Another busy day...does it ever end?

• Gas and electricity  now connected at new flat
• Ironing done
• Farewell lunch at Brighton with Vicki
• Back to wash and clean car inside and out ready for packing with my gear- boy was it dirty!!
• An hour of my life lost filling insurance forms in for my "stuff" the removalist is taking
• Unpacking boxes - "stuff" wont be there for 2 - 3 weeks so I needed to retrieve essentials - toaster, kettle. frypan, iron etc etc. I will take these in the car. - need to find time to repack the other stuff again.

It's all getting just a little bit too hectic at the moment and the next four days are just as bad. Almost looking forward to hitting the road on Wednesday just for a rest lol

Good bye to Victor Harbor :(

Busy day. Drove an hour to Victor Harbor and sorted out some personal stuff. Got cheques off for bond on flat and first months rent YAY! YAY! Looking forward to having my own place - I've been living out of boxes and bags for 2 1/2 years now. Gonna be soooo gooood.

Picked Mum up from Goolwa  (85 years old) and took her out to a nice lunch at the Red Orchid in Victor Harbor.  All was going well till I took her home to her place and she burst into tears and said "This is the last time I'll ever see you". Well...that pushed me over the edge.   Very difficult but possibly true...although I will try to make sure that isn't the case. Realistically I will be over 2000 kms away so she may be right and it did hit home.

Had a blurry eyed drive home.

Queensland Bound - all going to plan

Since my last little trip to Brisbane the plan was hatched for me to relocate there. I must admit the warm climate and the chance to see more of Lee made it a no brainer .

Things are all falling into place - my things to do list went like this.....

• Have operation for triple hernia (result of the bug I caught  in New York) - done!
• Get a job - done!
• Get a flat - done!
• Organise removalists - done!

The removalists come next Wednesday 3 rd October and as soon as they load up I will start driving to Brisbane.  As I'm still technically recuperating from my surgery I'll allow 3 or 4 days to get to Brisbane - just over 2000 kms. 

I'm really excited about the move and the job and seeing my kid and being warm again - and before you ask - YES - I will have a guest room lol.

Watch this space.........................................................

Brisbane bound yayayay!!

15 August 2012 - Fly out tonight heading to Brisbane to visit daughter Lee. Haven't seen her since I returned from London in January so cannot wait  :)

Lee and friend Alistair (just returned from Afghanistan)

Encounter Bay South Australia

12 August 2012 - went for a long walk with sister Joey and friend Cheryl along the coastline of Encounter Bay. It really is glorious scenery and on a par with anything else I've seen in my travels.

Home again, Home again...Jiggetty Jig

31 July 2012 - A great trip back - near perfect weather.  Had a big cooked breakfast at the Motel in Balranald - there was enough bacon on the plate to build a pig!! I guess maybe it's a truckie stop and that's why it was so affordable.  HOWEVER -  there is always a price to pay and I was never so pleased to see the public conveniences at Euston and was so happy that they were easy to find.  I promised God my first born if he helped. Sorry Lee :)

Not long after this joyful occasion I turned a wide sweeping bend in the road  and there were three police cars and  on the side of the road a 4 WD was upside down and people all standing around hugging each other. Now this is what I mean about the drivers - this was a big wide sweeping bend - 110 km limit - WTF happened that would flip a 4WD.  The mind boggles. I couldn't see any  other smashed car so unless I missed it, it was a single car accident. Ah well....let's hope no one was seriously injured.

When I got onto the Wellington Ferry for the last leg home we were accompanied by a very large pelican. Colonel Sanders could make a fortune with the drumsticks alone!!

Kentucky Fried Pelican....?

How beautiful...wish I was on it.

As I drove through Strathalbyn and on into Currency Creek the sun came out and the coast came into view  - big waves breaking - ridiculously blue sea -  cloud free blue sky - sun shining - it was gorgeous and it became clear that there is really no place like home.


Total Road kill #  72                   Today's mileage #654.5   Total Mileage # 3836.4 kms

Hmm!! Interesting day

30 July 2012 - I left Sydney about 10 am to head back to Adelaide. Beautiful sunny day and the roads were kind and there was very little traffic. There isn't a lot to see on the Hume Highway - in fact it is quite boring.
I had my first pit stop at a place called Gunning - very mediocre sausage roll but a great cup of coffee.

Next stop was at Gundagai where I saw the Dog on the Tucker Box (American friends need to Google this) and bought a postcard for Bindi (Marion's dog in Sydney).

I started off again driving over the Hay plains - this is very very boring - the surface of the moon has more going for it. I began to think I might drive to Hay and stop for the night and that I should get in before dark. It actually got dark about 30 kms out from Hay and I was concentraing on the two semi trailers that were all lit up and coming towards me when I nearly ran into the BACK of a dark car pulling a dark trailer with NO LIGHTS on it  at 55 kms in a 110 kph zone. FERCRYINOUTLOUD!!!!  The car had its rear lights on but the trailer completely blocked them out.  I overtook him and tried to wave him down but he didn't stop so I overtook him again and left him in the hands of the Gods. What a moron.

I got to Hay and pulled in to the motel - they wanted $109 for just me for one night - I mean this place is out in the bloody sticks. I said it was too much but if they dropped the price I would stay and use the restaurant as well but the woman said no. I pointed out that's why only 3 of their rooms were filled and that its better to have someone paying something than no one paying nothing. When we were in the USA if you got into the motels latish and they had empty rooms they would always deal. Anyway I said I wasn't going to pay that much and left.

I drove on to the next town which was Balranald - 125 km away. By now it was seriously dark - very cloudy so no moon. The road was good but there were semi trailers starting to come out of the woodwork - all coming towards me. With one I forgot to dip my lights but it was way off. He flicked his lights to remind me but when he got just in front of me he let loose with all his "brights" and literally blinded me....I was lucky I didn't go off the road.  THEN...I got stuck behind another guy with a big trailer that blocked off all vision ahead so I couldn't see to get by him. He insisted on doing 90 to 100 on the 110 kph highway and whenever there was the vaguest chance I could get past him he straddled the white line to stop me. This went on all the way into Balranald. What is the matter with these people? It's no wonder the road toll is so bloody high grrrr.

I'm now booked into a great hotel room in Balranald - for $70 a night  - much more reasonable and the good thing is I am only about 550 kms from Adelaide so will be home tomorrow.

22 Lots of road kill today - not surprising when you think the people I described above are on the road.lol

Total road kill #67      Mileage today # 885.4