, blow the dust off the Trakmaster (AKA Bart) & the Discovery (AKA Dolly… thanks to Georgia)
After a bit of a clean up & recharge the caravan batteries we decided that Bart needed a new set of tyres, so called around & got a good deal from Fast Freddies (Serious!!!) in Healesville…. So hooked the van up the night before so it’d be ready first thing the next day. Headed off at 730am towards Healesville & got within sight of the town when Dolly lost all power & the dash lit up like Christmas! Luckily I was on a section of road that I could pull over far enough to let traffic past! After several failed attempts to restart her, including a dealer suggested option of locking & unlocking the car six times….. (That is what they told me to do!!!..... I reckon they were cracking up when they hung up saying “Just got another one fooled”)….. I called the RACV. NO Smart Ass comments Pete or Egg!
Went through the whole rigmarole of explaining what happened, where I was…..etc, and then told them I had the van on the back….. he said “We can get your car but your van is too big to tow with our truck!”….. how does that work… I can tow it with a 2.7 tonne Land Rover but its too big for him to tow with an 8 tonne truck?
He said “I’ll just check with my supervisor sir” and put me on hold…… So while listening to the awful on hold music I thought “I’ll give it another crack”…. And pushed the start button!.... started first pop & purred like a kitten with NO warning lights on at all!
I waited for 30 seconds to see if it would cut out….. then put it in gear & headed off towards Fast Freddies!..... Ran like a dream!
Tyres fitted by the team at F.F…… I’d recommend them if you live out our way!.... and jumped back into the “Rig” to head home, but wanted to be sure so took it for a cruise up to Kinglake, Toolangi & back home to see if it would “Malfunction”….. Ran perfectly!!!
So we packed the van on Friday & Saturday, decided to leave Lunchtime Saturday, a little apprehensive that Dolly would S#*t itself at any moment, but she ran smoother than a Swiss watch!
First stop Euroa…… Which was 123km from home!..... Nice short drive just to ease us all back into it, Ness takes 2 or 3 days to warm up to having the van on the back….. Or maybe it’s just my driving?
So we pull into the Euroa Caravan & Cabin park, Ness gets out to check in & we are shown to our site by an ex female jockey (Stay there one day you will see what I mean!)…. And we set up the van, Ness does tea & we just chill….. Or do we?????
Now is it just me or does the sight of a middle aged man with obviously deeply dyed jet black hair & a big gut walking around the caravan park in bare feet holding a Pussy Cat freak you out too?.... But wait, he then started playing with it & throwing ping pong balls at it & it was bringing them back. It was creepy! I double checked the van doors were locked that night!
Woke up the next day & Creepy Pussy Guy was gone!..... Didn’t even hear him leave? I reckon I saw my first real live Vampire!
Ok so after Brekky it was time to go to the Car Show, Once a year Euroa has a Show n Shine. Oh man it was awesome, just on the grassy banks of the creek in Euroa, walking distance from the caravan park…. & it was PACKED!!!.... there was everything there! Aussie muscle cars, Rods, European cars, British classics, Bikes….. Oh & the best Egg & Bacon toasted Sanga’s.
We wandered around for hours, occasionally bribing Annie with a Donut or some Junk Food & she eventually fell asleep! I’m putting out an open invitation for you all to come up to the show next year, we can book cabins, camp sites & make a weekend of it? Let us know if you are interested.
Jumped in the Rig & headed out of town, we had not planned this but as we were only 140km from Myrtleford (where my mum lives) we decided on a detour to see “Granny” as she is known to all!
Hmmmmm….. almost backfired though as when we arrived Granny was no where to be found! We were just discussing whether to stay or to leave when she arrived home from being on a picnic with her neighbors!
Had a great catch up with mum & she tired Annie out so we were glad we went on that little detour.
Early start out of Myrtleford, Filled up with fuel, Packet of Juicy Fruit for me, Fruit & water for the others (trying to make me feel guilty)…..just out of Myrtleford heading to Wangaratta & Guess what?...... Dolly Died again, I was glad Ness was with me this time so she didn’t think I was exaggerating last time!.... But I didn’t panic, Told Ness just to Chill & sit still…. Waited the obligatory 5 minutes with the car switched off, then pushed start….. & it purred like a kitten! (That’s a bit weird after my previous story!)
Hey for those of you into Advertising….. Have you noticed that Mitsubishi are advertising heavily at the moment & they use the music to a song called “I don’t care….I love it I love it”….. well for some reason Annie really likes this tune & when the ad’s come on she waits to hear the “I Don’t Care” & then she sings “I Love It, I Love It!...” Well today we were in the car heading to Mildura, we decided to take some back roads, we went through Tocumwal & headed towards Balranald. We arrived at an intersection where we could take either a dirt road or a sealed road, roughly the same distance. I turned to Ness & said “Which way do you want to go?”….. to which she replied “I Don’t Care”…… Then from the back seat came “I Love it, I love it”…… I nearly couldn’t drive!!!!
We have our CB radio on in Dolly, and for those of you who have listened to the trucking channel (40) you will know there is a lot of colourful language…… But they also are a polite bunch & every one of them includes in their transmission “Thanks Mate”, “See ya later Mate” “How ya been Mate”
Our two year old daughter now receives Teddy Bear biscuits & says “Thanks Mate!”
That’s our weekend so far, had a big drive today but we are staying here for the week….. So gives me a bit more time to write…… Please feel free to comment, gives me more ammunition to write back with
Love from us….. J,V & A….xxx
Reader Comments (2)
Sorry to hear about Dolly playing up - don't you hate those intermittent faults?
You'll have to get yourself a reliable tow vehicle James - like a Vee Dub!!!
Good to have the old faithful blog back again!! It's been a while between conversations!!!