Advertisement
Published: November 15th 2011
Wednesday 9th November started brilliantly. We awoke early to catch Simone before she dashed off to work and a little later, Zoe and Beth before they caught the school bus at the end of the lane. Our plan then was to prepare for our journey to Melbourne and, with the sun shining beautifully, Graham emptied the car of all the camping gear and stacked it near the house ready to be put into the caravan. I started packing all the stuff we would need in Melbourne which would have to be stacked in the car before we could re-load the caravan with the gear that won’t be required. Mark warned us of impending storms which, at the time, didn’t look feasible. Willy arrived to check on the cattle just in time to see a second calf being born and preened by its mother and we then spotted the one from the previous day looking healthy and lively. It was turning out to be a successful few days for Willy. Yesterday he had offered to show us his “place” and this morning we were anxious to take the opportunity and have a look round. But before we went it started to rain
so the three blokes, Graham, Willy and Mark, hastily moved all the camping gear into the shed to keep it dry. Then we followed Willy for about two kilometres along a gravel road before we reached his idyllic property. Once a holiday home, he had bought it and about 60 acres of land 8 years ago. The house is beautiful and in a location with a truly magnificent view. But Willy is a bit of a “Bush Mechanic” whose passions include vehicles, engines, trailers, tractors, building things and making things. His main income revolves around supplying fire-wood, which is in great demand, but he also does imaginative metal work and has recently created a line of wine-racks made out of horse shoes. Also, of course he rears cattle. He showed us his main shed which he constructed himself and which is huge and chock full of tools, old engines, workshop equipment, oil drums etc etc. He loves creating things and is happy to be working 7 days a week because he only does what he enjoys. For him he has an idyllic lifestyle in an idyllic location.
After our visit we set about finishing the packing for our trip
to Melbourne and preparing the caravan for it to be moved. Unfortunately by now the rain had become quite persistent. Eventually we reached a point where the caravan could be relocated to the area behind Mark’s shed where it could stay until we come back to collect it in a few weeks. But the car wouldn’t start!!! Graham and Mark fiddled with wires, checked connections, scratched heads but couldn’t fathom it out. We had only recently driven it back down from Willy’s place. Reluctantly we called RACV and put the kettle on for a cuppa. The breakdown man came about an hour later, turned the ignition key and it burst into life – how embarrassing!! His job was just to get the car going so he was happy but we persuaded him to have a closer look. Sure enough, there were times when the ignition didn’t engage so he conceded there was a problem but as he had got the car going again his job was done and his advice was to drive it to an auto-electrician straight away. Mark agreed to re-locate the caravan for us later so, without risking turning the engine off again, we drove into Mansfield
to find the auto-electrician that Mark had recommended. We found the garage and asked for help but the fellow wasn’t sure he could spare the time and to be fair he looked to be stacked out with work. He suggested we just sit and wait with the engine running and he would see what he could do when he’d finished his current job - a large quarry lorry which was obviously costing the owner a fortune whilst it was off the road and obviously it took priority over our problem. After a while, Carl came and had a look and after a few suggestions – “could be the battery, the starter motor or the solenoid”- none of which were at fault, he found a dodgy connection to the battery which needed attention. We’d had a similar problem about 12 months ago but we thought we had fixed it. Carl used his professional expertise to put the matter right permanently – he did an expert job although he charged us expert’s prices. But at least we were able to continue our journey on to Melbourne, albeit a couple of hours later than we planned. Mark had kindly followed us in to
town to make sure everything was OK so we bade him farewell again and hit the road.
After an hour’s driving we reached the small town of Yea and as we hadn’t eaten for about 3 hours we decided to stop for a late lunch. The timing was such that when we eventually reached the outskirts of Melbourne it was right in the middle of rush-hour so the final 20 kilometers or so was a bit stop-start. We finally arrived at about 6:00pm to a warm welcome from Daphne but, just as at Mansfield when we were trying to pack everything in the car, the rains came when we were taking our numerous bags and boxes to the house. We rang Mark to tell him we’d arrived safely and he confirmed he managed to park the caravan behind the shed without hitting anything! We were then overwhelmed by the antics of Daphne’s eight week old kitten, Micky, that got up to mad, frenetic, energetic things all evening which included the odd scratch and bite. It was most entertaining. We were pleased to discover that Micky also loves a cuddle and he doesn’t mind who with. He is still a
baby of course so eventually he tired himself out. We have loved all of Sarah and Darryl’s cats over the years but strangely none of them ever seemed to crave our attention or affection. We were soon settled in and enjoying one of Daphne’s superb meals before, late in the evening, we made contact on Skype with Rod and Tania in England and then, even later in the evening, David in Warwick, whereupon his two nagging sisters, Daphne and I, proceeded to tell him how he should organise his forthcoming marriage! Hopefully, he’ll ignore us totally and do what is right for himself and the delightful Mele. Daphne had very kindly moved out of her massive bedroom so we could move in so after showering, a sound night’s sleep followed in the equally huge bed.
Thursday 10th November was primarily a “catch up and chill out” sort of day. The weather looked a bit ominous although the murky clouds came to nothing and occasionally the sun broke through. We had a lazy morning trying to establish how the next few weeks would pan out. We wanted to take Daphne to a friend’s holiday house in Peterborough next week but
Daphne had a few commitments that made that unlikely. We decided that Graham and I would go anyway just for a few days and try to book the house again later in the year for a week when Daphne was free. Hopefully, we’ve identified a week in early December when, if Julie confirms it’s OK, we’ll make the trip again and enjoy a bit of the Great Ocean Road with Daphne. We also have an outside chance of using Grant’s in-law’s beach house in Rye for a short time and, again, we’ve identified a few days soon when that might happen. Just after midday, and with a bit of shopping to do, we decided to have a light lunch out and drove to Surrey Hills where Daphne introduced us to a delightful café at a garden centre – one that she uses regularly with a friend. The light lunch was not so light (a large bowl of chips was a bit over the top) but went down very well. We then drove through Box Hill to Grant’s house where he was busy in the garden. We needed to collect a rego document for the car and to catch up with
Spot where the problem was -
Mark was very impressed with the clean engine but that didn't stop the main electric lead to the battery coming loose!other events. He confirmed the process for getting the beach house and hoped that he, Anna and the girls may be able to join us for a night or two. After a quick cup of coffee we drove off in the direction of Wantirna but Grant advised us to travel along a particular road so that we might see the girls on their way home from school. Sure enough, after a brief wait on the side of the road, the two girls drifted by, albeit in different groups – we missed Amy at first but spotted Charlotte who raced on to bring Amy back to talk with us. We had a lovely chat and then they carried on home while we found our way to Wantirna. It is here that the caravan will be parked for us to use over Christmas and will be stored when we go to Tassie in January and we were curious to see what the caravan park was like and what the journey to and from Daphne’s would be like. We needn’t have worried on either score as the park looked lovely and the subsequent journey back to Daphne’s was easy and far more straightforward
than the hassles we had last Christmas when the caravan was at Warrandyte. On the way back to Daphne’s we stopped at a lovely new Coles super-store and did our shopping, arriving back “home” at about 5:30pm with all of our intended tasks completed. Another lovely meal followed – tandoori chicken and veggies – and another Skype chat with David followed a bit later. After that, I managed to launch another blog – “Winging our way to Wang” – in an attempt to catch up a bit so, all in all, it had been a pretty good day with a very pleasing conclusion.
On Friday 11th November, Daphne had a prior engagement with some friends and dashed out of the house at about 9:00am to catch the train into the city. She wasn’t sure what time she would return as the event she was going to would last most of the day. At about the same time, the two other occupants of the house, son Bertie and his girlfriend Kim, left for a long weekend away near Echuca in the north of Victoria. They would be returning late on Monday. We had a few tasks we needed to do
which involved visiting a shopping centre at Burwood Heights. First though, during the morning, I caught up with some washing and put it out on the line to take advantage of the sunny weather. The morning seemed to drift away so we had an early lunch and then set off for the shops. First we called at the large Bunnings DIY store to get a couple of keys cut as Daphne had mislaid her spare key. Then we found the small shopping centre so that we could visit a chemist (Graham needed some additional tablets), Woolies for me to get some groceries and the Woolies garage to get some discounted fuel. Everything went well until we reached the garage where a large fuel-tanker was off-loading its cargo. We have been advised several times on our travels, often with tales of woe, not to obtain fuel if there’s a tanker in the garage as the process of filling the garage tanks can disturb any sediment which could find its way through the pumps and into the car. Better to avoid that garage for an hour or so or, better still, go back a day later when the sediment has had time
to fully settle again. So we gave it a miss but, as luck would have it, on the way back to Daphne’s, we spotted a Coles petrol station. I happened to have a spare Coles voucher and by purchasing a couple of ice-creams from the garage shop, we got a whopping 10 cents per litre discount on our fuel purchase, making it the cheapest fuel we have purchased since last January. Feeling pleased with ourselves, we returned to the house so that we would be there for 3:00pm – the earliest that Daphne might return. Most of the rest of the day was spent fending off an over-active kitten which likes to dive at you from a distance, jumping off chairs and digging its claws in to hold on. That’s not so bad if you have slacks on but poor Graham always wears shorts so his legs are covered in scratches and claw marks. It’s hard to be angry though as it’s such a dear little thing. Hopefully it will calm down a bit as time goes by (it still has to be spayed!!!!).
Daphne finally returned at about 6:00pm having already had dinner out with her friends so
I hastily prepared a sausage and veggy dinner for Graham and I. We had pre-arranged another Skype call from David later in the evening during which Daphne and Mele should be able to talk together. Sure enough, just after the agreed time, David and I made contact and with the web-cams all set up we were able to see each other and then Mele and Daphne joined the chat. I had tried to include Sarah on a “group” call but for some reason, although I had already spoken with Sarah, a three-way chat was not possible. Nevertheless, we had a lovely conversation between Melbourne and Warwick and, of course, Mele and Daphne were able to see each other and chat for the first time. It was a very successful exercise during which David and Mele looked very happy – David with a grin from ear to ear and Mele with her lovely, radiant smile. Afterwards, I made contact with Sarah again and was able to relay our conversation with Mele and David. We chatted for quite some time and, of course, Sarah is just as thrilled about the recent events as we are but frustrated that she can’t be here to share in the excitement. By the time we finished nattering it was very late and time for us (and Micky) to go to bed.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.094s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0706s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
