Day 97 Back at Saltbush

You may have noticed there was no blog yesterday, that was because we did a marathon trip back to Saltbush. Almost 1000km with the van in tow. We stayed at Peterborough Thursday night and woke to Zero degrees. I was rolling up the hoses & my hands froze up, I seriously had numb fingers!

 We got home at about 9pm & were like little kids getting to an adventure playground! Even though it was dark we had to look around the garden & house to see the changes since we left 4 months ago.

 The house and garden looked awesome, we have to say a big thanks to Granny & Bert & Sandy & David, they have really looked after the place while we were away, it was great to come home to our place but even better that it looked great & was so clean.

 Well the trip is over, I will get back to you all during the week with total kilometres, fuel consumption & Hot Chocolate consumption. And my list of Things I will and won’t miss!!

 Thanks to all of you who read the blog during the trip, you were all part of it with us, we now look forward to getting back to a different way of living working & being James & Ness we will catch up with those of you we can as soon as possible.

 Oh and the blog will continue, maybe not every day, but I have enjoyed writing it so much that I am going to continue blogging away, feel free to opt out if you don’t want to listen to what we are up to..... but just so you know I have already thought of a name for it.

 News From The Chairman!.... think about it..... Clever huh!

 Love from James & Ness

Day 96 - Travelling Home...

No blog...will have full update tomorrow.

Day 95 SA & Beyond!

 Almost a perfect night in Smokey Bay, after sharing my night with you in last nights blog I tried to get to sleep..... but couldn’t, maybe the Oysters had a hallucinogenic effect on me because I really started seeing things! Could not sleep & generally had a really bad night! You must have passed this on to me too...I had a dream about Matthew Newton, think that translate into a nightmare!!  What the....

 Then we got on the road and drove through country SA. Have any of you ever been through here? Man there are some great historic stone buildings in the middle of nowhere! When I see these houses I wonder what it would have been like living here 100 years ago?

 The other thing unique about SA is the houses, in most towns the houses have very ornate stone work & brickwork. Some of them are very old & the craftsmanship is just beautiful. They don’t build em like they used to!

 Vanessa did her cross stitch for most of the trip today, so much so that she got cramps in her thumb from holding the needle!  Not from holding the needle but the other hand from holding the frame.

 We listened to a couple of podcasts today, how entertainment has changed! I can remember in my dads old ford station wagon we had an 8 track player that played these huge cassettes the size of a video cassette! Now we have ipods that hold thousands of songs, talking books & podcasts!

 Today we listened to John Brewster Jones from the Angels & Jake Smith who is actually a political advisor but his hobby is collecting menu’s from famous dinners i.e. royal inauguration dinners, prime ministers dinners & birthdays etc. But he also recreates the meals..... his last one was a stuffed boar’s head!

 I lost a bet today, we were listening to the ABC & they played a Beatles song, Ness asked me if I knew who was singing it. I did not have a clue..... so she said it was Stevie Wonder, I argued that it was not & we bet a hot chocolate on it..... I lost! I know my music!!!

 We got pulled up at a police checkpoint today, they had the highway closed both directions and were doing RBT, rego & license checks. I was driving & they checked my license, but then asked if we had a fire extinguisher in the van (apparently you have to have one) so one of the cops asked if he could check it, Ness got out & took him to show him. The other one was checking my license & breath test. After my breath test he said I was right to go (Ness was still in the van with the other cop) I said “Can I take my wife with me?”..... he laughed & said he forgot all about them being in the van!

 It’s definitely silly season for travellers in caravans, it is actually a good thing we are coming home. Tonight we are in Peterborough in SA, we stayed here last December and were the only ones in the park.... tonight when we pulled up we got the 2^nd last powered site! This place is full! There are also heaps of travellers on the road. Caravanners are a friendly bunch, almost all of them will wave at you as they pass.... but Ness & I try to make it more interesting by both of us waving excitedly at them, I have saluted a couple of them and my latest one is I have been giving them the Peace sign as we pass!....C’mon it is a long trip.... you have to liven it up somehow!

 Have I mentioned that we have had the heater on! I can’t believe that for 90% of our trip we have lived in air-conditioning.... in Dolly & in Bart.... and within two or three days we have had to put the heater on!..... how quickly have we changed!

 Hey Rob, you are right..... in future I will not turn down Cyndi when I am on the CB..... and not because of anything you said..... but today I was talking to a truckie & I swear I heard George Michael playing in the background!

 Hey mum.....hope you were not trying to keep it secret that you have balloons flying at Saltbush for us getting home?..... if you were you should not have put it on Facebook so everyone can see it!

 Sandy & David...... How are your rear ends? Its been a long time out of the saddle.... hope your toosh has recovered from your bike ride last weekend.

 Jody & Daz, thanks for your email..... you guys have been busy! Look forward to seeing you in the next few weeks.

 Heather & Brad, I hope my paving is going smoothly..... I can send up a spare wheelchair so you can test it out before I come visit? (They are getting paving done around their house and are making sure I can come visit!)

 Speak to you tomorrow night..... hopefully from close to home!

 James & V....Nessa

Day 94 Over the Nullarbor into SA

Ok today was a better day! I mean I was not complaining yesterday about the drive I was just sharing my thoughts with you.

 Last night we stayed at Eucla, now the only thing in Eucla is a servo, motel, caravan park & restaurant. So we booked a site & basically crawled into our cave & ate & slept.

 This morning we travelled the rest of the Nullarbor plain, and it is pretty plain! So we decided to stop at the Nullarbor roadhouse & have Brekky/Lunch.  $15 for a hamburger & $13.50 for Ness’s scrambled eggs with bacon!..... Gee the cost of getting fresh food here sure adds to the price. And I am 99% sure it was powered egg, now that makes me angry, charge $13.50 if it is real egg but not if fake. But the experience was worth it! We can now say we have had lunch in probably one of the remotest roadhouses in the world!

 Mum you don’t want to know what we paid for tea towels here! Would have been cheaper to pay you cash for your part in the DVD!

 Had to bypass the whales at the Head of the Bight... as they have not arrived yet! We read an article that said the first whales were spotted on Mothers day, but they were 1000km away so will not get to the Bight for a few weeks yet...... Maybe next time.

You already know about us using the CB radio to communicate with the truckies, well today Ness shook her head in disgust at me because there was a truckie behind us & we were listening to Cyndi Lauper on the Ipod, I told her to turn it off while I spoke to the truckie.... I did not want him to hear that I was listening to Cyndi!!!...... No comments on this one Rob!

 Now you know how you hear about people getting killed on the roads!.... We saw just how easily it can happen today. We were cruising along at 100km/h and there was a turn off to a side road on our left hand side...... it had a turn in lane so that any trucks turning left could pull across into the left lane and then turn left. As we were not turning we stayed in the normal lane, we were nearing the end of the turn in lane when a white Toyota Aurion came flying past us on the LEFT HAND SIDE!!!! But as the turn in lane ended it had to go onto the dirt to finish passing us. Bloody Stupid!!!! And it flicked up rocks at us.......if it had broken our windscreen I would have been so pissed off!...... now I know I will get into trouble for this but it was a woman driver!!!!

Nikki asked us if there was another way we could come home..... as she does not like driving the same way twice!..... Gee your kids will be screwed up Nikki!!! How many different ways can you drive them to school! Nikki, check out the map...there are two options to get back east, via the Nullabor(south coast of Australia) or up across via Darwin(north coast) and down the east coast of Australia from QLD.  We chose the Nullabor as it would add another 2-3 weeks on the trip the other way!!  Maybe next time.

 Anne asked if we have seen many wildflowers & native plants on our travels, well Anne apart from the Sturts Desert Pea that Ness stuck into the dash there has not been much to see. The desert is bare but beautiful & the bush is rough & beautiful..... The Sturt Desert Peas are absolutely beautiful and I would pick one and just put them in the van in a cup, nothing like having flowers in your home.

 Marg & Norm you guys are in real trouble!.... you did not tell us about Smokey Bay!!!! Tonight we headed back through Ceduna & decided not to stay there but to pop down the coast. We were going to go to Streaky Bay but decided just to stop at Smokey Bay. Man you have to see this place.( I am sure they have) According to the local caravan park owner there are approx 200 full time locals, but this place is beautiful! The main industries here are fishing & oysters.

Speaking of Oysters...... when in Rome...... So I bought myself a dozen fresh (and I mean FRESH) oysters. Went up the local club and grabbed some take away beers & then came back to the van & shucked myself some Oysters with lemon juice. Photos to follow....

 On my leatherman pocketknife, which by the way is a Bear Grills replica Leatherman pocketknife, there is an oyster shucking attachment...... so if Bear can do it then I can do it!

 My dinner tonight consisted of a dozen LARGE oysters and a couple of beers, combine that with a Smokey Bay sunset & a walk on the pier with My Missus...... what a perfect night!

 (Sandy & Granny don’t read the next paragraph) But I’m guessing the van will be rockin’ tonight if those Oysters kick in!

 Hey we got pulled up at the fruit fly checkpoint at Ceduna, they confiscated two bananas, half a capsicum & a bunch of lettuce! I bet they take a lot of it home to eat! I would!

 Shona & Sam.... thanks for the kindling, Sam I will pay you by finding a model plane for you.

 Mel S welcome home.... How did you do in Vegas?

 Ok adios from Ness & Bear.... I mean James..... in Smokey Bay!

Day 93 Across the Nullarbor

We are almost in South Australia! How cool is that!

 Thanks for all of your messages last night, we had a laugh at some of the things that have made you laugh.

 Last night we stayed at Norseman, this was the place that Ness spent her birthday way back in March. Part of the fun of this trip was revisiting places that we have been to before. But unfortunately Ness & I both decided that we would eat at home rather than try the crap food we had last time!

 I woke up early, I must be secretly excited about getting home.... we left at 6am and hit the road! Bad move..... the sun rises around 630am, the sun also rises in the east..... We were heading east!..... so we were driving right into the sun!

 We did not see any animals today! Apart from crows, Eagles & some weird birds that we could not identify.

 Arama asked why the trains need GPS? I mean where can they go?..... No Arama.... the GPS sends a signal back to the control room so  they know where the train is on the track! Stops two trains from going on the same track at the same time.

 My mum is still complaining that she has not been paid for her part in my DVD, Mum we agreed to pay you 100 tea towels..... in instalments! You will be paid off over about 10 years at this rate.

 Sandy & David will get commission on selling our old car(when you sell it)..... we will pay it in visits from Brad & Dan to do gardening & odd jobs!..... you will be waiting longer than Mum to get paid!

 Lorraine G is having a birthday today, happy birthday you old chook! We hope your day was full of laughs & plenty of wind! Happy Birthday Lane...can’t wait to catch up! xoxo

 Ok so tomorrow we head to Ceduna...or further if we can. We had our first taste of rain for months today, up in the Pilbara there is very little cloud so it was strange driving into cloud today. And then when it started raining it made us both smile.

 Ness was back into her crosswords & soduko, another thing we will have to remember is that Ness did her first Soduko on our trip! Don’t forget the crossstitch and the podcasts...some great ones today!

 Sarah F.... we still have not found a Poly Waffle, but we have a solution.... after we get back you have to come visit, I will get some marshmallow, some biscuit & some chocolate & we can make our own!.... might have to wash it down with wine or alcohol but it will be fun!

 Can’t wait..... looking forward to Seeing the boys, all of you & watching Bear Grills DVD’s.

Will give you a full report in the next few days on what I will miss from been on the road and things I won’t miss.

 James & his travelling buddy!