Rain...Broken Cow...Hospital...No Internet....Bloody Big Walk...smelliest loo in the world

Well, I haven't had the internet for a while so I hope my memory doesn't fail me in this post.

I left Janelle's on the 23rd April and spent the night at daughter Lee's place so I could see her and get my Derek fix - I miss him so much. He went crazy when he saw me :)

Derek da Dawg xx

I got up early the next day and took Dezza for a walk and then set off for Ballina NSW to double check on a Van issue but all is well. It was a gorgeous day and the drive was only about 3 hours but it was a "good to be alive" day. 

This feeling was challenged severely when I stopped at a lay by rest stop for a coffee and then went to use the "long drop" toilet. MY GOD!! I nearly passed out from the smell. Never again. I'll risk going bush and sitting on a snake rather than use one of those again.

I headed off again, my final destination being Adelaide, South Australia but I had some days up my sleeve. It started to get a bit hairy as I was heading West and there were lots of big hills and winding roads and then the weather turned nasty with heavy rain and mist. I decided to head for Armidale NSW and stay the night......no point in driving in that weather. I came around one bend and a semi trailer was parked precariously on the side of the road with a big drop on one side and blocking off half the road on the other. At first I thought he had had an accident but a couple of other cars were also stopped. Then I saw it.....right in front of me and on a sharp bend was a cow...in the middle of the road. The poor thing had fallen off the back off the cattle truck!!!! It had a broken back leg. 

Because of the tight bend I couldn't risk going around  him and I was a bit scared it might charge Snowball. Of course there was no mobile service so someone went off to the local Police Station to get someone to come shoot the poor thing. The bloody driver had done nothing and blamed the cow for jumping out. No way could that have happened with high sides on the truck and the number of animals squashed in. I think he just didn't close the door properly.

Hard to see but this is the broken cow

I finally got to Armidale and booked into the caravan park. Armidale is the highest city in Australia at a 1000 feet and also holds the record for the smelliest toilets at a caravan park.....nowhere near as bad as the roadside stop though. lol. Regardless of the toilet humour I had a great sleep and was on the road again fairly early. This time in winter clothes...rather chilly.

25 April

Note to self......shut the lock on the bloody fridge before hitting the road!!  A bit of a food fight on the floor. 

Autumn colours in Bendemeer

The sky got darker and darker and the rain came down heavier and heavier. The semi trailers drove on as if it was a fine summer day. Dickheads!! 

This was the BEST it looked all day

My plan was to get to Forbes NSW but by 4 pm it was absolutely belting down. I came to a small town called Peak Hill and saw a Caravan Park sign so I drove in. What a pleasant surprise. The owners were welcoming and friendly and all the conveniences were clean and not smelly :) The next morning  Mr Owner went round a cleaned everyones windscreens. The local RSL had a Chinese Restaurant (lol) in it so I went and got a $10 schnitzel. Talk about a culture mash up! It was also Anzac Day and there were a lot of people in the RSL who had been there a loooong time and a very doubtful Elvis impersonator was holding court.

So Nice

Mr Owner was telling me about the Elvis Festival held in nearby Forbes in January each year and I had actually seen this years on TV and it looks a lot of fun. On the strength  of this I booked in for a couple days next January. 

Mrs Owner then called out to say there is a free pancake breakfast in the camp kitchen. Love this place and the people.

Snowball's twin was parked next to me so I had a long chat with the other van's owners and learned a lot. They have been EVERYWHERE!

26 April

Quite a long drive to Balranald NSW in the cold and wet. The midday temperature was 11C and that dropped to 5C over night. I think it's twice that cold when you are sleeping in a tin can. I booked in for two nights as its a nice park but needed to nuke my wheat bags during the night to keep me warm.

Cold wet day in Balranald so
snuggled up with coffee and old movies

Me waking up freezing in Balranald.
Thank God for "my precious"
wheat bags and microwave.

27 April

I started to pack Snowball up to continue my trip and I was getting very hot and clammy - even though it was so cold. Once I got going I was fine and I only travelled a couple of hours to Mildura Vic where I planned to stay the night. I went to Coles for groceries and was getting hot and clammy again and very tight in the chest. Returning to the Park my pulse was racing and I really got quite concerned. Result - ambulance and a night in Mildura Base Hospital. Lots of tests because I DO have an irregular heart beat. Upshot - all is well and I will see the specialist when I return to Brisbane. This has happened before and its annoying because deep down I know it's probably an anxiety/panic attack but at 65 you can't take that chance.   When the Dr does the ECG and sees the irregular beat they treat it like a heart attack until they know for sure what it is. It's the first one I've had for a while so I will take care to get more R & R days along the way. I spent the next few days in Mildura just to make sure all was well. The people there were wonderful and fellow park residents did some shopping and washing for me. I felt a bit embarrassed but the doctor says I did the right thing. Breathe Lesley Breathe :) The Caravan park is right on the river so I went for some lovely walks.

2 May

I drove the 5 hours to Adelaide to start my housesit at Rosalie's house. All went well and I was very relaxed. Over the last week I've taken a few walks along the beach at Brighton - a place I love and two longer walks in Hallett Cove Conservation Park. One was tough and one was bloody horrendous and I was so glad when it was over but I was so glad I did it. The scenery was spectacular and the walk was 11 kms round trip. These photos say it all. It was very hard to climb into Snowball when I got back and I am feeling it today. Although it was tough it was really enjoyable. Secret - when I got to the 5.5 km mark I called an Uber to take me back to the car. I gave myself a talking to, cancelled the Uber and made my way back.  It might be a while before I do this again but it was a glorious day with a beautiful coast line. The sea was clear and there were many fishing boats out. Wonderful. Was good for the soul.

See those steps aagh

There are several lots of these stairs

I've had a good week .... caught up with Vicki for a beach walk and coffee which has become our norm when I am in Adelaide. Vicki and I have been friends since 1977 and it's great to be able to renew that friendship when in Adelaide. I also went to the movies..... "Get Out". One to forget but the Choc Top and Popcorn were good.


10 May

Rosalie returns from her "holiday" in Vanuatu today. This was supposed to be a restful holiday in a tropical paradise but they were hit with a cyclone so it ended up wet and windy and stuck in their hotel room and lots of reading. She'll be glad to get home.

I'm booked into Brighton Caravan Park for a few days after today and tomorrow. I have a few personal things to take care of but then I'll be at my beautiful Brighton Beach until the 16th when I start a housesit for Kaye and Kelvin at Hallett Cove. I suppose I will attempt that bloody walk again....or maybe I'll pray for rain lol

Brisbane in April

The end of March and the start of April became a bit crazy with the advent of Cyclone Debby in FNQ. (non Australians - I'm not swearing - it's Far North Queensland). After the devastation in the north she headed south and we had torrential rain which continued all the way down the east coast of Australia. Due to this my house sit with Lorraine was cancelled as all cars were told to stay off the road unless urgent and her destination was under water.... even if she could have got there. I was very sad for her as she was so looking forward to having a break. Hopefully there will be better weather in June and we will have more luck.

The bright side is I got a chance to reorganise Snowball. When I first got her I was on a tight schedule to get to Adelaide so I basically tossed things in and hoped for the best. Now I have removed unnecessary items, added essentials and made the van more user friendly.

I did a house sit for Lee looking after Derek as she had to make an urgent trip to Melbourne for a funeral. Sad but I was happy I could be there to help her out.

Next it was off to Ballina NSW. When I picked Snowball up there was a bit of a "ding" in the rear end which was supposed to have been fixed before pick up but was overlooked. I returned for the fix and was put up in a motel and given transport  for my overnight stay. All excellent and Snowball is looking beautiful. I enjoyed it at Ballina so much I stayed for the rest of the week and got to try out the awning and a few other things I hadn't really tested on overnight stops. 

Snowball - with all her finery

Ballina RSL 

Steak sanger & chips & coffee....nice

Walking along the river at Ballina

 Ballina North Coast Central Caravan Park was great. Quiet and within walking distance to the town Centre, with lovely walks along the river side.  The mozzies in the bathroom were an issue and I did have a visitor in my shower (see below) but all in all it was good and I will stay there again.

Kermit da frog - glad it wasn't Miss Piggy

Ballina

I did a few touristy drives and the coast along there is just magnificent.

Lennox Beach

Finally it was back to Brisbane and I'm currently sitting for Janelle at Westlake....looking after Snoopy. Snoopy is a delight...quiet....follows me everywhere and just gets so excited when I put my sneakers on lol. I put his sleeping blanket on the floor at the bottom of my bed and turned the light out. I could hear all sorts of scrabbling noises so I eventually turned the light back on. He'd dragged the rug to a point BESIDE my bed and bundled it up like a little nest and was ready to sleep. So cute.

Snoopy.

I'm here till the 23rd April and then I need to go back to Ballina en route to Adelaide for a van related thing. The weather in Brisbane is still quite warm and a bit humid even though we are in the second month of Autumn. I'm looking forward to getting back to Adelaide because Autumn there is magnificent. Beautiful sunny days and cool nights. Revisit this come mid winter - I might change my mind re Adelaide lol

Back to Briz.

I continued my trip north and was planning to stop for the night at Coonabarbran NSW. This would have made it an 800 Km driving day but the weather report was for a severe storm with hailstones and I didn't want poor old Snowball to get battered . The night before in Balranald there'd been two big storms that passed over me. Buckets of rain with thunder and lightning. I felt very small tucked up in the van with the quilt pulled up to my nose. Anyway, I decided to drive another 100 km or so to Narrabri to get away from the approaching storm cell. Narrabri ain't pretty but there were no storms.


Next day I decided to head for Tenterfield NSW which is roughly a 4 hour drive. I had heard good things about it but had never been there. The countryside was quite beautiful and the roads good. I went through a small town called Bingara that looked interesting and very pretty. I will make a point of going back and checking it out when I have more time. It's an old gold and diamond mining  town - you never know - I might strike the motherlode :) 

I stopped at Inverell for lunch on the river bank. What I saw of the town looked lovely and I will put that on my "places to revisit" list. The beautiful gardens by the river reminded me of the park next to the La Brea tarpits in LA. Very relaxing.

Beautiful parklands by the river at Inverell NSW

On the way to Tenterfield I ran into this herd of sheep which had taken over the roadway. It's nice not to be in any hurry and to take my time and enjoy watching them running around. The old expression about following like a sheep is so true. One would take off and the others would all follow - one by one.

The day before I had had a similar experience with a very large herd of cows grazing on the "long Paddock".  Once again....nice to have time to sit back and observe.

Sheep. sheep and more sheep

Onwards to Glen Innes - not so pretty. I finally hit Tenterfield and the rain started as I hit the town limits lol. I located a nice caravan park and climbed into my bed and "read" a book. (This means I fell asleep for an hour or two). The weather improved the next day so I had a tootle around town and saw the famous Tenterfield Saddler shop (think Peter Allen), had a real country roast dinner for lunch, and made it back to the Caravan Park for a guided tour around the old Hotel attached to the Caravan Park. This has been "done up" but unfortunately not true to the era and some of the furnishings are more Ikea than 1800's Australia.

Arriving in Tenterfield - WELCOME!!

Tenterfield's famous cork tree

Great song Peter Allen

Upstairs Verandah  of the old hotel

The next morning (Saturday 25th March) I completed my return to Brisbane, getting in about lunch time. Snowball is a joy to drive and great to sleep in. I'm happy to say I made the right choice for me and I'm looking forward to my future adventures in her.

Ah! Snowball

Very comfy - this is why I fall asleep
when I set myself down for a read lol

Adelaide to Brisbane

Well...I have just done 2 house sits in Adelaide looking after

House #1 - 1 dog and 2 cats
House #2 - 50 guinea pigs and 19 chickens and 1 dog and 2 puppies and 6 parrots

LOL  a lot of fun was had all round and a tiny puppy called Liam stole my heart. He's the kid at school that was always in trouble - I totally relate to him.

Camille and Liam

I'm now heading back to Brisbane for 2 house sits up there and then back to Adelaide for a repeat performance with the two listed above.  Brisbane to Adelaide is about 2100 kms so its a fair hike but I get to have a mini holiday in between sits and also get to see a lot of our beautiful country.

I had lots of beautiful beach walks while in Adelaide and caught up with heaps of people I haven't seen for some time. It was great :)

Beautiful Brighton Beach

I left Adelaide this morning and have travelled about 530 kms at a very leisurely pace with a few leg stretch stops along the way. I called it a day at about 4.30 pm and I'm currently parked in a lovely spot at the Balranald Caravan Park. (NSW). It's still 32 C so quite warm and a breeze would be nice. I'm parked right next to the river and while the surrounds are nice the river itself look like the Great Grey Green Greasy Limpopo River (fans of Rudyard Kipling will know what I mean).

Murrumbidgee River -  Balranald NSW

I went for a walk and the noise was deafening. 2,356,412 white cockatoos were all squawking at once having their dusk corroboree.

Tomorrow I'll continue north but with no particular plan of attack as long as I get to Brisbane by week's end.

Update

Well...I'm finally back to do an update on both the health and travel situation.

Firstly health wise there is good news. It seems my issue was not COPD as such but asthma triggered by my allergy to cats. After a huge dose of steroids for a couple of weeks and ongoing twice daily steroids all seems to be sorting itself out.  I need to take anti histamines when I'm in contact with cats but that's ok. I just need to concentrate on getting back to my normal physically fit self and get on with the rest of my life. It appears my return to Australia was the right decision because if I had gone to Chicago Hospital as planned, my insurance wouldn't have covered costs as my asthma was a pre existing condition. My previous trip to Chicago hospital in 2011 (which WAS covered by insurance) cost over US$12k for less than 24 hours so this has all worked out the way it should. Thank goodness.

My next decision was whether to return to USA to complete my travels but I decided to move on to Phase#2 of my retirement plan and to that end have purchased a VW Camper Van (Snowball).

My intention is to travel Australia and see as much as I can and assist friends by looking after their pets while they are on their own holidays. A win win situation for me and hopefully peace of mind for them.

Snowball

This is Snowball....A converted VW Transporter. Brand new and the new love of my life.

I caught the bus to Ballina to pick her up...yes...she's a girl.....and immediately drove back to Brisbane  and loaded her up so I could drive to Adelaide....2100 kms away. After a late start I finally reached Goondiwindi on the Qld/NSW border and camped for free at the BP station. Great stop with showers and toilets and food and...of course...fuel.

The next day I planned to get to West Wyalong but a strange thing happened.   I was passing through Forbes NSW and the sun was shining right in my eyes. It was very late in the afternoon and I was passing a caravan park on my left .....and thats when the penny dropped. All became very clear and obvious and I realised.....I'm retired.....I don't have to rush anywhere. What a great feeling. I pulled into the park and stayed the night. A very pleasant place.

In response to my new revelation, I drove 600 kms the next day and stayed at the Apex Caravan Park in Mildura Vic for 2 nights. A nice park which I last visited when I was in my early teens. This camp was right on the banks of the River Murray and was just so peaceful. The kookaburras woke me up each morning with their laughter and the weather was perfect...fine and mild.

On the banks of the Murray River at Mildura

Me and Snowball ...chilling

A little river friend

On the Friday I headed off to drive the last 400 kms to Adelaide where I met up with some old friends for a drink and got there with 5 minutes to spare lol.

I am currently at the home of old friends Kaye & Kelvin looking after their pets (a dog, 2 cats and some fish) while they travel to New Zealand on family business for 10 days. The weather at the moment is 31 C and an absolute ripper of a day.
I've spent the morning completing all the relevant paperwork/warranties/insurance etc relating to my van/contents/appliances and updating this blog. I will soon venture out to enjoy the day.

“The feeling is less like an ending than just another starting point.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Choke

Brisbane, Australia

Weather Max 31 Min 19

Where to start!!  A lot of people have contacted me because my blog suddenly stopped and they have wondered why. Unfortunate circumstances have brought me  back to Australia prematurely so my White Christmas in Chicago never happened.....instead I had a hot Christmas in Oz.

Since early in my trip I have had increasing difficulty with breathlessness and my concern was increasing proportionally. My plan was to wait until I arrived in Chicago and to visit the Chicago Memorial Hospital and get checked out. My major concerns related to my previous cancer and my brothers untimely death at my age from lung cancer. While I was still in San Antonio, Texas a few days out from heading to Chicago, my daughter Lee let me know that my mother in law was extremely ill and Lee wanted to spend some time with her. As Lee had arranged to housesit for friends and that couldn't be changed at the last moment, I decided to fly back to help her out and to seek medical attention back here in Australia (a much easier and less expensive exercise than it would be in the States)

After a gruelling time cancelling previous US arrangements and making return bookings to Australia I flew 7 hours with a stop in Salt Lake City  to Los Angeles. I spent the night there and then flew to Sydney and on to Brisbane. I cannot even begin to explain how shattered I was by the time I got here but suffice it to say when I woke the first morning in my Housesit I had absolutely no idea where I was. It took several minutes to piece it all together.

I left the States on the 21st landing on the 23rd (-minus 1 day due to the International Date Line.)

On Christmas Day in the morning my breathing was much worse - possible aggravated by the long trip. I went to the Prince Charles Hospital and spent Christmas Day there and had a cheese sandwich for lunch - very festive. The Staff were dressed in Christmas wear and because it was Christmas Day I had star treatment and what would normally take at least a week was done in a day. All tests showed healthy heart and blood ok but more importantly the Cat Scan I had showed no signs of any malignancy. The verdict is early COPD and I will be visiting some specialists for medication and management of this disease. Fortunately it IS early and IS manageable and my worst fears were not realised.

SO!! Moving forward I will continue with Part 2 of my retirement plans and purchase a camper - smaller than originally planned as my next 12 months are looking pretty busy with a lot of housesitting. Once I am up and running again I will blog my travels around Australia.

It's a disappointment to me that my trip has been cut short but I so much enjoyed the travel I did do and the people I met up with along the way and I look forward to meeting new people and seeing new places when I get my van.

It was great to see Lee and Michael again and wonderful to get hugs from my beautiful boy, Derek.

Remember The Alamo

San Antonio, Texas

Weather Max 5 Min -2

Yesterday I travelled all day on the Texas Eagle Train from Fort Worth and got to San Antonio about 8:30 pm. 

San Antonio Sunset Station

It was very cold and windy when I arrived and by the time I made it to my hotel and got settled it was quite late. I walked up to the convenience store a couple of blocks up and sort of wished I hadn't. The hotel is ok but the area is quite scary. See the pictures below and then imagine them on a cold dark night. I don't go out after dark lol

Spooky house next door

Even spookier house

The plan today was to catch up with my laundry but the only 2 nearby laundromats were closed on the weekend. How strange is that. I would have thought that would be their busiest time.  I'd had a bit of a lie in so it was late morning by the time I ventured out. MY GOODNESS it was COLD!! It was 1 degree Celsius but the wind chill just cut right through you. I walked for about 12 kms in all starting at the River Walk. I first saw this on TV a couple of weeks ago and was looking forward to taking the boat ride through the city. Unfortunately the boats were cancelled due to the bad weather. I've got 2 more days here so maybe I will still get to do it. The River Walk follows the river as it wends it way through San Antonio and the whole area is really quite beautiful. The whole walk is host to lots and lots of small shops and cafes and I can imagine it would be a thriving place during better weather.

Cachetas - a bulldog I met
 long the way. Gorgeous.

What a crazy fountain - fire and water

When we were growing up our main source of entertainment was the Western movies at the cinema and John Wayne was our hero. We all remember The Alamo and actually being there was a goose bumpy moment. I also went to the IMAX theatre and watched a really good 45 minutes filmed reenactment of the Battle of the Alamo. 

The Alamo

I walked around the huge River Centre Shopping Mall and hit the food court. I was craving vegetables but there was no stall in the whole place that had any. I went back to the River Walk and there were many restaurants and I finally found an Irish Pub that served an Irish Stew. This was amazing and it warmed me up no end - made me not want to go back out in the cold.

Full of Veggies - delicious

 Here are some random photos of things 

that caught my eye today.

I might not shop at this place hmmm

Giant Margarita

A very appropriate name - Blimpie

I call this optimism - setting
up outside tables
when its 2 degrees Celsius

Very imposing Hotel - unfortunately - not mine