Slogging over the Blog

---

DAY 431


Still with that holiday feeling today, the weather is set to be hot again although it is a little overcast this morning, with the doors open in the large open plan living room it feels lovely and cool.

Eddie our next door neighbour back in England wrote to us recently, thanks Ed, always great to hear from you. Amongst the weather report and a quick update on what’s happening in the neighbourhood, Ed reported that we had a large rat living under our shed in the back garden. Well Ed had some plans to deal with the problem for us and an email yesterday confirmed that the “issue” had been dealt with and the rats, including one large one that we suspect was pregnant, were suitably disposed of.

Ed has given us a report on what the neighbourhood has been like in the recent cold and snowy spell and I have to say it does sound rather treacherous and makes me thankful that we do not have to drive to work every day in such bad conditions.

Susan and Lauren had both headed out to work so Andy and I had our breakfast including the obligatory one or two cups of tea, then telephoned Jan and Keith, who we met way back in Lichfield National Park in the Northern Territory.

Jan and Keith live in Canberra and had contacted us recently, so we said we would try and catch up while we were here. Well Andy’s telephone call confirmed that we could pop over and see them today, so after a few chores this morning we headed on over.

It was great, Jan was really excited to see us as we were to see them, Jan beckoned us onto their driveway and before we knew it we were indoors in the cool, the day was now heating up well.

Keith was waiting indoors to greet us, no sooner than we met again we started talking, and reminiscing about when we met and tales from both of our journeys.

Jan has in fact confirmed one of my worst fears, they had been travelling for 6 months and since being back home she has hated it and cannot wait to get moving again which hopefully they will have a minimum of a 2 month trip hitting the road in April. Jan kept saying “don’t stop, you will hate it!” I think she is right, we would love to just carry on but at some point we need to work.

Just as a reminder we actually met Jan and Keith, on Blog Day 259, 23rd July 2009, Kangaroo Jack is on the Move Again. Lichfield National Park is a beautiful place and holds some good memories for us.

While Keith has the kettle on, Jan tells us about their caravan, when we met them they had a Jayco caravan, it was a pop up with expanding sides and have in fact now traded up for a larger size caravan, the funny thing is that when they took their van in for a trade in, they were told that it was completely trashed and unsaleable! When they explained apparently because the cupboards have been scratched and will need replacing amongst other parts of wear and tear.

The chap at the caravan place said that they get caravans in that are 6 years old and look brand new, but the point here is that Jan and Keith along with the many other people we have met on their travels are actually out using their caravans and enjoying the fruits of life that Australia has to offer, it has not been sitting on a driveway or in storage only venturing out for a week or two holiday each year, this caravan has been used which is what it is for. We met someone with big an off road caravan that didn’t actually want to take it off road as they did not want to ruin it, ok each to their own but in contrast we have seen some off road caravans that have done the hard graft and the owners cannot wait to get back in for more of the same.

Just like our trailer tent really, it is still fully functional and has plenty of life left in it (ok so the door zipper needs replacing) but the canvas is faded and it does look well used, but we have had a lifetime of holidays in one go with it. If we keep the camper trailer then at some stage we may only have to change the tent that sits on the top and leave the trailer as it is, especially with the recent modifications.

Jan and Keith offered for us to stay for lunch, and we gratefully accepted, we did have lots to talk about, Jan has also been doing her homework and in fact stayed up until 2.00 this morning catching up on our blogs which is why Andy woke Jan up when he phoned just after 9.00 this morning (sorry Jan). She fully admits to spending 13 hours catching up!

We had a terrific salad for lunch, followed by watermelon and rock melon, but the afternoon started to slip away too quickly, so after a cup of tea and a quick photo we headed off.

It was great to see Jan and Keith, we still have lots to talk about and perhaps if we did not have to go to Woolworths to get some things for tea tonight we may have stayed longer, but as needs must we headed off to the shops.

It is cheap Tuesday tonight, but instead of buying pizza we are making our own, as Susan wants a healthy pizza. So while I get the usual mozzarella and pepperoni for us I pick up the necessities for a healthy pizza, which is made on pitta bread instead of a pizza base.

With the shopping done we headed back to Susan’s, Lauren was already back from work so the city dogs were enjoying the comfort of the cool air indoors, they could barely move to greet us on our return.

With a few phone calls made, Susan reappeared after work and then Andy started to make our pizza, I made Susan’s using the pitta bread, tomato paste, ricotta cheese, cherry tomatoes, some ham shavings and after cooking topped off with some rocket.

Andy and I tucked into our completely unhealthy pizza, enjoying this treat, but this will obviously need some pay off, Susan tells us that she is swimming tomorrow night, as I did not go last night, I have agreed to swim tomorrow, I should really I have not had a lot of exercise lately.

An uneventful evening, we watched some TV, there was a film on but it was a very early Steve Martin film and not terribly good.

Andy went to bed at around 10.30, I stayed up a little longer to finish watching something and then headed off to bed, the night was going to be a warm one again.

---

Photos

Keith & Jan
Who we met in Lichfield National Park In Northern Territories