Hello All
Well, here we are at Colac. Our first stop. We are staying at a free campsite just outside of Colac called Meredith. We have our vans side by side and we overlook Lake Colac which at the moment is just a dust bowl. Campers here tell us that it had water in it last December. Never the less it is peaceful and just enough other campers here to make it interesting. Ken has had trouble setting up the satelite and could not get it to work. Luckily there was a chap here who helped him work it all out. Now he should be able to locate the satelites without too much trouble and get any number of channels.
We were just 12 min late meeting up with Pam and Colin yesterday morning. All things considered we thought that was pretty good. We had a good run untill we hit a slow crawl over the Westgate bridge and were glad to be out of Melbourne. Later we heard there was a biker who was killed when he hit a truck and then was thrown under another. It must have happened soon after we went through. There seemed to be a lot of trucks around and it didn't necessarily make it a pleasant trip. Once over the bridge we took a bypass and didn't even have to go through Geelong.
We are planning to stay here tomorrow, Sat, and attend Church Sunday morning and after that go on to Wannon Falls where we plan to stay before we go on to Mt Gambier and our stay in a caravan park.
Pam and I took a leasurely walk this morning and came across a couple of small deers with two little fawns which we would not have seen had we not gone for our walk.
Two people travelling separately have said that they have been on the road for 9 years and 8 years respectively and have no intention of stopping. I wonder how long we might stay on the road.
All in all we have had a great day.
love to all.
Lyn
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
One sleep
Well, would you believe it. We are now one sleep away from leaving.
These past two days have been hectic to say the least. We have been flat chat doing the last final things at the house. We said our goodbyes to our neighbours at about 8pm tonight then headed over to Dales place to give him the keys for the little Suzuki.
Back home to Justin and Lee's. Did a very quick tidy up in the van. Packed the last few grocery items away and next a shower and bed.
We have had a lovely few days staying with Justin, Lee and the kids. Even though it has been hectic it has been good to have these few days with them and we have lovely memories of these days spent together. We will be back for Easter so we will get a chance to catch up with some people then.
We are excited because we are on the crest of a new stage in our life and we look forward with anticipation at what lies ahead. Since we made the decision to do this I couldn't tell you how many people have said "that's what we want to do someday" For some, I guess, it will always be that. Just a dream. But for us this dream is about to become a reality.
May God bless us and keep us safe on this journey.
Lyn
These past two days have been hectic to say the least. We have been flat chat doing the last final things at the house. We said our goodbyes to our neighbours at about 8pm tonight then headed over to Dales place to give him the keys for the little Suzuki.
Back home to Justin and Lee's. Did a very quick tidy up in the van. Packed the last few grocery items away and next a shower and bed.
We have had a lovely few days staying with Justin, Lee and the kids. Even though it has been hectic it has been good to have these few days with them and we have lovely memories of these days spent together. We will be back for Easter so we will get a chance to catch up with some people then.
We are excited because we are on the crest of a new stage in our life and we look forward with anticipation at what lies ahead. Since we made the decision to do this I couldn't tell you how many people have said "that's what we want to do someday" For some, I guess, it will always be that. Just a dream. But for us this dream is about to become a reality.
May God bless us and keep us safe on this journey.
Lyn
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Two sleeps
Hi everyone.
Well just two more sleeps before we head off. Still have a lot to do before Thurs. morning including saying farewell to a number of friends, grocery shopping, organising keys to give to the agent and finish packing the van and the car.
Talking of agents. We had the agent do the condition report on the house today. They itemise every little fault they can find, no doubt so that there are no disagreements at the end of the lease. He seemed pleased with the condition we were leaving the house in. He told us stories though of how some places are left by the owners for tenants and you can only shake your head and wonder why people could leave their own home that way.
It's almost 10pm as I write this and Ken has just remembered it is Tuesday night and that means we have missed Bible Study tonight. Oops, Sorry guys if you are reading this. We have forgotten, so we have missed out on saying farewell.
Ken Danes, our Pastor, popped around this morning and shared a prayer with us before we go which was really nice and we do appreciate him doing this. It kind of sets us off with Gods blessing. We know we will see the splendour of his creation all around us in this amazing country in which we live. Being able to share this together with Pam and Colin is pretty special too.
Bed is calling my name and I need a good sleep as there is still a lot to do and only a little time to do it in.
Bye for now.
Lyn
Well just two more sleeps before we head off. Still have a lot to do before Thurs. morning including saying farewell to a number of friends, grocery shopping, organising keys to give to the agent and finish packing the van and the car.
Talking of agents. We had the agent do the condition report on the house today. They itemise every little fault they can find, no doubt so that there are no disagreements at the end of the lease. He seemed pleased with the condition we were leaving the house in. He told us stories though of how some places are left by the owners for tenants and you can only shake your head and wonder why people could leave their own home that way.
It's almost 10pm as I write this and Ken has just remembered it is Tuesday night and that means we have missed Bible Study tonight. Oops, Sorry guys if you are reading this. We have forgotten, so we have missed out on saying farewell.
Ken Danes, our Pastor, popped around this morning and shared a prayer with us before we go which was really nice and we do appreciate him doing this. It kind of sets us off with Gods blessing. We know we will see the splendour of his creation all around us in this amazing country in which we live. Being able to share this together with Pam and Colin is pretty special too.
Bed is calling my name and I need a good sleep as there is still a lot to do and only a little time to do it in.
Bye for now.
Lyn
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Ready or not
Ready or not we leave on Thursday.
We seem to have a list a mile long of things that still need to be done. Inside the house is now finished except for some grouting around a couple of tiles in the Laundry. Just the lawns need doing and then we will do an inspection with Brodie, our real estate agent and hand over the keys for our tenants.
Packed to the Rafters may be the name of a very popular TV program (One that I insist Ken records for me every Tuesday night as it is our Bible Study night) but it is also a perfect description of our shed. It is packed to the rafters with all our belongings and possessions. Just enough room left for the mower and the few garden tools when we finish the lawns later this week.
Our plans are to meet up with Pam and Colinl at 8am on this coming Thursday the 22nd February and begin our trip to South Australia.
For those who don't know, Pam and Colin are friends of ours who share our enjoyment of caravanning around Aus. We have previously enjoyed a number of short trips and one long holiday away together and we have been planning this trip for quite a while. In fact this trip with Pam and Colin had been planned long before Ken and I had decided to do our big trip.
In Victoria we have travel auctions on TV. Whenever they advertise caravan parks we usually put in a bid if we like the sound of it. Our bids are usually just over half of the the advertised full price. We've missed out on some and others we have won.
Pam Colin, Ken and I took one together to Hawker in S.A. and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Thus the reason for our trip we are doing now. We have successfully won a couple of Auctions which again are in SA. Our first is at Mt Gambier where we will have 5 nights at the Blue Lake. From there we will go on then to Pt Broughton and spend another 5 nights. Cost is half of what we would normally pay. We will be gone for at least 4weeks, maybe 5.
We also enjoy free camping, so inbetween we will free camp as much as possible. It minimises our costs and we reckon that for every night we free camp that money then pays for our fuel for the next leg of the journey.
Yesterday, Sat, we took the TV down for Leanne and Tim to use while we are away. They have had Foxtell installed so I guess that between TV and the games they play it will get a good work out. Dallas, Sharon, Nath and Roman all came over and we had a BBQ lunch together so we could say goodbye. Thank goodness these days we have emails and webcams or it would be ten times harder to say farewell. At least we can keep up with what's happening at home.
There is more to tell but it will have to come later
Bye for now one and all.
We seem to have a list a mile long of things that still need to be done. Inside the house is now finished except for some grouting around a couple of tiles in the Laundry. Just the lawns need doing and then we will do an inspection with Brodie, our real estate agent and hand over the keys for our tenants.
Packed to the Rafters may be the name of a very popular TV program (One that I insist Ken records for me every Tuesday night as it is our Bible Study night) but it is also a perfect description of our shed. It is packed to the rafters with all our belongings and possessions. Just enough room left for the mower and the few garden tools when we finish the lawns later this week.
Our plans are to meet up with Pam and Colinl at 8am on this coming Thursday the 22nd February and begin our trip to South Australia.
For those who don't know, Pam and Colin are friends of ours who share our enjoyment of caravanning around Aus. We have previously enjoyed a number of short trips and one long holiday away together and we have been planning this trip for quite a while. In fact this trip with Pam and Colin had been planned long before Ken and I had decided to do our big trip.
In Victoria we have travel auctions on TV. Whenever they advertise caravan parks we usually put in a bid if we like the sound of it. Our bids are usually just over half of the the advertised full price. We've missed out on some and others we have won.
Pam Colin, Ken and I took one together to Hawker in S.A. and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Thus the reason for our trip we are doing now. We have successfully won a couple of Auctions which again are in SA. Our first is at Mt Gambier where we will have 5 nights at the Blue Lake. From there we will go on then to Pt Broughton and spend another 5 nights. Cost is half of what we would normally pay. We will be gone for at least 4weeks, maybe 5.
We also enjoy free camping, so inbetween we will free camp as much as possible. It minimises our costs and we reckon that for every night we free camp that money then pays for our fuel for the next leg of the journey.
Yesterday, Sat, we took the TV down for Leanne and Tim to use while we are away. They have had Foxtell installed so I guess that between TV and the games they play it will get a good work out. Dallas, Sharon, Nath and Roman all came over and we had a BBQ lunch together so we could say goodbye. Thank goodness these days we have emails and webcams or it would be ten times harder to say farewell. At least we can keep up with what's happening at home.
There is more to tell but it will have to come later
Bye for now one and all.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
final preparations
Greetings to all.
Ken and Justin have been very busy moving furniture into the shed for storage. It has been hot and heavy work but they have done an amazing job of stacking it floor to ceiling.
The only heavy stuff now to be moved is the fridge, the washing machine and the TV. With furniture mostly gone I can now get in to do a final clean through the house.
We leave on the 22nd so just one weak and one day and we will be on the road with Pam and Colin. Next time I will enlarge on what we are doing and where we are going and why.
God bless you all
Love Lyn. And Ken
Ken and Justin have been very busy moving furniture into the shed for storage. It has been hot and heavy work but they have done an amazing job of stacking it floor to ceiling.
The only heavy stuff now to be moved is the fridge, the washing machine and the TV. With furniture mostly gone I can now get in to do a final clean through the house.
We leave on the 22nd so just one weak and one day and we will be on the road with Pam and Colin. Next time I will enlarge on what we are doing and where we are going and why.
God bless you all
Love Lyn. And Ken
Monday, February 15, 2010
final preparations
Hi all.
It would seem that the packing is never ending. The bench tops hold almost everything that is left to be packed . Boxes sit all around our kitchen, some of which are packed and some are patiently waiting in line as if they know it won't be long for their turn to hold our belongings.
The caravan is now back with us ready and waiting to take over as our home for at least twelve months or more. Over the last few days I have packed quite a bit of food. I thought I knew where things would go but no, weight distribution is important as is the ease of getting to something when it is needed. If today wasn't bucketing down I'd be out there shuffling things around in an attempt to pack everything as evenly as possible.
We have had rain non stop since about 10pm last night. and it has been good steady heavy rain. The farmers will welcome this rain and I'm sure they will see this as a blessing from heaven.
We have had some rain over recent weeks but for a long time now it has just been enough to keep the grass and the garden from dying off so it is welcome all around.
That's it for me untill next time
bye everyone
It would seem that the packing is never ending. The bench tops hold almost everything that is left to be packed . Boxes sit all around our kitchen, some of which are packed and some are patiently waiting in line as if they know it won't be long for their turn to hold our belongings.
The caravan is now back with us ready and waiting to take over as our home for at least twelve months or more. Over the last few days I have packed quite a bit of food. I thought I knew where things would go but no, weight distribution is important as is the ease of getting to something when it is needed. If today wasn't bucketing down I'd be out there shuffling things around in an attempt to pack everything as evenly as possible.
We have had rain non stop since about 10pm last night. and it has been good steady heavy rain. The farmers will welcome this rain and I'm sure they will see this as a blessing from heaven.
We have had some rain over recent weeks but for a long time now it has just been enough to keep the grass and the garden from dying off so it is welcome all around.
That's it for me untill next time
bye everyone
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Pets
One of the most difficult decisions we have made concerning our trip away is that we have rehomed our pets. For almost all of our marriage we have had pets of one kind or another. Our first ever pet was a Bassett Hound (stupid dog... it would pick up a smell and be gone in a sec and would never stop no matter how hard you called). We have also had a couple of beagles, who like the bassett were driven by their nose not their brain. Great dog for energetic kids. Last of all have been our two Great Danes. Nero and Toby, Great breed of Dog and truly man's best friend.
In Adelaide one of the ladies in the church was a serious frog lover, breeder and carer and so Leanne was given some frogs to keep. As a result we needed insects to feed the frogs so we had a supply of live insects to breed to feed the frogs. Thankfully that pet faze passed when we left Adelaide.
At times we have had birds of various varieties, budgies, canaries, love birds, quails, pink and grey galahs.
Various fish over the years
And of course there are the kittens and cats that have made up part of our home. There has been Cuddles, Dividends (at age 14 Justin 's career path was always going to lead him into the stock market) Bluepuss, Lacy, Amos, Sophie and Angelo.
I guess I should also include the horses (our own and others that we adjisted) though I was never fully comfortable around the horses. Unlike Ken who loved them. And of course our cows and the 8 calves they produced, who I have come to the conclusion are one of my alltime favorite animals.
I'm sure there have been others but you get the picture We have been an animal loving family and thus it has been a tough decision to make. So for the first time we have no animals at all and we are a little lost and missing them terribly.
I have to admit we've thought seriously of going and getting them back but we know we can't. It's not fare on the animals or us so with that we are more than happy with those who have taken our animals into their family.
Friends from church, John and Mouse have taken Sophie and Angelo, which has doubled their cat population. Angelo had a thing going with John and would be up on his lap before he even sat down. With John and Mouse they get to go in and out of the house as they please. Angelo and Sophie have given the thumbs up with their new home. They ignore us but go to everyone else. it's all about who feeds them.
Craig, Michelle, Brea and Caitlin, also friends from Church have taken Toby. Toby thinks he's in heaven because for the first three weeks he only slept outside twice. I was pleased to see he got excited when we went out to see him. (He's living on two acres out at Nicholson) so he gets to go for walks, and play games and generally have lots of doggy fun. We could see he has bonded with each one in his new home which gave both Ken and I peace of mind.
So as hard as it isto let our pets go we can go away knowing they are all looked after well and have lovely new homes where they will be loved and cared for.
see you soon lyn
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