New Garden Bed

It has been too cold to worry too much about the garden plus with us going away in July it wasn't much point planting out the beds.

We intend to do one each month so hopefully we wont end up with too much produce at one time. Last weekend we went and got straw and potting mix and a couple of bags of chook poo and have prepare the bed ready to plant this weekend all being well.

This one is ready to go now, probably needs a bit of a top up. Silver beet, peas and beans will be a good start.

This is the existing one and has a couple of tomatoes about three capsicums, an onion? a couple of egg plants and pumpkins plus parsley that is almost taking over the bed, oh and some basil. Too much really but it has grown so well.

Make mend and reuse

On our last trip out in the caravan, we spent more time in the evenings sitting in the van on the seats because it was dark and cold earlier.

I found the seats got very hard very quickly and suggested that we buy some new foam for the seats. The van being a 1974 or 76 model and I am sure the seats have not been upgraded in all that time.

We took one cushion down to Clark Rubber to compare and also to see if they could supply it Yep they could and would cut it to size if we gave them the measurements.

The foam on the left is the old one and does look worse for wear As I have recovered the seats only last year, I wanted to be able to use the same materials and I didn't want to have to buy more so had to take the covers off carefully so that they could be reused. Luckily I had made them like a slip cover and had laced the back with strong cotton so that it would "give" when people sat on it, making it easy to remove.

The green foam on the right is the new stuff and I wanted to completely cover that before putting on the outer cover.

The one on the left has been covered, I used fabric that has been in my stash for several years. I actually bought this to make a skirt and jacket. It is a pale pink and I never wear that colour, probably one of the reasons it was still in my stash. It is gabardine so easy to work with but quite sturdy, very suitable for seats covers. To make it fit snugly, I sewed up three sides and with Warren we "dressed" the foam and then I hand sewed the ends closed. My fingers were quite sore for a couple of days after from pushing and pulling the needle through the material.

The one of the right is the final result. We now have four seats,three making up the lounge/dining area and one (the one above) will fill on top of a table if we ever want to make it into a double/single bed.

Before we did have three smaller pieces but they moved a fair bit but this one is made to fit. I did had to put a seam down the middle to get enough from the three to make one big cover.

Warren will use the old foam for practice at archery.  

The "new" bike

A week ago, we travelled over six hours to check out a bike. We expected to buy it and bring it home if everything checked out. Bike was good, price was right but there was no road worthy cert with it so paid a deposit and went home again.

Owner said they would deliver it when everything was right. As we had to go to Brisbane on Saturday, the bike was delivered to our son;s house. Warren then had to ride it home, although he was offered the use of a bike carrier. I knew that he would want to ride it home up the freeway and over the Gateway Bridge. Glad it wasn't me riding it. 

Today was my first ride on it (ha, as a passenger!) We took the back road to Warmuran for coffee.

We did make a bit of a spectacle in the neighbourhood as we both got on the bike! Most sixty pluses around don't ride bikes and especially with a pillion passenger.

It seems to go well, bit scary on the back with no back rest and for the first ten k, I guess I was thinking about falling off and how older bones and skin don't mend as well as when we were younger. Then I forgot about how scary it was and just enjoyed the ride.

Bike will experience its first trail bike in a few days and will have to be stripped of it number plate and lights. One thing that wont be coming off it the electric start. Besides everything else Warren just loves the fact it starts with a button, means he doesnt have to kick his leg off to start it.

A Blue Moon

The saying is "Once in a Blue Moon" and I always understood that a blue moon never happened.

But I was wrong! About a month ago, I was reading on a forum that there was going to be two moons in the month of July.

Last week in Science, the question was asked of the students "What is a Blue Moon?" I thought to myself, there's going to be some interesting answers here and yes there was a couple before some one  said something about an extra moon. We/they are studying (I forget sometimes that its them that are learning, not supposed to be me) planets and the solar system.

Moon rotates once every 28 days and ever so often if there is a new moon very early in the month then there is time for a second new moon in that same month, the second one is called a Blue Moon. The second or blue moon will be on Friday night.

Two new recipes to add.

Sometimes I feel like I cook the same things over and over again. Not that warren ever complains, he eats more or less what ever is served to him, thank goodness.

While writing the post about our breakfast that we ordered on the cruise, I decided that I could possibly make that for an easy and quick lunch. Somehow I have lost the photos so I will just have to describe it.

Corn pancakes. Of course me being me I didn't use a recipe so I used half flour and half coconut flour added an egg and then enough milk to make it pancake consistency. Corn, parsley and red capsicum was added to the mixture, love the colours. I made one large pancake each which filled the bottom of the frypan, when it was cooked I added some avo and a slice of smoked salmon. It looked pretty fancy and colourful. It was pretty yum too.

(Found the photo)

I did buy the avo, smoked salmon and red capsicum especially for the pancakes even so it wasnt terribly expensive to make. When we went to buy the things I sent Warren to te produce section to pick up red caps, I only wanted one. He said there was none but there was a stoplight selection. Which consists of a red, yellow and green caps in a bag and of course looks like traffic lights. A bag was $7.89, I retorted that I was going to spend that and looked for an alternative. We looked around and saw a bag for 6 small red caps for $3.89 and bought that instead. I only used one for the pancakes, what to do with the rest?

Yesterday we had lunch out so dinner only needed to be light. I baked two of the red caps, cut in half and placed cut side down in water. Then I made up some couscous (don't particularly like it so it was a way to use it) added a couple of spoonfuls of korma sauce from the fridge, corn, cut tomatoes and parsley (have heaps growing in the garden) and when the caps were soft, filled the middle with the couscous mixture and added some feta on top. Another cheap, tasty meal and no gluten, no meat which looked good on the plate.

Port Vila

Our last port of call on the cruise ship was Port Vila. We had booked a tour to do a glass bottom boat viewing and snorkeling. We have done this tour on each of the previous cruises we had done so this would be the third time. we are pretty sure it was the same guys who took us out.

There were about ten or twelve of us on the boat and there were two large panels in the bottom of the boat so quite easy to see. We had a safety chat first and the guys told us that sharks etc liked white meat so they were perfectly safe having dark skin. I dare say that they have to choose their clientele to say that. It was all in good fun.

After about half an hour of trolling around and looking through the panels we went a bit further out where we could snorkel and feed the fish. About half the people stayed on the boat which surprised me, I love getting into the water even though I am not a confident swimmer by any means. On board they had noddles and I like to use one of those, just gives me a sense of security.

They had bread to feed the fish and the idea was to keep a little balled up in our fists so the fish had to come up and get it. While I was feeding some, I even had a couple nibble my feet. I guess we had 40 minutes or so in the water and then it was time to head back to shore, the whole tour was approx two hours.

As most were in swimmers and a cover up because there was no change facilities on board, I noticed the woman next to me had a tattoo which was very similar to mine and in the same place. We traded stories, she did have another three smaller ones as well but the rose was the first one she had done and it was the same as mine, except she was in Melbourne and mine was in Canberra.

It was her and her daughter on the boat and they were heading to the zip line later that day. I saw Warren's eyes light up as he asked if there was enough time to do it. She gave him the details and he booked a tour when we got back. After an early lunch he headed out to the pick up point.

I had a nice afternoon relaxing and watching Wimbledon tennis while Warren was climbing and zipping down mountains. He told me that it was not anything that I would have done but he loved it and bought the T-shirt to show that he did it.

Up date on dishwasher.

Warren found a repairer not to far from home and he left me the job to ring them, telling me that I would need to quote the brand and model number. That was fine until I said th brand name, it seems they can get parts but could take a while. Penny would ring me back. Dishpan hands for some time to come I think.

Nothing heard from Penny until yesterday, three days after my first phone call. She was waiting for the company to get back to her. The dishwasher was leaking water from a seal at the bottom of the door. She had found that the company didn't sell seals as such but they would replace the whole door panel with came with the seal. Humm, sounds expensive! She had requested a price and while she didn't have a price nor a time that it would take to get the door, she had rung to keep us up to date.

Warren suggested to her that maybe he could take the door off himself and try to repair it, she agreed that he couldn't do any more damage as the door needed to come off to refix/repair it anyway.

I arrived home tonight to hear the dishwasher washing, he had taken the door off and used a heavy glue to glue the seal back in place, then tried it out. No water on the floor so fingers crossed, he may have fixed it. It could last for another six years or two weeks but at the moment it appears that we wont have a repair bill and wont be needing to wash dishes by hand.

Shake,rattle and roll

On our caravan trip, we used some secondary roads, all bitumen but there were a couple that were narrow and a few holes on the edges. Warren always makes a point of pulling off the road where possible when a couple or more vehicles are behind us. Our first stop on the first day for lunch was about an hour, ten minutes up the road. We have topped there several times before and it is a free camp with a power box and a toilet block.

Everything was fine in the van and we enjoyed sitting inside eating lunch. Next stop was our stop for the next two nights. Parked the van and opened the door to be greeted with the TV upside down on the floor and a few tins rolling around the floor as well. Apparently one of us had not secured the bottom latch of the pantry. Not damage there though.

TV was a different story. We take it off the arm and place it upside on the bed to travel, never a problem before. However we realized that each time we have done it before the bed had been made up with a doona. This time the bed had only been made up to a sheet and the doona had travelled inside the car due to having been washed and put inside the house instead of the van. The sheet had acted as a slide and I guess with some movement and braking etc, The TV had slid down the bed and straight on to the floor.

My thought was "How much is a new TV and DVD player?"We gingerly picked it and turned it over, the screen was intact so we slotted it into the arm on the wall and turned it on. It fired up but no picture so we attached the aerial, but still no picture. Warren tested lots of things and found it wasn't the TV it was the connection for the aerial!

This is after its slide to the ground, a couple of rub marks and that's all.

We had some reinforcements done on the outside of the van and it seems the guys when fixing some chequerplate, drilled through the wires for the aerial.

This is how we solved that problem in the short term. Warren has since threaded the wires through the pantry and back outside to the pole that is our aerial pole.

One other stop we had and a light shade had fallen from the ceiling, again no damage was done, didn't even break! Our mattress moves forward on the base each time so a small shelf it going to put at the end to stop it going forward. We come home after each shake down trip with either some repairs or improvements to be made.

We are considering replacing the seats as they are okay in the short term but after a couple of hours of sitting they become quite flat (I guess as the caravan is over thirty years old, they have had a lot of bums sitting on them). A trip to Clark Rubber is in order to see if we can get thicker/denser foam rubber.

Kokoda Challenge

No, I am not going to take this challenge on although I do like a good challenge, this is one that I would not even have considered.

It is connected to me in a way and I have deliberated about posting about it on my blog.

Our oldest grandson who is fifteen and in year ten at high school accepted this challenge, actually he grasped it in two hands and run with it (not literally!)

So proud of him.

The challenge was over 48 kms in the Hinterlands of the Gold Coast and there were several massive hills/mountains involved.

He and his team mates, three other boys and a teacher left at 11 am on Saturday (with lots of other teams) they finished at 2.12 am on Sunday morning, fifteen hours later. A massive achievement!

Jordan has CF and has only 60% lung capacity. One determined and gritty kid!

Big week for him as he is having a nose operation later this week and then he will be addressing a 700+ audience regarding Cystic Fibrous.

Dishes!

I hate doing the dishes!

It has always been one of the worst jobs around the house I think. When three kids were home, it caused the most arguments. as soon as we could afford a dishwasher we bought one and then of course the arguments were about hows turn was it to unpack it.

The first dishwasher we bought had to be a mobile one as we were living in rented houses and likely to move with only a few weeks notice. That dishwasher served us well and moved many times with us. After several year and moves it finally turned up its toes. Next dishwasher was a bench top as there wasn't enough room for a mobile one. This was okay but not as good.

We built our home and as we were on rain water decided to go without a dishwasher BUT we would have a spot for one thinking of resale in a few years. Ah! we had underestimated how much our white goods  would cost, by buying them all at the one time and place, we had enough from that budget for a dishwasher!

Moved again and into this house with an uncertain income at the time so no frills or extras (and no dishwasher but only two of us so didn't need one,right!). We survived for about five years but most of the time we were working overseas then we bought  dishwasher and no dishwasher hands or dirty dishes in the sink and on the bench.

Dishes go into dishwasher after meals and then turned on at night. Warren is always up earlier than me and most times he has it emptied before I get out of bed. A draw back to that is that often dishes, bowls etc are not where I expect them to be but that is a small price to pay.

Our current dishwasher has a seal come drift and as a result was leaking water! So it is a no go zone at the moment. My first thought was to buy a new DW but then my frugal self took over and we are waiting on the service people to locate the spares so it can be fixed. Until then I will have to grit my teeth and wash dishes by hand. Luckily there is only two of us at home so shouldn't use too many dishes.

Breakfast on the balcony

As our cruise was a one off I booked a balcony for us and it was nice to be able to step out there and look at the water. A couple of times we sat and just took n the sights and luckily when coming into port one time, our room was on the right side and we were able to enjoy the locals preforming a dance for the cruise ship from the balcony.

The ship did offer room service, it was an extra, but for $10 we could have breakfast of our choice delivered to our cabin. Warren choose to have a hot breakfast with the usual fare bacon eggs, sausage tomato and toast. I went for something different and got corn pancakes with avocado and smoked salmon.

Not too bad for $10.

The balconies are small really just enough room for two people and small table and two chairs. Did feel rather decadent though as we were coming into port, sitting on the balcony eleven floors up eating our yummy breakfast.

A weekend of Sports

I am an Armchair sports person, love watching most sports and this weekend has been a bonus for me. Davis Cup on Friday, unfortunately our two young guys lost.

Friday night we were switching between football and cricket, the Ashes are being played in London at the moment and Aussies lost the first test so we need to win the next.

Saturday was Davis Cup again a doubles match with our older guys, Sam Goth and Leighton Hewitt. Leighton is in his last year of tennis but still up there with the best of them esp when playing for country. We won and the boys played brilliantly, it meant that we were still in with a chance. After dinner was another game of footy, Warren's team and cricket. Again it was flicking between channels, something that doesn't usually happen in this household.

Early this morning we drove to Toowoomba, a three hour drive, completed our business there, had a late lunch and arrived home mid afternoon. Hoping that tennis may still be on, I turned the TV on to see Leighton s playing and it seems that he was pulling out all the stops. Yes, Sam had won this morning which meant we were still in the running if Leighton could pull off a win. He was one set up and just powered on to win, putting Australia into the semi finals against Britain later this year. It is the first time that Aussies have been in the semi's since 1938, seems incredible but that is what the commentators said. I will google it to be sure.

So a win in the tennis, a win for Hawthorn, Warren's team My team lost but we didnt get that on TV and it was a match between the two South Australia teams his afternoon and ended up very close. It looks like we will win the cricket too putting us on equal footing then with England.

Mare

This is an Island that we visited from the cruise. I didn't know how to say the name, what it mare like the horse or what it ma re like the girls name? As it is part of New Caledonia and therefore has French connections, they say it with in the French way so Ma're.

This is a tiny island and our cruise ship couldn't get close enough so we were taken of the cruise boat by tenders (these are in actual fact the lifeboats!) They used three and each one could hod up to 141 people. It was a pleasant ride of about ten minutes across to the island.

 Could either stay there or buy a bus ride to the other side of the island. $18 for a twenty minute ride there and back. Bus went and came back when the bus was full.

It was interesting travelling through tropical paradise and seeing the local houses, few houses in town but they were dotted around with garden plots, seemed to have a fairly simple life.

The water was a beautiful colour.

These are passengers of the boat frolicking in the water. The name of the bay where we swam was called Turquoise Bay, and can see why.

It was a bit cold for swimming but we stayed for awhile and did a bit of snorkeling and then went back on the bus to the tenders ready for a late lunch.

This is the lady collecting our tickets to return on the bus. Our tickets were a bit wet as Warren had them in his pocket of his swimmers and hadn't thought to take them out. Luckily he had rescued them before they got too wet and soggy.

Stones Green Ginger Wine

I'm not much of a drinker but I have been hitting the bottle this week.

Having been sick with the head cold and feeling like Cr*p, Warren asked if I wanted some green ginger wine. First I thought No, then Why not so he went and bought some. This was Tuesday evening and I was due back to work on Wednesday and had been thinking that I would not be going. 

Warren went to the local bottle-o which is just down the end of the street and bought some and we each had a glass. The size of the glass is in the photo too so not a huge glass.

There is some history with this wine, many years ago, I was at work and had a cold and it got worse during the day, it was a really cold day and I had to catch a tram and then a train to go home a journey that would take about seventy minutes. I felt like death warmed up when I got home and I wanted a warm drink, all we had was a bottle of this green ginger wine so I poured myself a glass, phew, I could feel it all the way to my toes, it certainly cleared the sinuses. That night I had a really good sleep and woke up with no cold. My boss at work when I walked in the next morning was amazed as he told me that he didn't expect to see me for the rest of the week.

For the rest of the time we lived in Melbourne there was always a bottle of this Green ginger wine in the house but we haven't had a bottle in years, didn't even know if it was still available.

Again I did wake the next morning with a clear head and got to work. It is definitely a sippy sippy drink as it is quite strong. Just checked the label and it is 18.5% alcohol and made in Renmark South Australia.

Well over half a bottle left for the next time I feel under the weather.

Davis Cup (tennis)

My cold returned last night, lucky me and as I was stuffed up and it was going to be very cold, I decided to take the day off and hopefully get rid of the dratted cold altogether. I have rugged up well and stayed inside and done very little except keep hydrated. Coffee, hot chocolate, hot fresh orange juice with honey and ginger plus soup for lunch.

I am not a fan of daytime TV but not having much energy to do anything else I was flicked through the channels to pick the best thing to watch when I noticed Davis Cup Tennis live from Darwin. Thats it, that's where I am, in front of the TV with my many drinks, rug over the knees and wearing Warren's ugg boots. I don't possess any as I don't need any (today is an exception and he is wearing his $35 pair of NZ socks anyway).

First game is over and unfortunately our young guy got beaten, he is only nineteen but I think he will end up being better than the our other two young guys. They are 22, 20 and 19 years of age and ranking is 26, 38 and 69 at the moment.

While there is a break, I am catching up here and clearing up some cups. I have almost finished a kids beanie while the first game was on so should finish it in the second game.

Australia is playing Kazatan (my apologies for spelling)

Black Vs White

 A couple of years ago I cut out milk and sugar in my coffee therefore saving a few calories.  This worked well and over time my coffee beans had reduced as well so much so that I have about a quarter of a teaspoon in one cup. Every now and then I feel the need to have a full teaspoon of of coffee, a teaspoon of sugar and some milk but I figure that's okay as I don't have much calcium so it could be the body crying out for more.

Since I have been sick with this head cold I have been having white coffees with sugar. Today was my first day back at work and although I felt okay, I knew I wasn't 100%, I drank four small bottles of water and didn't have a coffee all day. Warren made me a coffee when I got home from work and I have just had a second one after dinner and I didnt really enjoy either of them.

Four cups of coffee with milk and sugar does add up to a lot of calories so I don't want to go back down that track, hopefully my taste for weak black coffee returns.

Culture tour on Nuemea

This time around we elected to take the culture tour. There were only twelve of us and first we went on a bus to the other side of the island. It was a very interesting tour run by a German guy, he took us around the grounds first explaining the plants and how they came to be there .

This was a small pond with lily flowers just starting to flower.

This was the Cultural centre itself all made from wood, then we visited a kanucks head chief home of place of gathering.

This is the front door and need to bow as one went in, there was a board jut inside the door which you could hit your head if you didnt bow!

A huge pole inside with wooden cravings on it.

Trivia on the boat

Each morning coffee and cake trivia was held on the cruise and just about each morning we would have one team or two. Teams were no more than four as the prize was coffee and cake for four people from Charlies cafe.

Questions were some what difficult and twenty in all, our first morning we got 12 and the winners had thirteen, two groups and they had to have a deciding question.

I blame the trivia for me putting on weight as each morning while waiting of course we had to have something to drink and the iced coffees were delightful from Charlies cafe.

I was excited one morning as I answered a question, The question was "What was William Hartnell claim to fame?" or something along those lines. I said he was the first Dr Who, don't know how I even knew that but yes it was right. They brought the mike over and asked my name and why I was excited. It must have been one of those things way back in the memory blocks. I didn't watch Dr Who but the kids did when they were younger.

The morning that we weren't there as we had an early tour Jason and his family won with 19 out of 20.

Some example questions were What nationality are the soldiers who guard the Pope? we thought Italian but apparently Swiss. Which Beatle did not wear shoes on the Abby road album? as Warren is a Beatles buff we got that right, it was Paul.

Bronchitis and a head cold.

An added bonus to come home with, NOT! Warren had been coughing for a few days and got some cough medicine from the chemist about mid week.

Yesterday before we left for home, I was thinking about staying put for the day then  realised that he/we still needed to go out for the facilities. He said he was okay and would probably feel better once he was home.

I had had a slight headache the day before and put it down to not enough sleep. hd a kip when we got to Mundubbera, our last night to stay.

Arrived home around 2 pm and just got the essentials out of the van as neither of us was feeling the best. Warren was still coughing and said that he was going to the Drs to see if he could get something to help.

I was feeling heavy in the head and miserable. He came home with the news that he had bronchitis, had tablets and a puffer. We were both in bed by 8 pm last night.

Today he had improved considerably and I have gotten worse but I know that it will run its course, at least I am not coughing and no sore throat so I cant even blame him for giving me a cold!

We had tickets to the football this afternoon but had already decided not to go as the night air had been sending Warren into coughing fits. Did some washing this morning and moped around the afternoon trying to keep warm. We will watch the footy from the lounge room and keep warm.

Cruisin'

Two weeks ago we set off on a weeks cruise.

Going under the Gateway Bridge, most people were actually ducking so as we wouldn't hit it. It did look quite close but I'm sure there was no danger.

Everyone was out on deck on the way out and some kids were enjoying the flying fox while we were heading down the Brisbane River and then out to sea.

We left at 2pm and this was the sunset from our balcony.

Truly a stress free holiday, no phones, no internet, no meals to prepare and best of all no dishes, definitely a win win situation.

Advertising Road signs

As one travels out of the normal routes these signs seem to be different. One that made me laugh out loud the other day was as follows.

In quite large lettering, it said "Scream at your husband!", and there there was the word STOP in a stop sign shape.

Well, it made me want to read more, luckily the sign was large and so I was able to read it all a couple of times before we passed it.

Underneath the first line, it stated that there was a patchwork shop in Chinchilla, indicating that wives would want to stop and shop there.

Chinchilla was the next major town, we did stop to get fuel and I didn't see the patchwork shop but I wasn't really looking for it as I am not a patchwork person, need to be very precise to patchwork and that it not me.

Trees

I love trees especially big massive ones and those that are a little different.

Until last year when we ventured out west, I thought these trees were only in Western Australia. This one was in the main street of Taroom and there were several in paddocks as we drove along.

This one I took in Dalby, a massive tree with the blue skies behind it.

Then there is this one, a paper bark tree near home, very messy looking tree.

Taroom

We stayed here for two nights at a bush camp. The caravan park closed down as they went into receivership and the community set up this camp at the polo cross grounds. It was about one kilometre out of town, the toilets and showers were in container up off the ground five steps up, very clean and the showers were hot and we had power, everything that one could ask for, the cost was $15 a night.

This was one of the shower cubicles, plenty of hooks to hang clothes, towels and what have you. This was our first time at trying "free and low cost camping" anything that is under $20 a night comes under this category, It wont be our last.

It was a small town but with a chemist, a coffee place, butchers plus two small supermarkets. I bought a couple of meals of meat at the butchers, felt strange asking for two lamb chops but due to the small fridge and freezer, it had to be.

We found a look out and a plaque.

John Gilbert was killed here in 1844 when he was with Leichartd, (not sure of the spelling) but  he was a naturalist. 

Fruit Tingles

Our son swears by these things to cure a cold. I know that I have tried them and they do seem to help. Not sure if its anything in them or the fact that when chewing on them, it is keeping throat moistened and therefore don't cough as much. Could also be mind over matter, anyway Warren came off the cruise and later that night he started coughing, he felt like he had something caught in his throat. Twenty fours after and yep, he has picked up a cold so at the first opportunity he bought five packets of fruit tingles.

Two nights ago he got up about four am and it was still dark, he didn't put any lights on and saw the small torch that we use, it was on top of the fridge. Should be hanging by the door but he thought that one of us had not hung it back up on the hook. He grabbed and put it in his pocket as the outside light was on but thought he would need it as he got closer to the toilet block. Half way there and he took the torch out and went to switch it on, nothing happened.

He had picked up a roll of fruit tingles instead! Luckily he didn't need the light.

Cough is getting better but he did pay a visit to the chemist today to help clear it quicker.

On the way West

Soon after leaving Dalby, we see cotton tuffs along the roadside. easy to see that we are in cotton country.

Warren is always conscious on holding people up, trucks and other cars, on the road and where and when possible he pulls off to the side to let them go past.

He did this right next to a small township and I suggested we spend some money in the town by buying an ice cream for mornos. Of course I didn't have to twist his arm much. I got the ice creams and we sat on a bench seat in the sun to eat them. It was a beautiful sunny winter's day, nice and warm in the sun and perfect blue skies.

The township was called Brigalow and the seat was to the left. Before leaving we decided to check out the toilets as well. These were at the back of the town hall. Great toilets, nice and clean, no graffiti but there was a drawback to the loos. Stainless steel on a winter's morning (no sun shining inside the toilet block) certainly reminded me that it was winter!

There was a massive wheat silo opposite the store, again a reminder that we are in farming areas.

Dalby

We stayed there for two nights. Excellent caravan park, best showers and toilets that I have experienced, $27 a night and no extra because of school holidays. Check out the size of the showers!

There was a Pioneer park opposite the caravan park and after we had finished our shopping town we wandered over to have a look. It was a self discovery park with a donation box, $5 for adults so put in our $10 and wandered around.

There were several small cottages and they all had a theme. the first one had various sewing machines and knitting machines. Outside there were several out buildings with tractors and farm equipment.

I remember a tractor like this on our farm block, it was parked under a tree and as a kid I spent many hours climbing over it and pretending to drive it. I was three when we moved there and I don't know if it was ours or it had come with the property. It has steel rims for tyres. Years after I left home two young guys called on Mum and Dad and asked if they could buy it, they wanted to restore it. I think Dad told them they could have it for nothing if they wanted to move it. Many of the exhibits didn't have dates on it so I have no ideas when this tractor was first made. I dare say that the museum is run by volunteers and they can only do so much.

This was another one that interested me as dad had bought something similar but a car and he cut it down to use as a run about for years. Definitely not a second car but Dads work truck. Note the crank handle at the front, ours did have that but Dad soon changed it to a key start, he was a mechanic. 

With Warren and I both growing up on farms there were many things that we knew and had used from our childhood.

 

Dinner in the caravan

Meals is a confined space is limiting. I have no stove no hot plates or no microwave. What we do have in the van is an electric fry pan, a gas burner and a toaster oven, I also have one fry pan and a small saucepan.
I realized yesterday when packing  that the freezer is not that big either, so buying food while we are on the road will have to be limited and often.

I brought half a loaf of bread, two frozen meal bowls and two bread rolls then the freezer was full. The fridge took all the apples and bananas, a tray of chicken, a pack of mince and a pack of grated cheese, tub of butter, yoghurt, a container of cooked corned beef, a couple of slices of bacon and some fresh vegetables that was all.

Tonight I cooked the chicken in the electric fry pan and did Chinese cabbage, bacon and red capsicum outside on the gas burner.

The chicken had been marinated and made a crust but the chicken was very tender and there is enough for tomorrow night as well.

Parking Meters

Oh My Goodness, we pulled into a park in the centre of Dalby and there were parking meters lining the main street. Maybe I shop in strange places but I think it must be about five years since I have used a parking meter and then it was one where one had to go to a central place and enter in either money or a card and then take the ticket back to display on the dash board. That was at the old Royal Children's Hospital.

Luckily today we did have some change in the console of the jeep. There were no instructions on the meter so we started by putting a 20 cent coin and the meter immediately went to an hour. Then I saw a sign that said one hour parking, not bad 20 cents for an hour.

We went shopping, Warren to the chemist as he needed a script done and I "needed" some pants, my packing for the caravan trip wasn't as good as for the cruise, as I found that I had packed plenty of tops, jumpers and knickers but only two pairs of leggings. I don't usually wear those unless I have long tops, hence I "had" to shopping.

There was a Target country next to the pharmacy so I spent some time looking through there, sales were on, a bonus. Met up with Warren again and he decided that we should suss out the coffee shop. oops, got back to the car ten minutes after our allotted time, didn't see any traffic officers but put in another 20 cent piece before going to the newsagents and Warren to Mitre ten. TV cable in the van doesn't work so he and his screw driver plus other bits and pieces will fix it. Meanwhile we had the antenna in the van getting a good signal so we are by no means deprived of TV.

Travel insurance, is it worth it?

We have always done travel insurance when travelling or working overseas, never had to use it thank goodness.

A few days ago we left on a weeks cruise (hence no blog posts as no internet). Our Daughter in laws parents were also booked on the same cruise. We saw them as we were boarding and said that we would catch up with them once on board. They and son's family had an earlier boarding time than us.

We got to our room, unpacked and read the notices then went to lunch. First person we saw was Barry, who said to join them for lunch even though they had almost finished. We got our lunch and sat down, they were talking about having a rest before muster (the safety talk with life jackets) when Barry felt faint. Nola asked me to take the boys away while they sorted Barry out.

Medics were called and it was decided that he should go to hospital and they were taken off the boat. From the time of having lunch and departing was one and a half hours.

Our son and daughter in law did stay on the cruise and they got the account for the medical treatment/assistance for her father, it was $800! He was stable the next day and had to have bed rest for a few days. They think it was the stress of getting ready to go etc.

On the cruise for less than an hour, I don't know how much they will receive back form their travel insurance but definitely worth having it in my opinion.