Caravanning and RVing in Australia

My 2013 Trips - September

Happy Fathers Day to those dad's reading this blog and welcome everyone to my new page.

I had a lovely start to my day when daughter Jackie came across for Fathers Day hugs on her way to work. It's been a long time since we were able to be together on Fathers Day.

Then Sue rang with Fathers Day wishes and we had a lovely chat. That only leaves Chris and he and Marijana are at the Adelaide Airport waiting to board a plane to Europe as I'm writing this so I don't think I'll hear from him today.

 






You may have found it hard to see puss in yesterday's pic so here it is again with an arrow pointing to her!



We've just been out and bought some cooked prawns for dinner. Earlier today I cooked a pan of savory rice - a bit like a paella - to go with it so we should have a feast tonight. 

It's now 9.36 pm and getting on for bedtime. The meal was great and so was being here with Jackie and Duck. Wonderful Fathers Day!

BTW it's still 32C in Yemmy right now - but it's better being hot than too cold.

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 2nd September 2013

Pretty uneventful day. I changed my TV antenna back to my own - I'd been borrowing one from Dennis to see if I could get the ABC but no luck.

While checking the tuning I saw the Masterchef final was on so watched a very thrilling cook-off with the last dish a sweet that was a corker.

Tomorrow J and D both have the day off so we'll be out and about - probably casting our so important vote as we are travelers and can get a pre-vote. 

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3rd September 2013

On Saturday when Jackie and I were out driving we saw some boots hanging from the power lines but of course I didn't have camera or phone with me.

We went that way specially today and here's the pic:  

 Jackie wondered how they had managed to get them up there but there are some clever louts about!

We cast out votes today - it was a relatively simple process and to my surprise I am enrolled at my new address at Illawarra.  

The sun blazes on to my concrete pad in the mornings so I bought some shade-cloth and after a few abortive attempts at hanging it I used a phillips screwdriver heated on the gas to make holes along the top edge. Then I threaded a rope through the holes and bobs your uncle. It works!

 I had an email today about an ACC Tagalong Trip to New Zealand next March. There are two vacancies so I replied that I'm interested in one of them. More news later.

We had an email from Chris and Marijana - they are fine and enjoying their first taste of London.

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4th September 2013 

I had a bad night last night and spent a fair time sitting on the loo in the en-suite.

A bit better today but a bit listless and careful what I eat. Jackie cooked a lovely roast last night but I couln't eat any - the tum was already playing up.

Lazo posted the Nomad  to me for proof reading so that occupied me for a while.

I rang the Shire and then Don who had received our Planning Permit but hadn't sent us a copy! He also has some more questions to answer for the Shire so there are still hoops to jump through.

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5th September 2013

Today was moving day. It was very hot where I was as the full sun was on the site all day so when the people next to J&D moved out I took the opportunity to move across the road to a shadier site. That's J&D's caravan on the left - very handy.

Yemmy's battery was down again so I used the trick I mentioned before to get him going. There must be some small current drain that I'll have to look into plus I'm going to make up a little gizmo for connecting the house batteries to the starter battery easily. 

I was able to eat dinner and enjoy it tonight - I didn't have any for two nights while my stomach was crook. 

My strong magnets haven't arrived from Hong Kong yet - they are coming postage free so I guess the mail will be low priority. I want them to fasten insect screen to doors and windows - not that there's too many flying pests here. They will probably arrive the day after I leave here. I booked another week yesterday and will stay a bit longer if there is nothing positive about my house. I reckon it will take a week or more to get home from here.

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7th September 2013

Today was shopping day for Jackie and me in the morning and after shopping we bought pies from Brumbies and sat at a table on the riverbank to eat them on the way home.

I'd bought chicken thighs in Woolies to make a curry and they looked like boneless fillets. Wrong! They still had the bones in, so I borrowed Duck's ultra sharp boning knife to tackle them.

My new little lpg stove was ideal for cooking the curry and then the rice. I cooked a lot of rice with the idea of a milk pudding tomorrow. There were comments of 'Yum' as the curry disappeared down throats!

My tummy trouble is gone for now and I enjoyed dinner and a few cans of XXXX. 

I rang Chris in London and he was having a bacon and eggs breakfast at a coffee shop near their B&B. They are cramming a lot in and getting a little tired - today they are off to York on the train and will meet up with rellies there on Sunday.

This is J&D's lovely shady site next to mine.

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8th September 2013 

Well the election has been and gone and I don't know what will be the outcome. As travelers Jackie and I were able to vote early - not that it made much difference.

Chris is in London and asked me for the results - I think his team won!

As I mentioned Sunday is bacon and eggs day but I must be loosing my cooking touch because brekky wasn't that marvelous. 

I've been amusing myself learning how to add things to photos and today played with a pic of daughter Sue and their goats. 

She won't thank me for putting it on my blog but I don't believe Nanny will care!

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9th September 2013 

My chair broke! 

My you beaut, relaxing, multi-position chair broke an arm pivot today. I've had it a long time and it's served me well but I'm afraid it's had it now.

It may stick with Super Glue but I got Jackie to take me to the camping shop to buy a new one. It looks pretty good and is comfortable - and it's got three years warranty.

The old chair had a pocket on the back that was handy for carrying essentials like bottles of wine but that's lacking with the new model.


My super strong little magnets arrived from Hong Kong today so fixing up insect screens will be on tomorrow's agenda.

Today I took some pics of chops in the supermarket to go with a blog I wrote for Caravan World On-line. It's a bit hard taking pics of chops when they are covered in Glad Wrap!

It was pretty warm today and the forecast is for even hotter as the week goes on - 39C on Saturday.

Still no word on the Permits so I'll do some phoning tomorrow. It's very frustrating to put it mildly! 

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10th September 2013

I rang Portabuilt today and they haven't heard from Don  about the Building Permit but are going to chase him up. As they said it's in all of our interests to get it finalised.

The magnets are very strong but very fiddly - I may have to leave fixing the insect screens until I get home and Sue might help. Glue all over the fingers takes some shifting! I'll have another go tomorrow but can't be sure I'll get them fixed.

Book orders these day are few and far between but today an order came from the US of A.

Only three more days and I'll be starting to head southwards providing the pills arrive before then.

I bought a 'Jokes' app for my iphone and it's keeping us amused in the evenings. Some jokes are politically incorrect but quite funny.

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 11th, 12th and 13th September 2013

I've been neglecting the blog the past few days. it's been very hot - 37c today and i haven't been too energetic. it's still 31c in Yemmy right now at 10.05pm.

The lovely new gas stove i got for Fathers Day failed today but Woolworths gave me a new one without any fuss.  

I found why Yemmy's battery kept going flat - I'd left the reversing camera switched on so that is something to remember.

A hinge on the 'condiments cupboard' broke and today I pinched on from a seldom used cupboard and it works ok.

I spilt beer on the computer tonight - so far all I've found wrong is the left shift key is not working. It might come good if it dries out.

Kieran sent me some progress pics of my house yesterday and it's  really looking good. they have suggested an island bench and I've agreed as it gives a lot more room. It will be good to get home and see it in the flesh as it were.

Tomorrow I start a 3,200km trip home. 

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September 14th, 15th and 16th, 2013 

The travelling has gone well and tonight I'm at Coober Pedy having clocked up about 1,800km so far!

However on the computer front I completely stuffed up by putting some glasses cleaning stuff down the shift key but my hand slipped and too much went in. For a while everything went haywire and then when I finally shut it down it refuses to start up at all. Fortunately I still have my old one and apart from the track pad not working it's fine. I had to get some batteries for the mouse but that was easy at Erldunda this morning.

The lady in the first caravan park I went to here completely ignored me while she attended to other things so after more than ten minutes I just walked out. I'm glad I did as this is a lovely park and $5 cheaper. The lady here was quick to say to the man who walked in after me,"Won't be a minute." Makes all the difference.

I spoke to Vince about the 2nd bedroom door and we will probably fit at least some glass in it. The timber floor is laid and the painters have finished. I can't wait to see it later this week all being well. 

It's been very hot and windy but last night it cooled down to about 12c by this morning and I was cold! Different to the past three weeks at Katherine.

I had some good pics to put on but they are in the other computer and I deleted them from the phone. There's just one I took today as I passed into South Australia. There was a better welcoming sign but it was surrounded my motorcyclists so I didn't disturb them.

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17th September 2013

It doesn't seem possible but all being well I'll be home tomorrow! I've covered more than 2,oookm since Saturday and there's only about 700km left to do. All quiet open roads and driving at about 110kp/h soon eats up the distances.

I re-fuelled and refreshed at the outback settlement of Glendambo and this is the welcome sign.

As it was getting near stopping time I started looking for somewhere suitable but nothing appealed until I came to this lovely lake. The rest area is near the highway but it's only for one more night and the view is superb.

  I took more pics with camera with the idea of a panorama - I'll see when I get home.

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18th September 2013

This was where Yemmy spent the night. And me of course! Despite the highway traffic and the wind gusts I managed some sleep. I did watch an episode of Sixty Minutes on my iphone from 12 till 1am.

Today was rotten for driving - vicious rain squalls and violent winds made driving unpleasant. Having to drive through Adelaide didn't help either but I arrived home at about 5pm having lost 30 minutes when crossing the State Border.  

The whole five day trip from Katherine was 3200km so I averaged 640km a day - not bad for an oldie!. Don't ask how much fuel I used as I just fill up when the gauge says I need to and don't count the cost.

This will be the last entry in the blog this year. I'm heading to Mudgee for the Australian Caravan Club National Muster next month but it won't be worth doing a blog.

I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings and had a chuckle now and then. My email should you ever feel like contacting me is: lionel@caravanning-oz.com.

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