Day 32 - Pt Augusta
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 04:13AM This morning we decided that we would go for a quick trip out to Wilpeena, for those of you who don’t know Wilpeena is right at the foot of the Flinders Ranges in SA. I am going to sound like a tourism commercial here but they are bloody beautiful! We don’t really have mountains in Australia compared to other countries, we have big hills really.... but they are pretty impressive big hills. The colours are gorgeous & photos don’t really do them justice you have to see them for yourself.
Pete & Mary, I reckon we base ourselves in Wilpeena for a week & explore the ranges?
We headed back to Hawker & packed up the van, I mentioned yesterday that we got the aircon regassed yesterday. I have to tell you that there is just something about service in the country, they guy that did the job runs a little place called Chris’s mechanical repairs, if he was closer he would be my mechanic. He did a great job, quickly & cheaply. So if you are ever passing through Hawker Chris is your man.
Stop Press!.... Ness has lost a carrot! She just came out from the van and asked me if I have seen her carrot! She knows she had one and now it is missing so if any of you know where Ness’s carrot is please let her know!
Speaking of lost things, Sarah we still have not found a poly waffle! Have been looking high & low. But we will find one before the end of this trip..... I promise! Thanks for the call yesterday it is good to hear from you guys, please don’t forget us.
I’m really disappointed in my brother in law Brad Atkins, some of you will know that he has recently bought a new house, he is currently moving in and setting the place up for him & Heather & Sydni. He has created a space in his house that will be just “For the boys” Gym, Plasma TV, Beer fridge, Dart board etc. But he has decided that he will name it “Blokes World”.... What the! Up until now I thought he was a good bloke & had some common sense but really Brad..... What are you thinking? If you are serious about this you must come up with a name that is befitting of such a sacred place.... I suggest you call it “MANLAND”
Ness still hasn’t found her carrot!
The trip from Hawker to Pt Augusta has some interesting stone ruins just off the road, the buildings are mostly gone but some of them you can still see walls & chimneys. Makes you wonder what it would be like to have lived there 100 or so years ago. No electricity, running water, air conditioning! When you see things like this it makes you realise how lucky we are and also how much we take for granted!
Big thanks to Norm & Marg for their technical advice. It looks like we have solved our electrical gremlins. It appears that water shorted out the “Hotwire” that runs our fridge while travelling, it heated up the plug & melted the plastic! We replaced the 7 pin plug on the van and the car with metal fittings & checked it today and had no problems. Looks like I will have to stop going through deep water! Marg, Vanessa sent you an email letting you know that we will be in Pt Augusta again 24th – 26th March. Will you be around? We are heading towards WA from PtA, where you going next?
Dan (My son) plays in his basketball grand final this weekend, make sure you all send him a message dan_wood69@hotmail.com or facebook him or call or text him 0488627429 even if you have not met him, send him a message. Good luck Dangaz, we are cheering for you from here. Sandy & David are going to the game to give him some real life support, thanks D&S. Go hard Dangaz, give all members of the ther team that look you do so well...you know the one!!
How typical is this, our new car has arrived but the options we ordered with it have not! So they have had to order the bits & wait till they come from England..... Great!!!
I mentioned at the start that we went out to Wilpeena today, it is in the national park and there is an entry fee. We have not been spending much money on this trip as most of our caravan fees are paid by our business credit card & we also pay for fuel this way too. So when we entered the park and saw that there was an $8 entry fee I said to Ness “have you got any money?” she said “No”..... My wallet was also bare of cash! We managed to scrape together $7.65 in 5c, 10c, 20c & 50c pieces from the ashtray & floor of the car. So we stuck it in an envelope and Ness took it back to the payment box..... Guess what? It would not fit through the slot. I was kacking myself in the car as Ness was trying to shove an envelope full of coins through a narrow slot! In the end she gave up, grabbed another envelope & split the fee into two lots. So national parks & wildlife..... We owe you 35c!!!
Have to work tomorrow, so an early night tonight..... Brad Atkins, wake up to yourself MANLAND rules!
Cheerio – Pump your tyres up, it’s a harder ride but it will save you fuel!
James
P.S. Still no carrot
Reader Comments (5)
Hi guys, sorry have been MIA for a while - work is frantic and barely get time to read work emails let alone your fabulous blog. Tonight have done a quick catch up. 21 years ago I spent some time in Arkaroola and Wilpena and loved it. I can't imagine it has changed all that much since then and agree with you it would be good a place to base ourselves.
Now for my side of the story of our adventurous weekend.......for starters we are still married! well as you know we spent Friday night in the Paj taking turns as to who would sleep on the back seat...ok for me, not so squeezy for Pete! Thank goodness country people are so friendly and wonderful. We were fortunate? to break down near 2 houses and this lovely couple gave us their car to pick up another 4x4 in Traralgon. We eventually reached our destination and after Mr Pedantic erected the camper trailer tent it started to rain and didn't stop raining really until we left 2 days later! 26cm on Saturday and 15cm on Sunday. Loved the trailer though nice warm and dry!
Ness no carrot here!
Miss u guys heaps
Love the devine Miss M
Mate you say in your blog....."and I thought he was a good Bloke",,,,,! but you don't like the term " BlokeWorld" ?
Snap out of your comma, we both know that a male who is worth his salt is a good "bloke" not a good "man" .
And I want the place to have an international feel hence the term "World" not some girly term like "land" .....alice in wonderland, Brad in BlokeWorld.......see what I mean ;-)
i also note that in your text you say the mechanic did the job "Cheaply" .........WTF ? is that even a word?
In BlokeWorld we would use the expression "He did the job for bugger all"........The sooner you check into blokeworld the better, we've got a lot of work to do on you!!
And we have a special place for Vanessa and the girls, it's called "the Bali Room". You'd swear that you were in Bali, if it wasn't for the noise coming out of BlokeWorld ;-)
Hey you two
Finally got a chance to sit and read the last two weeks worth of blogs! Bloody brilliant trip so far, Was wondering about the floods etc when I saw them on the news here in NZ. I still don't understand people swimming in flood waters - kinda like the loons that go TO the beach when there is a Tsunami warning. Definitely a WTF moment!
Just had lunch with Meredith and discussed the carrot issue..... there are a few suggestions that would not be polite to put on here needless to say shorting the electrics came up as well Ness which lead to recollection of the hole burnt in your carpet a few years ago.....oh the laughter. Did you locate the carrot? Having toured the van check south of the border.
Life is still in limbo for me. Waiting on contract and start date for Micros Fidelio still. Have a feeling it could be early April. Good thing I know how to amuse myself. I'm officially now on the dole though (first time in my life). Interesting how dealing with goverment departments can make you feel so insignificant. Oh well, it's a short term deal so no probs with getting some of my tax dollars back.
Anyhow, off to see if I can work on this tan some more - I'm satrting to look like a Maori!
Kia kaha......be strong
Love alway
Arama xxxx
Bloke's World?????????? What the hell???? What has Brad done with our sister? I can't believe Brad's getting away with something as crappy as 'Bloke's World' without a fight. Not even a statement conceding defeat from Heather? Something is amiss........
I am having difficulty accepting that Brad is trying to correct your grammar. 'Cheaply' is the adverb for cheap, whereas doing something for 'bugger all' is an offensive term referencing an (often thought wrong) sexual act: Dictionary quote for the word bugger reads: ' a highly offensive term for somebody who practises anal intercourse'.
So.....how 'blokey' are you, really Brad? Sounds to me like you're a little too keen on creating a 'bloke's world'. hmmmm
Good to catch up with news on your website. Happy, safe travels.
hahahaha. I would still love Brad even if he did finally admit he is gay. hahahahahahaha