Hanging at the Central Coast...

Builder Bob Goes to Work

Tuesday 16 November

I have lost track of the day count now as there really hasn't been anything too remotely interesting to report, no sharks eating sharks, no crocodiles hoovering around the boat, no exploring or finding ourselves learning the hard way. I'm wondering if I should stop the day count and resume it once we hit the road again? We left our beloved new home (camper trailer) in Port Macquarie about a week ago and headed to the Central Coast to help my sisters with their renovations. We are staying with my sister Danielle and her husband Shaun and there is currently no kitchen! As I am sitting downstairs typing this, there is a curious flow of sawdust floating down from the downlight in the ceiling as Geoff bangs around upstairs. Today he is gyprocking and laying timber floorboards in their new kitchen. I'm not sure how long we will be done this way for but in the meantime we are enjoying spending time with our families. We (or should I say Geoff) has some more work organised in Port Macquarie for a few days and then a couple weeks work in Hat Head. So that will pretty much take us up till Christmas which is only 5 weeks and 4 days away! Once again God has provided for us on this exciting journey.

DAY 122 - 136 (Goodbye Caravan - Hello Camper Trailer)

DAY 130 Weds 27 Oct  - 136 Tues 2 Nov

• So for the last week we have been in Port Macquarie packing our new home and getting our car looked at which for the last week or two has not been starting easily. We still don't know what's wrong with it even after being to the mechanic's and auto electricians. Hopefully we will sort it out soon. 
• My sisters also both came up for the weekend and it was so great to catch up with them again and see our little nephew Hunter... 

Trying to work out how to set up our new home...

Our new home..

• Our plan at this stage, and it could change as we are learning, is to try and find some work between now and Christmas so we are around our family for Christmas. So if anyone needs a carpenter just let us know! After Christmas we will make our way south to Victoria and Tasmania. 

DAY 129 - Tues 26 Oct

• We packed up and left Lismore and headed to Ballina to pick up our new home.
• There has been an ongoing debate between us regarding hearing - Geoff says I speak too quietly and I say he is deaf and needs to turn his hearing up. There was only one way to solve this and so today we both had a hearing test. My overall hearing is slightly better than Geoff's but we are both within normal range...
• By 2pm we had still not had the call that the trailer was ready so we decided just to turn up and see what was happening. They then told us that sorry, it would not be ready today but we could pick it up tomorrow. We were both not happy as we had packed up in lismore and driven to Ballina to pick it up as they said it would be ready today. Eventually, after I suggested that they find us accommodation if it wasn't ready, they 'somehow' found the parts that were 'missing' and by 5.30pm we had our new home... 

• Because we had SO much stuff with us from the caravan that we now no longer needed, we decided to drive 5 hours back to Port Macquarie and unload.

DAY 128 - Mon 25 Oct

• We spent today getting organised for picking up the trailer which was not quite ready yet.

DAY 127 - Sun 24 Oct

• Today Daff and Helen took us for a tour around the beautiful countryside which included a stop at Nimbin. We were out of the car for no more than a minute when we were offered drugs. By the time we got back to the car (less than 5 mins) we had been offered drugs 5 times! It is truly like stepping onto another planet filled with hippys, drugs and lots of rainbows...

DAY 126 - Sat 23 Oct

• With a FULLY loaded car we left Brisbane and made our way to Lismore to spend the weekend with our Cape York buddies Daffyd and Helen. 

DAY 125 - Fri 22 Oct

• We spent most of the day today trying to jam a caravan full of stuff into our car - somehow we managed to fit it all in except for our bikes which will have to stay in Brisbane for now...

• Tonight, we had dinner with Emmi (another cousin) and her family. Their youngest Dan, (4 yrs old I think) couldn't pronounce my name properly so I was "A-panda" for the night - so cute!

DAY 124 - Thurs 21 Oct

• We decided to try unpack, clean and deliver the van by this afternoon rather than tomorrow so our cheque would clear in time to pick up the trailer on Monday. So that meant a 6am start and we didn't stop until 3pm!
• By 4.30 we had delivered the caravan to its new owners and we high-fived as we drove away - Goodbye caravan - hello camper trailer!

DAY 123 - Weds 20 Oct

• After breakfast we had a call from Kimberly Kampers to say that our camper trailer was ready a week early and could now be picked up on Monday. God's timing is perfect as now we could sell the van in Brisbane on friday and pick up the camper trailer on Monday in Ballina. 
• So we said goodbye to Uncle keith and Aunty Hilda and made our way to Brisbane.
• We stayed with my cousin Jenni and Aaron (their kids Ella and Aston in photo below) and left the van at my Uncle Bill and Aunty Corrie's place to clean.

DAY 122 - Tues 19 Oct

• We awoke to another beautiful day in Hervey Bay and shortly after had a call from my Uncle Keith. Apparently they were camping at Tin Can Bay which was only a short drive south away, so we spontaneously decided to pack up and head to where they were. 
• I'm afraid our exit from the Hervey Bay caravan park was less than graceful and was definitely embarrassing. It's hard to explain effectively what happened, but here goes. We had to drive along in front of all the other caravans facing the beach and then slip between two vans to get back to the road. The gap between the two vans was ridiculously tight so we thought surely there is another exit up ahead. Unfortunately to drive forwards meant driving right through a grey nomad tea party that was taking place. When they saw us coming there was chairs, snacks and grey nomads fleeing everywhere. We apologised as we ploughed through their tea party only to discover it was a dead end and we had to reverse back through it. By this time we had quite an audience as it was narrow and difficult to reverse. We eventually managed to get our large 13m rig out of there only to hear a grey nomad running after us calling for us to stop. In our haste to reverse we had collected a large branch on the bike rack. We thanked her, and headed south towards Tin Can bay. 
• We spent the rest of the day catching up with Uncle Keith and Aunty Hilda.