Love it when a plan comes together

I bought a throw over dress a couple of weeks ago with the idea of throwing it on to go to the shower, then put it back on again to go from the shower/bathrooms to the caravan and get dressed with a little more room.

It took a few days to get organised but I slipped it on this morning went across to the shower block, showered, dried off and slipped the dress back on and wandered back to the caravan where I then got dressed.

No trying to balance on one leg trying to put my shorts on, no worrying about wet floors or trying to hurry as other people need/want to use the showers.

Heat and cooling

Well it has been hot and Yes, I know it is summer. We had a pedestal fan that we were going to use in the caravan on our travels but then warren decided to buy a tower fan that would swing. Yep, it was okay and cooled things down but to sleep at night it needed to be raised while we were in bed.

Yesterday before we went to visit Rob, we wanted to call in to a Bunnings as we were going to buy them a Bunnings card as their Christmas present (and a pedestal fan). Last time we talked to Rob, they did not have any cooling so the tower fan would be going to good use. Lots of fans at different sizes and then we saw this.

An evaporative cooler  It was about twice the price of the fan and they didn't have what we wanted anyway but it is almost like having an A/C and it is very quiet.

It does take up more space but I am happy for it to travel in the back of the car if need be. 

I did my accounting tonight while Warren laughed at me and happy to record that I am under budget (cooler wasn't included but takeaway fish and chips was). Weeks expenditure was $682.48!!! Of course we didn't buy any food for the week as we brought it all from home, will need to do some shopping and washing tomorrow.

It was take away tonight as the chicken that I took out of the freezer for dinner was still frozen solid with no microwave to thaw it, there was a problem. Warren was given a choice, fish and chips or tinned food, he didnt answer just started looking up the nearest chippie haha.

At $18, it was not the cheapest but it was very tasty, large pieces of barramundi and crispy chips which we couldnt eat all of them. 

Good Dinosoar

Ended up five of us went to the movies. Two to The 5th watch?, grampy, Lindsay (4yo) and I saw the dinasoar. It was quite long for a kids movie. Had to laugh at them eating fermenting plums and how they got drunk with a hang over the next morning.

Movies tickets are much more here than at home, we pay $8.30 and it was $12 today for us, even $18 for students.

Melbourne

We have a leisurely drive into Melbourne this morning. 9 (I wasnt driving!) We were booked into a park down in Frankson for a few days catching up with family.

The traffic is a lot and fast, the weather is cooler and I have promised to take a couple of grandkids to see a movie tomorrow.

Chocolate factory

We stayed at Junee last night and we had been told (on the road by some other travellers)that there was a chocolate factory in the town. Could hardly miss  it, it was housed in a huge building within 500 metres of the caravan park.

A very enjoyable entrance through a wooden patio covered by cooling grape vines. It was a very mild day so not needed but I could imagine sitting there when the temperatures are high.

We entered into the building and found a small cafe and lots of tables and chairs, there was no tour as such, people were welcome to wander through and watch what was happening.

This had chocolate tumbling through it and the copper tubs had three different types of chocolate covered almonds.

While we were there, two women came and holding a paddle on the rollers, they scrapped chocolate off the it, where it went into the white tubs. There was information written above all the windows so that the process could be followed.

As there was no entry fee, we felt that we should at least have morning tea and what was on offer, coffee and scones. We did only have one scone between us as they were massive and came with jam and cream.

Before leaving we did wander over to the buying counter and bought a couple of blocks, one of rocky road, one ginger and a small packet of freckles, large enough for a sweet treat after dinner

Wellington Caves caravan park

We stayed there last night. It is a very big park holding about 200 vans but apparently people have been declining in numbers. When we arrived, we were told that we could park anywhere and then we realised why, there were only two others there! One motor home came in later.
Great park with camp kitchen which has a/c, we sat there and cooled down while we checked emails. We had a swim, nice pool, a dad and his son came for a swim too, they were down in motel units.
Cooked in camp kitchen, going to be fried rice, frozen mixed vege and cooked pork. Trouble was, I couldnt find the rice! Our little pantry is packed and i pulled a few things out, then decided that I must have left the rice at home. I did have spagetti so broken into bite sized pieces, that  worked out ok with some sweet chilli sauce added.

Washing the dishes and putting tham away later I found the rice, it was up in the cupboard that holds the plastics, an obvious place of course! It was me who put it there!
41 degrees yesterday and once we pulled into Junee around 1.30 pm today, we have experienced cool weather about 25 degrees. I managed to get washing done but then because of storm and rain, it is hanging inside so we have spent some time watching tennis at the other end of the van.
Warren has located a chocolate factory so I dare say we will pay a visit tomorrow.

Manilla

We are staying away from the main highways and taking the scenic secondary routes. We stayed the night at Manilla, seems a nice little town with quite a large caravan park, again $25.

Of course sitting over breakfast, I had woken late, it is holiday time after all, I noticed on my tablet that it was 9.17 am. I had changed the time on mine but he hadnt. NSW are an hour ahead and we needed to be out of the park by 10 am. We drove out at 9.42 am, amazing what one can do when one is in a hurry.

Driving out of town, we saw an unusual sight for us any way.

I must admit that we cheated a bit on this photo. We saw it and while I am trying to get my camera out, we had gone past, damn missed opportunity. Warren said that he could take the next turn and double back into town which is what he did. The old guy driving the horse and cart probably thought we were nuts as we had waved to him each time.

Less than ten kilmetres from town we saw heaps of little planes. Warren had talked to people the night before and they were there for the para gliding competition. Apparently it is The Capital place in Australia to do it. Last year they had had 700 in the air at one time.

Hard to see in the photo.

Just before lunch we saw this.

Half a house being moved and taking up one side of the road and half of the other, cars coming the other way had to pull over. We followed for about 10 or 12 kilometres and then there was a road side stop and we thought it was a good time to have lunch. We had the CB on and they were going to pull over there too then realised that they wouldn't have fitted in the driveway.

The photos are a bit blurry but all were taken in a moving car.

It was very hot today reached 41 degrees.

Very blue skies and little cloud.