Month: December 2021

Sunday, 5th December 2021.

Up 6.30am. Light, bit cloudy, crisp. On the computer. (What’s new?)

Today we lunch with Ian and Lori, life long friends.

As I said once before, this is a travel blog. If I have returned to the home town, we are not travelling.

So I will stop the blog until we hit the road again.

We will stay at Bruce’s place till 20th December, then we will go to a van park till we have Christmas and decide what we will do for the new year.

We have to be back in Adelaide at the end of April, so what we do till that date from just after new years is unknown. However, I believe it is usually about 5 or 6 degrees cooler down south around Mt Gambier, so that is a possibility.

If you want to continue following the blog, you can look at it from time to time to see if I have done anything worth noting, or leave it till the new year when we will be on the road again most likely.

Have a Good Christmas, and a ‘much better’ New Year.’

 

Cheers.

L & A.

A funny … (or 3)

Saturday, 4th December 2021.

Up at 6.30am. Fairly cloudy but some sun getting through. Light breeze. Cold, at least in the van.

This should have been in yesterday but the internet wasn’t good enough to download.

Now …on to Adelaide today. We are  only about an hour away if that. Out the back of  Bruce’s office for a couple of weeks. Got to get there by 11am as he has a chore and has to go out 12.20 pm.

Late away (of course) and a stop due at Dublin’s dump spot to dump of course. A call and an offer of a visit to Parham from a man amongst men IW. Unfortunately we have just pulled out and are on our way to meet Bruce who is waiting to open the gate for us to take up temporary residence at his mini caravan park out the back of his office.

We get there late at 11.45am after a few mishaps (I’ll put the mudflap back on later) and for the second time I execute the difficult manoeuvre of backing into this tight yard. ‘Execute the difficult manoeuvre?’ Sounds like a firing squad execution, doesn’t it. Like in, ‘How many Manoeuvre’s have you shot this week?’ Five. Three males and a female with her cub.’

So what do you think they would look like I wonder? Big hairy thinks with horns and bad attitudes maybe? Well, they are ‘difficult’ so they have to have attitude. Just makes sense.

Back to reality. Easy does it.

I get it in somehow and we are off to Steve’s auction which is where Bruce had to go and perform in a minor capacity. Things have changed a bit. Grange, four bedroom, two bathroom, cream brick, $928,000 under the hammer with four bidders. (!?)

Impromptu late lunch 3pm at the Birkenhead. I don’t know what Steve’s commission is but he’s buying the wine and this is it …..

Mollydooker, which by the way is I think old Aussie slang for Left handed.

This one is ‘The Boxer’, left handed boxer I assume. Damn nice drop as well. Shiraz of course.

You apparently are supposed to do the Mollydooker shake for the first two years when you open a bottle as this video shows you how.

N.B. and this is WHY you have to do it …. Why do the Mollydooker Shake? When we bottle our wine, rather than use additional sulphites to prevent oxidisation, we use nitrogen. … As soon as you do the Mollydooker Shake it releases the nitrogen and the flavour ‘pops back out’ to its full size again.

After all this, we didn’t shake but it was still a knockout wine. Thanks Steve. The happy diners with wine master Steve in the back row.

Birkenhead Tavern, last to leave.

Back to the Bitumen van park. Bruce and partner off for dinner. We are in for dinner. Showers and a light snack after a late lunch. Bit of TV, couple of glasses. An early bed.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz            zzzzzzzzzzzz              zzzzzzzzzzzzz

I like this one.  ‘Sarcasm and Stupidity meet at the elevator.’

And this I have already posted on facebook but I do every Christmas, so I will put it here as well. Hans Gruber! And I quote when I say, ‘It’s not Christmas until I see Hans Gruber fall from Nakatomi Plaza.’ ‘ Merry Christmas Ho-Ho-Ho.’

This is often published as is.

“Made for $28 million, Die Hard grossed over $140 million theatrically worldwide, with the film turning Willis into an action star, and became a metonym for an action film in which a lone hero fights overwhelming odds. The film’s success created the Die Hard franchise, which includes four sequels, a number of video games, and a comic book, and later in 2017 was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Die Hard has been named one of the best action and Christmas-themed films ever made. The film also ranks No. 20 on Empire’s 2017 list of the 100 greatest movies of all time.” (Wikipedia)

Click this link below for a more full indoctrination of Die Hard films and the non politically correct but featured catch phrase of ‘Yippee-ki-yay Mother F****r! It comes from the first film when talking about Roy Rogers.

If you can’t just click on it, you might have to copy it and paste in the browser.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/24/1821515/-Yippee-ki-yay-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-attack-on-Nakatomi-Plaza-Tower-It-s-in-a-Xmas-movie

 

 

Friday, 3rd December 2021.

Up at 7am. Computer by 7.30am. Clear, and still. Perfect. By 9.30am, some cloud and the wind has come back but not severe.

We decide to have a lazy day. We take an early wander for one of our morning chores.

This is the spiffy toilet and shower block due for completion very soon. Supposed to be completed ‘late 2021’ and on the 3rd of December you got to think it’s real late now. It looks finished from the outside.

Here is the current toilet block. For portables they are pretty good as in clean. Sure. There is a chance you will drop in here and they will be gross, depending on how far from cleaning day and how ‘ordinary’ the users were.

Don’t know if this is the name I would have chosen for portable dunnies.

We are heading over the sand dune for a look.

Like I said before, they have cornered the seaweed market.

The tide is now out. Way out. About a kilometre out and flat as. I understand it’s more a crabbing beach than swimming. Well even with the tide in, it’s probably up to your knees. You want to wade out a kilometre to go for a swim?

View back to the dunes.

Skip to lunchtime and it will be steak sandwiches. These damn pepper steaks are way over spiced. We scrape them off to improve them …..

… then add a bit of cheese to make it exciting. (?)

Lazed around. Had the same and last of the pepper steak with veggies for evening meal.

We ablute etc.

Anne goes for a walk to click the sunset. I stay and guard the red wine and the TV. You can never be too careful.

What we call the after burn. When the sun has gone down but it then shines up at the underside of the clouds.

More wine, more TV. Some may consider this a perfect day. Some like me. Bed.

zzzzzzzz          zzzzzzzzzz        zzzzzzzzzzzz

A snigger …

One of my favourites I call ‘The job interview’.

For those who cannot squint that small, the exchange between interviewer and applicant goes ….

‘What’s your greatest weakness?’

‘Honesty.’

‘I don’t think that honesty is a weakness.’

‘I don’t give a s**t what you think.’

… and you will not be able to read this so, it is a man with a two metre long thermometer approaching a dinosaur from behind. There is a ‘time machine’ in the background.

The caption reads, ‘An instant later, both Professor Waxman and his time machine are obliterated, leaving the cold blooded/warm blooded dinosaur debate still unresolved.’

Here. I cropped it.

And these true words….

 

 

Thursday, 2nd December, 2021.

Departure this morning.

More cloudy today and a bit windier. It was cool last night and is this morning as well.

Computer finished 7.45am. We thank Kay for being the perfect host and bid her farewell at almost exactly 10am leaving her to organise the pesticide person and the builder arriving soon.

First coffee stop, Port Vincent. A great little place about three doors back up the main road from the waterfront. Ran by two guys with senses of humour, though very dry.

Hence these two signs. Wine Flu? A common ailment.

Relate to this?

The usual cappuccino’s, one with double shot and one sugar and a bit of a treat. An egg and bacon damper roll, shared 50/50.

Coffees? Goooood.

Snappy little spoon with some history.

The dog sitting on the tucker box.  and it says ‘5 miles from Gundagai.’ 5 Miles? It probably used to be in the centre of town but now it has sprawled so much …? There used to be an advert using ‘Australiana’ and used to go something like, ‘… and you wouldn’t be true blue if you didn’t know where that dog sat on the tucker box.’ Haa! Most people wouldn’t know what a tucker box is now.

Cheeky little bugger in the cafe.

A spoggy to be precise.

Didn’t see any passion fruit but I know the flower when I see it.

… and the humble but colourful geranium.

An old coffee bag hanging up. (turn you head 90 degrees left)

Cropped down Cafe TIMOR coffee!

A few doors up, a gift shop. No. This fab cupboard is not for sale. I just like it. I restored one similar.

Foreshore, another cheeky little bugger.

This time a Willy wagtail, again, to be precise.

On the wharf.

It used to be very busy, like all the other wharves on the peninsula.

I guess this is when they shoot them and they don’t want any (more?) fatalities?

I am good at eating the meat but neither catching or shelling them. Far too labour intensive for a student of efficiency in time and motion such as myself. (OK. Lazy.)

Again, gratuitous self adoration.

More-fore-shore.

Someone had too much paint and time on their hands. I’m just jealous of the artistic capacity of the artist.

On to Port Wakefield to fuel up. Then on to Dublin. We have it on good authority from Kay that the butcher here is A1.

In the mean time Anne finds the information booth.

Clever. All info is written or printed on tiles then glazed, so it seems.

New servo over the road with clean toilets. They also had a cup of hot chips and as this was way past lunch time, it seemed a good idea.

Then to Gerry’s Dublin Meats. They deliver if the order is over $100

Have you seen a T bone bigger than this? I sure as hell have NOT.

Some sort of chicken roll.

Meat.

On, on about 10km to Parham or Port Parham free camp.

On the beach. Notice eyes. It is VERY windy.

They have cornered the seaweed market.

Tilt head 90 degrees to left.

And it is warm enough for these guys to come out and sun. (and bite and poison.)

These brand new toilets and a shower and a dump point to be opened before the end of the year. In the mean time they have a couple of portables BUT they are clean and serviceable. Well at least while we are here.

Sun sets but the wind doesn’t.

A short stroll.

The grey water tank is closed so we don’t leak in the camp. Showers. meal, a little TV and bed. Nice to be free camping. Good Camp. By the way, max of 14 days then you must be away for 7 days before you return. We also have to fill out a form and display the tear off on the windscreen.

zzzzzzzzz          zzzzzzzzzz          zzzzzzzzzzzz

By the way, I read a little more of that humorous imitation Lonely Planet.

A couple of exerts. Depends on your sense of humour. Mine’s a bit weird.

Cheers.

Wednesday, 1st December 2021.

Bit windier but mostly clear and sunny.

Computer, of course.

We connect and prep the car for tomorrows departure. Been a while but I remembered.

Anne …. clean, clean, clean.

I inherit a few items from cousin Mal. A little more memorabilia of him. Sorted some photos.

Beer o’clock drinks and nibbles. Showers.

A warming fresh veggies and PIES and SAUSAGE ROLLS heartening meal. Few reds of course. No movie. It was a long day today and a biggy for Kay tomorrow with builder, pesticide man and various others.

So early night tonight and we won’t dilly dally for tomorrows departure. Bed.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz              zzzzzzzzzzzz              zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hold on. Got to have a bit of a laugh.