The Wendy House is Open Again.

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DAY 449

Well this morning was a cool start, it is quite cloudy overhead, which is a relief as we need to get packing and move on today. Andy is already up Susan has already gone out shopping so I join Andy and make us some breakfast.

Rocky and Misha are just enjoying a nice Saturday morning relax outside in the cool air.

No sooner than breakfast is done, I set about packing our cases and shifting everything out of our room so that Andy can pack into the Trailer. I found that I had to repack my case entirely, it really needs a good sort out and there are a few things in there that need to be thrown away and I am wondering why I still have them in my case.

Both cases feel heavier than they were, I think we are gradually accumulating stuff, which we need to be careful of as we will run out of room to store things, but we also have lots more paperwork so we decide that while we are camping in Canberra we should take the time to sit and look through what we have and throw away anything that is no longer of use i.e. insurance documents that are now out of date as I have renewed etc. I probably have some tourist maps and brochures that have sneaked in too!

Andy eventually tells me that we are ready outside, there are just a few bits that we need to put in the truck with us and we are good to go. The day is now hot as the sun is well and truly out to play.

We thank Susan for putting us up, or should I say “putting up with us?” We are truly grateful for having a roof over our head again and Susan allowing us to come and go while we sorted out our working lives, it has given us a great start in Canberra. Also Susan is a good cook, in fact I think both Susan and her mother Helen are terrific cooks we have been fed exceptionally well in the time we have spent with them so being back on our own again we perhaps should take the opportunity to shed some of our Christmas weight! Exercise being the main thing and I do hope to use the swimming pool at the caravan park.

I am sad to say goodbye to Rocky and Misha, along with the farm dogs they have become an important part of our life, Misha has been my shadow most days, I even struggled to go to the bathroom without this little doggy following me right in, I would hang some washing out on the line and she would patiently sit and my feet until I would go indoors and of course when I sat on the sofa she would immediately come and sit right next to me.

Rocky, well he is just gorgeous, he talks to you in his own little way and he comes over to you just so that you can spend time patting him and giving him a big fuss, he even had that huge hang dog expression this morning and as we were packing up he kept eyeing us suspiciously with his ears down, I could almost hear him saying “you’re not leaving us again are you?”

I give Rocky one last hug and we step down from the decking and head out to the truck, Susan stands with Rocky and Misha and they all wave us bye bye as we head out on our really long journey today, all 3 kilometres of it to the Canberra Motor Village!

The truck, and trailer is packed to the gunnels, I can’t remember having this much stuff, but I think it is because it hasn’t been packed very well and just squeezed in to any space that we have.

Still with a journey length of 3 Kilometres, it will soon be unpacked, when we set up the Wendy House again.

We pull in to the Canberra Motor Lodge and sign in, we have secured this site for a month and paid for a week, as you just never know, we already had chosen our camp spot when we came up and made the booking, but its not very camper trailer friendly as there is a distinctive lack of grass to drive pegs in for, so we can only do our best.
At our designated spot we manoeuvre the trailer for its optimum position, and set about making the Wendy house our home, as the plan is to be based for the next, 28 days.

We were puzzled by this 28 day ruling and couldn’t understand where it had come, and thought is was only to with the ACT (Australia’s Capital Territory), Canberra but apparently not this ruling is country wide. What has happened, so we are told is that the “Grey Nomads” (Retired people who travel) have been pitching them selves on camp sites indefinitely and supposedly getting away with “something” like tax free living!

I can’t see what the fuss is all about, If anyone decides to travel and say, buys a motorhome, tent, caravan or whatever and decides to stay in or on a camp site for more than 28 days, what harm is done, I just don’t get it.

If I think about it though, this was the problem in Darwin, people were booking the campsites for a period of 3 months or so to avoid the winter down South, which made it difficult for travellers like us to find a spot, we wanted to stay in Darwin for a while to explore but it was difficult to hang on to our campsite once we had it. Well enough about that.

The Wendy House is set up, but it has been a pain to try to get a good shape as we have been unable to get pegs in to secure the corners of the trailer so we will have to make do as best we can.

The after noon is stinking hot so we want to get the awning up as quick as we can to offer us some shade, we decided to put all the sides on to give us some privacy, for cooking and dressing as we have got virtually everything out of the truck and trailer, oh and we have also taken the swag off the roof rack along with the 6th spare wheel for the Patrol.

The job is virtually complete, except for putting everything where it is needed, I say to Andy that I am going to check out the temperature of the pool and wander off, and find that is it not very cold, a good sign and I think it would be nice to swim.

When I get back I suggest to Andy that we ought to go and have a swim it is 4.50, we haven’t stopped and would be a welcome break.

Andy pops to the loo and on his return says that we need to get something for dinner tonight, that is more important, heavens he is right, its something we had both completely forgotten about and its amazing how your thought patterns change.

We drive to Belconnen and go in to the big Woolworths there, we are only going to get something for tonight as we have not been through our food box since about early November when we got to Woodstock that was the last time we were travelling, so to speak. A couple of pork chops, some frozen peas, onion and a couple of potatoes, is all that we got as, if you remember we have nothing to keep it cool in.

On our way out of the shopping centre, we pop in to K-Mart as we also need a new washing up bowl and I want to pick up one of these Brita water filtered bottles that I can keeping my hand bag, oh and a new sandwich box.

With all the minor shopping done, we get back to the Wendy House mansion and Andy sets about doing our evening meal, strangely enough I hadn’t realised just how hungry we both were.

Andy did a fantastic meal, it hit the mark right away, bizarrely we both feel completely out of kilter, not being able to find anything and we are out of routine but it will all soon come flooding back as we get ourselves sorted out.

With no time to wash the dishes, we jump in to the truck as we wanted to go to the cinema to watch Bran Nu Dae (Brand New Day) when we finally park the truck and get in to the cinema, the film has already started and the cinema was showing full anyway and decide to by tickets for Sunday night at 7.00pm.

We walk back the way we came and Andy suggests that we go and have a cup of coffee and try and get a WiFi hot spot to look at our e mails.

We walk past a Borders Book shop which is huge, it has a Gloria Jeans coffee shop inside so we take the lap top and go and get a coffee. This is not a new concept by far but what did surprise us is that they let you take and read any book or magazine you wanted off their racks, have a coffee and leave.

I do think some people are strange, if we ever eat at some where like the Golden Arches then we never leave our rubbish on the table, but always put it in the rubbish, the bizarre thing was people were getting magazines and books, flicking through them, having a coffee and getting up and going, leaving someone else to pick up the reading material to put it back on the shelves.

Caroline realises that she has left a pair of shoes at Susan’s the problem being they are the ones she is wearing to work so sends a message to Susan and asks her to leave them outside tomorrow so that we can pick up (Susan will be out). Thankfully Susan and I do not share the same shoe size otherwise I may have lost my shoes!

Well we sit and read for an hour or so, then head back to the trailer and did some blog work, that we are now way behind on, partly as we have no internet access.

We have discussed Kangaroojack’s blog site and think that the best thing to do at the moment, is to slow it down for the next week and then will just put an occasional update in as needed, if you are reading the blog and want to find out when there is a new entry then feel free to subscribe or send us the e-mail address so we can add it for you, and when we start up again, Kangaroojack will automatically send you an e-mail to tell you there is a new blog waiting for you to read.

So it was time for bed, and we were again looking forward to sleeping in our sleeping bags and the Wendy House.

I hope you wont be too disappointed about the blog, we have not just been doing it for you but for us as well, but now we don’t want to bore you while we get on with the normality of life and going to work.

KJ

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Photos

Ready to Go
The Truck and trailer loaded ready to pull out

Parked at Susan's
In Weetangera Canberra

Comments

[Yvonne]

Good Luck for you new job
hi guys, have been reading with interest all your blogs, since you left Cairns, like you we moved to Cairns from New Zealand, and have found work after considerable time off. Comes as a bit of a shock to the system.......lol but are now in the routine. So good luck for tomorrow Carolyn and will keep reading with interest to see what you next adventure will be. Regards Yvonne