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Published: August 5th 2010
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Reality has set in as it dawns on us that it's not long until we set off on our long awaited adventure in Australia. Alas we still haven't been able to practise what could be critical to the success or otherwise of our trip. We need (that's the Royal 'we') to practise reversing and manoeuvering a caravan as although we have been camping for over 25 years it's always been in a campervan and in all that time we've never towed anything. Right on cue Sarah and Darryl's great drag racing pals, Emma, Gos, Ben and James (complete with caravan) diverted to Moira whilst on their way to North Yorkshire for their holiday. Off we went to the nearby YHA car park, sent Sarah, Emma, Gos and the boys off geo-caching and the tuition by the expert teacher Darryl Howells began. The intricacies of the connections and wiring were patiently explained, we were given a reversing demonstration and then it was Graham's turn. Luckily the car park was fairly empty and there were newly painted white lines to guide him. 'Left hand down a bit' I shouted whilst waving my arms frantically and after three reasonably successful manoeuvers he was pretty
confident and the caravan was very well parked each time within the white lines. Driving in a busy town will take a bit of getting used to but we both felt relieved that we'd had the opportunity to practise. Thanks very much Emma and Gos.
Gos showed us how skilful he was as he reversed the caravan on to Sarah and Darryl's drive, next to our campervan. After that we needed a bit of relaxation so off we went to pick wild raspberries and blackberries which grow just a few minutes walk from the house. Sadly, many people had beaten us to them but we managed to get enough for jam maker extraordinaire, Sarah, to get cracking and make her second lot of jam. The boys were great at fighting their way into the thick bushes to get at the fruit that dangled tantalisingly just out of reach. The jam was tested the following morning and the unanimous decision was that it was delicious! This latest acquisition to Sarah's skill base is fantastic and follows closely on the heels of the most wonderful cake made recently for the occasion of our 40th Wedding Anniversary. A lovely day ended perfectly
with Graham and Sarah singing a few songs and giving some hints to the boys on playing the guitar.
It was great to spend a bit of time with Emma, Gos and the boys and we hope they have a good holiday. Sarah and Darryl had gone to work in the early hours of the morning so it was left to us to wave them off and wish them a good holiday.
Next thing to do is extract the suitcases from the loft and make final preparations for the trip. We have been making lists for a while but now it is all getting a bit close. We have been very lucky as another great friend of Sarah and Darryl's, Ed, has rebuilt our laptop so it's in tiptop condition to take with us. Hopefully this will help us keep in frequent contact with everyone back home. We'll be in touch again soon.
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Emma
non-member comment
Yippee.....
Was feeling at a loss since Sarah and Darryls travel blog had come to an end, but no more will enjoy following you two around on your travels. Enjoy your trip and hope you had a great wedding annv sorry we missed you for that. Take care Emma XXX