Diamond in the Rough

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DAY 419


I awoke on this New Years Eve, Andy brought me a cup of tea so enjoyed drinking it while in bed, but as always you reach a point where you really need to get up and as we have Marmite I can indulge in toast for breakfast with a healthy helping of the black stuff.

Andy wants to pop into Bunnings in Wagga, he is anxious to get some fixings and bits and pieces so that we can attach the new box to the trailer and make a couple of major modifications which we believe will be worth while.

So after breakfast we head off, Susan has asked us to pick up some pond paint so that she can re seal the pond before it is refilled with water and re stocked with the fish, unfortunately a couple of the fish have died since being transferred into a container while the pond is cleaned.

Bunnings is surprisingly quiet, we find most of what we need including a 6 metre plastic pipe and have it cut in to 2 meter sections. Caroline asks if we will put it on the roof rack of the Patrol and I tell her we could if we had the ratchet straps with us, but they are back at Woodstock with the trailer.

Oh yes, I had better explain what we have done to the trailer, well its all to do with the draw bar at the front the first job we did was grind the spare wheel bracket off so we could fit the new lockable trunk, this will allow us to store quite a lot of stuff inside.

This position was where our swag was sited so that needed a new home, so we will decide where that is to go, the other reason for the roof rack on the Patrol is to be able to put the other Nissan Spare wheel, then we fitted two number 100mm PVC tubes to fit our Awning poles in instead of having them in a canvas bag on top of the trailer.

On Route to Wagga we spoke to the Wallaby Wanderers to make sure that they were ok, as their latest blog posted shows that the other leaf spring went on the caravan, however Darryl confirms that they are not stranded, they got sorted almost straight away, but had to drive well into the night to make it to Melbourne where they are spending the New Year with family.

On the way back to Woodstock we see a dead brown snake in the road, it is very dead but Andy does drive around it anyway.

Back at Woodstock Andy heads outside to work on the trailer while I sit and type up the blog, when I have finished I pop over to see Jason and Kristy to sort out plans for our New Year picnic.

Jason disappears to help Andy do the modifications to the trailer so Kristy and I loaded Jason’s Ute then went back up to Woodstock.

Helen suggested that we go down to the river and do a recce on where might be a good spot, then we can come back and tell them where we will be. This is a good idea as although we will be on Nancy’s property we still need to go somewhere that a car can access and I guess they don’t want to search a 1,600 acres of land for us, though we will be staying as close as we can to the Murrumbidgee River.

We tried to find Nancy at the pub, but the pub was closed, so Jason phoned Nancy and she told us to come straight round to the house and then she would show us where we could camp.

At the house, we see a beautiful traditional old Australian Homestead, it is a bit run down but Nancy is slowly working on getting it up together, from the outside the house looks small but the inside tells a different story, it is huge, it opens up on both sides. The house used to be her mothers, and she moved back here a few years ago after her mother died
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Nancy is 70 years old, with shoulder length grey hair and of very slight frame but with an energy that would put most of us to shame and as nimble as a person 40 years her junior, she has just purchased a further block of land from her brother, which she is pleased about, but says it is a lot of work for her but she will get time to do some work when the pub is finally sold, (she owns a pub just down the road, but it is actually sold the new owners will take over sometime in the new year).

She speaks in a very gravely voice, possibly from years of smoking, she is a terrific lady, there is nothing fancy about her, very down to earth, honest and straight down the line, she does have a good sense of humour which is often dry and seems only enhanced by her voice. I don’t think she would take any nonsense from anyone, especially with her being in the pub trade, I can only imagine how capable she is of dealing with some unruly customers.

Nancy offers us all a beer, Andy’s eyes light up, he must be thirsty, but before any of us had chance to say yes or no, Nancy has her head in the fridge and hands us a beer each telling us that she saved it for us.

We find ourselves standing on this huge closed in veranda at the back of the house, the windows are massive and the view over the Murrumbidgee River and the land beyond is stunning, what a premium view.

Nancy takes us outside and beckons us all into the Ute, it has a crew cab so Andy is in the front passenger seat, I am in the back of the crew cab, Jason and Kristy are sat on the back of the Ute with Nancy’s granddaughter Jennifer.

We are off down the track toward the river, we drive along the banks, you can see where the water used to come up to, but the river has run low for several years. I look down at the bottle in my hand and think how bizarre, I am sat in the back of a crew cab bobbing up and down the bumpy track holding a bottle of Toohey’s which is now bubbling up with the movement. Kristy later tells me that the bottles were overflowing in the back as they were virtually being bumped off their sitting positions in the back.

Nancy, basically tells us that we can camp where ever we want to and it is up to us, so she takes us all back to where we started and lets us out, telling us all to have a good time, and don’t throw stubbies in the river, (as if!!), we mentioned the alpacas that we saw in the paddock, Nancy said “feel free to ride them if you can catch them” said with that twinkle in her eye.

We walk back to the patrol and thank Nancy for her hospitality, we all jump in and head off back to Woodstock, where we need to sets plans in motion.

Soon we are packed up, the EvaKool fridge that has been on since early morning, is now nice and cool and has been filled with Beer, Wine, Champagne, Food and Soft drink and has been loaded in the back, and the trailer hitched up to the Patrol, we give Helen a kiss and make sure she knows where we will be and we look forward to seeing everyone later when they all come down to our camping spot for and easy evening.

We are soon back at the camp site and everything is set up, its amazing how quickly you forget the little idiosyncrasies you learn with putting up our gear, putting it up and taking it down so many times on this trip. Jason and Kristy have erected their accommodation for the night

Anyway we soon have it all done and our camp was soon prepared for the evening, Jason had brought his gas BBQ in the back of his Ute, so it was unloaded and a huge amount of food was prepared.

Just after 7.00pm Robert, Helen, Patsy (Helens friend), Susan (Helens Daughter) and neighbours (from some 20 kilometres away) Josie and Fred all turned up and the BBQ was set in motion, with Jason on the BBQ he turned out a meal what can only be described as fit for kings (& queens).

We soon all had a great feed, Josie had brought an apple pie as a desert but I had no room to fit it in anywhere, I was so full, however Susan was handing around chocolates so we all managed to find a small space for one of those.

About 10.30 Helen, Robert and the rest of the gang left and headed back to Woodstock leaving the four of us to finish the rest of the evening and see out 2009 and welcome 2010 in.

Well with the little generator quietly running up on the hill we had the Television on and watched the new years festivities from Sydney, as usual they had fire works on the Harbour Bridge.

Well as the clocks turned 12.00 we wished each other a happy new year, with a kiss and a hug and decided soon after that we were all exhausted so the only thing left to do was hit the sack.

We thought of our friends back in the UK it would be 11.00 am and they would only just be getting into their day.

So that is all from Kangaroojack in 2009, lets see how 2010 pans out for us, another exciting year ahead and for now we have no idea what the future holds (well none of us do really).

May we wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Kangaroojack.

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Photos

New years Eve BBQ
No Hats or Coats for Us

New years Eve BBQ
On the Murrambidgee River

Paddling
Josie on the left & Helen on the right, Paddling in the Murrumbidgee River on New Years Eve

Fit for a King
What an excellent BBQ

Comments

[Jodie]

Happy New Year!!
Happy 2010 you guys, your BBQ feast looked fantstic. I must be on holidays as I have managed to read your blog every day for a week now instead of the usual catch up method I use. Keep on enjoying, talk to you soon Jode (TT's) xx