We have had a busy couple of weeks with the choir, plus my mother was offered a room at Regis Greenmount. It took from Thursday 11th May to Tuesday 16th to get her moved, with much work done by the women in our family. On Wednesday Marie and I had to finalise the finances for her move, as well as be there when some of her furniture was delivered. She is finding it difficult, but we hope she will settle in soon.
On Thursday I was feeling the effects of several days running on adrenelin, and going to choir in the evening seemed the last thing I wanted to do, but actually found it beneficial. Raelene was unwell, so Stephen helped out by running the rehearsal, using his ukelele to give us our notes. He only had a few hours notice and we were impressed at how well he had planned everything. When I spoke with Eversley, she had had a similarly adrenelin filled week helping one of her friends with health issues.
We have been doing heaps of preparation in between other things. The Winnie’s top rear panel was finally replaced at Ken Peachy, plus a couple of small items and they installed our new TV. At the moment nothing on or in the Winnie is held together with duct tape. That won’t last of course!
We had two new tyres put on the front, and new valves on the rest. We had two indpendent tyre places confirm that the rear tyres were good for a long time, just the front tyres needed replacing. We had our gas bottles filled yesterday and feel good to go as far as the Winnie is concerned.
I have a set packing list which can be modified depending on where we are going and for how long, and I’ve been following it today, getting quite a lot done. Our neighbours went away this morning and we brought the Winnie up near the house. This makes it easier to plug in, switch on the fridge, load up our things, and fill the water tank. We met with our other neighbour who will help out with getting rid of rubbish and other things.
Our plan in the morning is to proceed slowly and methodically with preparing the house and packing last minute things. This is because we will be away for several weeks. Both our neighbours will keep an eye on things for us. Stephen has given them sets of keys.
We also plan to visit Mum in Greenmount on our way tomorrow morning. We will need a bit of time to have a cup of tea with her, and take her out for a cigarette. I’m looking forward to seeing how she is going.
We don’t want to spend too long driving for our first day, and have an earlier camping spot in Meckering, and a later one in Merredin if we feel like going about another 100kms. Meckering is only 134.5 kms away, but offers free overnight camping with toilets, drinking water and other facilities. In Merredin there is a choice of a caravan park or free camping in a town park, with toilets. I’m using Geowiki to scout for camping as we go.
Our plan is to travel short distances of up to about 250 kms per day, free camping about half the time. There seem to be increasing numbers of towns offering free overnight parking for self contained vehicles. Caravan park owners are not necessarily pleased, but other businesses benefit from travellers staying in town. We will go to the Norseman Caravan Park to stock up, fill the tank and water jugs, dump tanks, etc. before crossing the Nullabour where there are limited options available. Roadhouses offer electrical hookup, showers and toilets, but no water.
As we plan this journey, we are reflecting on our 2015 trip across the Nullabour with Eversley. We know what to expect in some ways, but it will still be quite a different journey.
The photo for the day is from May Day. We are quite a small choir now, but we still have the passion.
