Making our way home

My boy is not happy this afternoon.  We left Tasmania yesterday after waiting in line for 2.5 hours.  It took only six minutes to get in position and we were right next to the exit door.  There were some people filming a new advertisement for Spirit of Tasmania but I didn't have my make up on so kept out of their way but you may see a side shot of us both somewhere.

When we were off the ship we made out way to a shopping centre somewhere where there's an Apple shop because Steve's phone has packed in.  We circled the place but couldn't park up because it seemed as if it was all under cover and Steve didn't want to be fannying about with the caravan so we had a nice drive around parts of Victoria that we weren't expecting.

He had to make minor repairs yesterday because he pulled out the electric fittings so as not to use the battery when the engine is turned off while we shopped at Aldi.  Apparently it's my fault he didn't reconnect them because I wanted to stop at Aldi.  We needed food so whether we got it there or somewhere else he still would have pulled them out (and forgotten to put them back in) but I have  broad shoulders and I don't mind him blaming me if it makes him feel less of a wally for forgetting to put them back.

So then, it was another drive around, first looking for a repairer then deciding he could do it himself so looking for Repco/Supercheap Autos etc.,  Found one, bought the bits, did a bit of fiddling and taking bits from the old one to fix to the new one and within 15 minutes we were 'On the road again'.

We're now about 90kms East of Adelaide.  Today's little job for Steve is ascertaining why his special diesel tank in the back of the truck keeps leaking fuel.  

We've met some great people on our travels.  Robin and his wife were at Evandale, they're from Queensland and also there was Chris and Sue.  She has such a sense of humour and we were pleasantly surprised when they pulled into the scout camp at Kingston.

We kept meeting up with Andre and Paula who live in Liverpool.  They came from France over 40 years ago with their son and they have a daughter and grandson now.  They are leaving Tasmania today and Paula is desperate to see AJ.  I know how she feels because I can't wait to see all of our littlies, especially the new one, Harry Patrick Foster.

We spent at least three weeks with our Frenchies, we're a similar age although as usual Steve is the youngest.  Andre took him fishing a few times and we'd all spend time enjoying Happy Hour while Andre told his stories.  I never knew whether to believe him or not.

Flappers

10.4.2013

We’ve been across the top of Tasmania from Devonport to Stanley and also through the mountains down to Port Arthur and everywhere in between.  We’re now in St Helens, which is on the Eastern side, and we’re working our way back to Devonport.  If Tassie was a clock we’re at 4 o’clock with Devonport at 12.  We’ve not been down the South Western side because that’s wilderness and national parks.

The story about the old girl and nearly parking in her backyard happened when we were driving up to Moulting Bay.  The gps said to turn right and there was a sign saying it was a no through road.  When you’re free camping a lot of sites are at the end of roads and to see a no through road sign was no big deal.  However, there was a fork in the road and Paula shot out of their car and took the left hand road and Steve took the right hand side and both came back saying there were houses at the end of each road but Paula’s had a field that we could turn around in.

So, into four-wheel drive and up the road we went.  When we were almost at the top this old bird appears, arms flapping like a distressed swan, shouting that this wasn’t the road to the Bay.  Obviously she was right because there was a house plus a garage and Paula’s field was the back yard, perfect for lots of caravans to park on because it was short grass and level but the flapper said we had to get out and that caravans were always coming up her road.

How hard would it be to have a sign erected at the bottom of her drive, where the street sign is to say it’s not the entrance to the Bay?  Steve started turning around in the back yard and the flapping started again when she told him to take a little track which led to the main road.  Paula was hysterical because as Steve had driven over the crest of the drive the caravan had gone into a plastic marker at the side and Paula was trying to hold it up and straighten it before the old bird noticed it was bent.  I had no idea what was going on behind us because I was watching the old bird.  She was like the Road Runner.

So we’d entered at her front, turned around in her middle and exited through her rear.  (Steve’s words, not mine).

She was short tempered with us but Andre’s French accent calmed her down.

Not quite secrets but stuff that doesn't need to be openly discussed

While we were away last year James’s house was sold.  Later that year Louisa’s house went the same way.  Both sales took about six weeks.  Just before we left for Tasmania we put our house on the market.  That sold in two weeks.  This time we were a tad more organized and had a printer on board for printing off documents from the settlement agent rather than having them posted out to a post office somewhere.

The two houses were between 15 and 20 years old and ours is 6.  There were no issues with those houses and everything went through smoothly.  Can’t say the same about ours.

The buyer wanted a building inspection done and this showed that the roof wasn’t built to code.  The builder said it was and wouldn’t fix it but I turned on the charm and explained we were ‘overseas’ and that we didn’t want to lose the sale and I’d had nothing but good things to say about Summit, blah blah blah and within a few days a crew of roof carpenters had been round and sorted it out.  I have to say that when they were building the house they worked on it every day and we were very pleased with it.

We’ve sold all our properties and possessions.  Actually various people, mostly our daughters, have snapped up the possessions although James is having the washing machine, fridge and other stuff.  To keep our house we would both have had to go back to work in order to pay the mortgage.  If we were both working we wouldn’t be able to travel.  We thought long and hard and discussed with various people and (especially after Steve had experience of his mum’s affairs after she died) we decided to clean up our own affairs now rather than leave it to Louisa, James and Beth to deal with after we died.

Our children have dealt with everything, from packing up the house, to getting the spa removed and the house cleaned.  I’m told that Beth’s garage is full of our stuff, they moved into their new house a few weeks ago and also during this time Paige has been in hospital and Louisa had Harry Patrick Foster on the 2^nd April.

I loved that house; it was the best house we’ve ever owned.  I loved that the living area was so big.  People would walk in and be overwhelmed by the space but we had to be realistic.  Did we really need such a large house that had two spare bedrooms and two bathrooms for the two of us?  It was too easy for any of the grandchildren to stay over; they got to choose their own bed although they usually ended up in ours.  We’d even bought a king size bed to accommodate them and us.

So, from next week we are no longer homeowners.  We leave Tasmania on the 23^rd April and after a trip to an Apple store in Victoria to get Steve’s iPhone sorted we’ll be making our way to Beth’s house.  No definite plan, we hope we can get the caravan in her backyard but we’re not stressing.  One plan is to travel North for the winter and South for summer. 

We haven’t advertised the fact that we’re officially Grey Nomads, living out of a caravan and we’d rather you didn’t mention this on Facebook.   You are more than welcome to leave a comment on this blog.

The next update will be about Andre and Paula and Steve and myself almost setting up camp in an old lady’s back yard and Steve’s fishing plus any other dribbling that comes to mind.

photos to come

A beautiful day south of Swansea, Tasmania.  We are camped up for the Easter weekend, apparently in a place regularly visited by the police.

We sent Andre and Paula ahead to ascertain the spaces available and they sent a message saying there were plenty of spots.  By the time we got here the following day some of the residents had their heavy rock going, loudly and it didn’t stop until 11.00pm.

I’m saying nothing more on that other than I saw an old guy, a younger one and a young woman.  After my reading my imagination is going crazy.

We were sitting round the table with Andre and Paula and a skinny woman who looked older than me and wearing a bra and thong (not a good look as even though she was thin there was a lot of loose skin hanging) and who was drunk came past us.  She’d fallen into the ocean and another lady had rescued her.  Apparently she was embarrassed because she wasn’t fully clothed but she stood there talking to us and swaying.  Andre said later he was frightened to look at her in case she put him off women.

 We’ve been here for three nights and we’ve seen the police twice.  So, it looks as if we could be in for an interesting weekend.

Andre took Steve fishing and they caught three Wrasse

 between them.  Steve made a stuffing with leeks, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, olive oil and chives and cooked them wrapped in baking paper in the baby q.  He left the heads and tails on and they looked awful but they got eaten.

When we were at the scout camp and Steve had the fire going I thought it would be nice to have some baked potatoes so he got two ready, wrapped them in tin foil and put them in the fire.  When we were all talking around the fire he kept checking them to see if they were done and eventually he had a look at them.

Ever wondered where the little charcoal bits that you put on the bbq come from?  That’s just what they looked like, hard and black on the outside and hardly anything worth eating on the inside.  Needless to say, they weren’t worth eating.

We were behind a motor home today which had ‘Free Spirit’ on the back.  We said it was a good sign until we saw the registration number.   

We went to Dunally last week.  We arrived the day they were having a music festival to raise funds for the bush fires.  There was so many people there and we were directed to a field which was full of cars and Andre and Paula. 

It was so sad driving down because the homes were burnt and some of the owners were living on the block, some in caravans and others in tents.

We had fun last night.  Yesterday a pretty large tent went up then a few cars with women and children turned up.  The kids ranged from about nine months old to perhaps 18.  The little kids were so excited and got their places and marked it with their sleeping bags and pillows.  When everyone was in bed it started.  Shouting and swearing from the older girls.  Andre and Paula’s caravan was closest and Andre was looking out of the window.  No point in us doing that because we need to put the contacts in and clothes on and Steve slept through it all anyway.

It went on for about an hour, a mum from further away came to them and tried talking to the most drunken girl, then a guy came up and took one of them away for a walk.  Very exciting times in Tasmania.

Funnily enough, there’s a heap of young men here as well and they started drinking early yesterday but we never heard  anything from them.  Most of the locals bring their boats.  Between them, the caravans and tents there’s hardly room to move.  If there’s a fire its doubtful we’d get out and we’d have to make our way down to the beach.