This is me feeling pretty depressed after the UK election has been thumpingly won by the conservatives. Despite the Democrats drawing up of the articles of impeachment on Trump there is little hope that he will actually be impeached, since the Republicans, including the ones that were totally scathing about him before he was elected, now appear to stand behind him totally. And we have our own conservative Prime Minister, a religious nutcase, with no apparent capacity to understand science, standing firm against  doing anything about human induced climate change despite the devastating drought and bushfires. He offers ‘thoughts and prayers’ as if they actually help.

Very depressing. The above quote is from Wilfred Owens Strange Meeting

I’ve just watched a video of someone driving in Scotland in a van like our new one, which reminds me of why driving in the UK is so terrifying. Mind you, our mountain roads a really scary as well. We are still waiting to pick up our new  van, Friday next week, and the time in that sense seems to be passing really slowly.

We have been very busy and look forward to having some quiet time after Christmas. Stephen is singing in the Christmas Symphony Concert at Langley Park tomorrow night and some of us are going to the dress rehearsal tonight. Of course, it’s ideal weather for it as it shouldn’t get cold, as it sometimes does after sunset. With more 40 degree days forecast the nights stay warm.

The light was very pink because of the smoke from a bushfire north of the city. Not too dangerous at this stage, but the strong winds and continuing very hot weather makes all of us nervous, not just those who live in that area.

This is just after the tragedy on White Island in New Zealand. We tourists seem to think we are imune to dangers when we are travelling and take foolish risks – Stephen and I’ve been guilty of it as well sometimes. Of course, the tour company is at fault, but the more they get away with taking tourists to dangerious locations the more they must feel that it’s a minor risk.

This week we have a few more very hot days to go before it cools down a bit. This is our second heatwave, with the first last month. The winds are easterly which makes for heightened fire risk in the hills near Perth where most of my family live.

A photo from our visit to Lucerne in the European summer this year.

Stephen sang in the Verdi Requiem on Friday and Saturday nights and had rehearsals on the four preceding nights. Pretty intense! Although this is my least favourite requiem if you think,of it as an opera it makes sense. Eversley and I went Saturday night and I noticed for the first time that there are sections that are voice only, with the orchestra standing by. Quite unusual.

As well as learning his music, etc. we also decided to put the Winnie on Gumtree to see if we could sell it. I took some interior shots with a wide angle lens and used exterior shots from our travels. The advert went up on Tuesday and we had a serious offer by the evening. Part of our reason for selling is the feeling that as we are getting older the van is just too big. So, of course, the people who were serious about actually buying the van are older than us, downsizing from a caravan. They wanted a van with two sleeping areas as they are not used to sleeping together.

After viewing the van on Wednesday, I think, they made an offer that evening. It was just above our bottom price, quite good in fact. After being told that we wouldn’t get much for it, this was a nice feeling.

The buyers came back on Saturday to have a test drive and pick up the van. They paid by bank cheque, which we take to be a secure method of payment. It was a long handover process, and we are left with not only a sense of relief, but feeling happy that other people will now be able to enjoy having such a comfortable van. We certainly wish them well.

Getting our bottom line price opened up possibilities for a replacement. We had a choice of going very small, no shower and a porta Potti for a toilet, or a short van with a combined shower/toilet. We have been considering our options since we came home from England and were still undecided. Our bed in the Winnie was small and fairly enclosed, something we enjoyed more than we thought we would. That opened up the,possibility of a van with a dinette in the front and an east/west bed in the rear. This would allow us to buy quite a short van that is not only easier to drive, but which we can park in our spare parking bay next to the house.

After a long discussion going into all of the pros and cons of a very small van, we came to the conclusion that a medium van would work best. Although we like to snuggle together at night, having two living spaces allows for a bit more separation when Stephen wants to read after I go to bed at night.

One of the options was to buy a fairly new van, hopefully still under warranty. On Saturday morning I saw one advertised and after our long handover, I suggested we go to the dealer to have a look at it. And after a thorough walk through and some haggling between Stephen and the salesman (I’m not sure who won, but I hadn’t expect a reduction of almost $4000 on their asking price). It feels like a win.

This morning we found out that we can’t pick it up until the 18th December. It has to have the licence plates changed to WA, a service and thorough clean, and a new flexible arm for the TV which presently blocks one of the overhead cupboards. Plus the handover typically takes at least an hour and needs to be booked well in advance.

It is an Adria 600 SP, and I’d be worried about the lighter build of this European campervan except that it has already done 19,000 kilometres of travel across Australia from Queensland. This suggests that it’s well built and can cope with Australian conditions. It still has a year of new car warranty. And, it will fit into the parking space next to our house.

We also need to arrange our finances, but could pick up the van by the end of the week. Still, it’s good to have a waiting period to adjust. I don’t have any regrets about selling the Winnie. From the time on our last long trip in the Winnie earlier this year I have feeling the responsibility of driving the large heavy van and wishing we had something smaller and lighter. Plus all the maintenance was getting me down.

Matt and I went to Floreat Beach for morning tea on Thursday. He takes photos with a steep slope, I guess we could call this his signature style. I don’t dare try to straighten it. Of course, my photos sometimes have a bit of a slope as well. If I notice, I do correct them.

Life continues to be very busy, with two Working Voices rehearsals this week, plus the WASO Chorus is now preparing for their Christmas Symphony concert. Matt starts regular surfing again on Saturday morning and has a one off racing car experience booked for Sunday. He’s only been once before and had a wonderful time.

The answe is: us. We’ve slept next to busy roads quite a lot when travelling and it doesn’t seem to be a problem for us. Of course, the traffic does die down overnight, but there is likely to still be some road noise. My theory is that because we live in the city we have learned to filter it out.

After a fairly warm day we weren’t sure whether the night would be cool enough to snuggle under a doona, but at around 9.00 p.m. the temperature dropped noticeably. Just as well as I had only brought winter pyjamas with me.

We had a leisurely morning, taking time to enjoy our first cups of tea, then washing, then a slow breakfast.

We went back into Toodyay for coffee and the papers. We stayed at the bakery so long that eventually it was time for lunch and we had a pie and a pasty. Somehow, the cakes weren’t tempting. I think it’s because my appetite changes in the warmer weather, thank goodness.

We found a shady spot next to a park and had a rest before heading off to Clackline. I wanted to have a look at an overnight place that we found on Wikicamps. Unfortunately the way in was a steep, rutted gravel road. Just as well we didn’t rely on being able to stay there overnight. We found a Lions Park, with a lion statue nearby, worth a short stop.

Our last stop of the day was at Lake Leschenaultia. It was still pretty warm and we wanted somewhere cool to stay until it was time to go home. We took the righthand turn after the entrance along a drive with parking spaces. When we got to the end we realised the only way out was to back a long way. Still, it was time for afternoon tea. Stephen got the chairs out and we stayed until after 6.00 p.m. We were completely boxed in soon after we arrived, so just as well we wanted to stay.

After the cars around us were driven away we were able to back into the nearest bay and turn around. As you can imagine, this is a two person job, with Stephen outside directing me. Not too difficult. We stopped in Childlow to clean the windscreen. A man came over to admire the Winnie and Stephen told him we were selling. Stephen said we had a firm price of $67,000 and the man took his phone number for future reference.

By the time we were heading down the hill it was after sunset. We arrived home when it was quite dark and after a few trips up and down the drive had unpacked most of our stuff. A light meal, some relaxation, and off to bed.

We made the most of having one night away. The Winnie had a good run and we were able to really unwind and enjoy it.

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.

This morning I woke up suddenly with the sun in my eyes. It was about 5:30, just after dawn. I got up, took some photos and went back to bed after closing the curtains. I slept until our alarm went off. That is two very good nights sleeps in a row.

We didn’t hurry, just enjoyed having washes and breakfast, listening to the radio on Stephen’s phone. The internet works well enough for that. We found some water leaking in the bathroom, but I just couldn’t work out where it was coming from. Everything seems dry again now we are home. Very puzzling.

We had a few little stops on the way, one for refuelling. Our lunch stop was at Pinjarra at the 24 hr camping. Stephen was phantasy good that we had a couple of weeks to wander around the area, coming back to Pinjarra from time to time. We can only stay for 24 hours at a time.

We arrived here at about 3:30 and I started making cups of tea whilst Stephen went to switch on the hot water system. I heard a noise and when I went to investigate saw that water was pouring out of a bathroom cupboard. The plumber, who arrived in about half an hour said he advises people to not switch off their hot water systems when they go away. If there is any weakness in the system the sudden pressure will make it burst.

Stephen quickly switched off the water at our mains tap and I was able to contain the water using pretty much all of our spare towels. I couldn’t help thinking of when this happened at my sister’s villa. Neither she nor her neighbour were able to turn off the mains water tap which had seized up. She had to sit there waiting for the plumber whilst the water went pretty much through put her house, causing thousands of dollars worth of water damage. It was covered by insurance, but still a bad experience. We felt lucky that we were at home when this happened and we able to so quickly stop the flow.

Energised by this, we have unpacked all of the vulnerable stuff from the Winnie as in food and electronics. There is still a lot to come in, but nothing urgent.

The new bed pad has really helped with our problem of the bottom sheet being difficult to tuck in and having to remake the bed every day or so when we are away. Pinning the sheet to the pad means we don’t have it coming off. The pad itself does slip down the bed a bit overnight, but is easy to put back into place each morning. We also find it very comfortable as we are used to a fairly soft mattress at home.

Stephen has WASO chorus rehearsal tonight, whereas I can relax and basically supervise the washing machine and dryer, getting all of the wet towels done. It will take three loads. Then I will start on our clothes washing. Well, maybe tomorrow.

Note: The walk to Wellington Dam from Potters Gorge takes about 25 minutes.

The temperature dropped overnight. We had everything open (windows and hatches) and it got quite cold in the van, very good for sleeping. We made a slow start in the morning and I actually used the heater for warming up the bathroom before having a shower. We asked for an extension of time until 11.00 a.m. We spent time with Marie and Geoff working out what to do for the day, and checking out their caravan in more detail.

I won’t attempt to upload more photos as the internet is so slow.

We drove down the Visitor Information Centre, having noted that there was parking for longer vehicles available. We spent time in the VIC where there were gifts and some posters with information about the history of Collie. Outside there are some steam locomotive engines. There were some interesting stories from those times. The others then went to the museum whilst I enjoyed the fresh air outside.

From there Stephen and I drove to Potters Gorge. A ranger and a man from the kiosk came by, but no one asked us to prove we had a booking. They must have access to the vehicle registration details from the online booking to confirm that we are legitimately camped.

Marie and Geoff came by later for afternoon tea. I made coffee and they brought Anzac biscuits. We sat outside at the picnic table which comes with our site.

Later Stephen and I walked through to Wellington Dam. I’m not sure of the distance, probably about 5 or 6 kms return. It is a fairly easy walk, uphill at first, which meant downhill coming home. We watched our feet very carefully on the gravel, especially coming downhill. The day has been fine and sunny after a cloudy start to the morning. The temperature is ideal, probably about 25.

We had a better phone signal at the dam than here, where we only have one bar of 4g. It was useful as we could see quite a lot of smoke from a fire on the other side of the dam. I was able to check and find that it was a prescribed burn. Seems odd to do it when we are having strong winds here near Collie.

This evening we were going to have another meal of leftovers, but as I took it out of the fridge (it had been in the freezer and I changed it to the fridge this morning) the bowl split. It is Pyrex and we have been using these bowls for freezing food for years. We didn’t like to eat the food with the risk of glass slivers. Instead we cooked up some frozen vegetables with bacon and eggs, with bread lightly toasted under the griller. Plus a little icecream and the last of our rhubarb.

We listened to a Desert Island Disk about an American lawyer working in Afghanistan. Very interesting though we didn’t care for her choice of music.

In an update I can post some photos from yesterday on our home internet.

Some photos from Collie Visitor Centre.

And some from Potters Gorge and our walk. I mentioned the smoke on the other side of the dam earlier.

We took it rather easy on Saturday morning, staying at our campsite at the caravan park until lunchtime. We then headed to the boat ramp area in Dunsborough to have a picnic lunch. We were due for a warmup at 1.30 p.m. and made it in plenty of time.

Our 20 minute concert appearance had it’s ups and downs. Stephen and I weren’t well rehearsed, having only been to a couple of practices before the Songfest. I took time out during one song to get some photos for our Facebook page.

Stephen and I stayed for the whole afternoon concert and were therefore onsite for a brief session with Voicemale rehearsing a couple of the songs in preparation for our joint concert next month. Then it was off to the Old Dunsborough Hall for a quick meal before heading off for the Saturday night concert at the school. We stayed for the whole concert this time.

This morning we weren’t required until 10.30 and were able to have a fairly relaxed morning before packing up. We had a warmup session, then sang our two songs, and felt free to do what we wanted. That involved staying long enough to listen to some of the other singers and have a cup of tea(me anyway).

We went back to the Busselton foreshore for lunch, setting off for Collie at about 2.00 p.m. Owing to some conflicting advice from Google Maps and Stephen’s physical map we did not get to Collie until about 5.00 p.m. It was too late to drive to Potter’s Gorge in fading light and we booked in to stay at the caravan park. We are just across the street from Marie, Geoff and Glenn.

We had our FaceTime session with Matt this morning because we expected to be at Potter’s Gorge where the phone reception is patchy.

We are pretty tired from the drive and glad to be able to relax and have a meal of leftovers. Stephen is reading about the Collie area and has a sightseeing day planned for tomorrow. We may go to PG in the afternoon.

When we were in England I booked two nights there, dreaming of a peaceful couple of night at PG. I hadn’t reckoned on the weather, we are already having hot temperatures. Fortunately we have a cooler couple of days to come, and will be home again before the temperatures rise to over 35. Yesterday’s heat was a bit of a problem, even in Dunsborough, but it was about 40 in Perth and the temperature in Dunsborough only reached about 33.

It’s a miracle. All of our tiredness and feeling unwell has disappeared and we woke up feeling ready for the drive to Dunsborough. We used the car to trolley all of our stuff down the driveway to the Winnie and were away by 9:15 am. We had a couple of short stops for toilets and fuel, plus a morning tea stop at one of our favourite rest stops, the John Tognela Rest Area.

We pushed on and diverted just a little to have lunch at 1.30 pm on the beach at Busselton where we stayed for about three hours having a rest and wandering around enjoying the sunshine and beautiful sea.

We left Busselton at about 4:30 pm for the Dunsborough Lakes Caravan Park and were all set up at around 5:30 pm. We ran into friends from choir on the way down whilst refuelling and have other friends, also from our choir, camped close by us here. Catching up with people we know is all part of the Dunsborough experience.

We made it in to the evening concert, a little late due to having showers, a delicious meal of leftovers, and desert of rhubarb and icecream. We didn’t score seats in the hall at the concert and gave up at the interval to come home. We had seats outside, but it was very noisy with lots of people socialising and not listening to the music.

Suddenly, we are very tired indeed.