Our Aussie Adventures

The closer we get to ‘D’ day, the busier we seem to be. This weeks tasks included making a valiant attempt at completing a laundry reno that has been on the back burner since about October last year. Bec finally put her foot down and said it has to be done and dusted before we go. Trip planning was again visited with a gusto, there was a day out, I picked up ‘The Beast’ with new canopy completed and then by weeks end all four of us were suffering from some sort of illness or ailment.

My efforts in the laundry saw some excellent progress by Monday afternoon, which left me feeling rather satisfied with myself and confident I’d be done in time to enjoy a game of golf with a mate on Wednesday afternoon.

Naturally, you shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch as the adage goes, and I awoke on Tuesday morning with a cracker headache and a nasty dose of ‘influenza masculine’, more commonly known as the ‘Man Flu’. Not known to affect females, the man flu is enough to bring most mere males to their knees.

I battled through it however, to make a moderate impact on the laundry reno during the day. I sadly succumbed to the symptoms by Tuesday evening, forcing me to cancel my much anticipated round of golf for Wednesday, before curling up in the foetal position, wrapped in a blanket and trying mostly unsuccessfully to get a good nights rest.

Wednesday was an anxious day, as both Alvin and Bethany were off to the vets for procedures. Bethany was to have a rotten tooth out, which meant a further round of anaesthetic for her, while Alvin was having a small mole sliced from his side. I dropped them both off at the vets for 11:00, where they thankfully weren’t overly perturbed. I think being in the same cage helped settle their nerves, if not mine.

Having left the babies, I popped in for a surprise visit on ‘The Beast’, to see how the canopy is progressing. The frame work was nearly completed and is looking the goods, while I have been assured that the canvas is also well on its way. It’s exciting to see it so close to being done and I could only hope that it will be done by the weekend.

Once back at home, I spent the rest of the day sitting at the computer, working on making sure the trip will be as effortless as possible. My ‘man flu’ symptoms prevented me from doing anything more strenuous, so once again the laundry has to take a back seat.

In any case, there is still a number of things that I feel need planning for, prior to our departure. Whilst Bec would be happy to plan along the way, or just drop into towns hoping for the best, I like to have a good idea of where we’re going to park the van each night. I’m not so fastidious that I’m going to book caravan parks, although by all accounts for some of the more popular areas, we probably should be thinking of doing exactly that. No, I’m happy so long as I have a detailed list of each caravan park we may avail ourselves of, to enable easy selection along the way.

With Bec home from work, we went to pick up the babies from the vets. Thankfully they had both come through their procedures well, although were looking a bit worse for wear for their efforts. Bethany had required two teeth out, which had revealed a nasty abscess beneath them. Hopefully this might help explain why she has been so out of sorts lately. Alvin had also needed a couple of small lumps removed, but he was apparently an extremely well behaved little man. He only needed a local anaesthetic, sitting indomitably whilst the vet cut off the offending lesions and stitched him up.

Back at home, I think the day caught up with us all. With my head still reeling from the man flu, Bethany still mostly in a drug induced stupor, Alvin walking around like a wounded soldier, courtesy of a bandage encircling his torso and even Bec mentioning that she wasn’t feeling quite right, but couldn’t quite put her finger on it, we were a pretty solemn household.

Thursday saw me hitting the tools again, despite my continuing infirmity, in a last ditch effort to complete the laundry before week’s end. We have plans for the remainder of the week, and this was my final chance. It took me the entire day, but I finally got to a stage where I realised it just wasn’t going to get done. Damn it. Another day or so should do the trick, but will have to wait until next week now.

Thankfully, Bec arrived home from work, rather carefree about the fact that the laundry wasn’t done. She seemed more concerned about the nasty case of gastro and diarrhoea that had gripped her. I should probably feel bad that I felt relieved that she didn’t care that the laundry wasn’t done!

We were up for a big day the following day regardless of sickness or health. We had pre-purchased tickets for the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, which is an annual pilgrimage for us with my grand mother, Granny. Not wanting to waste the tickets, a trio of walking wounded were we. Me with my ongoing man flu, Bec battling back an almost unending need to visit the loo and Granny with her odd assortment of ills. An enjoyable day was had by all however, as we made our way through the usual array of gardening displays. In some respects, we were glad that the show was not quite as large as has been in previous years, as by mid-afternoon, we were all ready to head for home.

Saturday was a day of great excitement, as ‘The Beast’ was ready for its homecoming. Having been away for just over a week, the drive way was beginning to look a little bare and I was missing it. With nervous anticipation, Bec dropped me off at the factory, where to my delight all was done and ready. A magnificent feat of engineering by the blokes at ‘Custom Boats’ to get it all put together in only a week, and looking an absolute treat. It is exactly what I had wanted, and pretty much scoured the nation looking for someone to build it, only to have it done 10 minutes from home.

One happy man now that canopy is done.

Not only will the canopy give us a whole lot of extra weather resistant, hopefully thief proof, storage, but it gives us a huge mobile secure dog cage. With integral roof racks and a hard roof that can be walked on, we also have somewhere to tie down any longer items, not to mention I’ve had a fold out awning affixed to the passenger side, which will shade the side and back of ‘The Beast’. You just can’t imagine how relieved I am to have that little job crossed off the to do list!

Happily, I can also report that the dogs are recovering well. Bethany is still on soft food for a few more days, while we have kept Alvin wrapped like a mummy to prevent him from scratching at his stitches, but none the less they are both coming along fine.

By Sunday, we were also both feeling mostly better (Bec more so than myself, but I will continue to battle through my aches and pains in silence for her sake), so we finally completed a task which we have both been putting off for weeks. The chore of going through the caravan with a fine tooth comb and getting rid of anything that we can deem to be non-essential.

Easier said than done, and for every one thing we did chuck out, I’m sure we put two things in. Think about it. Think about everything that you use on a daily basis. Think about what you could do without, and then think about what you couldn’t. If you’re anything like us, you probably have a house full of things that you absolutely can’t live without. So how in the hell do you fit all of that into a space that’s no bigger than a generous sized living room. We will be living in this thing for 6 months. At home it takes me exactly 10 steps to go from bed to the en-suite to take a leak. In the van, it’s only 8 steps and I can stop in the kitchen for a drink and the lounge for a rest on the way. Six whole months. What were we thinking?

Bedroom to bathroom. 8 short steps.

In any case, I’ve updated the rig pages, so you can have a bit of a guided tour of ‘the van‘. I’ve also posted an update to living with ‘The Beast‘, now that it’s all trip ready and just waiting to go.

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

Where on earth does the time go. It was just a few short months ago we were talking about how we had such a long time to get everything planned and ready to go. And now, it’s barely four weeks until our much anticipated departure date and still we have so much to do.

What brought about a sudden realisation that it was all getting so much closer was the hours I spent on the internet this week, in the hope of selecting a suitable caravan park in the Darwin region, where we hope to spend at least 3 weeks. Being that we are up there at the busiest time of the year and right in the middle of the school holidays for pretty much every state and territory in Australia, I was going to ring and book us in. As it turns out, the dog friendly caravan parks up that way either don’t take advance bookings, or come somewhat overwhelmingly un-recommended. So, that throws my idea of a perfectly planned trip into total disarray. We are now going to have to bravely go where I have not gone before. That is, drive into Darwin, fingers and toes crossed, in the hope that someone can put us up for a few weeks. If you thought, that I thought that the whole canopy episode was stressful, well this new development is at least on a par with that. Have I mentioned that I like to plan to the minutiae!

As you would well know, I spent Tuesday at the caravan and camping show, which was a huge success. Just being among like minded people got me all revved up and ready to go. I must say though, the shows have changed over the years that I have been attending them. I think back to when I first started going to these shows, something close to 10 years ago. Back then, I would have been amongst the younger visitors. Not so much anymore though and I can’t decide if that’s a side effect of growing older, or the demographic getting younger.

Tuesday was also the day on which I received a phone call from ‘the canopy contact’ letting me know that he was back from overseas and ready to work his magic on ‘The Beast’. This was exciting and comforting news, and thus Wednesday saw me at the factory going over some measurements and particulars with him. Arrangements were made to drop ‘The Beast’ off on Friday for the actual construction to begin.

The remainder of Wednesday, and as it turned out Thursday were set aside for fitting some cargo rails into the tray of ‘The Beast’. What was meant to be a simple job turned into a bit of an effort when some of the pre-drilled holes in the rails didn’t allow for easy access to the bolts from beneath the tray. To maintain the rated capacity of the rails, 28 countersunk set screws, 28 washers, 28 nuts and the drilling of 28 holes in the back of ‘The Beast’ were required. About a day and a half was spent on this, not a bad effort considering some of the inventive methods I came up with for holding the screwdriver in the tray, whilst tightening the nuts below decks. Just one final nut alludes my efforts to secure it to its corresponding screw.

Wednesday evening was all about the dogs and their pre-trip check up at the vets. Our regular vet went over Bethanys test results from a couple of months ago, and suggested that she was doing rather well at the moment, which was of some relief to us. However, she does have a badly decaying tooth which is sure to cause her further health issues if it is not dealt with, so is now booked in to have that pulled out next week. This will require anaesthesia for her again, the poor dear. Then, as if for moral support, Alvin presented with a mole on his flank, which the vet with barley a glance declared to be nasty looking and would require removal. At least they will be together at the vets on Wednesday now and can recuperate at home with each other.

On Friday I bid farewell to ‘The Beast’ for a week or so, leaving it in the hopefully capable hands of the canopy guy. He has at least given me visitation rights, although like a groom seeing his bride before the wedding, I might wait until the job is done and ‘The Beast’ is dressed.

Without ‘The Beast’ to tinker on, I spent the remainder of Friday ensconced in the caravan, fitting a fancy new antenna point and signal booster. Naturally enough, it turned into a bigger than Ben Hur type operation, but it’s now completed. It also pretty much marks the final modification that was required to the van. Not only that, but that bad boy ought to ramp up our TV signal to a level that will enable us to get a direct feed from the Mars Luna Rover. We might be ‘roughing’ it, but we want to ‘rough’ it in comfort, and that means keeping up with our regular diet of trashy TV whilst on the road.

Saturday had been set aside for a special behind the scenes look at the nearby Werribee Veterinary Hospital. Being that we have only just recently donated a substantial amount of money to them, ostensibly for treatment for Bethany, we thought we’d go and check out their open day which we learned about from a flyer in the mail box. It was also of interest to us, as there was to be a lecture on first aid for pets, which we hope against hope that we won’t need to practice while away, but would rather have buried in the back of our minds just in case.

Imagine our surprise when we arrived, to find the place deserted. We were expecting it to be a rather popular day, although the lack of cars and people and animals should have been the first clue. It didn’t click until I saw the big flashing neon sign, proclaiming the open day to be on Sunday! As it turns out, someone (alright it was Bec) had read the flyer wrong and got her Saturdays and her Sundays all confused and we were a day early for the fun and festivities. So tail between our legs, we turned for home, ready to do it all over again tomorrow. In Becs defence, I had read the pamphlet as well, also failing to pick up that we had the incorrect day.

In a case of deja vu, Sunday had been set aside for a special behind the scenes look at the nearby Werribee Veterinary Hospital. Being that we have only just recently donated a substantial amount of money to them, ostensibly for treatment for Bethany, we thought we’d go and check out their open day which we learned about from a flyer in the mail box. It was also of interest to us, as there was to be a lecture on first aid for pets, which we hope against hope that we won’t need to practice while away, but would rather have buried in the back of our minds just in case.

This time when we arrived we were much more impressed to see that the activities were in full swing. We were treated to a self guided tour of the hospital, a series of displays detailing all things related to animal health, as well as making time to listen into a few lectures on animal behavioural traits and of course the much anticipated first aid for pets talk. It was a good way to while away a few hours on an otherwise bleak and somewhat miserable Sunday morning.

For the afternoon, Bec travelled to Geelong to meet up with a friend, whilst I went out to the caravan and hooked up the TV. My excuse was to test out the new antenna cabling, but if the truth be known, I just wanted to watch the Grand Prix. I also managed a half hearted attempt at tidying the garage in preparation for next weeks jobs, none of which are remotely connected to getting ready for the trip, and yet are deemed by Bec to be essential to be completed before we depart.

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

This week turned out to be less about trip planning, and more about getting ‘The Beast’ prepared for its formal debut at the Kilmore Country Music Festival and Ute Show on Sunday.

It seemed like a relatively easy task. All that was required was the completion of the project which began last week, in wiring up the auxiliary battery and the charger system, followed by a quick tub and general spruce up. Naturally, easier said than done.

Being that most of the electrical equipment is fitted in the tool box, I luckily spent a few wet days toiling away in the dry comfort of the garage, not that the rain wasn’t welcome. Despite not sounding too difficult, it was a slow and laborious process, to turn a pile of wires, connectors and other assorted components into a fully functioning system. I think the main issue was, that not having undertaken a project of this calibre previously, it was all a matter of trial and error to make sure everything fitted in, looked good, and above all worked properly, with a preference of not turning ‘The Beast’ into a smouldering pile of melted steel at any point in time.

It was already Wednesday by the time I managed to get the whole thing to a point where I could drape a couple of cables from under the bonnet of ‘The Beast’ to the garage, to plug the charger in and make sure it was all going to work as I hoped. I was thanking my lucky stars as the charger lit up in all the right places, telling me that all was good. I decided to call it quits for the day then, deciding that in my rapidly wearying state that I was best off leaving things until the next day.

Come Thursday morning, I was thinking that maybe I should have kept going the previous evening when I lifted my foot about 190mm to step over the 200mm high, 25kg battery sitting on the garage floor. Now, fool on me for thinking that it was a good idea to be working in the garage, the floor covered in metal shards, bare foot, but kicking a battery and nearly decapitating my toe was the least of my worries. It actually didn’t hurt too much, which I took to be a bad sign, nor did it bleed a great deal, which I took to be an even worse sign of the damage I had construed upon myself.

A quick raid of the first aid kit, and I soon had it wrapped up like an ancient Egyptian mummy. Then, smartly clad in safety boots, I returned to the task at hand. Thankfully no more injuries ensued, but by golly it stung later on when I had to get Bec to change the dressing. I knew it was a decent injury when even she was impressed by the size of the flap of skin hanging limply from what had previously been the top of my toe.

Finally on Saturday, I managed to get to the stage of hoisting the tool box into the back of ‘The Beast’ and start the somewhat scary task of taking to the tub with an electric drill and hole saw to cut the necessary hole for the wiring. It was not my favourite task, to be boring through the skin of my baby, but it all came off without a hitch. Thankfully.

With the box in position and securely bolted down, my final task was to layout the last couple of runs of cable and wire up the accessories. With daylight fading at a rather fast clip, I managed only to get the fridge wired up inside the car, and will have to concentrate on the radio and battery monitoring gear at a later date. The fridge was my main concern though, as were expecting a warm day out in the sun at Kilmore, and were looking forward to being able to grab a cold bevvie at will.

Having finished working on the Beast late on Saturday, I was left with no option other than to have an early start on Sunday, dashing out of bed at 6:30AM, so as to get ‘The Beast’ washed and cleaned up ready for its big day out. Admittedly, it was a very quick job, although even that took me an hour, and necessitated climbing repeatedly up and down a ladder to reach the higher panels. Then, packed with all of our requirements for a day out, we sidled up the highway an hour or so to Kilmore.

This year is the first year the festival has been held in Kilmore, previously having been known as the Wandong Country Music Fetival. The same committee has been responsible for the organisation of the day though, so it was as good as we have experienced in previous years.

Me being me, we were the first to arrive in the ute show paddock, where for $5.00 on top of our entry fee, we entered ‘The Beast’ into the ‘best imported ute’ category. It was worth the extra dollars just for the benefit of getting to park right next to the entry gate rather than a mile away as was expected of the general public.

We were then also the first to set up our gazebo, and thus got the prime position for that, with a great view of the stage. Nestled into our reclining camp chairs, we spent the rest of the day enjoying a great line up of country artists and a chat with a couple we met a few years back on a cruise. To protect their privacy, I shall name them simply Kay and Don. Kay and Don, If you’re out there reading this, you’ll know who you are, and it was great to catch up. Icy cold drinks, straight from the fridge were also a novelty which I’m sure will not wear off in a hurry. Ahh, nothing like a bit of luxury.

Come 3:00PM it was time for the ute show winners to be announced, and the excitement was building. I’d had a sneak peak at the other contenders, and competition was bound to be fierce, but I was quietly confident. I wouldn’t say I’d prepared an acceptance speech, but a few words were forming in my mind, when my bubble was unceremoniously burst when ‘The Beast’ was announced as having been the runner up.  Then the winner was announced and I had to suffer the humiliation of losing out to a chick driving a Datsun. A Datsun? Is that even a real ute? To be be honest, I was happy with runner up, and before you ask, yes there was more than the two of us in for it. I know for a fact that there was at least three!

Accepting my award (on behalf of ‘The Beast’).

If you look quickly, you don’t even see where it says “RUNNER UP”.

Oh come on, that’s not a real ute! But a winner none the less.

After a long day, and an even longer week, it was time to head for home and get ready for the coming week, during which I have a list as long as my arm of the tasks that need to be completed. Oh, the joy.

Oh, and don’t forget to keep the comments and e-mails pouring (trickling) in. Becs email is now up and running properly at: rebecca@myramblingtales.com and I can be reached at marcus@myramblingtales.com . We even have the business cards to prove it now, much to Becs chagrin.

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