My favorite investment of the trip so far

It would be no surprise to anyone who has known me for more than an hour or two that my favorite addition to our convoy paraphernalia  has been a piece of telecommunications equipment.  But really, for safety and sanity, the UHF radio that we got for Pauline's van, (to link in with the one in the Troopy which has never been given a proper work out before ) has been a God-send.

We had looked at several hand held versions along the way to Adelaide, and considered outlaying the 3 to 4 hundred dollars that it would have cost for a decent set of hand held 'walkie talkie style' radios.  But despite the 'unusual' customer service I had received on the phone during my initial enquiry, I made the treck out to the specialty radio shop south of Adelaide, and found an extremely shy, but very kindly and helpful technician (not a retailer by nature). He explained that the ranges given on the boxes of the hand helds were a marketer's fantasy, and that we would have to hang out the window of the vehicle if we wanted to get more than 1 km range on them.

Having told me how ridiculously expensive an 'in car' system was going to be, he then proceeded to discount everything we needed until we had a system that was half the price of what we were originally looking at, with 5 times the range.

With Dario's workshop installation, we now have a link between our vehicles which gives us a safe overtaking system, long range map reading assistance, and a training platform for two young radio stars on UHF Chanel 29's "Stooopid Raaaaaadio". It's been lovely too, to get little snippets of help from unknown assistants who have happened to be on the same channel, heard Georgina and Pauline and I trying to find our way around unfamiliar towns, and have guided us helpfully to our destinations.  Just what you need when none of a girl's 4 mobile phone numbers are working!

Backtracking a little

Going to try to back track and recapture some of the moments that are already slipping away from my memory, but will have to add photos later. For time being, imagine you are looking at a series of photos of us at Port Pirie, South Austalia. Our first stop a little further up the track. The girls got really excited because they thought we had come to a really truly beach where they could swim. But given the time pressures, they were pleased enough with the chance to wade a little, write Bethany Hamilton's name in the sand, and share cream honey stick and chocolate cake sitting in the sun beside Pauline's mobile cafe: a cup of tea is an adventure in itself when you can pull up anywhere at all and pop the kettle on.

Our time in Adelaide had been extended even further than we had bargained for, though the vehicle upgrades and improvements and safety measures had taken all of the 10 days we had figured they would. We had translated the workshops' estimate of "a good week" into 10 days and had been spot on for that, but we hadnt counted on a slight shift to the goal posts with South Australia's vehicle registration system.

They hadn't got around to updating their website with the news that a caravan from interstate NOW had to be inspected before it could be registered, so Pauline and Georgina's mad dash to regency park on Monday night was all for naught.  I couldn't say I was deeply disappointed to be spending another night in Georgina's  warm and stationary house. And the Physio who had kindly treated me earlier that afternoon that day never got to find out, but he would have been pleased to know that I was not taking the muscle spasms in my neck out driving into the storm that night.

It felt much better to be hitting the road in the broad daylight the next morning. Divine intervention in the form of a wonky caravan cable, followed by a buggered starter motor, kept us off the roads in the dark the next night as well, so Port Augusta's motor home park was our first night's stop, and Zoe and I set up for our first breakfast of the trip in the workshop of the local AutoElectrician! $250 for a starter motor reconditioning and we were ready to roll again. More soon!

Waiting

We are still at Georgina's waiting for the van's to be ready. I swing between excited anticipation at having what promises to be a humble but efficient set up, and what feels a bit like shock at the anticipated expense of it all! I have a new canvas being fitted to the pop top caravan. The van cost me $600 and the canvas will cost me around $3,000. The van is basically an empty room with two beds which is just what I need as all my kitchen stuff is in the Mazda giving me the option of taking it out on it's own when I want. Once I get mattresses, the total cost of the caravan will be around $4,500 - $5,000. It will function as extra storage, sleeping and a sitting room in inclement weather. It's easy to tow and to set up and rather sweet. I'm thinking of grabbing a couple of bean bags and looking into some storage box options that can double up as seating and tables (maybe packing crates or old suitcases).

The Mazda is being fitted out with a new compression fridge (wee) and solar panels. The wiring is all being replace as well as new gas bottle and regulator to comply with safety standards. This will be my only vehicle so I'm very glad that it's dual fuel. It seats five which is handy too. My old, dear Bedford was a bit of a guzzler and only took one passenger.

I'm also going to have a bunk option in the Mazda which is simply ply boards and foam rubber mattress. Marek rang me this morning with a cost estimate for the labour - $3,000. Of course, I am quite a way over what I had budgeted and when I feel the blood draining from my head I remind myself that I am dealing in thousands not tens or hundreds of thousands and that seems to help......a little. It's all relative, I guess.

Aurora has her new wetsuit on. Georgina offered to put the hose on her to test it out but she declined the offer. She is keen to get her surf board but I don't see many surfing options between here and Darwin, really!

Zoe has woken this morning with a very sore throat so she is resting in bed whilst Aurora paces the house and yard being bored and letting us all know it.

Georgina is concentrating on getting her project wrapped up.

Django had his kids for the night last night which was a delight for us all.

Annie is looking into two way radios so that we don't have to rely on the mobile phones every time we want to check in or chat with each other whilst we're driving.

Well, we are certainly progressing along the figurative track, itching to get on the literal one again in the next day or so, hopefully!

Week 1, on track

Monday 13th June 2011

Finally my way feels clear enough for a wee post (that's Scottish for small piece of shared information not 'dog' for telegraph pole)!

Aurora and I had a lovely farewell dinner with Edna and Nance (below) in the midst of our packing up and clearing out.

I managed to get a lovely group of young things to rent the house as well as look after the pets; Peppa (left) and Matilda (below left) who we are already missing. At least we know they're in good hands.

The lead up to leaving was hectic to say the least as it involved packing down the house as well as packing up the van which I only got registered a couple of weeks before d day. I also cleaned out the two redundant vehicles ready for pick up by the wreckers (soon hopefully). To further complicate matters (not something I am known for, usually), two days before d day, I decided to purchase an unregistered pop top caravan which requires at least new windows in the canvas if not a whole new canvas! The caravan is an empty shell which will be great for storage and extra sleeping. It cost me $600 and my man reckons he'll be able to fit it out when I get back to Melbourne. The Mazda is running like a dream and, apart from a visit to the Horsham auto elec to replace and rewire the trailer plugs on Mazda and caravan we were unstoppable! The arctic conditions did somewhat spur us on. A great time of year to be leaving Melbourne and heading north! I stocked up on supplies from my friend Andrea who repurposes woollen garments, felting and transforming them into gorgeous, cosy articles such as hot water bottle covers and arm warmers, nice.

We spent our first, freezing night at a little caravan park just off the highway at Dadswell and the following morning drove into Horsham for the above-mentioned auto electrical experience (right on lunch time; a minor repair which turned into a semi major debacle for the hapless, hypo-glycaemic wiring expert!-oops)

Our second night was spent at Pendlebury Farmstay, a bit before Keith. Another freezing night in the van with two hot water bottles and a child to cuddle up with. We woke to yummy bacon and maple syrup sandwiches for breakfast (thank you Annie) which we felt slightly guilty about eating in the presence of the pig (sorry Mary). Us all fed, we went out with Brian the farmer and Dick the farmhand to help feed the animals which was a lot of fun. Brian was great with the girls and we all learnt lots of interesting facts about grains, sheep, buffalo, irrigation etc.

We also learnt that Brian and his wife Rhonda used to be neighbours to Ian and Rosemary Clarkson, long time ago pastor and his wife at my church, Truth and Liberation Concern, in Melbourne.

Brian and Rhonda appear to be 'salt of the earth' kind of people with big hearts and an unassuming way which is in keeping with the way of life, I guess.

We met Rhonda, who was unwell, just as we were preparing to leave. She was apologetic at taking our money but we talked her around! $25 for an overnight site and a 2 hour farm experience was pretty reasonable, I thought.

I'm kind of hoping to wean Annie off the grid a little and do mostly free camping but it was great to meet these people and well worth the cost. Onya Annie for finding and booking. My own personal assistant; just what I always wanted!!

Another bit of driving took us to Tailem Bend for a nosh up lunch at Helga's cafe after a brief stop at the wire sculpture gallery which Annie has amply highlighted. We did the dreaded descent in to Adelaide and negotiated the traffic to Grandma Boucher's with out too much stress considering our lack of trailing experience. Well done us!!

Currently, my van is sitting in Dario's awaiting a transformation which can't commence today as it is a public holiday (happy birthday Liz). I am having a new fridge installed and a couple of solar panels as well as getting the gas and electricity sorted for cooking and lighting etc.

We are hoping to be out of Adelaide by the end of the week. Georgina has a bit of a hectic week ahead wrapping up a project. We had a delightful day yesterday hanging out with the grandkids. Xavi (Georgina's daughter) and husband, Michael came for lunch and a spot of totem tennis! I didn't go anywhere yesterday and didn't spend any money (which I have been doing with alarming frequency of late)!

We went to the Adelaide folk club on Saturday night to see Fiddle Chicks. Very good fun with a broad range of material including original songs from both of the 'chicks'. The repertoire was described by one of them as 'bi polar' due to the mood swings between songs; from rollicking toe tapping to haunting shiver me timbre melody!

Well, that's all from me for now.

See you a little further up the track, maybe.

Pauline.

Antique Barbed Wire - no, really, it was

Kiki of the Coorong: not a Mary Grant Bruce book, but a very very small town a bit before Tailem Bend (I'll use lots of technical terms like 'a bit before' because I'm lucky to remember what state a town is in, let alone recall real distances from anything). Kiki doesnt have many other features to distract you from the  "Recycled Wireworks Gallery", run by Maggie and David (I think, I dunno, I was hungry at that point). On, in and around the little miners cottage on the highway, were his family of incredible wire/ metal/ glass/ceramic sculptures which made me glad he didn't offer to shake hands - he'd have crushed mine with the strength he must have developed in his, using just pliers to bring these creations to larger than life-sized life. Wish I had taken a photo of the the "wire surfer on the wire wave" - that was just magnificent, as you might guess from the detail in the sculptures I did snap outside.  Very groovy. Lots of bed springs. And antique barbed wire, we were told!

backtracking a little on day 5 of 90 days away

I just wanted to include a few photos from the farewelling bit of our trip (though there are many photos that could have been taken that weren't,with our apologies: our brains were bulging badly with the "to do"s involved in just getting out of town).  Thank you to all our wonderful friends and family who put up with the distracted "hang on, just gotta do this while I think of it" conversations as they tried to bid us farewell.  And to my amazing husband for doing all the dishes and washing and birthday preparations/packups and everything else he cheerfully took on while I was up to my eyeballs in Scope work and scarpering work - he's the arch angel of the host of angels I have in my life! I'll stop now or this will start to read like a Logies acceptance. But ta to everyone who helped in getting us gone.

My first post from the phone

A little jumble of thoughts while I'm waiting for the small people to finish their fluffin and fussin to get out the door. Apologies that this'll be a bit bland until I work out how to upload photos from the phone here.

I'm already struggling to decide what to write that could possibly interest more than one person at a time. When I talk or write, I want to tell someone something that's relevant to them, not to me - how can I do this for 120 different people at once? I don't know how you facebookers manage this. So, I'll write to me, and you can read over my shoulder.

* first day from Melbourne to just outside Horsham, lovely Maxine at Dadswells Bridge 'Grampians Edge Caravan Park' was waiting up and worried about us by the time we pulled in around 8pm. The pretzels we had traced to get out of Melbourne, with houses on our backs that wouldn't reverse happily! Caroline Springs College is not a place I had ever expected to have to go and plead for the use of their toilet, when the local public loos were locked. I must have one of those pitiful faces, though (and a cute kid by your side never hurts) because we got the "well, we don't normally do this, but..." and were suitably grateful!

About 37 phone calls and several choice words later, Pauline and I had found each other again somewhere on the Ballarat Road (which is the Western Hwy and the National Highway all at once: always helpful for the unwary traveller!) But with Zoe watching me closely for her cues as to 'how stressed should she be', I realised that I needed to have a pretty good reason to be grumpy, and really I had no reason at all. We had plenty of fuel, plenty of food, warmth, music and each other.All that and the open road, what else could I ask for? And when we were directed to our 'no need to unhitch the caravan or even turn it around' powered campsite, with offers of whatever help we needed,life was good. Hot water bottles, snuggly sleeping bags, and a very grateful child completed the first day beautifully. But the grateful child is desperate to get to the shops now, so will continue the story later tonight. Cheers mdears!

we will be in Adelaide in 3 hours :)