Snottygobble found

Yesterday we had our usual leisurely time having cups of tea in bed, then showering and dressing and having breakfast. When we were all sorted we drove to a nearby park (Langford Park), where there are a couple of walk trails.

It was very pretty, with lots of picnic areas, flushing toilets and well marked walks. We did the Ken Jones Walk, Stephen getting caught up in the variety of trees and going even more slowly than me taking lots of photos. We set off at about 11.30 and actually completed the walk in about an hour, surprising given our exploring of the trees and plant life.

We thought we had found the snottygobble trees mentioned in our guide of the walk, but later realised that the trees we thought were Snottygobbles were banksias. Something about the name, but we couldn’t let it ride, so after lunch and a rest, we went out again on the walk trail in search of the Snottygobble trees. We knew they were somewhere near the 5 marker on the trail. Stephen had looked up their details in his book and I had checked online. We knew there were two different types, and found both near the 5 marker. We spent time looking at them and photographing the leaves and flowers.

winnie-in-her-natural-habitat-1-of-1 — the Winnie in her natural habitat

ken-jones-walk-lookout-1-of-1 — Ken Jones Walk Lookout

We stayed there until about 5.00 p.m. then back to the RV park for drinks and nibbles. I suggested that we fill the water tank, but Stephen thought we didn’t need to. We have been taking showers and washing up using the water heater and thought we were being careful, but I checked just before having my bedtime shower and found the tank was registering nearly empty. Oddly, our grey water tank looked like it had plenty of room, but that was just a ‘read error’. We were actually adding more to the grey water tank than we were taking from the fresh water tank because of using the tap provided by the Jarrahdale shire.

In other words, we went through most of a 100 litre tank in about 24 hours. How will we last at Fairbridge, which is going to be held over four days in 2017! I’m not sure how full the toilet cassette was when I emptied it this morning, but it was heavy, which is a reason to empty it more often than necessary, when we can. We’ve been able to have washes in warm water bringing water in from the outside tap. It’s still good having the shower recess for rinsing off, it’s an area where we can splash water around and I washed my hair as well.

I had been thinking about having boiled eggs and pancakes for breakfast, fortunately after our efforts to fill the water tank trying all of our gadgets for connection to the tap and all three of our water hoses. After about 45 minutes of messing around, we moved the Winnie into a shady spot on the pad, and I had my wash first, then Stephen had his. I boiled eggs and made pancakes for breakfast, that made up for our failure with filling the water tank. Fortunately there is no actual lack of water.

The other problem is that we are getting a smell when we use the gas for the fridge. I’m not sure if it is a gas smell, or if the foam at the bottom of the fridge got wet at some stage and having the warmth of the flame sets off an odour. Anyway, when I wake up in the night and the smell is strong I’ve been switching off the fridge. It stays cold, thank goodness for nighttime temperatures of about 9 degrees, and I can put it back onto DC power when the sun is up. We will have to get it checked out before free camping again.

The cold at night has been lovely as we have been able to leave hatches and windows open and enjoy snuggling down under the doona. The temperature yesterday was ideal for our walk. It was fairly shady, I expect the sun would have been hot, but there was a cool breeze. We had parked the Winnie in the sun and it got warm, but the cool breeze kept us comfortable. Today has started out cold, though we got hot working in the sun when we were trying to get the hoses to work.

Below are some of the Snottygobble photos. You can see the captions by clicking on each photo (if interested).