Dou'bloons

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DAY 478 & 479

No we are not talking about Spanish money from days gone by but as we were up and about early this morning we had the luck to see two balloons over Lake Burley Griffin, in fact it is worth mention that the Canberra Balloon festival is coming up starting next weekend and I believe running through to the following weekend. We are hopefully going to get up early on the final Saturday morning (weather permitting) and head down to the lawns of Old Parliament House where we hope to have breakfast and watch the balloons take off (it will be a 6.00 start so don’t hold your breath!)

By the time we crossed the bridge our two balloons turned into 3 and as we neared the building where I am working a large parcel of land had a Troopy Lancruiser that was towing a Balloon basket, whilst the other Troopy was full of people whom I expect to be soaring high into the peaceful skies above Canberra as soon as their Balloon was inflated, it looked great fun so we might give this a go one day.

Well, yesterday, Saturday, was as busy as usual Andy was awake at 5.00am with a busy mind and he could not get back to sleep so the only thing he wanted to do was get up have a shower and get himself ready for the day ahead and it also stops him from disturbing me as I want at least another two hours sleep.

Eventually after I heard Andy beetling around outside he brought me tea in bed as he always used to do, it feels like a real treat now having a cup of tea in bed on the weekend.

Knowing it was going to be a busy day, I did not lie around for long, I must have been up by 7.30, I had a quick breakfast of an English muffin, raced over to the laundry and soon had two washing machines on the go.

We had hoped for a swim before going out this morning but we had other chores to do, Andy busied himself cleaning the truck out, it has not been done for a while. It was not long before I had washing hanging on the line ready to dry on this beautiful sunny day.

With the washing out of the way I showered and got myself ready for the day ahead. First stop out this morning is to see Keith and Jan, we promised we would stop by for a coffee and a chat, so we spent an hour or so with them, along with a gorgeous Blueberry cake that needed some attention, which it got! It is always great to see them and they are planning their next adventure with their new Caravan in tow.

Then Andy had to pick some test equipment up from a colleague of his and then we were off to Bunnings to get a new camping table. The one that we had originally purchased in Bunnings in Warnambool, way back in March last year was finally giving up the ghost, it was so badly melted and uneven, you could not stand anything up on it as there was no level surface and of course with the general wear and tear we decided it was time for a new one, not to mention more hygienic!

We found a bigger table at a pretty good price, the bigger table is better for us as we have more room to cook and prepare food with, it won’t take up much more space in the trailer, and it is only slightly wider and longer.

We headed back to camp for a light lunch, by now it was past lunchtime, but Andy also had to go out to meet someone at 3.00, to do with work, apparently a generator was being delivered so he wanted to check on its arrival, so he disappeared and I did a few chores.

Andy arrived back at just after 5.00pm the generator set and the 2000 litres of Diesel had turned up as Andy had hoped and he told the driver exactly where to position it, and then decided to run all the cables out as his electricians would only have to do it when they came in at 5.30 in the morning so it would save some time.

Andy quickly had another shower as we were off on our weekly pilgrimage to the Dendy Cinema this evening as we had got tickets to see the new Sandra Bullock movie The Blind Side.

We arrived at the cinema with 20 minutes to spare and purchased a couple of beers which we asked if we could take it in, to which the cinema staff said “Yes” we could.
Taking beer in to the cinema how good is that, you are also allowed to take your own food in and we have seen people taking homemade cakes and all sorts in.

For those analy retentive cinema owners in the UK, get a grip!! Let people take their own stuff in and don’t charge such stupid prices for drinks, snacks and sweets.

Anyway the film was truly wonderful with a very good story, if we were movie critics and not rubbish travel bloggers then we would truly recommend this film, well we do truly recommend the film, it is a long one, but really worth it.

We got out of the cinema about 9.20pm and ducked in to a MacDonalds Café for a bed time latte as we had had such a good evening we didn’t want it to end. However sadly as all good things come to an end we were back at the Wendy House by 10.30 then got tucked up in bed straight away.

Andy was up again early on Sunday morning as he wanted to speak to his men to make sure all was going well with this important project, he got a text back saying it was all panning out well which allowed him to enjoy the morning.

Today was a day that we had both been looking forward to, we had been invited to go out to the Lowden Water Wheel with the members of the ACT 4 Wheel Drive club to meet the members and we had to meet at MacDonalds at Queanbeyan at 9.00am.

We had decided not to have any breakfast as we could have a breakfast roll when we got there and as we had to literally drive past this project of Andy’s we left at 07.45 to give us enough time to drive past the job to check it out then on to Maccy D’s for a “bun on the run”

With the work thing done we pulled up to the golden arches at about 08.30 and there were a couple of 4x4’s already there. As we were having breakfast more were turning up until finally 17 off road vehicles were all parked in the car park awaiting the dirt.

We introduced ourselves and the fella we had been emailing who was the president of the club made us feel very welcome and did some more introducing, we had a run briefing and everyone with a UHF radio was told to go to channel 20.

Well the journey was about 65k’s through some excellent forest and the Tallaganda National Park, the ground was damp and the scenery so green, the eucalypt tree’s smelt just amazing, so strong and lovely.

When we arrived we all parked the trucks and the club already had a forward barbequing party who had erected a tarp and the burgers already cooking, with lots of ice cold drinks in the esky.

We spoke to lots of people who took an interest in us and what we had been doing and what are we doing now we are in Canberra. After a bite to eat we wandered over to the water wheel and thought how nice the forest area was and perhaps we may come back on our own either to camp in the trailer or the swag at some time.

We left at around 2.00pm and as we were just about to leave a younger couple, Michael and Christy (also new to the club) asked if they could follow us back as they didn’t seem to know the way, we hadn’t got the heart to tell them nor did we but we would do our best, so they said they would stick behind us.

We were driving down the fire roads and we saw what we thought was a large stick in the road Andy intended to straddle the stick with the wheels of the patrol and just as we got up to it, it moved, it was a snake and we had absolutely no chance to avoiding it now and it went under the wheels of the truck, Andy was horrified and very sad for what had happened, I could tell he was upset as he went very quite for quite a while. We know there are people here who don’t mind if you run over the poisonous ones but we do try to advocate that if it is not doing us any harm where it is then it should be left alone, but they do have a habit of basing in the middle of the road.

We pulled over in Queanbeyan as Michael and Christy where still behind us, we needed to pick up some groceries and told them what we were going to do, we asked if they had seen what had happened with the snake and they said that they had, which upset Andy even more. Christy said she could not even look, Michael managed to avoid it, he said it looked as if it was still alive, but probably not for long.

With our shopping done we got back to Wendy House at about 4.15 and soon it would be time for Andy to go out again as he had a meeting n site at 6.00pm, we had a quick cup of tea and a 20 minute break and he was off again so I did the ironing to get all our clothes ready for the working week ahead.

Unfortunately I had a 6.00pm site meeting as we have night works for the next month on site and it all has to be coordinated, I was happy that the generator job had gone smoothly, but that’s what I am paid for.

I finally left site at about 7.30 and got back to the Wendy House at around 8.00, we had spaghetti on toast for tea, a sit for ½ an hour to wind down from such a busy day then it was time for bed.

Another full on weekend behind us without a dull moment, so until tomorrow fellow arm chair travellers we will bid you a good night from Australia.

p.s. A small note, we had never given this any serious consideration, but Jodie from the (currently not so) Travelin’ Trueys sent us a note to say what an adventure we were having, there are not many that get up from a swag and go to work in a suit, This is very true I am sure. Many people do go to work from a swag, but generally, to get up, put the Billy on for some hot water, a little bit of damper for breakfast and then out for a days mustering, a little bit different to the life we are leading right now.

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Photos

Whats the Hold up.
Blokes on Dirt Bikes, that's what

Who Shat That!!
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Comments

[Darryl and Sarah]

Beautiful!
Good on you both, great to see there are some great places for you to explore while you're working. You have the perfect lifestyle in our eyes and we're striving to achieve it too! Jodie's right, outback to office is one thing but swag to suit is another!! Take care and hope to see you both soon. Love from Mrs WW! x x

[Helen Sheridan]

Hi Andy and Caroline, I think I told you that my cousin Les has a hot air balloon and will be down for the balloon festival. If you give James a ring he will probably know what is happening as Les was going to ring him. They sometimes need people to help chase the balloon and pick them up when they land. You may also get a short trip but can't guarantee that. Anyway it is worth a ring. Love Helen

[John & Shaz]

Hi from EvaKool Fridges Mate?
Hi guys, we are at home. Great to see you are still enjoying the good life, unlike some. We both miss the road like crazy. It has not stopped raining since we got home so the camper has been feeling neglected. But for the important stuff, how is the new fridge going and have you managed to find time to catch a fish yet? It is great reading your blog, it takes us back to the way we lived... Ahh the good Life........