By all accounts, we should have been home today, given that we declared day 90 to be the half waypoint of our trip, celebrated in stifling heat with a glass of wine as we huddled in the scant shade thrown by the van at a campsite near the Northern Territory and Western Australian border. How glad I am that we are still travelling, albeit only a matter if days from home now, as we pondered how far we have come this morning.

While I can’t confess that it was as hot today as it was 90 days ago, the sun did make a welcome appearance, putting out a glorious warmth by which were able to enjoy our day. A day that began late courtesy of another way too late night last night and a corresponding sleep in this morning. For a change, Bec was up before me, to the sound of the alarm, busying herself with her beauty routine, while I caught a few extra minutes of slumber before having to drag myself from under the covers.

We were just sitting down to breakfast when we had a visitor, in the form of another of Becs uncles. He was given the grand tour of our Taj Mahal on wheels while I wandered Alvin and Bethany about the sprawling lawn here at Becs Nans place.

By the time we actually made it into the house, it had already gone 11:00AM and Mary was out to see us as well. I skipped the offer of a coffee though, choosing instead to drive into town, while agreeing to meet up with Mary and Bec when they ventured in later. I had a few stores that I wanted to have a look at, which I knew would be closing at midday, as well as wanting to catch up on some further work on the Internet.

The signal out at Becs Nans place has been pretty average on my phone and while Becs is still out of action I find it easier to take the computer into town to do what I need to do.

Therefore, into town I trundled, stopping first at the couple of shops I was eager to check out, despite not actually parting with any cash. I also looked high and low for a stubby holder, hoping to add yet another brightly coloured bit of wetsuit to my ever growing collection. At last count I have amassed a total of 48 for the trip, which are currently scattered all about the van, but will give us a permanent reminder of our travels when we get home.

With my shopping done, I sat in ‘The Beast’ enjoying the sun streaming through the window as I watched the world go by while tapping away at emails and waiting for Bec to call to say she was in town. When she did call, it was to tell me that she was shopping with Mary in one of her favourite shops in Horsham. Trevs, a bargain basement type shop, it’s a Horsham institution, full of an ever changing array of stock. It took Bec over an hour to carefully scour the overflowing shelves to find a couple of bagfuls of goodies.

After Trevs, we made a few more stops at different shops, including at a furniture store that I don’t think was technically open. The owner was busy packing his stock up to move to a different location. Bec and I barged through the open door for a look anyway at the few pieces left on display. Since only a select few items were left, the owner offered to get us a catalogue from the showroom next door. That was a mistake on his part, because with that door now open too, Bec sauntered in and began looking around, oblivious to this poor fellows evident agitation at being held up from his packing. We eventually left him to his work, brochure in hand for further investigation later today. What might turn out to be expensive for us though, is that he made mention that he ought to be about tomorrow, with a little more time to help us out.

Our retail therapy over, we made our way down to the Horsham Botanical Gardens. As luck would have it, this weekend the gardens are playing host to the Horsham Spring Garden Festival. More for Becs sake than mine, we paid our money to get in and found ourselves immersed in a little garden show. Market like stalls were set up amongst the beautiful gardens, long trestles covered in an extensive assortment of pretty potted plants and seedlings. Other stalls were stocked with a mixture of other gardening related products, community notices and fresh food. It was a thoroughly pleasant way in which to while away an hour or so of the afternoon.

The Horsham Garden Show.

Bec smells the roses.

While I’m ready to flake out.

Eager though was I when we left, to complement my stubby holder collection with acquisition number 49, we went off in search of a likely place to secure it. Thankfully our search wasn’t too difficult as we soon located a stubby holder emblazoned with a photo of Horshams main street at the visitor information centre.

My mission complete, we managed to slot in a little bit of grocery shopping, thinking now of what will be needed to restock the larder at home, before we returned to the van to check on the dogs. They have taken well to being left to their own devices in the van, greeting us with a mixture of excitement and aloofness whenever we return. I am sure that they would be quite happy if we just left them alone, which tonight is what we will have to do.

Stopping in for just enough time to feed them and walk them, we were due to head out for another dinner, with yet another round of family that we haven’t seen for way too long. That was the plan, but we ended up running a little late again, when Bec sat chatting with her Nan while I was put to work making sure that the dogs were fed and watered. Bec came out a half an hour later to find me curled up on the bed with the dogs, all three of us sound asleep.

Shaking myself awake, we sped off to Marys place for another stomach filling smorgasbord dinner. When everyone brings a plate of this or that, it’s not hard to overeat as a little portion of everything is piled high onto the plates that are soon filled to overflowing. By the end of tonights dinner, I was almost glad that we will be moving on again tomorrow. Many more feasts like that and my next complaint about the caravan would have been that the door is growing too small!

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