We are spending the night at a lay by about 8 kms from Toodyay. When I said to Stephen that the Winnie needed a run we began to explore all sorts of options. One was to stay a couple of nights at the Coogee Beach Caravan Park and go to an opera film in Fremantle. When that turned out to be fully booked Stephen suggested Toodyay.
We consulted WikiCamps and found that the place where we free camped last time has disappeared. It was rather nice being near a bridge and the Avon River. But, there was this place, a gravel site just off the road. It only has one review so far, a not very flattering one. But, it means we can avoid staying in a caravan park (we like free camping best).
A Ute pulled up close to us shortly after we settled in and offered us some pizza. Well, we don’t usually say ‘no’ to free food. What a kind thought indeed. We had some small tuna and pasta bowls to have with salad for tea, but pizza will do instead.
On the way here, we went to Noble Falls for our lunch break. We spent so long there that we didn’t arrive in Toodyay until about 4.00 p.m. We went to the IGA to buy some fruit, salads and butter. At lunchtime we realised I had forgotten to pack butter, but we had melted cheese on toast, which doesn’t really need butter, so it wasn’t too bad.
Our plan is to visit the wonderful Toodyay Bakery in the morning and stock up on some of their bread, as well as have coffee and whatever. Hence camping just out of town, we didn’t want to go too far away.
We have been busy with choir things and generally catching up with life. I went to Matt’s pop up bar yesterday for a lamb and salad roll. He took me out to show me the Community Garden project they have all been working on.
Stephen and I have been to the local pool a couple of times. This will be part of our summertime exercise. Eversley organises a Sunday morning walk once a month, which we also enjoy. Plus, took ourselves out for an evening walk on the last day of the first heatwave for November this year.
Stephen and I have road tested a couple of Camper vans. David, from Dove Campers brought a van to our house to see if it would fit in the parking spot under the kitchen window. The 6 metre van was a good fit and our neighbour had a chance to look at it as well to confirm it wouldn’t get in their way when they reverse into their garage.
The other van is a brand new van, 6 metres in length, being brought out by Jayco. It was lovely to drive and is a pretty complete package. We would lose being able to walk through into the cab area from the living area. Of course, this could be changed on the new van, but would add to the cost. For a brand new Campervan it is a very good price and includes a combination shower/toilet and a sort of ‘starter’ solar set up.
Sadly, we would get quite a bit less money for our van than we thought, at the moment we are adjusting our thinking and keeping an eye out for a second hand van that would meet our requirements for being able to free camp in places that require us to be ‘ fully self contained’. We want something reliable and not too many kilometres on the clock.
A compilation from today. Flying a drone is permitted here and I had a first pass at actually flying it around. I’ve made the classic mistake of turning it around too quickly. Everything to learn. It takes off and lands automatically at the press of a button.