All Quiet on the Western Front

Everything's a bit quiet on the western front!  Plumbing land is busy though.  As always in winter, people want to replace their roof & guttering & seem quite surprised when we point out that we need a few dry days strung together in order to achieve this!  I always thought that people wanted the raining on the inside to improve, not worsen, which of course is what happens when you remove sections of roof while raining!  And don't get me started on the safety side of things.  Just because we're trained in climbing ladders & working roofs, does not make it any safer to do so when wet!


Oh, and the crazy lady who screamed at me for 5 minutes last weekend because her plumbing broke down 2 weeks in a row - that was not my fault!  You want to buy a rental property, you need to take responsibility for all of it!  Not just the rent money.  I hope when you have medical issues, you feel free to be just as abusive to your GP (or specialist).  Glad I got that off my chest.


Hmmm. in other news, we have a new apprentice who is working out just fine & dandy @ 4 days in.  Lets give it another 4 months & see how things go?  My office assistant has gone to Hawaii for 10 days.  Unfortunately she refused to take me in her suitcase, so I'm stuck in the office while she's lazing about the pool at her resort (or better yet, the beach).


Hold on, we have puddy cat puke happening...............fur ball crisis averted it would seem.


Now, where was I?  Oh yeah.  I guess I can't complain about every body else being on holidays, having already been away twice myself this year!


I've signed up for a 10km fun run at the end of September, so started training for that last week.  I just need to commit (more) to it.  This morning when I was supposed to go for a run, I rolled over & went back to sleep!  My BAD!  I guess I was going to change Saturdays run to Sunday anyway, so can do today's tomorrow! Sorted.  Do you recon my subconscious will be praying for rain now tomorrow so I can pike yet again???


Plumbing boy is still besotted with his ambulance & has purchased more gadgetry on ebay today for it; with a bit of luck the sound system be less painful & the hands free will work now for both of us instead of (not working on) just his phone.  Now we just have to do surgery on the dash mat he bought a couple of weeks ago (wrong size & keeps sliding off every time he goes around a corner or over a bump!).


I must say his purchase prior to that was a winner.  Mumsy, you'll love it!  Jimmy's Thunderbox.  If you haven't got one already, you'll have to come home via Cohuna & pick one up!  Super easy to set up & the biodegradable liner just drops into the hole & is back filed along with you know what!


OK. The western front is darkening (along with the rain clouds) so I think I'll go & light my fire & call it quits for the day.


I hope you are all enjoying some warmth & sunshine!

The Nomad Chronicles Week 2 so far

The Nomad Chronicles Week 2, so far....

Day 8: Wednesday – Slow trip into Carnavon Gorge.  Everyone books months ahead but we were given a site when we asked if there were any cancellations (have to drive in & out tomorrow).  We were very lucky as the parks site is only opened for school holidays & was inaccessible last week.  

There is mostly lovely soft walking among tall timber, large ferns/palms except for the many wobbly stepping stones across numerous creek crossings.   With towering white sandstone cliffs we walked about 10 kms.   The park is shady & grassy & even had hot showers.  There is an expensive caravan park & up market resort further out. 

The camper is going well & we nearly have everything sorted out.  Today is the first sunny day (14C) but the wind is still cool.  Nights are cold, mornings cooler & Mt Kaputar was (very scenic but)freezing!  Luckily we thought to buy a brlliant little gas heater - with low oxygen cut out. 

Day 9: Thursday – Walked into Mickey’s Gorge & another with an ex NSW parks ranger & his wife, absorbing lots of travel trips along the way.  We admired the very healthy looking Santa Gertrudis cattle grazing the forage oats on the way out of the park.  Then on to Emerald to park under the bridges with all the other overflow campers – maybe 50 vans or tents at 5.30 PM. 

Day 10: Friday -  Long night & early start.   Drove to Rubyvale & did laundry in very smart new Laundromat.  Had a coffee & 2 of Poppy’s “Boulders” – magnificent scones – one ginger with marmalade & cream – guess who?   GN2 in shorts for the first time.  Found a camp site out in the diggings & had a not very serious scratch for gem stones.

Day 11: Saturday – Stopped at the quaint miner’s market on the way out.  Nice easy trip to Longreach.  We need to stay until Monday to get a front end alignment.  A front tire is scrubbing probably due to a deep pothole (in the bitumen).   Took ages to get a human to help with recharging our mobile Internet device.    We should be OK when we get coverage & the netbook is recharged.  The solar on the camper works very well but it doesn’t charge the computer.

Day 12: Monday Everything is going OK except that we needed to get the front end alignment - a big pothole in the bitumen that we didn't miss. We didn't find any emeralds at Emerald but we have had 2 nice sunny days now & tonight is our first night without the heater on.  Stopped in Barcaldine & watched some campdrafting today - people & horses everywhere.  We will see the Stockman's Hall of Fame & the Qantas museum tomorrow (it started here).

The Nomad Chronicals Week 1

The "Grey Nomads" set off on their great adventure almost two weeks ago (GN1 is the male nomadic species; GN2 the female).  The journey thus far is as follows:

Day 1: Wednesday 27^th – drove to Bendigo after work with all our gear tarped on the ute to be at Kyabram early for fitting the new slide on camper (pictures please!)

Day 2: Thursday – Fitting & packing took all day so we stopped in a nearby park overnight to make sure everything worked OK.

Day 3: Friday – Travelled all day to stop in a caravan park at West Wyalong.  Young owners had their first billy tea & damper night – but they need to change their damper recipe.

(Maybe you should email them this one!)

Day 4: Saturday – we stopped at Hickey Falls near Coonabarabran with a few other free campers.  Just off the road & very pretty.   

GN2 starts driving the breakfast to lunch shift.  It goes OK 85 – 95 kph & 13 – 15 litres per 100ks, depending on the wind & how lumpy the roads are.   Lots of water lying either side of the road near Forbes.

Day 5: Sunday – Travelled to Mt Kapurtar via Narrabri.  

Quite a climb to a good national parks camp site.  Time for a good walk before tea & sharing a camp fire with our neighbours.  At over 1000 metres it was a cold night & a freezing morning.

Day 6: Monday – Stopped in Moree to get fog lights seen to.  No luck so on to Goondawindi where they replaced a dodgy joiner & poor wiring (Warrnambool 4WD).  Not that we need them but now we are legal.  This year we have seen cotton in large wrapped round bales about 3m across (legal truck width) in paddocks & being transported to the mills.  Spent the night at a truck stop/caravan park.

Day 7: Tuesday – Frosty morning (-3C at Miles) but our first all blue sky day.  Did our laundry at Miles & drove to Roma & north to Injune where we camped by the billabong at the back of the (full) caravan park.  From now on we are told the motels & caravan parks are full with miners.  Injune caravan park (immaculate)  had new accommodation for road  & telecommunication construction crews.   Lots of work being done on the roads.   A new 500 bed village is being built nearby.  Many dongas (Atcos) & heavy machinery passing us at speed.

Thus ends week 1 of the Nomad Chronicles..............

Bali the 3rd & final installment.

What to do when the resort you are staying in doesn't have any maps!  Ubud was beautiful & more to my liking than Sanur or Kuta/Seminyak.

 Our accommodation was beautiful with traditional Balinese huts, no air con, just a big lazy ceiling fan & a mosquito net.  The resort had its own restaurant growing much of the menu themselves having a veggie patch, chooks & goats.  I didn't see any rabbit on the menu so I hope the bunnies were pets.  


The lighting at night was just lovely....

Each bungalow had it's own secluded outdoor bathroom!  Who was scared to pee in the middle of the night in case there were critters???

The grounds were leafy green & very well kept with beautiful flowers.

One of which I borrowed for my hair....

When I wasn't relaxing on the balcony with my book.......or Tess's book!

Or braving the Monkey Forrest to look at.........

Monkeys!!!!  & peruse the Ubud shopping

 Perhaps this little guy was in the bathroom in the middle of the night?

Finally it was time to depart Ubud for the trip home via Waterbom Park - which strangely was one of the highlights of the trip!  We had an absolute blast giggling, splashing & whooping down water slides!  Some of us were more adventurous than others (who's scared of the Boomerang!) & strangely some of us were more slippery than others, having to be extracted from a secret trapdoor after failing to "loop the first loop"!

All good things must come to an end, & after having dinner with on of our cousins & her hubby it was time to head to the airport for home.  As with all holidays in our family, food was very important..............some of our last meal.  Tess's by far was the most spectacular meal (& satay skewers) I've ever seen!

 All in all, much fun was had by everyone.  

Farewell Nasi Goreng...................

Farewell Meo Goreng...................

Farewell Bin Tang.........................

We salute you all!

Bali Continued

More pic's of Bali...  all roads seemed to lead to this statue in the middle of a roundabout!

The beach in Sanur

Fi & Tess checked out the Jet Ski action...............they tell me they drove like Nanna's, but I don't believe them!!!

Beautiful Flowers

hmmmmmm what is Noel Joking about???

Fishies

Fi's Fish Feet.  Ewwwww!  Supposedly natural exfoliation for feet......

Sunset @ Potato Head in Seminyak, where you can drink amazing cocktails & swim in the edge-less pool while watching the sunset.  Just Beautiful!

Who loves Bali!

Bali Part 1

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to Bali we go!  Garuda were great: lots of leg space & a juice drink after boarding, prior to take off.  I was pretending I was in Business Class!

On arrival, we drank in the sites from the car window on the way to our resort.  The funniest was a lady on the back of a motorbike, breast feeding (we didn't get a photo)!!!!

It would seem this is the only picture we took of our accommodation in Sanur - a sunset from the balcony!

But we did take some of Des & B's villa (& their guests), where we met for cocktails (prior to going out for dinner) for Des's 60th Birthday Party.

 Our gorgeous cousin's from Perth (above) & with parents below (birthday boy).

After a few hours, we wandered off to a local restaurant for dinner & dancing.  The birthday boy of course wore his birthday hat........as did we all!!!

A mighty fine time was had by all & after much dancing, laughing, talking, speeches & cake, we made our way home (Tess is drinking a MOCKtail!!!)

We did some sight seeing around Kuta & found an interesting vampiric bakery (you have to look closely at the picture.....)

Visited our cousin at her resort...

 And enjoyed some rather fancy cocktails at an amazing place called Potato Head, where you could swim in the edge-less swimming pool while watching the sunset.  Just Magic.

To be Continued..............