WEDNESDAY 29 MARCH     WYNYARD

This was a cloudy, windy day.

We walked to the shops, after breakfast. John posted a letter. I mailed a cheque for the deposit for our Woodman Point bookings. Bought some odds and ends at the shops, including pins so I could take up the hems on John’s new jeans, which he wants to wear this afternoon! I made an appointment for a hair cut, this afternoon.

Browsed in a second hand shop for a while. John saw a Hilti drill that he is tempted to offer $200 for – apparently, he has always wanted one of those.

Back at the van, I took up the jeans legs, while John made lunch.

Then John was off to bowls at Wynyard.

I read the paper, then walked back to the shops and had my hair cut. I was pleased with the outcome.

John came back happy with his game and said the new stretch jeans were comfy.

We spent some time talking with fellow travellers in the park and getting some destination advice from them. A place called Bowthorn Station/Kingfisher Camp, north of Lawn Hill in Qld was said to be a place not to miss. Also that the new-ish Point Stuart Lodge, on the Wildman River in the NT, was worth a visit and camp. Such talk made me excited about the prospect of going north again.

A couple came to look at the van and we gave them one of the brochures we carry with us.

By the time we finished the travel chat, it was 7pm and too late to cook, so John went to the excellent shop here for some of their lovely fish and chips.

After tea I sewed and we watched TV.

TUESDAY 28 MARCH     WYNYARD

The day was very pleasant, though there was a build up of cloud later in the day.

After breakfast I walked to the shops, for the paper and to collect our mail. It wasn’t in – the mail had been delayed in Launceston, this morning, due to fog.

John finished his letter and printed off the copies he wanted to send. I read the paper and sewed.

After lunch, John drove to Burnie to get the tyre fixed. It turned out to have been a faulty tube, they thought, rather than a problem in the wheel.

John phoned Landrover in Launceston and booked Truck in for Monday. From his description, they thought the problem was normal wear and tear that would be straightforward to fix.

While he was gone, I walked back to the Post Office again, Still no mail – I had been expecting that the long-overdue photos would have been forwarded to us, from home.

I phoned Aunt J and arranged to visit her again on Thursday afternoon. This meant we had to extend our stay here by a day, so I went and arranged that.

We discussed plans for later in the year. John wants to have good TV so he can watch the Olympic Games and thinks, therefore, that we should plan to be around Perth at that time. That would significantly reduce the time we had to spend in parts further north, which I was annoyed about.

I tried to book at Bussellton for the always problematic Xmas period, but they were already booked out – and they were pretty expensive at that time anyway. So decided to book the same Woodman Point, near Fremantle, park for both September and Xmas. We probably would not be doing much sightseeing while the Games were on, anyway, so there would still be things for us to do, over the Xmas period. We would be able to access Perth city from there – and the park had a pool! Then, once the holiday peak was over, we would head along the south coast for the rest of summer.

Woodman Point wanted big deposits – like half the overall cost!

Tea was soup, cold meatloaf, potato, salads.

I phoned home. They had not gotten round to forwarding the photos, so I asked that the mail now be sent to Legana PO. Phoned former colleague GH and arranged to meet in Devonport for lunch on 13 April.

After dark, thunder and lightning set in, with some rain. There was a loud explosion which we thought might have been a power installation exploding. There also seemed to be a lot of airplane activity into and out of the airport, late at night. Maybe the wind was just blowing this way, so I noticed.

John stayed up late, playing his computer game. I sewed till 11pm, then went to bed.

SUNDAY 26 MARCH     WYNYARD

S and M had phoned yesterday, to ask us to go back to Stanley for a late lunch today, so John could meet their neighbour there, who is a well-regarded wooden guitar maker. They thought John would find him interesting and might learn some techniques from him.

We got diesel in Wynyard – 93cpl.

We reached Stanley about midday. It was a lovely, sunny, warm day there.

S and M were still painting the outside of their cottage when we arrived. There are some really quaint cottages in Stanley – not surprising, given the age of the settlement.

J met the guitar maker and they talked for ages. I sat out in the courtyard of the cottage, in the sun, and sewed. It was very pleasant, sitting there, with the black lab dog and a little Russian Blue cat, who also belonged to a neighbour.

We had a late lunch – BBQ chicken – done in a Weber style portable gas BBQ. It cooked well, but we thought it was too heavy for us to cart around.

It was great to be back in Stanley again, but we had to head back to Wynyard in the late afternoon. We drove 129kms today.

I really like this section of the north coast. Could live here, I think.

Sunset over the ocean, from the beach by our camp

Tea was zucchini soup, cold lamb, potato, salad.

After tea, I worked on a letter to U and J. John played computer games.

SATURDAY 25 MARCH      WYNYARD

John slept in somewhat.

I walked to the shops for papers. I was trying to break in the new sandals that I have been carrying around for ages, and they blistered my feet. I thought they must be a size smaller than the previous pair.

John left for bowls at 11.15am.

I read the papers thoroughly, did some sewing, washed my hair, began cooking a roast lamb dinner. It was a lovely, lazy day.

John really enjoyed his bowls and played well. Smithton won. His rink defeated a previously unbeaten rink from Railton’s top side. So the Smithton people were really thrilled to finish their season that way, and John was popular!

He transported a player called G back, who was a woodworker. G gave him a little model tomahawk, made from sassafras. He sells these. He also gave John a turning blank of sassafras that he makes the tomahawks from. John bought a plank of sassafras from him for $20. So, John came back with more timber! It turned out that G was S’s uncle! Tasmania is amazing.

John drove 184kms today.

The roast lamb and veg dinner was yummy.

FRIDAY 24 MARCH     WYNYARD

We got a late start this morning – not used to being out late, socializing!

I walked to the shops for the papers. It was about a 3km round walk, so that was my exercise for the day.

We drove into Burnie and shopped for the weekend’s food. I bought a pair of beige cargo pants at K Mart, to replace my worn out ones, and some knit khaki coloured shorts that were on sale, also to replace worn out ones.

Had lunch back at camp,  then went to A and K’s at 2pm. They drove us to cousin J’s place. I’d already met her, husband, and Aunt E, in 1971 when I took mum on a tour of the Tasmanian relatives. Aunt E was now a very sprightly 92.

The men talked men things, whilst we women talked mainly family stuff. J has the family heirloom Bible that I remembered my grandfather showing me, years ago, at Hagley. The ladies were thrilled to find out about the existence of my nephew – another male with the family name! There are not too many of them. In my generation, there were only three, and four in the next. One of K’s sons already has a son. I found it rather amazing that K already has five grandchildren, and he is only about my age!

It was a pleasant visit. K drove us back to his place and we went back to camp.

We bought fish and chips for tea.

TUESDAY 21 MARCH     STANLEY

The day was quite windy, with a mix of sun and clouds. The weather seemed definitely to have changed to autumn whilst we had been here.

We intended to have a quiet camp day, after the long one yesterday.

I walked up to the shops to get the paper.

A local man came round to see if John would sub for pennant bowls on Saturday, for Smithton. The game is at Railton – quite some distance. So John immediately began to look forward to that.

In view of travels to come this week, John decided to drive to Burnie to get the tyre/tube repaired, and also a wheel alignment done, because he had been noticing an unstable sensation in the steering, recently. My theory was that the attempt to drive the Granville Harbour Track had damaged something, but I wasn’t about to share that insight!

While John was gone, I walked up to the genealogy centre here, to try to do some research on mum’s family. Their microfiche broke yesterday! So I had to scrub that idea. I walked around the town for a while.

Stanley main street. The bay is behind

I went back to the van and made soup – curried zucchini – and cut up the vegies for tonight’s stir fry. Then I had a thought that P and K’s first wedding anniversary was coming up, so I walked back to the shops and bought and sent a card to them.

John returned from Burnie with some new clothes – there had been a K Mart sale and he was filling in time while the work was done. He had jeans, a windcheater, socks and jocks.

He had needed to buy a new tube. Unfortunately, the wheel alignment hadn’t fixed the steering issue, which still feels wrong at speed. So at some stage we will need to go to the nearest Landrover dealer – Launceston – for work on it. Fortunately, most of the driving we are doing at the moment is not at speed.

Tea was soup, a hokkien noodle and veg stir fry, mango.

We watched TV for a while. I wrote postcards and John worked on his next big letter.

It was even more windy at night.