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Jan and Graham
Hi and welcome to our blog. We have set out on our second great adventure in Australia, following in the footsteps of those magnificent bloggers The Wallaby Wanderers. Originally we were due to go in March and spend a few weeks with the Wanderers (daughter Sarah and son-in-law Darryl) but those plans were blown apart by the small matter of a triple heart bypass operation that Graham needed. However, all's well that ends well, Graham is fit and healthy again so we arrived in Aus on the 14th August and picked up 'PIE' the trusty Nissan Terrano that Sarah and Darryl bought last year and 'SWEETIE' the beautiful caravan. So join us as we attempt to explore the many parts of the beautiful country that is Australia that we have not previously visited and go back to some of our favourite places. Pootling Possums
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Published: March 7th 2012Europe » United Kingdom » England » Leicestershire » Ashby de la Zouch
March 3rd 2012
Thursday 1st March proved to be an eventful day, especially for Graham. Today was the day he was to drive the car back to Mansfield for it to be stored in the new shed that he and Mark had started building last week. We had left the caravan still in its “camping” position as, when we left Mansfield on Monday, the weather was poor and we didn’t want to put a wet caravan into storage. Graham and Mark thought they’d be able to do that this morning when both car and caravan would be dry enough to deal with. Graham had planned an early departure (about 6:30am) to make sure he arrived in Mansfield at a good time to get all of the preparations done. However, when he awoke to use the loo at about 5:00am ... read more
February 29th 2012
We were obviously aware that Monday 27th February would be our last opportunity to say our farewells to all of the Reeves family but we were also aware that Simone would dash off to work early and the kids would be catching the school bus at about 8:20am. So we set our alarm to go off ridiculously early (for us!) so that we wouldn’t miss them. We were in the house by 7:30 but Simone was already preparing to leave and we desperately wanted a group photo. All of the kids were up (Ken needed some prompting) in various states of dress but we achieved our aim and, with the help of the “automatic” setting, we managed to get a perfect photo that included everyone and Spotty the dog to boot. We made our emotional farewells ... read more
February 26th 2012
First thing on the morning of Saturday 25th there was a lot of clearing up to do from the night before which Graham and I did but we were well organized and didn’t take too long. When Mark eventually staggered out he was amazed that we had made such good progress. Neighbour Willy arrived early with the cement mixer he had promised on the back of one of his ELEVEN (yes – eleven) trailers. It was a good sized trailer and Mark asked if he could borrow it to collect the roofing sheets from the scrap yard. Mark and Graham met Nigel at the scrap yard to make sure they were suitable roofing sheets and Nigel was impressed. They promptly loaded up eight sheets which, actually, haven’t been paid for yet but this type of casual ... read more
February 24th 2012
Thursday 23rd February became a bit of a working day. Graham was up early to make some progress on preparing the foundations of the new shed which will house a couple of caravans (including Sweetie) and our car. Last night, family friend Nigel had provided the basic information and some detailed measurements to enable some post holes to be dug out so Graham spent much of the day and most of his energy digging with a very heavy crow-bar and a long-handled shovel. Considering his medical condition and his current state of fitness (overweight!) he made remarkable progress and the holes, six of them, all came along nicely. As for me, realizing that time was running out for packing up the caravan, I made as much progress as I could, identifying and suitably packing a) things ... read more
February 22nd 2012
Wednesday 22nd February – Happy Birthday to my cousin Colin in St Albans, UK. We hope you had a special day. Often during our travels, particularly in Victoria, we were made aware of a camping area called Sheepyard Flat. Sarah and Darryl spent some time there, it’s a regular escape for the Reeves family and even nephew Bertie in Melbourne spoke of it as a special place to camp. We had thought that, while we were in Mansfield, we might be able to spend a night there in the tent so that we could return to the UK having had at least one night in the tent and having done some “free” camping. Unfortunately, our time in Mansfield was too limited but, so that we could actually see what the fuss was about, Mark had it ... read more
Sweetie 'Comes Home To Roost'
Published: February 22nd 2012Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Mansfield
February 21st 2012
Today, Saturday 18th February our main objective was to visit our dear friend Wilma who lives in Wangaratta. We had arranged to get there for about midday so we had plenty of time to get ready. Wang is only about 40 kilometers from Benalla so we had a bit of time to spare to carry on with our tidying up process. Wilma has lived in Wang for a good many years and her home – The House That Jack Built – is as delightful a home as we have had the pleasure of visiting during our many trips to Australia. We have actually stayed there several times including earlier on our trip and we feel the design, the layout, the construction and the location are all perfect. It’s not huge or overly luxurious. It’s just comfortable ... read more
February 17th 2012
Tuesday 14th February was the day we decided to head for Benalla which is all of 60 kilometers away from Shepparton! The weather was good and in view of the shortness of the journey we were very casual in our preparations. We had been parked under a couple of leafy trees which provided a bit of shade during the day but Graham discovered that they also deposited a sticky substance onto the awning. He had to sponge it off before he could put the awning away but even so we were packed up and ready to go well before the 10:00am departure time. Having said that we actually left some time later as our neighbours, Barry and Wendy from Maroochydore, were very chatty and it was nearer 10:30 before we pulled away. Just across the road ... read more
February 13th 2012
Sunday, 12th February started well - it had been cool but dry during the night so there was no heavy dew to worry about. Graham hadn’t put any of the outside things away last night like he usually does as we weren’t in a hurry to get going this morning and he guessed things, particularly the awning, would not get damp during the night. Nevertheless, we made good progress in our packing up and we were ready to hit the road for Shepparton by about 9:45am. We have been through Shepparton before but we’ve never stayed there and we felt it would be a good place to explore and from which to visit Echuca. It would also stand us in good stead for our on-going plans which we think will take us on to Benalla in ... read more
Room With A View (soon hopefully!)
Published: February 12th 2012Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Bendigo
February 11th 2012
Friday 10th February - having had no reply from our friends at Nuggetty yet, we decided to travel to Castlemaine and Maldon anyway as today, was an ideal day for touring round. We can afford to hang around Bendigo for one extra day but, with a limited number of days left in our adventure, and still a lot we can do, we need to keep to a bit of a schedule. Hopefully we’ll be able to meet up with them tomorrow. Today started gloriously although the forecast for the end of the day and the weekend isn’t so good. We made our way through the heart of Bendigo to get onto the Castlemaine road and it made us realise just how big Bendigo is. We passed through Kangaroo Flat and were soon on the outskirts of ... read more
February 9th 2012
Tuesday 7h February started dry and bright although there was a fair bit of cloud about. We woke quite early because the exit barrier at the caravan park makes a noise when a vehicle travels over it and our current site is close to the exit/entrance. Many people in the park are residents and obviously start work early - we were aware of the barrier noise from about 6:00am onwards. We had no major tasks today except to get ready for a trip away from Melbourne – possibly our last trip on this voyage around Australia. We thought to head towards Bendigo tomorrow and to drift around North West Victoria before returning to Mansfield where the car and caravan would be put into storage. With that in mind, we decided to buy some covers for the ... read more
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