Day 71 - Stinky Town

Ok tonight’s blog may offend some people, so if you are sensitive….stop reading NOW!

Today we were out having a look around Pt Hedland…. Ness was quite surprised at the facilities the town has to offer & the new buildings here are impressive, it’s amazing how pretty you can make colour bond look!

Anyway we had to do some shopping so we were near the South Hedland shopping centre and decided to go have a look, Ness was excited as there was a Kmart & a Coles, something we have not seen for a few weeks. We went into Kmart & even though we did not need anything we bought stuff! A couple of books, Annie got new bathers, Ness got new undies & I bought a CD (I know….. ancient technology!)

So we then went to Coles to get some groceries, tomorrow we head north & there may not be a decent shopping centre until we hit Broome. So we filled up our trolley and headed to the checkout. Now as we approached the checkouts we passed a lady that was emptying her trolley onto the belt at the checkout, and she REEKED!...It was the most disgusting, foul, putrid, stomach turning, vomit inducing smell I have ever smelt in my life, I almost threw up right then & there. Jesus H Christ, do some people have no personal hygiene pride! Now don’t get me wrong here, I occasionally go for a couple of days without a shower, when I am in the bush or camping, but the old Deodorant gets an extra squirt or two, and I’m not a prude! So I can forgive others for being a bit whiffy!..... But this lady was MANKY!!!! I’m almost dry wretching as I think about it……

Oh and she is not the only one….. Several times on this trip we have encountered the smelly types, for goodness sakes….go and have a bath! I’ll even buy you some soap & deodorant!

Ok I have a question for the Gay readers of the blog, Can you tell me is it…..Or when is it ok to ask someone if they are gay? Now here is the context of this question….. if you saw a same sex couple pull up in a caravan, and it was only a small caravan…… & you then started to talk to this couple and you were having a bit of a laugh with them & they seemed really lovely….. Is it ok to ask if they are a couple?..... Or does this offend?..... Or is it really none of my business?

I mean in general conversation sometimes people ask how long have you been together? But with a same sex couple it is not really obvious whether they are together or they are just together? Does that make sense or am I just getting myself into trouble? Aww stuff it, you all know me well enough to tell me what you think!

Today was my last day of work for a couple of weeks, we head slowly north, then east & then south & then east again before arriving home at the end of the month!..... Yayyyyy! Looking forward to seeing my Mum & Sandy & David and all the rest of you when we get home.

We went to the stairway to the moon tonight, this is where the moon rises over the sand at low tide, the reflection of the moon makes a “Staircase” that looks like it goes from the beach to the moon. Port Hedland has these viewing areas that you can see it from, check out the pics that Ness posts soon.

Reader’s Comments

Rob advised me that there already are utensils available to continue driving while having a Pee break, he said use a cup!!!! Rob I don’t know about your peeing habits but I would need a bloody big cup!....I reckon a bucket! Oh and well done to Collingwood, Dan reckons it was poor umpiring!

Meredith…..I wasn’t game to check out the web site you told us about! I did…Love it, what a great invention! But I laughed about your Moon & bum analogy! Good one!!!! And well done for looking around your city….Sometimes we don’t really appreciate where we live!

Annie’s Blog

I love this place, and I love my new voice, I’ve realised that if Mum & Dad are talking to peoples, all I have to do is talk louder than them, and then they start to talk louder, so I start talking even louder and guess who wins?......Me! Either Mum or Dad start talking to me or the peoples start talking to me….I’m so clever.

Dad was really excited tonight, he told me & Mum that we were going to see this staircase thingy. So we went to the big bath and waited………………………..And waited…………………………And waited!!!

Finally the moon came up and all the peoples were saying…..Ooooooooh & Awwwwwww. But it was just the moon! Whats the big deal, it made some silly patterns in the sand, but there was no staircase….. Were they trying to fool us????

I’d love to stay here longer but Dad says we have to leave…. He wants to go to this place where he can catch a fish!.....Ha! As if!!!!

Catch ya’s all later

AnnieInAVanxxxx

Day 70 - Port Hedland

Ok sorry…. We got TV reception & the Olympics are on!..... No more blogs!

Ha! Just kidding, I wouldn’t let you all off that easy….you keep me amused. Well we are in a different place, Pt Hedland is much bigger than Tom Price, it’s main purpose is a deep water port, so the ships can sail right into town, load up their iron ore and sail right out to China. Most of the mines in the Pilbara send their ore here by rail, it then gets loaded onto ships and off it goes.

Here’ s a story for you though, about 6 years ago I was here working, and they asked me if I wanted to go out with the Pilot to drop him on a ship, you see the ships that come into Pt Hedland are usually foreign ships with foreign crews, and they have to have an Aussie pilot on board as they come into port. So that means a helicopter has to take the pilot approx 80km out and drop him onto the ship, they asked me if I’d like to go on the helicopter with them…I said Bloody Oath!

Anyway I’m getting sidetracked, I was thinking on the way here today, if a truck driver needs a pee does he stop? I mean they are on pretty tight schedules, and the cost of stopping a fully laden truck and then getting it going again, the fuel costs alone would be $20-$30, wouldn’t it be easier to just pee in a bottle? Maybe someone should design a driving pee bottle? Just a thought.

I have the TV on while I write tonight & they are switching between sports, I’ve got a couple of suggested changes….Fencing, get rid of the suits & take the plastic tip off the sword! Show us some blood, and imagine years down the track being able to say “See this scar, I got it at the Olympics!”

Jousting should be an Olympic sport! That would keep the Horsey people happy & also the ones that don’t like horsey events. Javelin should be at live targets, maybe release a chicken or a pig or a goat and then 8 competitors throw their javelins? First one to ping it wins gold & gets to eat the animal! And trampolining, 2 people should get on the trampoline at the same time & the first one to “Double bounce” the other one off wins gold!......Oh I could go on & on & on!....But wont. Thanks goodness….

Reader’s comments

Not many last night, but Meredith sent us an email with her thoughts of animals wandering past the van with dressing gowns on? Meredith I think the cold NZ winter has finally got to you! You are seriously weird! Takes one to know one!!

Georgia said last nights camping spot would have been a good place to watch Wolf Creek! Nah we will save it for when we go to Wolf Creek on the way home!

Annie’s Blog

Hello peoples, we have a new place to live, yesterday we packed lots of stuff into the box on wheels & drove away from the Tom place, the box on wheels is very well trained now because it followed us all the way. We drove for a couple of hours until my bum started to hurt and then I got a bit grizzly, so Dad found this old track and turned off the road into the bush….. it was amazing, we watched the sun disappear and then in the morning it tried to trick us, it came up on the other side! Naughty Sun! and last night was the biggest moon in the world, it was sooooo pretty. And then this morning we came to another place with heaps more boxes on wheels, I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow. Oh and Jack I do have a Hoot, but it’s not a real one…..Dad puts his hand up its bum and it doesn’t even make a noise so it can’t be a real one!

Night all

AnnieInAVan….XXXXX

Day 69 – Out in the Bush

Ok don’t blame me for no blog last night! Telstra reckons they cover 97% of the population! We must keep finding the 3% they don’t cover! No coverage to post the blog!

Ok so I worked this morning, no stories to share with you this time, although I really felt for that girl yesterday, her whole life changed because of someone else’s accident!

Got back to the van & my fantastic wife had 90% of it packed up, I had some lunch prepared by the same fantastic wife & then got changed and did the rest of the packing & hooking up of the van. Me & Annie & my fantastic wife then left Tom Price after a long 3 week stint. We are heading north west towards the coast but did not want to drive the whole way in one hit, so after driving for a couple of hundred K’s we started looking for a place to pull up.

Now have I told you about our van? It is totally self sufficient, I mean we can stay away from a caravan park for a long time, we can carry nearly 300 litres of water with us in tanks & we have 3 large gel cell batteries that are charged by two 80 watt solar panels on the roof, we have a gas hot water heater and a full shower & flushing toilet (we try not to use the toilet because emptying the tank is not a fun thing to do!) I once asked my son Brad to empty it for me & he said “what is in it dad?” I told him it was water…. He nearly dropped it once he found out it was wee!

Anyway back to where I was…. So we don’t need a caravan park, we drove along looking for a way into the bush. We found an old track that looked like it had not been used for ages and turned into it and drove in for a couple of hundred meters.

So I type to you tonight parked in the bush amongst the spinifex & bush wattle, we watched an amazing sunset over the hills & then were lucky enough to see the full moon pop its head over the horizon. I tried to get pictures of it but there are clouds that are hiding it…..I’ll get Ness to put some up.

Today we were overtaken by a road train! Not just a semi or a B double, but a full on 3 trailer road train! I was travelling at my normal 95-100km/h & I noticed this truck in my mirrors, so I got on the CB radio to him and said “I’ll slow down up here & let you past” we got to a straight stretch of road & he overtook us, man this thing was huge it took ages to get past us, I even put my brakes on to drop back.

Speaking of the CB radio, Ness & I often listen in on the truckies banter, if you can tolerate the swearing it is quite interesting, I mean for a lot of these guys & girls this is their workplace, they do the same runs week in week out & they pass each other regularly so get to know each other. Ness & I listened to a conversation the other week that went a bit like this

“Hey did ya hear that Johno F@#*ed his bulbar? He hit a F@#*ing cow”

“Aw F@#k, Really?”

“Yeah poor F@#ker”

“I F@#king nearly hit one the other week, Scared the F@#k out of me”

“F@#k yeah, i hate the F@#king things”

And it went on like this for a while…… Apologies to my mum & to Sandy for the rude words! But this is how they really speak!

Ok, Ness just told me the moon is back out, gotta go get some pictures….. Love from us…XXX

Reader’s Comments

Big apology to Lou from Dubai, we got your message last night, for some reason it went to an old posting and we only found it last night when looking at the web page, thanks for the update Lou, we miss you all too.

Norm suggested that we go nude &naked in the bush…..Hell yes Norm, great idea, now if you can just talk Ness into it. And I’ll stick to tinned beetroot, especially if it has one of those pull tab lids, more chance of spilling it EVERYWHERE!

Meredith suggested that we take pictures of embarrassing attire in caravan parks, I thought of it M but I didn’t want to embarrass anyone…. It’s just so amusing & if we embarrass them they might stop! Hey we are going to give feedback to the web hosting company about the security codes.

Arama made a great point about silver & bronze medallists being disappointed & us being disappointed in them! As a silver medallist all I can say is I was second fastest on the day & I was happy with it! & extremely drunk that night!!!!

Celeste made me hungry by describing her husband’s Mauritian beetroot salad, Yum, when we visit next time C you have to get him to make it for me! Oh and if I never hear “Ride like the wind” again it will be too soon!

Tereasa also joined in with her take on leaving things in the car, My ute is my favourite car in the world, I love it even more than my Land Rover, but Ness calls it “The Abyss” because things “Disappear” in my ute!

And Georgy also whinged about the stupid security codes, maybe next trip ill just email you all the blog direct? Stop you all from whingeing!!!!

Special addition

Ok Fruit & Nut update – I was trying to ignore them, I was thinking that if I don’t draw attention to them that Ness would see the light & just throw them away….. But NO! The small snack size tub of fruit & nuts are still nestled away in the centre console. Every time we fill up with fuel I see them as I fill out the log book & fuel use chart….Some days I get angry just seeing they are there! I’d throw them out here in the bush but I’d feel guilty if a native bird or animal ate them & died! So do me a favour all of you! Forget about the Fruit & Nuts! I hate them.

Annie’s Blog

Coz Dad wrote so much he said I don’t have space to do my blog tonight!....Fine, suits me! I’ll go play with Hoot the Owl….XXX

See you all in the morning.

AnnieInAVan….XXXX

Day 68 – Last day in Tom Price

Moving on tomorrow & we are all excited. Packed up most of the van today, tomorrow its just a simple matter of unhooking the hoses & power lead, rolling in the awning & hooking up the car and we will be on our way. We could stay here an extra night & leave Friday morning but we are so eager to get out of here that we will leave tomorrow and probably camp in the bush somewhere on the way to Pt Hedland.

We went out for dinner tonight, Tom Price has a very limited choice of eating establishments, there is the Mess at the camp in town, this is where the workers eat, but some enterprising individual (or greedy bastard) decided that they would allow tourists to eat there for $35 a head, all you can eat!

But we decided we wanted a change and went to TP’s one and only Thai Restaurant! It is called The Red Breeze. And on a scale of 1 to 10 it is probably about a 2.5…. But it was awesome, we booked for 515pm to fit in with Annie’s sleep (& mood) times! And we were fed & home by 630. It was not bad and the best thing was it was a change of scenery for us all.

I worked today, I went out to the site & spoke to about 50 or 60 guys & girls that had just flown in from Perth on their days off. Anyhow I told my story, we had a bit of a question & answer session & then they are meant to get on the bus & go to work. But as is normally the case a few of them hang around to ask me questions “One to One” or some people even tell me their stories, I mean we have all had near misses in our lives! One girl hung back until the rest had left & she came up to me and I could tell she was a little “Uncomfortable” she then went on to ask me if the people that found me after my accident were traumatised? But she then said the reason she asks is that she was the first on the scene at an accident where a ute lost control & there was a guy in the back standing up! He smashed into the back of the ute and broke his neck (amongst other things) and is now a quadriplegic! He has to use an electric wheelchair that he drives by blowing into a straw! She went on to tell me that she had to keep him alive while the ambulance arrived. But the thing that really got to me is that she said she had to have counselling, she had months off work & in fact couldn’t go back to that workplace because she had to drive past the site to get to work! I was listening to her story and it just reinforced a lot of the things I say in my talks, when someone gets hurt there are so many other people affected by it!

Anyway that was a bit serious, just typing as I think. Speak to you tomorrow from a different place!

Reader’s Comments

Arama agrees with me that the Olympics are just not exciting this year, we wouldn’t know as we don’t get any TV coverage of them up here apart from the ABC or SBS news. And Arama also encouraged Annie to hold her breath until she goes red to get what she wants, but I read somewhere that you can’t pass out from holding your breath! So go ahead girls!!!

Susanne sent a message admitting to her poor reversing skills, but she makes up for it in forward skills! And she told me about Beetroot chips! But that wouldn’t work for me S, I don’t like the crunchy noise that chips & biscuits make. And it would take the fun out of trying to eat real beetroot while driving the car in a white shirt or dress! Oh I can just see you in a dress James!

And Susanne is also intelligent like me….cause she can’t remember names either! That is why you both have me. :)

Meredith also commented on the cleverness of beetroot as a snack, C’mon ladies be a little creative here, don’t sit at home and dunk your Scotch Finger Biscuits in your cup of tea for the rest of your lives! Oh and please don’t encourage my daughter to give me “The Look”!

Tereasa had a different take on Beetroot, I’m sure she deliberately tried to scare me out of it by mentioning blood & doctors & bums!!! Ha…Didn’t work T, I still love the taste of Beetroot! Ness is also my memory for names, c’mon you can’t expect us guys to do everything can you? Sorry did you mean to say, ‘Do Anything?’

Oh and my sister Georgia who is a teacher & the assistant Principal (or is that Principle?...I’m sure she will tell me!) chastised me for not spelling Aboriginal correctly! C’mon Georgy, Year 9 english at Gunnedah H.S. did me pretty good, I spell better than most people, I don’t use a spellchecker and I’m happy with my writing skills, so if I make the occasional grammatical error or leave a capital (or is that Capitol?) letter off then I’m sorry. Tereasa commented on my sisters a while ago, she reckons its good they pick on me, I think they can be pains in the A@#E!

Annie’s Blog

I liked Edwards’s suggestion last night so much that I tried it today! I just decided to scream!  I was happy & clean & fed but I just let it rip & scared my Dad. Did it a couple of times to Mum but she just ignored it, I’ll try it with her when she doesn’t expect it.

I’ve decided I’m going to be a jewellery person, when people come to visit I like it if they have jewellery on. For some reason I am really attracted to the shiny things, I like gold and silver and sparkly bits…..Mum says they are dimunds!

Anyway Mum says I have to have an early night as we are moving the box on wheels tomorrow ! Yaaaaayyyyyyyy!

Love very much

AnnieInAVan….XXXX

Day 67 – Guess where?

Evening all. Sorry about last nights lack of blog! But I just had a bit of fatigue & lack of mental stimulation. Don’t get me wrong, I had plenty to write about, I mean I could spend a whole blog on Tereasa’s reply to my Jesus bottle, & Meredith’s Anti Christ gas bottle! But I just wanted to sit back (ok so I’m always sitting back!) have a beer & just “Chill”.

But that was last night…. Tonight I’m back!

Today I washed the car, but the concrete that the car wash bay is on is on a slope, so you have a guy in a wheelchair trying to wash the car and at the same time trying to stop from rolling down the hill in his wheelchair! Add to this that the car is 195cm high & the guy in the wheelchair is only 140cm high! So in reality I washed some of the car, the roof & the tops of the door sills are still dirty, this afternoon people were walking past our car wondering why it was spotless down low but still dirty up the top!

Ness & I are soooo lucky, firstly because I can reverse a car with a caravan on the back & secondly because we have a system in place where Ness can direct me to where we need to be without either of us getting frustrated! Marg & Norm you will relate to this…… We have seen numerous couples “Lose it” while trying to reverse the caravan into a spot! Normally the male is driving (It’s a testosterone thing) and the female is directing….. But the man normally goes right off at the woman when he gets it wrong! We saw a couple almost come to blows yesterday. He got out of the car and was waving his arms around and swearing. It took him almost 15 minutes and lots of attempts to get the caravan in place.

I love beetroot! Especially on burgers….. it has such a distinctive taste and just “Livens” up a burger. But I was thinking the other day it would also make a great snack food! I mean driving along in the car & you get a bit peckish…. Open a tin of sliced beetroot & just munch away. You are on a walk or a hike & you get hungry….Pull out a tin of fresh baby beets & you are recharged and on your way! Keep some in glad wrap in your top pocket & after a few drinks just pull it out, unwrap it & there goes your munchies! What you reckon? I am sure you can all imagine my response to James idea for Beetroot as a snack food.  Sometimes I honestly think he doesn’t think!!

Ness was going to tell you this but I thought I better get in first… The other day when we were in Karijini we went to the visitors centre, I bought some great books on aboriginal history…. But there was a couple in there with a baby similar in size to Annie….. Now for some reason I did not notice that this baby was wearing pink & also had her ears pierced (which I personally think is WRONG to do to a baby)….. but I don’t know why but I said to the couple “Our daughter is looking at HIM as she has not seen another child for a while!” Ness quickly said “Her” …. But I then said “Look at him Annie” the couple did not say anything and just walked off…… Ness then explained that it was a girl! But he looked like a boy to me! I rest my case…not only does he not think sometimes he does not open his eyes!

I have the same problem with names, I mean I have met people on this trip & they introduce themselves….. we then will have a chat, but I get back to the van & ask Vanessa “What were their names?”….. we had a neighbour for a week that I was calling Janet (he was actually calling her Janice)…… Ness told me that her name was Judith!

Reader’s Comments

Meredith reckons her bottle is the Anti-Christ, always going empty… Check it for holes M, its cold & wet in NZ maybe it has rusted. Meredith also is treating the Olympics as a Perv Fest! Meredith you should come stay in a caravan park for a week if you want to see guys getting around in just towels or their undies! Can’t say it would do the same for you though!

And Tereasa, why do you have to be so practical? Can’t you just let a guy have a little faith. I was starting my spiritual journey, an eye opening, spirit cleansing, leap of faith & you have to ruin it by bringing science into it, that’s the problem with you non believers you have to spoil it for those of us who have seen the light, you will be sorry for your lack of faith girl!  Excuse me Mr Wood….what faith?

Arama had a great suggestion, whack the jesus bottle on Ebay! Cash in on it before it’s power runs out (Or Tereasa & her mob nail it to a BBQ somewhere!) Arama is also over the Olympics…. But I gotta be honest with you here Arama….I don’t think I could cope with the Olympics if the commentary was in a NZ accent!....No offence! Unfortunately we can’t get Channel 9, so we have not seen any of it and I am actually missing it.  I really enjoying watching the Olympics and it is not fair when you all you get is ABC & SBS. :(

Kirsten explained the difference between Dicks & Horse riders? Still doesn’t make sense to me K, I mean if the horse has a brain & the rider has a brain & the two brains ain’t thinkin the same thing? Then who ends up looking like a Dick? Oh and as for the offer to get on a horse one day… Thanks but I’ll pass. I’ll tell you about the last time I rode a horse one day!

Annie’s Blog

Whoa… My Dad said I didn’t have to do a blog last night? I mean I was happy but I was confused.. I didn’t really have much to say but it was funny not to have to do my thoughts.

Dad & Mum have been doing this funny thing the last few days, they have been checking out people coming & going from the bathroom & laughing at what they wear. Some people wear really daggy stuff, some men wear only a towel or some undies and the ladies wear these really bad dressing gowns! My Mum & Dad are so stylish compared to some of these people.

I got a lot of new friends this week, some new ladies & men have been passing by and speaking to me. I’m getting older because now I try to follow them, or I reach out for them…. Before I was a bit scared but now I am used to other people.

Tonight my Dad did the bestest thing, now my Mum doesn’t like animals much, but he got a piece of bread roll and started breaking bits off and throwing them at the galahs, they soon came over to us and there was about a million…. But then he threw some bread near my Mums chair and all the birds went near my Mum…. Me & Dad laughed lots, but Mum just gave Dad “The Look”.

Edward said he has a new trick, not only can he crunch teeth really loud, but now he just screams really loud for no reason…. Oh Edward you are so cool, I’m going to try that trick & see if it works.

Luv AnnieInAVan

xoxo