Time Flies

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DAY 151

I would never have thought in my wildest dreams that 5 months has gone by, today marks that moment.

So much has happened, so much has been seen and we have been in conversation with so many people, I can honestly say we feel blessed. We have met the most amazing people along this journey, and everyone has a story, some funny, some dramatic and some bitterly sad, and we are thankful for all the people who have shared these with us and wish them all the best for their travels.

If we had been critics on camper trailers and methods of getting around Australia, I feel we may have a good input somewhere. We thank the people who gave us good advice from the start, that has truly helped our early journey be a smooth transition.

The house sit we did in Port Stephens looking after Nala (Ah lovely Nala - we so miss her), Graydon and Faye, we hope your visit back home to South Africa is a success.

We have been lucky always to have a strong marriage, we have had a few scary moments, I can honestly say I am not the easiest bloke to live with, I am stubborn, always looking for perfection, and I know I am too hard on Caroline over silly things.

Being away in the closest of proximities for so long is very hard, though we have been married for 18 years, you find out even more about each other than you ever knew, and I think on an adventure like this you sometimes have to find every ounce of strength just to keep a smile on your face.

But something I always say when the world is looking at its bleakest and madness is all around, “Every one needs a Caroline” she is calm, focussed, slightly blonde, fair and he greatest quality she is unwaveringly faithful.

Finally Caroline’s map reading skills are out of this world; She has a talent, and an honest love for maps that is impressive.

We left a very sunny and hot sunshine coast back in November and the weather peaked and is now in decline, I truly marvel at Caroline how caring she is, and how fair she always plays, and I know that I could not be part of such a wonderful adventure, without her.

Thank god for technology, where would we be without it, Skype has let us keep in touch with all our friends and family, I am not a big fan of our Dell Laptop, but it has worked hard, we may ask too much of it, it is always in one of our laps. We have created a monster
(The Blog) Kangaroojack has taken on a life of his own, someday’s its just seems all we are doing is the blog but when we get comments back on how much people are enjoying it, it spurs us on for another few pages.

Emotionally, you are completely in tatters, leaving the safe comfy environment we had back in the UK, our friends, family and hobbies over 10,000 miles away, but we are here and loving every minute.

The thing I have enjoyed the most was my time on the sheep farm, Woodstock with Robert and Helen, there was a sense of peace that just touched my soul. It was bizarre, when I came over in 2007, it was a standing joke that I wanted to go to Wagga Wagga, and on this adventure we get to a sheep farm in Nangus, only a stones throw from Wagga, and I fall in love with the serenity of the farm.

It was Tasmania, and the wildlife the jewel I was looking for, for Caroline it was the photographic opportunities and the Nullarbor, which we will soon be on. She has always been a city person working in corporate business, enjoying the bustle that goes with it.

The things that have left a lasting impression of Australia is the size, it’s just massive, 32.8 times larger than the United Kingdom, with 40,000.000 Million Nomadic Kangaroo. Some sheep stations are bigger then England. People constantly seem to be moving, not in search of anything, just moving, travelling enjoying this fantastic country.

Australian’s have come out of the same mould as the Canadians, Fair, honest, hard workers with a zest for life, and they call a spade a spade. I do like the Australians.

Today just had a funny feeling for me being away for 5 months, on this adventure of a lifetime.

We are getting up earlier again due to the clock change, going back one hour, though the weather is colder we are still in shorts and T shirts, well I am, I have only wore a pair of long trousers once, in Brisbane when we went out to dinner.

Caroline finished the blog for Yesterday, Day 150 Baby steps and I cleaned the truck, and tidied it, we have folded the rear seats up to give us more room but I didn’t think it had worked that well so we put it back to as it was before. Caroline struggles to get in to the fridge, when its in a certain place so we shuffled things around to make it easier, though I told her “Not to get in to the fridge” Its cold!!

We have to go out and get some provisions, as we are stocking up for the next few days. A couple of days ago Cliff and Sue our friends who we had met at Western KI camp ground (Kangaroo Island) and whom we had camped at Adelaide shores sent us a text message that they were at Tumby Bay, and would be in Port Lincoln today, we haven’t seen them for a little while as we get out of the camp site, we pass them coming along the road, they didn’t see us so we send them a text, they have got a cabin on our site, so we will see them later.

After groceries, we go in to a Nissan Dealer (City Motors), we are still been jerked about by Nissan over this extended warranty, there is no problem perse, but we posted all the documentation, (Recorded delivery) and they have said they did not receive it, although Australia Post said it had been signed for. The lady at Nissan Port Lincoln is a bit bemused and we have to tell her the whole story, she contacts Nissan on the secret “Red” phone and instantly gets through, that never happened to me, they just kept you hanging on and on.

Carolyn form Nissan tells us that she will fax it all over to “Trevor” at Nissan and pop in tomorrow and she will advise us how she got on. I do hope it’s all successful it is totally getting on my nerves now.

We have a lazy afternoon, I had a snooze, and Caroline read and uploaded the blog. We popped to see Cliff and Sue and they have invited us for dinner this evening. All afternoon people have been drifting by looking at our camper trailer and making comparisons, one person is looking to buy one and sought our advice, this is nice to be in conversation all afternoon but nothing gets done.

We see a fisherman on the jetty, he is gutting his fish, next to him stands a queue of Pelicans, they are waiting for the scraps from the fisherman, amongst them stands the biggest Pelican I have ever seen, he stands out from the crowd and seems a bit bossy with the others. Dutifully these Pelicans stand and wait every now and again they flinch and all their mouths open, then close and then you see a piece of fish flying through the air and there is a mad scramble and one lucky Pelican becomes the victor with a solitary piece of fish, while he devours, the others queue and wait for the next.

We walk across to cabin 36, 2 minutes walk, and tap on the door, our hosts seem pleased to see us which is nice, we still have our cups of tea in hand which we made earlier and didn’t have time to drink.

Cliff and Sue are great Fun, Sue is a midwife and Cliff is an Electrical Engineer, based offshore, they seem to share the same type of humour, and are easy to get on with.

Sue has done Oysters Kilpatrick, she knows of Caroline’s Fish allergy and offered a different starter to Caroline, however I was excited to try them. They were delicious, Oysters grilled with Bacon Onion and Worcester sauce.

Main Course we have a wonderful steak with Potatoes Au Gratin, we had a brilliant evening, Cliff and Sue had brought Caroline a small gift and a birthday cake with Candles, it was really appreciated.

We leave them late, (for us anyway) and wander back to the trailer; we chuck everything in to the Patrol until morning and collapse in to bed exhausted from another full day.

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Photos

Port Licoln
This is from our campsite across to the National Park

Pelican Crossing
These guys are just having a chat on the jetty, we know what they are waiting for.

Pelican Landing
Flying in to join the chat.

Eager Anticipation
They know whats coming

Affray
One Pelican looks to be the clear winner here.

Excalibur
This is used to "Shuck" the Oysters to prepare them for dinner.

How Many Candles
Caroline gets two birthday cakes!!

Sue and Cliff
Sue enjoys another slice of cake