Sunny days at Wynnum

The computer picked up a virus today not sure from where but it is serious with a hoax Virus program taking over the computer.
Another beautiful day in sunny Wynnum , quite a lazy day sitting around. We were hoping to go watch some local football but it is to far away.
Off to Gatton to catch up with Bradley, Trudy, Della and all their clan of kids. It was a great day, Della & Gary put on a great BBQ and we sat around and chatted all day. Although it has taken some time we have pretty well caught up with all of Tina’s relatives while we were here.
Back to Aunty Dos house today for a final catch up with Nan. The computer is fixed
Up early and the Tojo is down to Pit Stop 4 x 4 to have steering hub seal fixed and hopefully the Steering leak. It is not good news early with word that the brake hoses are shot and new pads are required. At the end of the day the steering hub & brakes only got fixed with the power steering seal only available in Darwin. Mick tells me the leak isn’t that bad but I have always been really anal about any engine leaks no matter how small. Its our final night in Brisbane.

Today we have to go and pick up the new couch mattresses for the caravan and then we finally off travelling again. It seems such a long time but at least we got plenty done in Adelaide. We are going past Coolum to see Uncle Graham and then to 1770 for some fishing.

Brisbane here we come

We are up and ready to roll at 7.30am. Our target is Broken Hill and it’s a fair drive when you have to go through Adelaide. Some stops to get Diesel, Fritz & Metwurst. It is 10:00am before we get past Gawler and we have a nasty wind the entire day.
The scenery is very green and the crops look good fingers crossed.

We arrive in Broken Hill and check into a Hotel room. I’m still sick and need to crash in a nice bed. The scenery soon changes when you get to Broken Hill.

We head off at 9:00am and drive to long day to Coonabarabran. This is a huge day 850km which a big drive in the old Tojo. It is getting warmer with each Km we get closer to Brisbane and it is T-Shirt weather and we even have the window down. It is after dark when we get there and tonight we are slumming it in the Tojo. It rains lightly most of the night.

We are up early again and I’m starting to feel a little better. I make coffee & breakfast in the drizzle and we head off again. Brisbane is our target today and 750km later we arrive at Auntie Dos house. We catch up with Nan who is staying there and then head back to Nan’s house. It is good to be back in Brisbane and it is going to 26° tomorrow.

Its Thursday already and today we had to plan some stuff. New cushions for the caravan they give you a numb bum after about 10 minutes and we need to sleep on some of them as well.
The car steering hub seal went on the way up which once again is a breakdown of something I have already had fixed once. The guy who is going to fix it tells me he gets lots of people like me because normal mechanics don’t fix it properly. Not happy Jan this time it is going to cost heaps and that is only getting one side fixed. The power steering system needs repair as well so we will have to wait and see how much that will all cost.
Next we are off to buy a new UHF radio and ARB come through with a good one and a good price to. Tomorrow new tyres and then no money left. I'm quited paranoid about oil leaks and even more paranoid about breaking down on the way to Cape York because you can sure bet any mechanical repairs up there will be pretty pricey.

Andy Gets a Man Cold & the last days in Adelaide

Today was sad as I had to drop the kids off at home. I had a really good time with them and although it rained for two weeks in Adelaide and spent a lot of time sitting around in the unit we were still together. After this we went to watch Goody Saints play at Modbury at pretty poor game on a dung heap and nothing has changed in all the years I ever played there. I’m feeling pretty crap (thanks Carol). Then off to Mel & Glen’s again for a family BBQ. It was a good night, I’ll have to ask Tina because sickly boy laid in the lounge all night (I have a man cold you know)

Sunday we are up early and off to Willunga to pack up. Sickly boy is no better and Tina sheds some tears. We arrive back and are straight into it. Packing up the car for the drive back
It takes most of the day and Megan, Nathan, Jorja, Emily & Carol come down for moral support. We are all packed up and ready to head back to Brisbane in the morning. We spend the night talking with Michael and watching the Aussies in the Cricket.

Adelaide Rainy Days

Tina was off to see Belinda and the kids and I hung around the unit did some more cleaning.
Just like the rest of our travlels we have brought the rain to Adelaide.

Today I was off top get my MR truck license, a full 10 hour course. And boy do they make you work hard for it. It is the most driving I have done in one day, even now we are travelling. It had a crap clutch and I even have to learn a reverse park in a big truck. I passed which was good and was knackered by the end of the day but I’m sure it will come in handy while we are travelling.
The Kids stayed at home with Tina and cooked which was very yummy.

Today Carol, Mel’s Kids, My Kids and Tina off course all went to the museum, it rained off course. It was interesting but a bit of a weird lay out. We bumped into Tom & Amy as well as little Tom and had a good chat.

Today we all off to Ambers 3rd birthday party at Ben & Belinda’s and it was good to see them again and Holy. The Kids were a great help and we had a good day. We had Primo pizzas for tea which was nice.

Sunday we went to Michaels with the kids and picked up some stuff while Tina laid on the couch and watched movies. The week continued to rain so we spend most of the time just bumming around with the kids.

Tax time in the morning with good refunds for both Tina and I. Went to Sarah’s Scout fundraising movie, Harry Potter & Half Blooded Prince. They put on heaps of food and the movie was alright I suppose, if you are into Harry Potter. After we went to Mel & Glen’s new place for a BBQ tea.
Friday we moved out of the unit and headed down to Beachwood caravan Park for the night. We stayed in a cabin and had a fire. This is where Arnie lives and this was the only time we could catch up with him.

Just like yesterday, Unit life

Let the cleaning begin, and we spend the whole day working our way through the unit. These tenants we not cleanest people ever.
We continue on with the cleaning it takes us until late that night to finally finish.
Some final cleaning up in the morning and shopping before picking up the kids. It is great to see them again and we head back to the unit. It just seems like yesterday that we were all living here and it is hard to believe that we have been so far in 12 months.
We have prospective tenants arriving today and it was easy to select a tenant. In the afternoon we go to Megan & Nathans and decide to go to Rapid Bay to try some fishing and check out the new jetty they have built. It is smaller than I expected and I feel the 3.9 million they spent would have been better fixing up the old jetty. Nathan catches a small leather jacket & Tommie and that is all the success we have. We did see Seals, Dolphins and even a penguin not what the burley said it would attract.
Today we bottle wine at Mel & Glens and then sit around and watch the big clash between St Kilda & Geelong. It turns out to be as good a game as expected. It is bitterly cold in Adelaide today and I’m sulking a lot about it.
Another day another adventure and today we drive to Wallaroo to check out Carol’s new house. It’s coming along really well and should be finished soon. It is a big house so if Carol needs a holiday she can just move to the other end of the house. There are only 3 houses being built in the whole area of this sub division and they are all next to each other.
I head down to the wharf with the kids in the hope of some better fishing than Rapid Bay but talking to some people on the way out is not encouraging. It doesn’t take long until I catch a King George Whiting even though he is to small. We fish for about an hour and end up with 3 under size whiting one being caught by Kirsten. Not what I had hoped for but better than our luck at Rapid Bay.

Back in Adelaide

We pick up some car parts and head over to Marion to catch up with Cheryl. Then we are off to Megan’s to see Megan, Carol, Emily & Jorja. Off again and down to Lonsdale to arrange some more car servicing. I’m changing the oil in everything diffs, transfer cases, gear boxes etc. It is cheap and good to know there will be new oil in them all. Although we drive mostly good roads with the Caravan on when it gets off the leash the Tojo certainly gets a good work out like Fraser Island and our trip back to Adelaide via Murray-Sunset NP. All booked in and then down to Willunga to Michael's. We are not surprised that nothing much has changed there, he is a little slack but happy with his lot in life. We don’t unpack or anything just have a bit of a chat.
Today is a big day so after fully unload the car, side boxes, roof racks and everything its off to Seaford and the car wash. It takes a lot of high pressure cleaner work to rid the Tojo of all that mud and even still some Fraser Island sand. But she looks great and its nice to see it still scrubs up alright. Back to Willunga for oil & filter changes. Tina cleans out the inside and then we work on the rust hole in the floor. I’m sure I have mentioned this Toyota Landcruiser design fault and I will surely let everyone we meet who owns one this problem. I have ground out all the rust and fitted to alloy plates over the holes with Silicone hope this works. It is a long day but we get plenty done.
After breakfast we are at it again and we also go through all the stuff we brought back and check out what is coming back with us. There are always little things falling apart and vibrating loose. This has to be expected if you are going to drive around Aus.
We are all done by late afternoon and then start on downloads and paperwork catch ups. We spend the evening chatting to Michael and watched a Brad Pitt movie fight club.
We pack up our stuff fold up our bed and we are off to Lonsdale for car servicing and a Wheel Alignment, hope there is no damage down there.
It is cool how we can just pack up our bed and food and move on to a new place to stay. We are trying to spread our love around in the short time we are here. Did I tell you how cold it is in Adelaide especially when you are used to 22+ everyday.
The Wheel Alignment was good as was the rear diff, transfer case & gearbox. However the front diff does not look like the oil has been changed for ever as well as a big piece of metal which was found at the bottom. It looks to me like a welding slag. So we are off to see the kids. We have not seen them since Sydney and it will be great to see them again.
We have a good chat and a go down to Glenelg and have a walk around. After that we go to Mel’s so we all have a good chat that night. We watched the new Indiana Jones movie.
Up early and off to watch Sam play football it is cold and dewy. The to see Sarah play netball. They are off to do shopping and we go to Cheryl’s. Heath drives us to Football park to watch the crows. Last year was the first time I have not been to football park for over 20 years. They are playing Sydney and finally you can have a beer and watch the football at the same time what a novel concept. It is not the nest game but the crows come out in the second half and finally play enough good football to win. Chinese at Ginlings for tea was so nice and we stayed at Cheryl’s overnight.
A little bit of a sore head for us both this morning. Tina does an inspection on the unit, the lease expires on 30th June and we are going to stay there for the school holidays. Next stop Megan & Nathans for the afternoon and a sleep over. Jorja is very happy to see Tina and keeps her busy for the whole day.
We head back to Willunga for the day and grab all our stuff to move into the unit.
The tenants have not moved out yet so we head off and check out the camping stores. Finally the have moved out so we bring in all our stuff and survey the cleaning job ahead. Our first night in the unit for 12 months, it feels a little strange.