Day 33 Pt Augusta

Today I talked to a room full of truckies! They were full on Ridgy Didge True Blue truck drivers. They all had Hi Visibility shirts on, but I imagined them all sitting there in shorts with blue bonds singlets on! My talk is pretty down to earth, for those of you who don’t know what I do I basically tell people the story of my accident! Most blue collar workers really relate to it as I speak in their language & don’t use fancy facts & figures!

 However immediately after my session one of the managers stood up in front of the group and ran through a power point presentation with graphs, charts & statistics. Look I know we all learn in different ways but when are some managers going to get it through their heads that this is not what these guys want or in fact need! They need real information, interesting facts & cut out the crap! The other thing is that by the time this guy had finished most people were dazed or half asleep and the impact of my message is diluted!

 Ok that is my whinge for today...... Oh wait there is more!

 We received a call from the car dealer today telling us that some of the extras we ordered with the car have not arrived and will not be here until April!  Ness already has her plane ticket booked and Sandy & David are organised to drive down with the new car & then drive the old one back to Vic. So when Ness picks up the car tomorrow we will only be getting half of what we ordered! Bloody car dealers!

 Hey last night I told you that Ness had lost her carrot! Well some of you sent replies as to where it might be that I just can’t repeat in the blog! (Arama!!!.... tell me the burnt carpet story!) Most of you know that Vanessa is extremely organised, and when she said that she was sure there was a carrot there, I believed her! It turns out that she has remembered where the carrot has absconded to! When we crossed the border into SA we had to dispose of our fruit & vegetables..... Guess where the carrot is?

 Tomorrow Ness flies back to Melbourne, she has some work to do & also to pick up the car. I’ll head up to Prominent Hill for 10 days to work, it will be funny as this will be the first time we have been apart since the wedding!..... I can hear some of you sighing!! Isn’t that cute.

 It is quite warm here, but overcast.... I reckon the rain is following us. We might hire ourselves out as “Rainmakers”.

 Arama thanks for the message, we have a job for you until you start your new one, come travel with us & make sure Ness doesn’t lose any more carrots!

 Brad Atkins, Go ahead with your Blokes World, when people stop visiting you & you wonder what is wrong you will eventually see sense and rebrand it as MANLAND!

 By the way where does my sister stand on this issue? She is noticeably quiet!

 Mrs Appleby, nice to see you have found a few minutes to yourself, I thought Pete would have had you run down to pick up the stranded Pajero while he was away? Hey Mary have you convinced him to buy our old Discovery yet? We will give it to you at Mates Rates! Sometimes James does not know when to give up....and I thought  I was the salesperson in the family!!

 Have to go, there are ants coming into the Van and I have to investigate where they are getting in!

 안녕히 가세요 – Don’t pull in in front of truckies! They are bigger than you & it annoys them!

 James

Day 32 - Pt Augusta

 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 24^th – 26^th 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

Day 31 Hawker S.A.

Been on the road for a few weeks now & I have come to a conclusion. You know in public toilets when they have those toilet roll dispensers that have those individual pieces of toilet paper!..... Well I bloody hate them! Whoever invented them should be shot! I end up pulling out 10 or 15 little bits of paper just to wipe! I am going to have to start carrying my own roll of toilet paper with me wherever I go.

 We saw the funniest thing yesterday, we were just coming into Hawker SA when on the main highway just out of town there was a guy in his electric scooter on the way to town. This road has semi trailers and road trains driving on it, and this guy was cruising along at 20km/h on the main highway..... but it doesn’t end there, later that day after we had checked into the caravan park we went for a walk around town, we went past the local pub and parked outside the front door was the very same electric scooter! This guy was in the pub! Can you get done for drink driving in a scooter?

 Today we had a full day of R&R, we kicked back under the awning, the sun was out & it was just a beautiful day.... not too hot or cold, Ness & I caught up on some work stuff. We also dropped the discovery in for an air conditioner re gas, it has been struggling to keep us cool in the really hot days, so for those of you interested in buying it (Egg.... or Pete?) it will keep you cool during summer. Funny thing happened just then, as I was typing about the car... Ness & I were sitting outside the van and we can see the main road from where we are. I looked up & saw our car driving past!.... I said to Ness “There goes our car” .... it’s a really weird feeling seeing your car drive past with someone else driving it.

 The Paralympic games start this Saturday, for those of you who get the chance make sure you watch them on the ABC, I shouldn’t say this but I can probably get away with it, but I always laugh at the commentators during the Paralympics. They are always careful not to say the wrong thing and are always “Politically correct”..... Whenever I travelled away with a team of disabled athletes it was far from politically correct. The wheelies would give the blinkies a hard time & there were practical jokes galore. I can remember one time where a blind member of our team got up to go to the loo, the bar we were in had columns wrapped in hessian and this guy bumped one of the columns, he had been at the bar for a while (I was going to say he was blind drunk but that would be nasty) anyhow this column must have felt like a person as he stepped back and apologised to the column! One of my mates who was in a wheelchair quickly ducked behind the pole and for the next 5 minutes the blind guy had a conversation with a concrete pole!.... we were crying with laughter at a nearby table!

 I sometimes struggle with some things that they call “Sport”. I personally think that figure skating is an “Art” rather than a sport, and how does ski jumping work, should it not be the guy who jumps the furthest? How do they judge it on style? I reckon I can lip read and most of the guys as soon as they left the end of the ramp were saying “Oh Shit!” but have a think about this, at the Paralympics can you imagine a one legged guy doing a ski jump, or a blind guy doing a downhill ski run, what they don’t show you is the wheelchair guys getting bogged in the snow in their wheelchairs. I know, I’m cruel but I’m allowed to be I’ve experienced it first hand!

 We went up the main street today to buy some wine, it was 9am in the morning & we bought a cask of cheap red wine. Now before any of you jump to conclusions and think that we are becoming trailer park trash, it was for a recipe that Ness is making for tea tonight. We were walking back to the van & Ness asked me if she could put the cask under my wheelchair.... she did not want anyone to see her walking up the road with a cask of cheap red at 9am! I’ll let you know how dinner turns out, and if it is bad I’ll just drink the red wine & forget about it!

 Newsflash..... our car just drove past again, it has been 30 minutes since it drove past before! How long do you have to test drive a car after you recharge the air con? I reckon this guy has enjoyed driving it so much he just kept going!

 Anyway we better go pick the car up before he decides to take it for another drive, will write more tomorrow.

 Rob, thanks for the message... we were worried that you were missing in action(I knew where you were..must have forgotten to tell my husband),, Brad make sure you use those chemicals safely, read the instructions! Meredith have not heard from you for a couple of days, Mel how is Tom going, Sandy W are you still reading? Hi Ilsa, are you getting us from Mauritius?

 Special thanks to Marg & Norm, they are long term caravanners who give us advice & their opinions on many of the places we are going to, hopefully we will see you on the road somewhere.

 Viso gero...to all in Lithuania

Did you know that a chicken can lay more than 200 eggs a year.... Ouch!!!

Man on Scooter

Day 30 Menindee NSW to Hawker SA

Spent last night with Georgy, Russell & family, but as they had to go to work we decided to hit the road too, as we had been in Menindee before there was not much that we had not seen, and Russell caught a 6ft King Brown snake the other day just near the house so even more incentive to get out of there!

 The drive back to Broken Hill was fairly plain, not much to see except the occasional emu or goat, still no roo’s. Just shows how blaze’ we have become, at the start of the trip when we saw an emu or echidna there were excited shouts from the car & a rush to grab the camera. Now I look at them & think “Which way is he going to run.... hope he runs the other way & not into our path!”

 Heaps of water still on the ground, and the paddocks are green green green! Made it into Broken Hill & decided it was hot chocolate time! Found a little cafe called Charlottes, Ness & I have had a bit of a chat about milk & how it can affect some people, that is the reason she has Soy milk. So I decided that I would give it a shot! As long as I don’t have to order it.... and when it is in the cup no one can tell it is soy! So she came back with 2 Soy HC’s and also bought 2 Bacon & egg rolls freshly made...... Well the bacon & egg rolls were superb, BBQ sauce & a slice of melted cheese, excellent.

 As for the Soy HC..... have any of you tasted melted plastic! My god....how do people drink this vile potion, whatever reason you people drink Soy milk.... I reckon the ailment is better than the cure!!!..... Long live cow’s milk!!! How can I even comment on this statement...other than only Soy drinkers understand!!

 We saw two beautiful wedge tail eagles sitting on the side of the road, these things are magnificent up close, I would hate to hit one in the car.... would make a mess!

 We also got a couple of pictures of emus today, look out for them when Ness next downloads.

 Happy 85^th Birthday to Ness’s Gran, we hope you had a lovely day & caught up with everyone on the weekend, Love from us from long distance.

 Just a couple of things we discussed in the car today, Why do birds poo White? Well after some thinking & discussion we turned to modern technology & googled it! we won’t give away the answer you will have to find out for yourself.... but it just goes to show you the level of conversation in our car! By the time we finish this trip we will know everything!

 We also discovered that the first hard hat was invented using canvas that was hardened with glue & black paint..... and here is one for those that have a couple of hundred dollars sunk into that favourite pair of Levi’s..... Did you know that Levi Straus invented Jeans in the late 1800’s because he was looking for a hard wearing pair of pants for miners, the first ones were made from sailcloth, he then imported a French material called Serge de nimes which later was shortened to denim!.... so if any of you are critical of the mining industry, I hope you burn all of your jeans!

We have had a few technical problems with the caravan, we have been running low on battery power when we are not hooked up to mains, now this van is designed to be self sufficient away from caravan parks for weeks, we have 3 batteries & solar panels on the roof... so something is amiss! After a bit of investigation when we pulled in tonight I found that one of the pins on the van plug was actually touching the housing, this would have been causing a short & draining the batteries. ( I reckon it was when I drove through all the water & mud)

 So using my Bear Grills powers of survival, Ness & I went up the local Repco dealer & bought a new plug..... I will replace it tonight & see if that makes a difference! If not..... anyone got any suggestions?

 Hey Phil, how was Nyngan? Were they impressed by your pictures? (Phil has pictures of a helicopter they now have in their museum) Rob, where are your comments? Heather....Please no more Brad stories! Brad do you have the putting green in at the new place yet?

 Remember the other day we went through the mud & I had a ball.... did I tell you that it took hours for Ness & me to clean the car & caravan & my bike! It was horrible, we spent $15 on the car wash & used high pressure, soap & elbow grease, it is still filthy but at least I can see (& use) my bike now..... does anyone know if there are people that detail caravans? I’ll pay good money!

 Anyway we are now officially in SA, we made it to Hawker which is at the foot of the Flinders Ranges..... we had planned to stay here a couple of days before heading to Pt Augusta on Thursday, I had planned to do some 4WDing through the Flinders.... But GUESS WHAT???.... the national park is closed for the next 2 days for “Vermin Eradication”.... just my luck.

 Nzuri & did you know that there are no donkeys in the Donkey Kong game?

James

Day 29 Cobar to Menindee

We slept in this morning, I think the travelling that we have done over the last two days had caught up with us. Last night we caught up with Phil from Sydney, during our chat Phil let slip that it was his birthday! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHIL!.... thought you would get away with it didn’t you? Everyone feel free to send Phil a birthday wish via this blog. That is Phil Cahill if anyone is wondering...and no I won’t tell you how hold he is!!  Great to see you Drill Sergeant.

 Hey I have to share something with you all, not sure if many of you read the readers comments...... Last night my sister told us that her husband was in the spa at their new house & it was not working properly, now most of us would go & get the instruction manual and run through it, but my brother in law (Whom I won’t identify) said “Ill get Ness to have a look at it, she worked in the Spa industry for years!” Ness wet herself when she read this. Be there with my Spa toolbelt as soon as I can Brad...and yes I do take it as a compliment.

Today we travelled from Cobar to Menindee, again our travels were altered due to rain, normally you can cut across from Wilcannia to Menindee & it is about 120km of dirt road, but as this road was closed we had to travel to Broken Hill & then on to Menindee, an extra 150km & tomorrow we have to get back to Broken Hill..... See how much you mean to us Georgy & Russell. It was good to catch up with Brendan & Josh too, Brendan is happy because his mum is not his teacher this year & Josh I still want to buy your Holden!

 Man there is some water on the ground up here. There are mini lakes between Wilcannia & Broken Hill & on the road out to Menindee you can see where the creeks have been flowing & everything is green. The travelling that we have done the last month or so certainly adds perspective to the dialogue we hear on the radio when people talk about the drought & the possibility that it has finally broken in Qld & NSW.

We travelled through Wilcannia today, this town is very much like Walgett, most buildings have shutters over all windows & a lot of the houses are derelict & vandalised. Really quite disturbing to see.

 Hot chocolate report, had one at Cobar. I parked around the corner & Ness walked up the street to get our HC’s. After 15 minutes I was starting to wonder where she was, and another 10 minutes later she had still not returned! I was almost ready to go looking for her when she came around the corner. Apparently the girl in the coffee shop was extremely methodical in her coffee & HC making, she had a number of orders and would only do them one at a time, Ness said she felt like jumping the counter and doing them for her! Don’t go to Gecko Expresso if you are in a hurry..... Thanks for the recommendation Phil!

 Ness is doing a tapestry(crossstitch) while we drive, I personally question the logic of using a sharp needle whilst driving over crappy bumpy roads.... but I secretly smile every time we hit a bump and she accidentally pricks her finger, oh the things that amuse me! Next stop I am buying a thimble. 

 The road between Cobar and Broken hill is Soooooooo Booooooring. It is just the same thing over and over and over again, there is very little to see except puddles of water and the occasional bunch of feral goats or emu’s. Not a scenic drive at all.

 Had dinner with Georgia & Russell, Josh & Brendan. They are in their new house right on the river at Menindee. Water views & only 3km to town. Nice to see them, Ness showed Georgy all the wedding stuff & we had a good catch up.

 We spoke to Pete & Mary tonight, we compared travelling mishaps’ but I reckon we got off easy..... Pete & Mary went away for the weekend but had major vehicle problems. Wanna buy a cheap Land Rover Mary? Comfy, air con, going cheap???  Mary I am looking forward to catching up and hearing your side of the weekend adventures. P.S. The Land Rover really is for sale  ;)

 Tomorrow we will probably head into SA, I’ll have to get Vanessa to offload her fruit & vegetables....... Maybe they will take canned goods too & we can lighten the van by a couple of hundred kilos?

 Wildlife report today, 3 squashed lizards, 2 snakes & a squillion goats. Are these things a major problem in Australia? There are heaps out here. Also lots of emu’s.... but funnily enough we have not seen one roo since we came into NSW!

 Adeus – don’t drive with dodgy shock absorbers!

 James