Di and Peter Ryan collected us from Perth airport. We probably proved a distraction during their last twenty four hour state of uncertainty in flying to Europe, as they too, became victims of Eyjafjallajokul’s rolling clouds of debris engulfing Europe.
Des & Liz Lord made up for Di and Peter’s disappointment with a lovely evening aboard Figaro down at Fremantle, instead of Paris.Lea’s penchant for breaking a tooth in the eleventh hour prior to travelling once again came to the fore. Fortunately Saxon’s dentist was able to fix it promptly and there was a sigh of relief all round.
Time is fleeting when we are caught up in the daily joys of Talia, Erin and Harley dog!Woombye Caravan Park was in the midst of major reconstruction. We almost didn’t recognise the place. It had been closed to the public for months and heavy rains had magnified their problems. We had four hours of daylight to put our rig together and find a new campsite. First glance at Getaway took in the heavily perished, torn protective cover. Inside, the smell of mould with its coat of grey dust covered everything. High humidity mixed with Queensland’s heat and rain seemed to have taken more than the toll we’d expected. As George worked to get everything up and running – battling in vain to jump start Skiv let alone reset the three heavy deep cycle batteries back into Getaway, Lea was wiping down the mould with a packet of wet-ones only to discover a section of the ceiling with peeled fingers hanging like stalactites and large ants nesting amongst clothes in George’s cupboard. Our hearts dropped further as we fought a losing battle to get anything working. Finally recognising that we could go nowhere, even with the help of management, we settled for a very early night due to lack of electricity and slept anxiously with a dank smell pervading everything.
Vehicle batteries hadn’t charged overnight and a decision to replace with new was considered the better bet. Once they were in place Skiv, rearing to go enabled us to drag Getaway up the steep hill along to Prestige Caravan & RV Works. Under a team of willing workers, the day passed as a wide variety of problems, all based on different degrees of corrosion, came to light and were sorted. The panic we had felt over the ceiling was promptly alleviated on being told “surely our insurance would sort that out”. Why? Oh why, hadn’t we thought of that and saved ourselves a night of stress! With ‘Getaway’ back in working order we set off for Maroochydore feeling worn out. We settled in Cotton Tree Caravan Park, belonging to the council and therefore right next to the beach and the mouth of the river. A stone throw from all the shops too. As per usual, George connected up to power and water.... WATER! Lea’s yell to switch off the tap dumbfounded him momentarily and in that reaction time – a flood of rushing water made itself known as it poured from cupboards either side of the sink. A missing water purifying canister to blame! Recipe books and electrical items soaked... Once the mess had been cleared up we were too tired to care about dinner and shared the previous night’s remaining piece of chook! A good night’s sleep sorted us out. At first opportunity we were driven to check our computer worked...
Big Pond broadband Modem has been our most rewarding acquisition. Switching on our computer in ‘Getaway’ to send and receive e-mails, find information on the internet AND skype has given us no end of thrills. It has been a long time coming considering that before we even began our nomadic lifestyle we realized a basic level of communication in the form of internet and telephone access was an essential to our psychological well being. After three years on the road in ‘Getaway’ it has been achieved... NO more wasted time and energy searching for Internet Cafes. We revel in attaining this independence.
When the e-mail came in from Niassa, our problems paled into insignificance compared to Keith and Colleen’s -
“No real problems, just Niassa ones, giving a long slow start to our season... On arrival in the reserve we found termites had built a huge home in our storage house, we couldn’t even get through the door. On our first day driving in from Lichinga I ended up "bouncing" a buffalo off the road... fortunately no serious damage other than to the bull bar. Next, on my way to pick up Jomba & Pedro in Mecula a cow ran into the headlights. Then I found our wires were crossed with no-one waiting in Mecula! On our second day we left the camera vehicle behind (rear diff problem) and broke a rear axle stabilizer bar which led to me shearing the prop shaft in half about 1km from camp. We managed to walk the kids and some basic gear to camp, which was completely overgrown. Having been under water only our main roof was still standing. Had to carry all our fridges and first load of gear to camp the 3rd day and I then walked back to the village to find a lift back to Mbatamila. With no power to the rear diff (on my camera vehicle) it took us 12 hours instead of the usual 4 to get back down to the river. We've finally welded up the broken prop shaft as a temporary measure and replaced half shaft on my vehicle. Have spent the past ten days opening roads and rebuilding camp and soon head across to Pemba as Coll needs to fly up to Dar es Salaam for the Man-eating conference. All phone networks have been down in N-Moz too.”
Between the Insurance Assessor and the date for the work on Getaway’s roof to be carried out, the month of May passed. Living life within the arched Cotton trees (hibiscus) and paper barks was most pleasant with the shrill sounds of parakeets by day and bats by night. The many Ibis and bush turkeys that strutted around the park kept us entertained too. We were charmed by the hollow hoot of a bush turkey - Somewhat like a tug boat warning, that we found ourselves waiting expectantly for mahoota to signal the start of each day. George wasn’t at all certain about this ‘natural’ sound and in true form tracked it to the Paul’s milk van doing its park round!
Our roosting place over three weeks in Cotton Tree Caravan Park - we avoided the periphery and the madding crowds.
‘Waiting’ gave us the opportunity to accomplish jobs impossible to attend to while on the move. The caravan repair man put us on to Sonya-Marie Designs for roman blinds. Sonya came through, measured and made up two block-out roman blinds for our bedroom windows in record time, matching the seats beautifully, on memory alone. No more towels or tablecloths pegged to block out flashing lights or the moon through venetian blinds! After a trek around the many places selling roller blinds - none of which came close to our measurements and those boasting custom made service showed little or no interest that we were that close to giving up on replacing the broken venetian blind above the sink when Toni of Homemakers lifestyle came up trumps with a perfect Holland blind. All have given the inside of Getaway a face lift to suit milady.
Liz Vickery caught the train north to spend our first weekend with us. The habit of having a camera in hand seems to have fallen by the wayside. Drat! Again, a photo wasn’t recorded for posterity but we certainly enjoyed all her homemade biscuits in the weeks that followed. Solar panels gave rise to a conversation which in turn created a new friendship with Alson and Kerry Cushan. Having five sons scattered around Australia cut them free to become grey-nomads. We were sorry to see them move off to Bribie Island, but they popped into see us whenever they were in our area.
The long sweep of beach between Maroochy and Mooloolaba Rivers kept us well exercised and we particularly liked stopping at the Australian War Dogs Memorial in honour of the dogs that went on explosive detection duties in Vietnam, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to name a few.
A co-incidental occurrence, given our interest in the War Dogs Memorial, was discovering by chance, a film on TV about a War Dog in Viet Nam - 4,500 dogs went and only 1 in ten returned! Strange how often something newly learnt leaps out with such frequency thereafter! After watching the film we felt a need to return to the Memorial, re-read the information and copy the poem -
Down jungle tracks through shot and shell
Ears pricked high, keen sense of smell
Our tracker dogs with care and poise
Alert to ambush, foreign noise
Never whimper, whine nor bark
Their service honoured with this plaque
No medals pinned to hairy chest
They stayed behind, they were the best.
No wonder all the other plaques commemorating War Dog duties in other countries emphasised “These dogs were not left behind”. Next time we pass this way a new plaque will be in place as the day we came to post our blog, over the Australian news came the sad announcement of two Brisbane soldiers and War dog Herbie - killed on their first tour of duty in Afghanistan by a remote controlled bomb.
We had anticipated a heavy financial month putting Skiv and Getaway back on the road after a long stand with servicing, new tyres and replacing blinds and totally restocking of groceries. The compounding effect of myriad unexpected expenses ending with Lea’s newly repaired tooth cracking... A crown was considered the better route to take. Looking on the brighter side she was fortunate to be squeezed in immediately and the work involved thoughtfully tied in with our remaining days. Not to mention the close proximity of the Dental Practice to the caravan park.
Australia’s biggest tea party took place on Thursday 27 May at 10a.m all round the country in aid of cancer. We joined the throng at Cotton Tree. In no hurry to join the teapot queue thus missing out on cream scones and cakes it was all the more maddening for Lea to put her back out, simply rising from her chair. This knocked her flat and made life difficult for over a week.
31st May we returned Getaway into the very busy yet ready and waiting hands of Prestige Caravan & RV Works in Forest Glen. Impressive how Gary and his men helpfully fit around passing trade and yet manage to complete appointed work. We met Leo & Barbara with a motor home loo problem that no one on the Gold Coast or Brisbane area would even “look-at”. Yet Gary sorted them out quickly and easily. We booked into Buderim Motor Inn for the week. The only place we found to fit under the Insurance accommodation budget (since Getaway is our home). Breakfast of tea, toast & juice was included in the price thus we were able to order a simple plate dinner each night and still come out on insurance, which helped us. As it turned out “Getaway’ wasn’t to be ready in a working week and we had to spend another six nights in the motel, by then supermarket frozen meals were preferable and less than half the price!
“Getaway” undergoing major surgery to her roof! We had no idea it would be so extensive
6 June was not only our Kiki’s fifth birthday it was Queensland Day and the State celebrated by welcoming one of their own, the amazingly plucky Jessica Watson truly “home”. She sailed The Pink Lady into home town Mooloolaba, along a coast crowded with folk wearing pink and masses of pink balloons and banners after her record breaking ‘youngest to sail around the world’ (aged sixteen) journey. We had every intention of joining the throng until we heard of road closures and decided it was easier to watch it all on TV.
Whenever we get to thinking that rolling stones don’t gather moss we find a gem! We met up for an ‘au revoir’ coffee with Kerry & Al Cushan and their friends Jo & Graham from Gunnedah, NSW, in Nambour. Jo took the photo of the four of us in haste to avoid the shoppers so a bit blurred.
We post this blog on the eve of our ‘last sleep’ in the motel and look forward to heading North in the morning...
