Day 131: Fun Bags.

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Marcus

After our slightly longer than expected stay in Perth, we were ready to hit the road again today. There was just one last thing I needed to do. I had seen a bag I liked in town the other day, in fact it was the same one I had looked at longingly when we were here last year. I had talked myself out of it, but yesterday decided that it was a long way to come back a third time for.

Our dallying’s didn’t allow me to get to the shop yesterday though, so I thought I had missed my chance. Then this morning, as we turned out of the caravan park a good 25 minutes earlier than expected, I decided to brave the streets of inner Perth with the van hooked up. Bec didn’t like the idea, but I figured that being a Saturday morning, the roads would be relatively quiet. As far as parking was concerned, I had to agree with Bec, that it might present a problem. I assured her that we would drive past the store in question, and if there was no parking available I would give up on my quest to obtain a new, although entirely unrequired back pack.

As we exited the freeway onto the narrow surface streets feeding into the city centre, Shazza decided that a better view of the encircling satellites was required to give her a clear idea of where we were. Without Shazza leading the charge, we were flying solo as we weaved a circuitous path through town, stuttering along in traffic, the van bouncing along behind, my eyes darting everywhere to ensure we didn’t collect any stray pedestrians, cyclists, cars or anything else immobile. A flight of fancy it was to be honest, as I fully expected to be forced to drive on by the store without stopping. Surely I would be lucky to find one vacant car parking space, let alone a string of empty spots lengthy enough to accommodate the nearly 15 metres of Beast and van. We peeled around the final tight corner, making good use of every inch of the road, and there, laid out in front of us, 3 car spots alongside the road, less than half a block from where I needed to be. I took it as an omen, a sign that it was meant to be, as I sidled ‘The Beast’ snug up against the curb, before bounding down the footpath to do one last bit of shopping.

Happy with my new haversack, it was now time to get out of Perth, as Shazza came back to life and tried to direct us down one-way streets and roads closed for works. I ignored her, finding my own way onto the freeway that would soon have us south bound, heading for Bunbury and Busselton. The whole exercise had wasted about an hour, which left Bec a little flummoxed at my apparent tardiness with time. It had all been carefully calculated and allowed for in my plans for the day, even if I hadn’t let Bec in on the secret.

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With Perth in the rear view mirror, we hit the open road again.

On the smooth, open freeway, ‘The Beast’ gave no hint of its earlier illness, as I got it up to speed, rolling along towards our next stop for the day in Bunbury, where ironically, we were stopping primarily to buy a cardigan for Bec. The shop in town hadn’t had her size in stock, so the Bunbury outlet had put one aside for her. Maybe that was why I didn’t get too much complaint from her about my foray into Perth.

Bunbury is an easy 2 hour drive from Perth, and from what we saw from high up in ‘The Beast’ is a big, but lovely looking town. We had hoped to spend a couple of days here to give us a chance to explore a bit, but decided to cut it from our itinerary, so as to get back on track. Instead, we planned on stopping to pick up Becs top, before continuing on to Busselton, a further 40 minutes to the south.

As we reached the outskirts of Bunbury, we saw the bright yellow signs of a JB Hi-Fi store, which held the promise of a new release CD by Sara Storer we had seen advertised on TV yesterday. Without even thinking about it, I had managed to swing our rig across three lanes of traffic and turn into the small car park that made the streets of Perth look like 6 lane freeways. Our luck held out though, as a string of car parks long enough to take our hefty ride materialised in front of us. Bec ran in to buy the album, while I waited eagerly for her like a getaway driver.

Hardly 5 minutes later, we were holding up traffic as we slowly tried to get back out of the car park and find our way back to the route we needed for our next stop. Thankfully, when we did find our way to our next location, we found a dedicated caravan parking area. We managed to slot in, just, between a tiny campervan and a couple of public transport buses. So much for caravans only.

This time, it was Bec who was happy with her new purchase, as we mounted up for our final leg of todays journey. Bunbury to Busselton, with just a single quick halt enroute.

How could we pass up the chance of stopping at a cheese factory. Our afternoon cheese platters have been relegated to history, since good cheese has been hard to come by, but here as we travel towards the gastronomically delightful Margaret River wine region, the gourmet food outlets are making a pleasing reappearance.

Stopping in at the ‘Old Cheddar Cheese Company’, I was transported to whey heaven. I am a lover of the harder cheeses, and the samples on offer here were to die for. All based around an almost soft, creamy textured cheddar, about 18 different flavours are generated. From chilli infused to green olive, I didn’t know where to start. We ended up buying a veritable smorgasbord of cheeses, getting a selection that included a half a dozen different flavours.

With our cheeses safely stowed in the cooler, it was only a further 35 minutes to the caravan park we are bedding down at, in Busselton. Only a couple of hundred metres from the beach, we selected this park based on its advertised dog friendly status. What we didn’t consider were the sizes of the sites, which was a little difficult to judge online.

The lovely lady who checked us in was a hoot, as she directed us in the direction of our allocated site, with the parting words that should we prefer a different site, to let her know. Maybe she knew that we weren’t going to fit on the site she had selected for us when she said it.

Well, to say we didn’t fit would be a lie to be honest. We did fit quite well, snug even. So snug in fact that not only would we not be able to extend our awning, owing to an oddly placed tree, just opening the caravan door would be fraught with danger due to the same tree. A bit of head scratching later (Is it any wonder I’m going bald with all of this head scratching?), we opted to slide the van out and take up residence on the next site. Ever so slightly longer and wider, we were able to fit the van, pull out the awning and even park ‘The Beast’ alongside.

Before getting the van in order, we took a break for a late luncheon of cheese and crackers, accompanied by a beer. Oddly, Bec spat her beer across the van at the first taste. Without saying anything, she began guzzling lemonade from a can, spitting it down the sink. It was several minutes later that she was able to articulate that the beer was soapy. As it turned out, our dishwashing liquid had inexplicably leaked from the bottle, creating a sticky, but very clean, mess in the bottom of our crockery cupboard, while coating the rim of Becs beer glass with a film of Palmolive. Might be easy on your hands, but as Bec can attest to, is not great for the taste buds!

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Moments before Bec turned into a frothing at the mouth beer fountain.

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With a fresh beer, it was time for cheese and crackers.

My next issue was that we were camped beneath the dense canopy of shade giving foliage of the surrounding trees. Great to keep the sun off, not so great for allowing the satellite TV signal to reach our dish. Nonetheless, I opted to get all of the gear out, if for nothing else than a bit of practice in setting it all up. I checked the data I needed to get the angles, then selected a bit of dirt that looked as if it had as much chance as any other of allowing us to get a signal. Lined up by compass and angle, I was surprised when it needed nothing more than an inch of tweaking to put a picture on the TV screen. That was simpler than setting up the regular antenna.

With our roast from last night having now defrosted and Bec on kitchen duties, while I set everything else up, life was indeed good today. Even the blue bathrooms couldn’t dampen my good mood, but I’ve already rambled on long enough for one day, so more about the ablution blocks tomorrow.

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

Posted in Everything, The Epic Journey | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Day 130: Stretching The Legs.

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Marcus

We kicked our day kicked off with a bit of a barney about what it was we were trying to achieve with our final hours here in Perth. Not bad, considering that we weren’t initially scheduled to be stopping here anyway. Apart from taking ‘The Beast’ out and giving it a run to check everything is back in perfect working order again, our plans were sketchy.

I had suggested heading to Kings Park, the expansive botanical gardens on the outskirts of Perth, where we could have a look around, with the dogs tagging along. Bec on the other hand suggested we travel ¾ of an hour south to the beachside town of Rockingham. Her theory was that ‘The Beast’ would get a good run on the way there, while the dogs could have a good run on the beach when we got there. This is where our spat started, as Becs whistle in the wind attitude to planning had precluded her from finding out what else there is to do in Rockingham, something I would have liked to know before we headed down. For all I knew, there could have been a beach and nothing else. This is not how I roll.

In the end, I acceded to the Rockingham idea, if for nothing else than to give the dogs a run along the beach. Stuck in Perth as we have been, it’s been a little difficult to find anywhere to give the dogs a decent walk. So off we trundled, getting ‘The Beast’ up to speed and letting it stretch its legs, as we whizzed along the road to Rockingham.

As a result of taking ‘The Beast’ out again, you’ll notice that photos of me will start appearing again. Whilst many might say wearing an Akubra at anytime is farcical, it seemed utterly so, even to me, while scooting about in a bright green city centric hatch back. So I have kept my ugly, unhatted head away from the camera for the last few days.

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There I am, hat and all, on the beach at Rockingham.

Once at Rockingham, we stopped at the dog friendly section of the beach, which we found to be akin to a canine highway, all manner of four legged critters running up, down and all around. This would have been fine, if Alvin and Bethany were better socialised than they are. They have been relatively well behaved for the whole trip, but surrounded by so many possible play mates, they chose today to act up, yelping excitedly and straining embarrassingly at their leashes. So much for driving for close to an hour, to give the dogs a good run on the beautiful beach. It was all over almost before it even started. They were soon relegated to the back of ‘The Beast’, while Bec and I went to discover what other delights Rockingham had on offer for us.

We drove up and down the beach front esplanade, eventually finding a vacant car parking space. Even today, a weekday, it was extremely busy. All of the restaurants, cafes and other boutique eateries were bustling with the lunchtime rush and we soon found ourselves joining the throng. It wasn’t for lunch that we ended up stopping, but rather just for a milkshake, which we slowly sipped on as we sat at a table on the sidewalk, enjoying the sun. Such is the weather today, I even needed to break a pair of shorts out of storage again, as the mercury rose back up above the mid twenties. Oh, if only that could last.

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The foreshore.

Our shakes finished in a flurry of loud slurps, we crossed the road and promenaded along the scenic foreshore, leading us back to ‘The Beast’. We then had to decide what to do next, as with the walk along the beach cut drastically short, we still had the rest of the afternoon to fill in with activities. It was decided then, that we would head in the direction of Fremantle to check out the wares of a few of the local antique shops. There are three congregated together within a few hundred metres of each other.

It may have been a bad decision to go looking at antiques, because before we knew it, we were trying to work out how much it would cost us to ship a container load of furniture back home. We didn’t actually end up buying anything, but there were several pieces that we would have seriously considered if not for the hassle of getting them home, not to mention the added trouble of finding somewhere to put them when we get home.

With the antique window shopping not eating up as much time as we had envisioned, we delved back into the centre of Freemantle, where we found another of our favourite shops had succumbed to the financial climate. As the only other place we were planning to frequent in Fremantle, we decided against stopping. Instead, my original plan of taking in the sights of Kings Park got an airing and we both ended up getting our own way anyhow.

Driving into the park, we headed for the section that showcased different fauna from all over Australia. From here, as well as being able to take in sweeping panoramic views of the Perth skyline, we could meander along the flowing paths surrounded by all manner of plants, from delicate little wildflowers from different regions of Western Australia, to towering Karri trees.

With the dogs following along, they were on their best behaviour now. Whether that was because there were no other dogs about to get their attention, or because they were to afraid of being enslaved in the back of ‘The Beast’ again, I don’t know.

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On their best behaviour.

With the dogs finally getting a decent workout, it was then time for me to work up a sweat. Well, maybe not a sweat as such, but it was still a long clamber up the steps of the DNA Tower. A lofty lookout sits atop two spiraling staircases, designed to replicate the appearance of a strand of DNA. While Bec kept her two feet on terra firma, I climbed to the top to take in the 360o views of the gardens and Perth.

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Beauty and The Beast, from atop the DNA Tower.

With time now getting away from us, it was back to the caravan we headed. We still have a roast to cook for dinner as well as commencing our packing up duties in preparedness for our departure tomorrow morning.

Naturally, things didn’t quite proceed as smoothly as that. You would all be well aware of the issues we had at the start of the trip with our fridge refusing to keep things cool enough. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the fridge is again marching to the sound of its own drum, now working extremely well. So well in fact, that it is freezing everything, meaning that the lovely roll of pork that we had been drooling about on our way back to the van was still a solidly frozen nugget. On the plus side, at least now we don’t have to cook, nor clean up, although it did mean venturing out again, to find somewhere to eat. A local, franchised pasta restaurant did the trick nicely, providing a delicious, cheap and quick dinner.

Lastly tonight, with ‘The Beast’ starting to rack up a few more kilometres today, it’s as good a time as any to remind you that the kilometre challenge is still on. If you’re wondering, we did about 250Km around Perth in ‘Kermit’. I can tell you that, because those kilometres won’t be included in our final tally. It is only the kilometres that we accrue in ‘The Beast’ that will be counted. Check out the current list of entries here: The Tally So Far, then get on to e-mailing me some more entries. Someone has got to win it, so you might as well be in with a chance.

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

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Day 129: Simple Pleasures.

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Marcus

Another day, another early morning. Excuse the pun, but I really am getting tired of this getting up early each morning gig. Todays early awakening was necessitated by having to return ‘Kermit’. We had declined the option of taking up an extra days hire, in the hope that ‘The Beast’ would be ready to go again. Not that this ended up being the case, but it will hopefully be only today that we are without transport.

After being stung $30.00 for a cab fair the other day when I picked the car up, I wasn’t enthused about getting a taxi back to the van. Instead, I looked up the public transport options, but was left befuddled as to how I would manage to return, even though there is a handy bus stop right outside the caravan park. My final option was to take my bike apart, wedge it into the miniscule boot of ‘Kermit’ and then ride the 12 or 13Km back to the van. Anything to save a dollar or 30, and it wasn’t like we had anything else to do for the day, so the time factor didn’t really enter the equation.

Before leaving the caravan park, I stopped in at the office, to extend our stay yet again, this time for an extra two nights. That will give us time to have the repairs to ‘The Beast’ completed and allow for a bit of driving around Perth to ensure that everything is right to go again. I don’t savor the idea of heading down south, away from the big smoke and have something go bang again.

Our late notification that we were planning to stay on required the staff here at the caravan park to shuffle some bookings around, as our site had already been reallocated, but nothing was too much for them. I really have to give them all a huge thumbs up for the effort that they have gone to for us.

‘Kermit’ was next on the agenda, getting fueled up along the way, then delivered to the rental company, before I re-assembled my bike, donned my Lycra and helmet, then pedaled off in the general direction of the caravan park. It was going to be a bit touch and go getting back, because I still wasn’t 100% sure that I was allowed to cycle on some of the roads I wanted to take. If not, the ride was going to be much longer than the anticipated dozen kilometres, as I would have to utilise the path running alongside the Swan River. Thankfully, it was a sensational morning for a bike ride. Not even a breath of a wind, the sun was shining, but it wasn’t too hot to be spinning the cranks. As a bonus, it turned out that I was able to stick to the roads all the way back, and was safely free wheeling through the caravan park gate just a little over half an hour after dropping the car off. Not a bad effort, considering I was riding an old clunker and my distinct lack of recent physical exertion.

Back at the van, I found Bec up and waiting eagerly for my return. Partly because she was concerned for my safety, partly because a big, hearty hot breakfast was on the cards upon my return. No sooner had we started getting our brunch together, I got a phone call from the mechanic, asking whether I could make it over to his workshop now, rather than later this afternoon as originally planned. Of course I could. That would suit us perfectly, apart from having to put off breakfast for a little bit longer. At least we would then have the afternoon to go out and do something.

With ‘The Beast’ running, but still not completely back to normal, I gently idled over to the workshop, about a half an hour drive away. Even with access to the full workshop, the final components still took an age to fit. This was mainly due to the extremely limited amount of space beneath the hood in which to work. The only easier way to get into the pulleys around which the fan belt rides, would have been to strip ‘The Beast’ down from the front bumper bar back. That seemed like overkill, so I helped out where I could, mainly directing a torch in just the right spot or handing over tools like an assistant to a surgeon, while the mechanic twisted his arms in almost inhumane angles in an effort to put everything back together. With all of the pulleys back where they should be, and spinning freely on their bearings, everything was given the once over before I was told that it was as good as knew again.

Finally, ‘The Beast’ was all back together, and purring like a giant pussy cat again, as I thanked the mechanic for his pains. Now, to put it through its paces to make sure that nothing has been overlooked. It was straight back to the van first though, where I would eventually get to enjoy my breakfast, even if by the time we cooked it up, it was more of a late lunch. Whatever the time, it was an enjoyable meal.

The next task I had to complete, was to clean up the back of ‘The Beast’. While it has been sitting inactively alongside the van, I have taken to using the tray as a place to dump everything that I had nowhere else to put. As such, it has taken on the appearance of a rubbish truck, with no room left to put the dogs in, even if we wanted to.

Thus, an hour was spent dragging everything out, sweeping out a decent sized pile of sand, before carefully repacking it properly. There is now plenty of room for the dogs to relax in the back again, meaning that they won’t have to again be left in daycare at the office. I’m not too sure what they would prefer though. Concrete or steel jail cell, their liberty is restricted either way.

It was 3:30PM by the time we were ready to head out, deciding to give ‘The Beast’ a bit of a run, while doing some sightseeing, Marcus and Bec style. That’s our way of saying we went shopping again. We headed out to a big suburban shopping centre, which promised to keep us entertained and out of trouble for a while. By the time we had finished, it was getting close to 6:00PM and cooking dinner for ourselves was a theory that we quickly vetoed.

Instead, we headed for the casino, where there was sure to be an all you can eat sort of buffet at which to stuff our belly’s. Right we were too, although it wasn’t the best casino buffet we’ve sampled this trip. Actually, of the three we’ve now frequented, this one would be sitting in last place. Did that stop us from walking out overfilled and feeling close to physical illness? Not at all. Despite the average selection of dishs on offer, we still managed to gobble enough food to leave us feeling bloated and unwell as we returned to where we had left the dogs snugged up in the back of ‘The Beast’.

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On second thoughts, maybe we should have taken the dogs in with us!

Thanks to the inconsiderate and illegal parking efforts of a substantial number of arrogant ignoramuses, we were lucky to be able to extract ‘The Beast’ from the car park. We weren’t the only ones either, with cars half the size of ‘The Beast’ finding it difficult to negotiate the narrow lanes left between double parked cars, so the fact that we actually got out surprised me.

Back at the van, we wallowed about in self pity, asking ourselves why we continue to overindulge at every chance, while delighting in the fact that ‘The Beast’ seems to be running smoothly again. Shopping, buffet dinner and having ‘The Beast’ up and running again, yep, that’s what I would define as being a good day.

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

Posted in Everything, The Epic Journey | Tagged | 1 Comment

Day 128: Shopping And Surgery.

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Marcus

It was yet another early start for us this morning, as we decided not to sit and wait around all day for a phone call from the mechanic, who we are expecting at some point during the day. Instead, the dogs were going to be spending their day in the concrete jail at the reception office and ‘Kermit’ was to get a chance to stretch his rubbery, tyre like legs, while we went out to indulge in a little more retail therapy. The stress is beginning to show, so we figured a pleasant day of shopping ought to de-clutter our scattered brains a little.

After bidding the dogs an almost teary farewell, we headed into the city of Perth. It was only a short few years ago that we had never been to Perth before. Since then, we’ve been over here often enough that we know where the cheap parking is, and how to get to our favourite stores, although it was tinged with a touch of sadness today, when I found one of our regular haunts had closed its doors since we were here last year, while another two are on the way out. That’s the price of the financial downturn for you.

Nonetheless, we ambled about the malls and laneways, peeping in at a shop here and there as we went, although my wallet strangely remained unopened in my hip pocket for the entire time. On the way back to the car, we stopped in at ‘London Court’, a narrow lane of shops with an old English façade. I think we have a photo or two from here for every trip we’ve made to Perth, so we couldn’t miss a chance at getting another. ‘London Court’ may well be billed as a tourist attraction, but there are plenty of locals who wander down for a coffee and cake from one of the fancy cafes, sitting alfresco while watching the crowd slowly pass, the tourists easy to spot standing behind a camera, arms outstretched, eyes squinting at the screen as the flash fires off. To that end, we fitted right in today as tourists.

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Old London in the middle of Perth.

From the centre of Perth, we drove to the nearby inner suburb of Subiaco, which is dominated by the WACA cricket stadium, which might be stimulating if you are excited by cricket, which neither Bec or I are. Therefore, we paid it scant attention and instead went to check out the boutiques along the nearby Hay Street. There was one in particular that Bec had sought out, only to find it closed for a stocktake. At least, as best as we could figure it was, considering the sign on the door was a little unclear. It was 12:10PM when we nearly bounced off the door as we tried to push it open, only to find it locked. That was when we saw the sign that stated: “…reopen at 14AM (noon)”. So what was it to be we wondered, midday or 2:00PM maybe? Considering that we were completely ignored by the busy staff within, Bec rang the number on the door, only to be told they ought to be open again at about 1:00PM. Hmm, that cleared things up for us.

To fill in time while we waited, we grabbed a bite to eat for lunch, looked through a few more stores and took a drive around the area, finding it to be a fancy, expensive looking region.

At almost 1:30PM, I dropped Bec off, back at the store she was hoping to spend some money in, only for her to find it still closed. Bec being Bec, happily banged away on the door until the staff grew tired of the continual hammering, opening the door to let her in. As it turned out, they could have stayed shut, and we could have saved some time, as Bec found nothing that took her fancy anyway. We would have always been left wondering though.

Finished in town now, we pointed ‘Kermit’ in the direction of Midland, the suburb where we had gone shopping yesterday. There were a few shops that had been too distant for Bec to walk to, so we had decided to take a look together today. While driving around a series of twisty one way thoroughfares that were successfully hampering our efforts to get into the supermarket car park, we spotted a little church hall that had flashy banners and balloons outside, while the door was being stalked by a couple of guys that could only be politicians. Of course, with the federal election fast approaching, the early voting offices have opened their doors. Not wanting to risk a penalty for not doing our civic duty or wanting to forget about it down the track, we counted our lucky stars for having tripped across this office.

Crammed within the flimsy cardboard walls of the voting booth, I unrolled the ballot paper like a town crier might unroll a sacred scroll, then spent the next 30 minutes carefully numbering the boxes on it, all 96 of them, to ensure that the animal justice party and the sex party would get my carefully considered vote. Honestly, what a joke.

Our selections made, we finally found the entrance to the supermarket, where we hustled about to collect supplies, before returning to the van. It had been a long day, and we were both close to worn out. Worn out enough that after collecting two very excited pooches from the jail cell in which they have spent the day, we all returned to the van to collapse exhaustedly onto the bed for an afternoon nap. Well, that at least was the plan, because no sooner had I switched the tele on for a bit of pre-nap entertainment, the phone rang. The mechanic we have been waiting on, was now waiting for me, at the front gate of the caravan park.

That was a good sign, as I had almost resigned myself to the fact that the surgery wouldn’t be completed until tomorrow. Surely, I figured, it wouldn’t take too long to fit the new pulleys and another new fan belt. How wrong could I be, as the hours passed by and the sun descended to bring on a chilly darkness, as the mechanic continued to toil away in an effort to make things right again. In the end, he was hampered by a lack of a special tool that was required to remove one of the pulleys, and while ‘The Beast’ is now able to run, driving great distances is still not advisable. It will now not be until tomorrow afternoon that the final tweaks can be made, when I get ‘The Beast’ to his workshop. Looks like another couple of days will be spent here in Perth as a result. 

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

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Day 127: Sweets And Satellite TV.

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Marcus

I was up and off early this morning, leaving Bec at the van to look after the dogs. It was still the proposition that ‘The Beast’ would be repaired during the day, so I wanted to get out and do a little bit of shopping before I was needed back at the van to watch over the surgery to ‘The Beast’.

I found a suburban shopping centre only 5 minutes away from the caravan park, which was overwhelming in its size, compared to the miniscule selection of shops we’ve been making do with. A sprawling mecca of retailers, all under one roof, in a bigger centre than any we’ve seen since Darwin, maybe even Townsville, I had trouble just finding the stores I needed.

All I was actually after was some more tins of food for the dogs, but by the time I had chased down the best price for what I was after, I felt like I’d about run a marathon as I charged up and down, from one end of the mall to the other. It was exhausting.

I finally had a trolley full of cans, almost enough I calculated, to see us through until we arrive back home. Now that’s a scary way of looking at it, as there didn’t seem to be that many cans sitting there in the trolley.

With ‘Kermit’ loaded up, and taking on a nose up attitude as a result, I headed back towards the van. At least I thought I did, as ‘Shazza’ chucked a hissy fit and refused to tell me which way to go. Before I knew it, I was on a freeway which I knew for certain didn’t make up part of my route to the shops, whizzing along at a hundred kilometres an hour, all the while looking across a golf course that I knew for certain backed up to the caravan park. ‘Shazza’ finally got over her episode, and guided me home via a rather more circuitous path than what I had taken earlier. Nevertheless, I made it back safely.

It was then time to break open all of our boxes from yesterday and make an attempt to set up the satellite dish and receiver unit. I was surprised how simply it all went together, especially since I had been expecting something of Ikea like qualities, to bamboozle me for hours. What I expected to be the hardest bit was still to come however. The actual aiming and fine tuning of the dish. According to the literature, as little as a 2o error in any direction and in any plane would prevent us from obtaining a signal.

Beginners luck might have played a part in my rapid success, although I’d rather put it down to taking my time to make sure everything was aligned perfectly. Even taking my time, I had a picture being beamed to the little integral screen on the signal finder within a couple of minutes. Once I had that, it was barely a tweak to ensure the strongest possible signal was bouncing off of the dish and hitting the little receiver that sticks out in front of the platter. I was starting to wonder if I might have done something wrong it seemed so easy, especially after I’ve heard of other travellers having all sorts of problems with setting the system up, so much so that the dish often gets shoved beneath the bed and forgotten about.

About the only stressful bit was when I connected the dish to the inlet point on the side of the van, then went inside to switch the set top box like receiver on. It all lit up, just like it was meant to, but an error message kept displaying with every channel I tried to select. I then remembered that I had to make a phone call to get the box registered, before I would be able to watch anything on it. Only a couple of minutes later, we were up and running with a perfectly clear picture. Fingers crossed the setting up always goes so flawlessly, because on an average day, it will take me no longer and be a whole lot less stressful, than setting up the antenna for regular, terrestrial vision.

With the day still young, and still no word on the status of the parts we were waiting on, we chanced leaving the dogs alone in the van for a few minutes. Just long enough for me to drop Bec off at the shopping centre, so she could entertain herself with a spot of shopping, while I returned to the van to sit with the puppies.

Since the rest of my day, until such time as I got the phone call from Bec to say that she was finished shopping and was ready to be picked up, was decisively boring, apart from putting the new satellite receiver through its paces, I asked Bec to write a segment for the blog, about her day. She refused however. So instead, I can only tell you about my afternoon, which was spent watching corny Japanese game shows. I even recorded one to watch later, to try out the recording functions of the new box.

It was 5:00PM by the time Bec was finished on her shopping jaunt, which she blamed on exhaustion, but strangely enough coincided with closing time. Leaving the dogs to their own devices in the van again, I sped down the street to collect Bec, before anyone realised the dogs had been left alone. We had no complaints, so our fingers are crossed that we managed to get away with it.

It wasn’t until late in the day that we heard that the parts are still yet to arrive on this side of Australia, which was a little annoying. In hindsight, we ought to have put the dogs into the care of the front office staff again, to allow us to go out and do some sightseeing today, and set aside tomorrow for sitting in the van waiting for the repairs to be completed. We have now kind of wasted today, and will still have to wait around again tomorrow.

After dinner, I mentioned to Bec that I felt like a bowl of ice-cream. It’s been a long time since we have been able to get any of the freshly made sorbets that seemed to greet us in every new destination along the east coast, and my taste buds were aching for the sweet solace of a creamy, frozen treat. I didn’t have to mention it twice, as Bec grinned and suggested that we illicitly leave the dogs for a third time and race off to the nearby supermarket before they closed for the evening.

An early supper therefore consisted of a bowl of velvety chocolate, honey and nougat ice cream chased with a dozen or so chocolate chip cookies. All this as we marveled at the fact that we were watching TV that was being beamed back to earth from a geostationary satellite orbiting our planet somewhere in the stratosphere over Papua New Guinea. Isn’t technology grand?

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Woo hoo!!!

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

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