Sending Bee’s over Sea’s

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DAY 458 459 and 460

8th, 9th & 10th February 2010

Well the start of the week was here and we had had a good weekend, especially with the company of John and Shaz (Shanna) Kidd, who are on our camp site for a couple of days and had spent their time at the War memorial searching for information on relatives that had died in the war, using the interactive research room they have found some excellent information, they did mention that it was a struggle to find names on the Wall of Honour as there are so many names of course so many different regiments or battalions, however one of the war memorial staff asked who they were looking for and he radioed down to a colleague with the exact location on the wall, what terrific service is that!

By now taking Caroline to work is becoming a routine but as boring as it sounds its just part of the adventure. I drop her off and then expect to go back at 5.00 to pick her up unless she tells me otherwise.

I had an interview last week with an electrical contractor and now I am awaiting further contact as I think they wanted me for a second interview.

The swimming pool was inviting and had managed to do 30 lengths, once finished I began waiting patiently for the delivery of our new Trailblaza fridge and also the collection of the Evakool fridge which is being collected by a courier that EvaKool have organised.

Of course nothing exactly goes to plan so now this needs some following so here we go:

I called the courier, the huge company Ipec/Toll who on Friday told me that the new fridge was in Sydney and would be at the Canberra depot on Sunday for delivery to Canberra Motor Village on Monday.

Well I phoned Regan at Ipec/Toll on Monday and asked what time the delivery would be here so I could make sure that I was around but instead I was presented with bad news “WE HAVE LOST IT, I can’t track it and just don’t know where it is, but bear with us and I will try to find it.”

So the next part of the saga, I went in to camp reception to tell them I had been informed that the COLLECTION of the Evakool fridge would be collected between 1-4pm and said to the young girl that it was important it was collected and if they turn up please call me and I would walk over to meet the driver and hand over the fridge.

Well we were having dinner guests tonight and you guessed it curry was on the menu and needed to go and get some groceries for tonight’s preparation and also get a wiggle on to collect Caroline as well, so on my way out at 4.10 I said to the receptionist that a courier would be calling to collect a parcel and would it be alright to leave it in reception.

But, the young girl said that they had already been and gone as she did not know anything about it and sent them away, I was most annoyed and instigated a controlled explosion.

When people bullsh*t, its easy to catch them out just by listening, she said that I had not told her about it but I confirmed that I had told the young girl on reception this morning, who should have passed the message over.

This girl said that I hadn’t told her and I reminded the young girl that as I was a guest here, I wasn’t my job to pass messages on, but the people she worked with.

I seethed with irritation all the way to collect Caroline and when she got in the truck and asked me how my day was all I could say was “Please don’t mention bl**dy fridges to me”

Still we got back and put the day’s events to the back of our minds, as I needed to get back in to the right frame of mind to cook dinner and enjoy our evening.

I started to cook the curry and Caroline went for a quick 30 lengths and managed to come back just as the curry was festering nicely, Curry’s shouldn’t cook but fester.

John and Shaz came over at 7.00 with a bottle of wine and a couple of tins of beer, we had taken the front off the awning as it was a beautiful hot evening and soon we were dishing up dinner.

After the curry Shaz (Shanna) had presented us with a custard tart for desert, which she had made earlier and was lovely, before we tucked in she looked at it tried a piece and said “great, I remembered to put the sugar in!” Then went on to explain that she made one before on their trip but forgot the sugar. It is amazing what you can cook in a camp oven; this is one recipe that we will be trying.

The evening went swimmingly we had great fun talking about our travels and the huge distances we have both covered, we have gone the opposite way to each other and they have worked in various towns and cities on their journey.

They (John and Shaz) had rented their Queensland house out but unfortunately their tenants have decided to move out so it brought their 20 month trip to an end slightly sooner than they had wished.

They left us about 11.00pm as Caroline, with work tomorrow was drooping, so as they left they thanked us for a great evening and invited us over to their place all 20ft away tomorrow night as it was going to be their last in Canberra as they were leaving on Wednesday.

Tuesday was another busy day, it started with me dropping Caroline off at work then going for my second interview with the contractor I had already seen, but the MD wanted me to meet some of the other project managers that I would be working with.

I was as always early for my interview, by an hour as I had taken Caroline to work and found where I was to go which was not far from Caroline’s office and no point in wasting fuel by going back to the trailer.

So on this lovely sunny day I pulled into the car park and put some money into the machine, sat in the sunshine and uploaded the blog and checked my email.

10.00 am was soon here and then I was sitting opposite to guys talking about my 30 years experience in the electrical industry, blimey 30 years. I was with them for about an hour and a half and it seemed to go well.

I got back to the Wendy House and phoned Ipec/Toll to see if they had “found” our fridge and “No” was the answer but they were looking! Whoopie, a multi billion dollar company and they make it sound like they are doing me a huge favour

My next call was to Star Track couriers to apologise for the mess, about the collection of the Evakool fridge and asked the lady Sharon why their driver did not call me, but she said they don’t have mobile phones, they only operate with UHF, Hmmmm.

Anyway Sharon, did ask me or tell me some interesting information, she asked if the fridge we were sending back was boxed and wrapped ready for transit, “nope”, she asked if it was labelled with the return address, equally “Nope”.

I assumed that it would all be done, as we had not been asked to do any of this by Brodie at Evakool and just told me to send it back. Sharon of Star Track guaranteed that if it went on the transport unprotected then it would definitely get damaged. I told Sharon to do nothing else until I called her back.

I was getting totally fed up with Evakool who just seemed unable to sort things out so phoned Jarrod at Camping Country and explained that I was not going to send it back to Caloundra by Courier but instead take it to an address Evakool was to supply in Canberra and that was it, NO MORE, my patience was wearing thin.

Eventually an email came through with the address they wanted it delivered, I had to take it today just to get it done and dusted as it was getting on my nerves.

I drove across Canberra to Torres a suburb called Canberra to a small refrigeration company and dropped it off, neither of us had been this side of town before, so I did get my passport stamped.

I left there at 3.15 I had had no lunch and was famished, I was to collect Caroline at 5.00pm so decided to go to MacDonalds, have some lunch, do a bit of the blog then go straight to pick her up as I was then on the right side of town.

It was 3.50 and I just thought I would give Ipec/Toll another call to see if they had found the fridge, it had left Queensland 6 days ago on express delivery.

Hello can I speak to Regan please, no sorry she has left for the day, she finishes at 3.00, another controlled explosion happens, the lady asks if she can be of assistance and I give it to her chapter and verse.

She tells me she doesn’t know, and I ask her to tell Regan in the morning to phone me first thing and give me the MD’s name, telephone number as I would like a chat with him or her. She tells me she would, apologises for the huge c*ck up and puts the phone down.

I drive the short way across town to where Caroline works and sit outside for 20 minutes, the phone rings, its Ipec/Toll, praise the lord they have found our parcel, the lady asks where I am exactly I tell her where I am and she tells me the parcel is at the Canberra depot and they will deliver it this evening, one of their guys who lives near by will drop it in on the way home.

Caroline’s smiley face crosses the courtyard and she gets in the truck and asks me gently what sort of a day I have had, not wanting to take any shrapnel that may be flying around. You’ll never guess what and proceed to tell her the whole tales of both the fridges.

We get back to camp and see John and Shaz, they too ask us about the next episode of the fridge saga so I explain all to them. But while I am talking the phone goes, its Matt from Toll, he is at reception with our new fridge and will bring it around and in 30 seconds his white Ford Ranger Ute is pulling up and this guy gets out and we offload this big package which I thank him for and then he is off home for the day.

Its like Christmas day again, we were so excited as we have not had a fridge for 2 weeks and have worked really hard to manage our food so that it didn’t spoil and that we did not waste anything.

The new fridge is fantastic it, is sat on the fridge stand looking magnificent and we are really pleased, its plugged in and purring away hurrah!! When I say purring I do mean purring this fridge barely makes a noise, which in comparison to the EvaKool which has always been noisy, this is amazing, I want to keep opening it to feel how cold it is inside.

Caroline has her swim and does 30 lengths and once she is showered and changed we are sitting with John and Shaz our temporary next door neighbours eating our evening meal, Shaz has done a magnificent stir fry and while we sit and eat we wash it down with a couple of beers as it has been a hot and demanding day, of course continuing tales of our travels.

Shaz likes bee’s she has done since she was a child and told us a funny story that involved bees, John hates bees, really hates bees, probably like I hate spiders really. Anyway, the story involved a significant amount of bees that Shaz had to get rid of before John saw them all and freaked out, they seem to have an abundance of bees over here, but bees in England are on the decline so we decide that they should send some of their bees over sea’s.

The end of the evening comes all to quick we have had a great night, but with work tomorrow for some we need to be in bed.
The following morning I took Caroline to work as usual and got back and swam, the day again was very hot and the pool was really welcome.

I sent a couple of e-mails and had a phone call from the MD of this company that I had my second interview with yesterday, “Brendan” said that they were going to make me an offer as the fella’s that interviewed me yesterday said I was a fair dinkum bloke (not bad for a pom eh!).

Brilliant, at last I have got a job as a Project Manager in Australia, it is what I have really wanted, I am pleased to think that we will both be working so that gives us both a different focus and will help us settle down a bit before heading off on our travels again.

Unfortunately the next call I get is from Caroline at 1.00pm she is not feeling so good and asks if I would drive over and pick her up, I tell her I will be with her in 25 minutes and she says she will wait outside.

I go and collect her she says that she just feels off, and wonders of she picked up a bug in the swimming pool, I have been swimming in the same pool and I have been ok so I think she is just being a woos.

I drop her off at the Wendy House and pop in to Belconnen to do some food shopping to put in the new fridge, it’s great, I buy cheese, yoghurt salad stuff and plenty that we have not been able to get in a while as we could not keep it.

By the time I get back, it is raining quite heavily, Caroline is lying on the bed and has been napping, she must be feeling unwell, as she really does not sleep in the day otherwise.

Later in the afternoon we sit and have a cup of tea, its just lovely with fresh milk, so much better than that long life stuff that I have been trying to keep cool in the Esky then I sit and type this blog round up for a couple of days.

Caroline showers, and now it is teatime, we will post this blog before we go to bed so that’s what has happened in our lives recently.

Love to you all

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Photos

Trailblaza Fridge
This is our new fridge, at least it works, were the Evakool never did, properly

Custard Tart
Shaz made this excellent Custard Tart

Comments

[Jan Davis]

Sorry we won't get to see you back in Sydney
Hi Andy & Caroline, Congratulations Andy! Great news! Told you your perfect job was just around the corner :) Sorry that we won't get to see you back in Sydney but, happy for you nonetheless. When is the big day? When is kickoff? Ted and I are once again back in residence at 135 after the dramas of the last couple of weeks. Nat and Justin are back from Perth and things are starting to return to normal once more (whatever that is!) and, I must admit to having enjoyed just being able to potter at home the last couple of days and catch up on a few things. Hope you are feeling in the pink once again Caroline and that your job is still going well. Enjoy your new fridge after all the drama. Luv, J & T xxx