I awoke this morning shivering, my teeth chattering and to the rude shock that the heater had been switched off at some point during the night. Both dogs, obviously also freezing cold, had left their own beds and snuggled close against us on the bed, in an effort to warm themselves. After the sauna like conditions we had endured last night, I couldn’t fathom why all of a sudden Bec would do a 180 and turn the heater off completely.

I lay there for a while, contemplating what the heating issue may be, until Bec woke. I queried her about the heater situation, only for her to regale me with her tale of woe. She had been woken up during the night, by the van rocking violently, the heater making strange noises (somewhat between a gurgle and a grumble was the best she could do to describe it), blowing out a cold jet stream of air with the thermostat advising her that it was a frosty 9^o inside the van. So she turned it off in an effort to reset the unit, but then it wouldn’t turn back on again for her. Hence, we spent the remainder of the night trying in vane, to share our body heat again.

Once we got up, I turned the heater on and all seemed fine. A quick search on the Internet traced the probable cause of the problem. It was too cold outside, at about 1 or 2^o, for the heater to function properly. So, let me ask:  “When is a heater not a heater?” When it’s too bloody cold. The actual wording in the instruction manual, direct from the manufacturer is: “…in ambient temperature below 1-2^o, supplementary heating is advisable.” What the? It’s supposed to be a heater! My limited understanding of heaters is that they are generally designed to increase said ambient temperature from, well lets say 1-2^o, to provide a satisfying warmth. On the bright side, at least we had solved our predicament, and wouldn’t need to be dragging the van all over the countryside to find someone to repair it. Instead we just needed to find a supplementary source of heating.

Nothing much was on the agenda for today. There was much house work to be done this morning, with a general tidy up and some laundry to be put on. It’s hardly a holiday when we still have to keep on top of all the home duties, but it sure as hell beats working. I managed to annoy Bec again though, when as she was busy cleaning, it took me 15 minutes to take the garbage out.

It’s hardly my fault though. There just seems to be a new neighbor to have a yarn to, each and every time I step out the front door. I was happy to see that our new neighbour was under his van, making some running repairs. It isn’t just us after all. There just always seems to be something that needs fixing, rectifying, modifying or improving.

With the bulk of the cleaning done, we sat outside, enjoying the warmth and completing our thawing out, planning the next stage of our adventure. We’re not due to leave Tamworth until early Sunday morning, but there are a few specifics that we need to work out.

When we did eventually head out, it was armed with a list of chores that we needed to accomplish before days end, although I was also still aiming to get to the Country Hall of Fame, time permitting. It was therefore off to the shops, firstly to buy the dogs a new blanket each, in preparation for some more chilly evenings. I’m led to believe that even as we head north and the daytime temperatures escalate, it can still be extremely cold overnight. And with a heater that might not cope, we’re going to need as many extra blankets as we can get our hands on. Next up was a local craft co-operative. I sat that one out, while Bec went in for a look. It can’t have been too special, as she returned empty handed. From there, we parked ‘The Beast’ in town, and while Bec went down to the main street to purchase a few more necessities, I took the opportunity to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame.

I can’t show you inside, but I can prove I was there.

This museum is dedicated primarily to the early years of Australian country music, although with only enough space to display about a third of the artifacts held by the custodians, they regularly rotate the articles on display. It was such a shame that photography wasn’t permitted within the galleries, so you will just have to trust me when I tell you it was an experience not to be missed.

With the final point of interest ticked off my must see list of Tamworth attractions, it was time to meet back up with Bec and continue with our errands. We tried unsuccessfully to replenish our stock of chicken necks for the dogs’ dinners, there was a brief stop at the local Bunnings store thrown into the mix and then we spent nearly ¾ of an hour on the phone to Telstra attempting to sort out some billing issues. Thankfully, at Becs suggestion, we had managed to locate a Telstra store, and so used their phone rather than our mobiles. I reckon there would’ve been a fresh billing issue had we rang from the mobile and got stuck on hold for over ½ an hour!

With our tasks for the day finally completed, it was already almost 5:30PM and time to head back to the van, only to start getting dinner cooked, before washing the dishes (Note to self: our next van needs a dishwasher!), all the while putting a few more loads of laundry through the washing machine. Like I said, notwithstanding what you might read into about our travels, it’s far from a holiday. But, like I said, it still beats the hell out of working! Oh, and because of the lack of excitement today, there is but a sole photo, as seen above, to pictorially chronicle our day.

Don’t despair however, because we’ll be back into sightseeing guise tomorrow, with a huge day of attractions in a nearby town penciled into our itinerary to keep us all amused. With any luck, there will be a correspondingly large number of photos to check out tomorrow night.

Lastly, don’t forget to check out my reviews on some of the places we’ve visited at “Trip Advisor”.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.