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Published: April 13th 2010
DAY 515--520
I’ve found out that Caroline has been sleeping around, well so have I as a matter of fact, since leaving our home in England on the 7th November 2008 we have stayed in 170 different places, today in fact will be our 170th as we move in to our friends Keith and Jan’s house as they are off on their new adventures for 6 weeks in their new caravan.
We met Keith and Jan, in the Litchfield National Park in Northern territories, way back on 23rd July 2009, blog day 259, Kangaroo Jack is on the move, and they asked us to sit their home for them until they return.
It has again been a pretty full on week, short but perfectly formed, we have both been busy with work stuff.
Tuesday was Caroline’s 2nd Birthday, well no Caroline is not two years old, but it was her second one here in Australia, unfortunately no birthday cards on the day, lots of messages and electronic cards a Skype chat with her Mum and Dad first thing in the morning, we managed to meet in the Canberra centre for an impromptu lunch, then we
went out for dinner in the evening.
We went along to our second 4 wheel drive club meeting and were made to feel very welcome. The club were looking for someone to organise the Christmas Party and Caroline has stepped up to the plate to organise that, though anyone who knows us well, knows the Charity bashes we have organised in the past, so I don’t think a Christmas party will be too challenging and with Caroline’s organisational skills it will all get done very well I’m sure.
Finally by Thursday there was one birthday card that arrived from the UK, so Caroline was thrilled with that.
So work is all good, and strange things have happened, the company I work for has merged with one of Australia’s largest electrical contractors, so on Tuesday when I went in I worked for a company that had about 40-50 staff and by Thursday I work for one that has a few thousand, so I am sure that there will be a few changes afoot.
Our Rummikub evening challenges are as competitive as ever and we are glad we have a new “Game to play”.
Friday evening arrived and we weren’t too late to bed as we knew we were once again at the start of a very busy weekend.
I woke ridiculously early on Saturday morning, something like 4.30 and could just not get back to sleep, so I rolled around the bed, I dragged my backside out of bed and sat and had some breakfast, then drove over to work where I had taken the roof rack off the patrol and the half finished plywood plate as It was my intention to finish it this weekend, come what may.
Jobs drive me crackers if I can’t get on and finish them, but my biggest draw back is lack of tools, back home my little workshop had every thing I needed and over here I have virtually nothing, so it all has to be planned then begged and borrowed.
I was happily cutting 21 50mm Holes in the ply wood plate, then under coated and top coated, in all I went to work 3 times on Saturday which was in between drying an re painting.
On the last trip Caroline came with me, as I had to attach the plywood plate to the roof rack then lift it on top of the Patrol and re secure the whole thing.
Well the re attaching went well, the only thing we had to do was make Caroline some steps out of some pallets as she had to lift the roof rack above her head and without it her little short arms wouldn’t reach.
With everything in place we tidied up the workshop, locked it all and left on route to pick up a few groceries for our evening meal.
Another job we wanted to get done in between the painting exploits was to spray the Wendy House with “Wet & Forget, it is a cleaner and as the canvas was getting a bit grubby we had been steered towards this product.
So we diluted the Wet & Forget 1-5 parts and sprayed the hole canvas top to bottom and left it as directed, well the result was strange, the “red dust” that we have accumulated over the 1000’s of Kilometres on this trip just started to seep away. The canvas is quite well faded, which it would be it has been used nearly every day for 18 months (apart from the breaks we have had in domestic bliss), but with the red dust seeping away the colour of the canvas looked even more faded!
The directions on the 2 Litres container said you need to apply the product, not directly in sunlight and it can not rain until the product is dry, so it was about 3.30 in the afternoon when I applied it and rain had been forecast for Sunday, so we were holding out hoping that it would not rain.
After we had managed to line up six dead marines, and some snacks over a very tough round of RummiKub we hit the sack, no rain had been received and we were happy in the knowledge that the Wet & Forget had been applied successfully and it had not rained.
Well we snuggled into bed and soon I was sound asleep, so Caroline said, then in the middle of the night I was woken by such heavy rain on the canvas, the heavens had truly opened, but we were warm, dry and cosy and soon drifted back to the land of nod.
When I got out of bed this morning we had a big puddle just outside the awning, but today we were packing up for a while and my only concern was the Wendy House and the awning needed to be perfectly dry before we packed it away.
After a quick cup of tea and some toast, it was all hands to the pump, the morning was looking like it was going to be hot and we needed to maximize on the sunshine available, to dry everything out.
I had gone and spoken to the camp reception and asked if we could have a late checkout so we could leave everything to dry, but was mindful that we needed to be at Keith and Jan’s before midday as they would not leave until we made an appearance so we did not want to hold these guys up, as they would be itching to set off on their adventure and test their lovely new caravan.
All the canvas sheets were removed and strategically removed and laid out in the sun to ensure they were nice and dry, we walked around the outside of the Wendy House and were amazed by what we saw.
The rain had cleaned the Wendy House and around the outside the ground was stained with what was diluted “red dirt”
It will need a little more washing down but the canvas will definitely benefit from a good wash then we will re proof just to be sure, we both agree that the camper trailer has been absolutely fantastic and in our eyes the very best way to see the Australia we wanted to see, it has never let us down, nor got us wet and we have always slept very well.
Everything was packed away and hitched up by11.00am the last thing to do was put the spare wheel up on the newly finished roof rack and just as I I picked it up a medium sized Red Back spider fell out as I had disturbed her, she fell on the ground and headed towards my foot.
Well we got to Keith and Jan’s place at just around 11.15am, their car and caravan is already parked out on the road so we know they are ready to leave, we pull into the driveway and park the Patrol.
Well It was nice to see them looking relaxed and ready for their adventure, so after a quick catch up and the final briefing they were off and we would see them in about 6 or seven weeks time.
We unpacked some of the stuff that we needed, our clothes, laptop etc and set up in the house that they have left us with.
Jan and Keith had worked hard in preparing the house for our arrival, they made room in the food cupboards and wardrobes, the bed was sorted, the house was spick and span they had really made an effort for us which we thought was special. Just before they left Sheila and Ken from next door popped in to say their goodbyes and welcome us, it was like being greeted by old friends. I am sure we will see more of Sheila and Keith in the coming weeks, apparently they like the occasional challenge of a games night, so who are we to refuse that?
As we had run our food bin down that we keep in the trailer during the Sunday afternoon we had to go and stock up on provisions, then go back to the house and just get settled in, we had not had time to plan our weekly menu so we worked it out on the way around Woolworth’s and that included things that we can cook in the oven and put under the grill!
Caroline had said that she felt this mornings “Pack Up” was unusually difficult, but we agreed that it was probably as we were not leaving Canberra on another adventure, we both seemed disappointed but that’s the way it is and for now we are happy to be in Jan and Keith’s house.
We were also talking about our good friends and travellers the Wallaby Wanderers, they will soon be heading back to the UK after their year here in Australia, we both acknowledge that they have made the very best of the year out and have grabbed Australia by the throat and got the very best out of it. Whilst we can feel their excitement at seeing everyone at home we also feel their disappointment at having to leave such a great country.
We will be very very sad to see them leave and wish them well with their transition back to England and thank them for all the fun we have had together.
With our newly stocked provisions Caroline rustles up a beautiful evening meal of pork chops (sorry Woodstock we promise to do lamb soon!) mashed potato and veg, which was absolutely beautiful, I was typing this blog whilst watching the TV which was some what of a novelty as we have not had much of it for absolutely ages.
We both even turned down a game of Rummikub so that we could sit quietly and enjoy a bit of TV. But of course the weekend finished all too quickly once again, and after another exhausting day we crashed and for the 170th time in yet another different place.
Me thinks that Jan knows something that we don’t, not only do we have a quilt but there are 4 blankets on the bed for us, I am now wondering just how cold it gets in Canberra!
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Gary
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Birthday
Since it is only just Tuesday here in Canada. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Caroline. Hope your guy treated you well. FYI, it has snowed here the last two days. So sad, so sad!!