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Published: December 20th 2010
Our caravan is now officially ours. Papers have been signed, keys handed over, and we drove our caravan back to Subiaco, after having had an intensive training session by caravan guru Jeremy Perks (a former South African, a friend and former business partner of the almost-as-impressively-bearded Kingsley Holgate, who came to find himself in Perth after falling in love with an Australian he met in Kenya). He taught us the art of parking, an apparently divorce-proof system he and his Australian wife developed and refined over the years to stop caravan park squabbles. In a nutshell, Paul, the navigator, gives me hand signals (gender neutral) directing me, the designated driver, into the parking bay. The driver needs to learn to trust the navigator totally, and to NOT look in the rearview mirrors (and this way, if anything goes wrong, it is ALWAYS Paul’s fault, because I trust him!)
Friday evening we dashed off to Mandurah (formerly a country town where I started my journalism career, but now, with urban spread, is virtually a suburb of Perth only an hour’s drive away, thanks to the new freeway (still only a 100km speed limit though, despite three lanes!)) Here we caught up
with an old school mate of Paul’s, Tim Smook, who emigrated to Perth last year with his family. He had invited us on his boat to check out the Christmas lights in the marina. Some houses (yes, people actually live there!) really did try and outdo the Joneses. And it was then that I realised that Christmas is just around the corner. Until then, everything has been so focused on, firstly, getting to Australia, and then, sorting out our caravan, that I totally forgot that it is also the season to be jolly!
On Sunday Paul took Oliver and William to the WACA to watch the cricket, only to return 50 minutes later as the Pommies, in a manner reminiscent of, well, the Aussies the week before, collapsed in a heap. Paul then also managed to score a ticket to the U2 concert, which he went to with Nicole’s husband David. It was apparently great (but I already new that, as we had the privilege of listening to it from our back garden both that night and the previous night, as it was an outdoor concert just down the road from us). Naturally Paul seized the opportunity to chat
to some of the locals, and perhaps one of the more bizarre comments he heard was from a rough Aussie Ocker who, while standing in the queue to grab some beer, pointed to his wife standing in an even longer queue to go to the toilet, and told Paul: “They’re a strange breed of cattle!” referring to his wife, and I guess, women in general. To make sure Paul heard him, he apparently repeated it a fair few times. I have the feeling we are going to meet some very interesting people on our travels...
Speaking of which, it is one week today that we head off on our travels in earnest. Monday 27th is D-day, when we head off, with grandparents, sister and family in tow, to our first destination - Cervantes, which is about two hours north of here...
Chat soon, and will shortly post photos of our caravan improvements (the kids by the way, absolutely love the caravan, and have been giving us hours of peace and quiet as they go off to play in their new home).
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Vicki
non-member comment
Love it love it love it!
I think that will be my subject heading for all my replies to your posts: Love it, Love it, Love it!! And no doubt it'll be the subject line to most of my first emails from JoBurg to you!! Anyway, Quinn looks adorable, I am hit with a pang of missing you guys everytime I see your photos of any of you! Each of the boys with such lovely (and individual) personalities, I can't believe I only spent a week with you, it feels like it was much longer. Well, enjoy your travels, I intend to enjoy mine. Perhaps I should start a blog of SA so you can live vicariously through me as I may well do with you in Aus!! Just joking - mine won't be nearly as entertaining!! Merry Christmas if we don't email/chat beforehand. Love Vic xx