thisisthelife

We left Ballarat on Monday 19thDecember, heading towards Horsham and our friends, Lockie and Tracey’s property 30 km out of town. We could afford to travel at a slow pace as they did not expect us to arrive until Wednesday. We stopped at a rest area just west of Stawell, by a small lake with a perfect sunset (except for the constant noise from passing B-doubles – all night!). On Tuesday we left the van at a park and went off to explore the area. The township of Stawell is where “the Stawell Gift” foot racing event is held at Easter time each year. 60 events over 3 days, the prize for the major race is $40,000. Get your running shoes on! There is history of gold mining in the area and an operating mine is ... read more

Feeling somewhat stunned and upset about our "retrenchment" from Bright Holiday Park, we departed in the early hours of Saturday 19th November, and set off towards Bendigo, as we were planning to go there for the Caravan Show this weekend anyway. As we had breakfast in a rest area on the side of the freeway, we drove straight through Shepparton. Peter was ready for another break from driving as we approached the little town of Stanhope so we helped the small local economy by purchasing coffee and newspapers. A young boy was sweeping the footpath outside the butcher’s shop and asked if that was our van up the road. He was impressed by the way we tow the car behind. Peter reminisced about his youth in a country town. Every time something big or different came ... read more

It’s funny how funerals bring families together. Peter’s Mum would have wondered what all the fuss was about. The family gave her a lovely "send-off". We were grateful that we got to see all the family again. We were able to celebrate our youngest daughter, Shannon’s, engagement to long-time school friend, Michael Jones. Within in week of those festivities, Shannon was on a plane to Spain, for the next leg of her jet-setting, back-packing lifestyle. Before she left she suggested that perhaps we could meet her in Gallipoli next April! Great Idea! Something to think about. It’s strange that as soon as an idea is planted in your head, there are signs of it everywhere you look. Travel features in newspapers focused on the countries that we would consider visiting (Ireland and Switzerland, for sure!) On ... read more

Blog 18 Interstate For all those skeptics out there …we have been interstate for 5 weeks now! Monday 10th January As we left the Central Coast, the rains were coming and didn’t look like they were going to stop any time soon. Our progress was very cautious, listening to ABC Local Radio to keep abreast with current flood warnings and road closure notices. After staying overnight about 70 km south of Coffs Harbour, we actually decided to turn around and head south again, aiming for the New England Highway. This decision was not made lightly, as there was a lot of bad weather there too, with road closures threatened. Not two minutes on the road and still unsure that we had made the correct decision, we received a phone call from a very smart person (you ... read more

Blog 16 Boggy Wagga Wagga Our previous blog finished with our weekend trip from Wagga Wagga to our Nation’s Capital for Floriade. We returned to Wagga Wagga and checked in to a different van park from before the weekend. We mentioned that we were looking for work, so the next day Wendy had a trial shift on the cleaning team in the cabins. She must have impressed the manager because she worked 7 days straight, and has worked on and off ever since. They are only short shifts so it wasn’t too taxing. The rain kept coming and the river rose again. You’ll remember that when we arrived here back in early September, the Wagga Beach Caravan Park Manager, (in the job for only 1 week) was anxiously watching the river level as it peaked. Well, ... read more