Wednesday 22nd May, 2019

I was awake in the night feeling a general sort of anxiety and sadness. A couple of Panadol helped me to sleep. This morning we made a good start, getting away at 9.00 a.m. We had brief stops, with the thermos doing it’s work in allowing for a very quick morning tea.

We arrived in Hay at about 1.30 p.m. We were low on fuel, and whilst filling up Stephen noticed that we had fuel leaking underneath, about 1 drop every 10 seconds (mathematics person here). He enquired at the counter and was recommended to check out Phil at a local mechanics shop. He had two goes at it and was able to diagnose the problem without being able to give a good solution. Apparently where the fuel line meets the fuel tank there is a discrepency in size. Our Young mechanics ‘fixed’ this with a clamp, but this is not really a long term solution as the fuel tank nozzle of the correct size needs to be made. He tightened the original clamp, which then was still leaking. He then used a stronger clamp.

My concern was safety. He assurred us that diesel is not highly flammable and can’t catch fire from fumes, however noxious. We are likely to have a small leakage from that connection until we have it fixed, but it isn’t dangerous to use our gas stove.  I contacted the insurance company and our repairer has been awarded a ‘fail’ for this.

Our plan is to continue driving homewards and keep an eye on the leak. If it gets stronger we can seek out a mechanic wherever we are to tighten/replace the clamp. In Perth we can take the Winnie to Iveco for repair. It will be due for a service as well.

I wanted to stay by the river in Hay, but Stephen wanted to go a little further. We are on the side of the road in a fairly basic rest area. It is a truck stop and we have found a spot away from the main area to stay the night.

There is a stuffy smell in the van from being shut up for so long at the workshop. A pack of toilet rolls turned out to be quite wet, I assume because it was absorbing the moisture from the air, quite a good thing really. At the moment I would like to take everything out to air it, but that will have to wait until we get home. Hopefully by opening hatches and windows as much as we can and using heaters to dry out the air when it is cold, things will get better day by day.

Tuesday 21st May, 2019

At about 11:30 a.m. We caught a taxi out to pick up the van. I checked the diesel heater, which was showing an error message. After a quick Google the batteries being a bit low was possibly the problem.

Back at our cabin we packed up everything into the van and set out at about 1:20 pm. We didn’t even stay to have lunch, we were just so keen to be going. On the way we stopped at a hamlet called Milvale. Stephen said that people there looked like a work crew, and so it turned out. They were putting up decorative sculptures. In conversation we were told about the thriving little community of Milvale.

I loved this spring water tap. Unfortunately the spring has dried up, but water may run again with winter rains.

Of course, there is another MCG somewhere in Victoria.

On arriving in Temora, we checked out the free camping place, which looked very nice, but we only wanted to use the toilets before going shopping. We have stocked up and loaded the fridge. We are staying in the little council caravan park, with power to give our batteries a good overnight charge. A little while ago we tried out the heating and it’s working perfectly, confirming that the problem was low house batteries.

Temora is only about 80 kms from Young, but we feel good about having made a start and are resolved to do lots of kms each day, going to bed early and getting up early. We shall see how that works out.

I’ve met a little family over their lovely campfire. They have been living in the caravan park for two years as they wait to be able to build their house. They have two little boys and the younger one has never lived in a house. The little one also took a fancy to me as a sort of substitute granny and has given me lots of hugs.

We still have to email our receipts for accommodation and car hire to our insurer for reimbursement, a morning task as we will need good light to take photos. It’s lovely being in our own dear little house again, although we managed to make ourselves very comfortable in the cabin at Young, home is best.

Monday 20th May, 2019

Young Car Mart and Mechanical Repairs promised us that when our fuel tank arrived at their workshop they would work on our van. When Stephen rang about 1:30 pm, he was told that they had another job this morning and although they had the fuel tank they wouldn’t start on our van until they have completed the new job, whenever that is. Stephen rang back because he found it hard to believe that our van, which has been at their workshop for 9 days, would not have priority, especially as we had been given to understand that they would complete the work today.

So, we are feeling pretty grumpy about this and will NOT be giving them a good reference. The other problem is that our insurance company will follow up to ask us if satisfied with the work. If we have any problems and we are several hundred kilometres down the road we won’t be able to have this company fix the problem. Still, I can’t wait to get the van back to IVECO in Perth to check everything out to make sure it has been done well. Not feeling much trust at this stage.

They said it might be ready by about midday tomorrow, but we don’t feel all that optimistic. If we do get the van, the caravan park manager said we can have late checkout from our cabin and we will probably get started in the afternoon, getting some kilometres done by tomorrow night. We like this town but we really do want to move on.

We had lunch at Wilders Bakery Cafe, enjoying the spaciousness and comfort. After lunch we stayed there reading, enjoying moving to some comfortable armchairs.

We walked along the river afterwards, taking the slightly longer way home.

Sunday 19th May, 2019

I think they mean in the street, there are about four pubs in this town. Cute though.

We saw the movie ‘The Aftermath’ this afternoon at our local cinema. It’s so nice to be able to walk out to a movie. It was a bit of a tear jerker, especially affecting Stephen, of course. I could feel the seat rocking and looked across to my man sobbing over the ending.

We feel very much in a holding pattern now, waiting to see how things unfold tomorrow. We have looked at our route home, travelling roughly the same way home as on our outward journey,

We are very sad about last night’s election result, but there is nothing we can do. The whole thing becomes such a circus.

This is advertised in the Telstra shop. Hopefully they have a fast NBN service.

We will be talking with Matt later. He and his housemates had a day trip to Rottnest yesterday. We hope he ad a good time. They travelled from Hillarys.

Saturday 18th May, 2019

The polling station at the town hall in town has been busy all week with people casting early votes. It was strange to see that it was only slightly more busy today. We walked down to town and wandered around a bit. I went into the Millard’s Building to photograph the beautiful staircase.

Stephen went for a walk along the little river and I did some shopping, buying a thin jumper to wear under my down jacket. Then he read the papers in the library and I went for a coffee.

Around lunchtime we met at the IGA to buy food for our pressure cooker meal tonight. We buy small amounts of groceries at a time because we have to walk home.

We came back to a clean cabin. The park manager had come to change the linen before we went out, but she also cleaned everything, including washing the floors. I felt a bit guilty that I didn’t help, but I think she would have been embarrassed if I had tried. We are not used to having a cleaner.

It was a sunny day in Perth and Matt and the others had a special outing to Rottnest for the day. Jackie sent us a photo.

After lunch we rested and Stephen read the paper.

There was a beautiful light on these trees in our caravan park.

We put the meal on at about 5.00. Stephen peeled vegetables and chopped the hard ones, I chopped the soft ones, onions, capsicum and zucchini.

Friday 17th May, 2019

We had some hope that we would be able to pick up the Winnie at the end of the day. Early information was that they didn’t know when the fuel tank would be returned, so ring after lunch. We went to the town centre and had a coffee whilst we helped our neighbour at home work out payment of our strata insurance.

At 12.30 we went to the library where some students and a teacher from the Young Regional Music School were performing on flutes. The music was OK, sometimes the flutes weren’t in tune, but with goodwill from the audience and participation invited (they played tunes from movies and musical and we had to guess what they were) the time passed pleasantly. Stephen won 3 chocolates.

We had lunch at the Chinese restaurant next door to the cinema, then Stephen rang up to see what was happening. Apparently, nothing. The company repairing the fuel tank had scheduled the work to be done on Tuesday. I expect they thought that the insurance company would take quite a long time to approve the work. We felt disappointed, and resolved to go to the Winnie and pick up some more stuff.

We spoke to a taxi driver who agreed to take us there and back and not run the meter whilst waiting. It was a chance to make sure that everything was OK. We’ve had good sun and I didn’t check the battery level. It wasn’t on my mind. We paid $20 for the whole trip, which we thought was pretty fair.

As we were finishing up Lisa, who works in the office, came up and told us that bosses of the two repair shops had spoken and it was decided that the fuel tank repairs should go ahead right away this afternoon. We are now hoping that all the repairs can be finished on Monday. Stephen has booked a further 3 nights here at the caravan park.

We have checked and the cinema is playing another ‘art house’ movie at 4.00 p.m. on Sunday. We want to watch the ABC tomorrow evening as election results come in. Therefore we feel we have enough to keep us entertained.

Stephen likes talking with people and we got into conversation with someone handing out how to vote cards yesterday. It started well, but we gradually found that we were being talked at, rather than having a conversation, with quotes from the Old Testament and the silly example of a grain of rice from a bag representing Australia’s contribution to emissions used as a rationale for Australia doing nothing.

All sorts of conspiracy theories from the far right were brought up and we found ourselves unable to match the man’s overwhelming verbal delivery. We tried to stay calm, but it was very difficult and in the end we walked away. It was like talking with a Jehova’s Witness.  He was not applying critical thinking, but simply regurgitating what he has heard from Alan Jones, the conservative radio broadcaster.

At this stage, we are hoping we can begin to head home on Tuesday next week. We have to say that the people we meet here in Young are overwhelmingly friendly.

Thursday May 17, 2019

We are not feeling as hopeful as we previously were about being able to get away on Saturday. Our repairer is still waiting on the part from Iveco in Sydney and wasn’t very reassuring. At the moment we are not looking forward to being here for another weekend, more importantly, we would like to know that the part they are waiting for is available from Iveco Sydney and doesn’t have to come from Italy. We are hoping that Lisa, who works in the office, will know more. Stephen will phone her in the morning.

If it looks like we are here for another day we may walk out there tomorrow, it’s about 4.5 kilometres, to pick up a little more stuff. The coffee grinder and the pressure cooker come to mind. If they don’t offer a lift back we can order a taxi.

Today there was an event at the Art of Expresso coffee bar. We went by the see what it looked like, but had another agenda of walking to a nearby Arboretum. It was near the little river, a pleasant place to be on a sunny day.

As we were near the services club, we decided to have lunch there. Just a bacon and egg roll for me and a hamburger for Stephen, which were served with chips. It was quite pleasant, but we moved on to have our coffee at Wilders Bakery Cafe afterwards. Stephen actually bought a paper (he prefers if cafes supply them for customers to read) and I started processing some photos.

After an hour we wanted to get out into the fresh air again and walked down to the river to follow it along further. The track ended and we were fairly close to home. On our way to our cabin we booked in for Friday night.

Some scenes from the Arboretum Park. Fishing and reflections from the river on the tree branches.

14th and 15th May, 2019

Yesterday morning we took advantage of being in Young for a few days to go to the Town Hall for early voting. It was a painless experience, though for our state we did not have the voting leaflets that would have set out our candidates and the next few numbers so that the preferences would go to our preferred candidate. So, we had to guess. I voted for the Pirate Party for my last number, hopefully that candidate doesn’t stand too much chance and doesn’t let preferences run to a far right party!

Stephen found it interesting to talk with the people handing out how to vote cards. Josh Frydenberg is the sitting member for this area.

He headed off to the library to read the papers and find out about local events and I went to Art of the the Expresso to check it out. I had noticed this cafe when we first came into town, especially the fact that they roast their own beans. I am running out of the beans bought in Perth before we left. What are the chances of being in a town where they roast their own coffee. I’ve bought 500g of beans, I think it will be enough to get us home.

We went home for lunch yesterday, then went out again in the evening at about 5.00 p.m. It was getting close to dark. Stephen had asked earlier about the cinema we had seen when walking around the town, but someone had told him that they only showed very popular movies that we probably would not want to see. At the library Stephen found that they do show more adult movies on Tuesday and Sunday nights. ‘The Chaperone’ is a movie I have wanted to see and it was showing last night. We had a meal at the same pub as before, this time sharing a cider and a meal, rather than ordering two separate ones. It was plenty.

The Cinema is run by volunteers. There was a small audience, two men and about 10 women. They ran some advertising before the movie, which must help with keeping things running. We had choc bombs, not the best, but given that it is a volunteer organisation we gave it extra points. We only paid $11 each for our tickets.

The movie finished at 9.00 and we were walking home on a high, having had a very good experience when something happened that we weren’t expecting at all, a woman seated in a sort of small park area in the main street asked us for money. We were a bit stunned and had no special ‘beggar’ money in a hip pocket, so refused. We were a bit shaken as it doesn’t seem like that sort of town. We know there are social services providing meals in a ‘food hall’, so we weren’t too worried about her having nothing to eat.

We didn’t let it spoil the experience.

I didn’t blog yesterday as I wanted to visit the cafe again this morning and have something to do besides read my book and enjoy drinking and smelling the beautiful coffee.

It will be good when the elections are over and we can get back to real news instead of constant analysis and conjecture. Nevertheless, we plan on being somewhere where we can watch the election count unfold, either here in Young or on the road.

I can check online re the state of our claim and just did so and found that it has moved from ‘being assessed’ to ‘repairs authorised’. That was quick, they said it would be three to five days for the assessment. They haven’t rung us yet, and not sure if they have advised our repairer, Stephen and I meet up soon and he can phone them.