SATURDAY 25 NOVEMBER     WOODMAN POINT

John watched the cricket in the morning.

In the cricket lunch break, we went to the local supermarket, so I could stock up on foods that I didn’t get yesterday. I needed to have supplies for the next ten days or so.

It was a rather poorly stocked Coles. I was not able to get some of the things I wanted, that I’d seen yesterday at the Freo shops  – salmon and stone fruits. That was annoying.

After lunch, on an off chance that they were having a Xmas break at home in WA,  I phoned the number we had for J and L – the ladies we’d gotten to know in ’98, at Atherton. They were in Perth and came immediately to see us.

They seemed really happy to catch up with us again. They’d only gotten to Perth yesterday, from Tweed Heads, so my timing was fortuitous.

They’d had a really bad year. After buying a new van in Perth, they’d had it transported to Tweed Heads by truck, to save themselves from towing over the Nullarbor again. The night it arrived, the transporter’s yard fence was rammed and their van stolen. That sounded really suss to me – like it had to be someone associated with the transport firm. The police were not much help, they said. So they lost all their personal stuff – bowls gear, photos, papers. They even had trouble working out who they were insured with! But then the insurance company was very good. They got a new van – not a poptop, this time, and have cut it back in size to 16 foot. They had lots of help from friends and family to replace clothing and gear.

But the whole experience had really knocked them about emotionally, and taken away their confidence and joy in travel. They plan to leave the Tweed in January and travel to Tamworth, Bathurst, Echuca, then west again. I gave them some relevant maps that I will not now need.

We invited them to leave their van at Echuca and come down to Melbourne and stay a bit with us – hope they will. They said they might ultimately settle on the Mornington Peninsula.

It was a really enjoyable afternoon with them.

Tea was roast lamb with the usual vegies.

THURSDAY 23 NOVEMBER     WOODMAN POINT

We had to be up early because the mobile van repair man came at 9am. He found that the brakes needed an earth – that was all that was wrong! John was happy that his basic work had been ok.

I washed the bedding while they were working, and went to a nearby shopping centre for some oddments.

The carpet cleaners phoned and cleaning was arranged for 3-4pm on Friday 15th. That should work.

After lunch, we went for a walk to the beach. It was only a ten minute walk away, but we hadn’t yet managed it.

The beach was not very impressive. There was a little jetty that had lots of Asians fishing from it – catching yellow-tailed fish that looked very under-sized! There was a very big, opportunistic pelican there.

I made gazpacho, while John had an afternoon nap.

Tea was the soup, honey chicken stir fry and rice.

WEDNESDAY 22 NOVEMBER     WOODMAN POINT

After breakfast, we drove into Fremantle, to Myer there, to arrange the purchase of a new mattress and fridge. That store didn’t have big home wares.

So we went across the southern  suburbs again, to the Garden City centre, where there was a bigger Myer. On the advice of a sales lady, we bought a full base and mattress set. Also bought a Kelvinator fridge, a similar capacity to our old one. As well as arranging for these items to be delivered to us, through Melbourne, they were also able to arrange for the home carpets to be steam cleaned. If we could get that done while most rooms were empty of furniture, it would be great, particularly since P’s little dog never got house trained!

We went and bought the parts John though might be needed for van repairs and then John worked on it in the afternoon. He managed to fix the suspension stuff, which made him a bit happier.

While the van was up on jacks, I sat outside and sewed. Also acted as chief fetcher of tools!

Tea was stuffed capsicums.

FRIDAY 17 NOVEMBER     KALBARRI

The RAAF revved up for ten minutes, then left in a cloud of dust – at 6am!

Later, I walked to the shops for some oddments.

John went to Scroungers bowls after lunch, won the day and came home with a $10 meat voucher. So he was happy.

I read, sewed, cleaned.

Tea was reef fish I cooked, and bought chips.

This time at Kalbarri has been very enjoyable, and given us some exercise too. Could have done without the RAAF, though!