SATURDAY 16 JANUARY     TOOWOOMBA

I walked to the local shops for the papers. Then spent much of the morning reading them.

John went off to afternoon bowls.

I cleaned the van and had a long and lovely swim. I usually have the pool to myself and it is long enough to swim laps and feel like I am exercising a little.

John returned, pleased with the game he’d played today.

We took down the annexe roof and packed away the loose items into Truck.

Tea was soup and leftover pizza.

We have been in Toowoomba for four weeks now. The Truck repairs delayed us somewhat. The place has served its purpose, over the holidays, but I am glad we are moving somewhere new. It really is too urban to be really enjoyable for this long.

FRIDAY 15 JANUARY     TOOWOOMBA

John decided last night that the video machine had developed a fault, so he wanted to take it to the repair place. He did not want me to navigate because he thought he knew the way. He did not – and then got cross!

We did a small shop on the way back from the video repair place, after leaving the machine there. I bought a small ham on the bone – cheap post Xmas surplus stock.

After lunch, I went to the doctor and had the freckle thing on my face checked – nothing untoward, thankfully. I am very relieved about that. I should use sun screen on my face more than I do, I know.

Drove back to pick up the video machine, late in the afternoon. They could not find anything wrong with it and said the problem would have been with the rented tape.

Went for a short walk around the streets.

For a change, we bought pizzas for tea, which were very nice.

Watched cricket on TV at night. Australia beat England.

WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY     TOOWOOMBA

Had the usual sort of morning around camp.

I found a new freckle type of thing on my face that I don’t like the look of, so made a doctor’s appointment – Friday.

John went off to bowls at 12.30.

I walked to Video Ezy and returned the video. Picked up photos that I’d put in for printing. Then I walked up to the Japanese Gardens and wandered about there for a while.

A very carefully shaped pine tree in the Japanese Gardens

I had a copy made of a photo I’d taken of T, in the Gardens, when he visited. Wrote him a brief letter, then walked to the local shops and PO to mail it.

I spent the rest of the afternoon putting photos into an album. I am now on the fourth album for the trip to date!

Flohr Motors phoned to say the truck will be ready for collection, tomorrow. Good!

Tea was soup, and cold pasties.

Watched the One Day cricket – Australia Vs Sri Lanka. Australia won.

TUESDAY 12 JANUARY     TOOWOOMBA

We were rather reluctant to use the loan vehicle, in case we damaged it!

Walked to the KMart Plaza. There, went to our bank, to transfer the money to our cheque account, that is our wedding present for P and K. Browsed in Mega Books and I bought a book on Hardanger. We purchased a Brumby’s focaccia bread and ate it as we walked around, for lunch.

Went to Video-Ezy, at the local shopping centre, paid a $20 deposit, then rented a video for $2.50. We will get the deposit back, when videos returned, so it is a cheap way of obtaining same to watch.

Bought a nice card and then mailed the cheque to K.

Walked back to the van. It was a fair walk, in all; probably about 7kms.

Then, I pickled some onions we’d bought yesterday. John has a hankering for home done ones. Made barley and vegetable soup, using the lamb stock.

John felt like doing some cooking, so he made pasties, which we had for tea, with the soup.

I phoned K to let him know the cheque was in the mail. He had news that he has been promoted at work, to Reservations Supervisor. I asked him to send the next lot of mail to Stanthorpe, which will be our next destination – not sure for how long, though. There seem to be some interesting National Parks not far from it, so it will, we hope, be a good base for a little while.

Watched the video we’d hired – Good Will Hunting. It was very good.

MONDAY 11 JANUARY     TOOWOOMBA

We had to get up early – alarm again – in order to take Truck to Flohr Motors for its scheduled work. I admit to some “separation anxiety”, leaving Truck behind for surgery to its roof!

We were lent a replacement vehicle – a utility style Defender 110 that has only done 500kms. It is good that we are not without wheels. However, this style of vehicle has definite drawbacks. The groceries I bought had to sit out in the full sun, in the tray back, and thus the shopping was not secure, either, for us to go anywhere else and leave it all in full view of passers by. I wonder if this is why farmers always have dogs chained on their ute tray? Might not help much with meat, though!

Our borrowed Defender

Back at the van, John played computer games and I sewed, then he watched the one day cricket on TV.

I boiled lamb shanks for tea – it is a favorite  meal, and I use the stock thus generated to make soup, next day.

SUNDAY 10 JANUARY     TOOWOOMBA

There were storms and rain, on and off through today.

Harvey Normans was having a big computer software sale, so we went to that. John bought a couple of games, and one that he intends to give K for his birthday.

After that, we just filled in time as usual, back at the van.

Later in the day, we unloaded just about everything from Truck and packed it all into our en suite bathroom. It was pretty crowded in there!

Tea was soup, baked potatoes stuffed  with coleslaw and cheese, and fruit.

FRIDAY 8 JANUARY     TOOWOOMBA

We used the alarm to get ourselves up at 7.30am, in order to play morning bowls at the Drayton club. It was a pairs event, and John and I played together. We lost the game – by 16! I played very poorly. John was alternately brilliant and erratic. We did not seem to have much luck, either. It was not an enjoyable morning.

After lunch back at the van, we drove to the dental place, to get the tooth reattached to its bridge. While that was being done, we went to the Central shops and walked around for a couple of hours. Checked for mail – there was a birthday card for me and Xmas card from R – rather late!

The tooth repair was excellent – my front teeth are all back to normal. It only cost $30, which I thought was very reasonable.

Back to the van, where John watched the cricket.

We ordered Domino’s pizzas for tea, and very nice they were, too.