In Leongatha, off to Tasmania!!

Well, we survived the first term here in 'Gatha' as the locals call it.
It is a pretty good place, and the school is fine.

We have a HUGE house, as you know already. We are getting used to having to walk a 1/4 km to get to the bathroom. We have a new lounge setting, a new TV, beds and BBQ, but the gas bottles are all on the caravan or in Tas, so we will light it up later on.

We are off to Tas tomorrow to pack the remainder of our gear, which I am dreading.

We fly tomorrow, and will be at Michelle and Travis' for a few days, then to Hobart and back, then return to Gatha.

We will have our mobiles on us, so give us a call if you want to see where we are.
Jude is 0408 569 753
Len 0418 585 660

We have the phone on, and it is STILL (amazing) 03 5662 5687
We also have the net on at home now as well.

Travis is to have a pretty serious operation on Wednesday, please pray for him.

Better get some beauty sleep.
Bless ya all,
Len

The phones, the phones

Hi all,
We thought we would get away from Telstra. That was the plan anyway.
As it turns out, they have the plan we needed, so we went with them again.
Simple, right?

Well....no, actually.

We WERE supposed to have the phone on today, but the first bloke didn't put the order through correctly.
He also gave us a phone number which we memorized and began to tell appropriate places about it.
When the phone was not on as stipulated Len called Telstra, and another bloke said 'sorry' Blah, blah, blah

We then have a new number (the other one went due to the different time the order was actually placed).
Internet will be in a week or so, phone on Wednesday (we'll see!).

So, here are our details,
Home address is

30 Lee Parade, Leongatha, 3953.

Postal address is P.O. Box 93, Leongatha, 3953

Phone number is (hopefully!!) 03 5662 5687

The doors are open, feel free to visit.

The Clarks.

Satellites, School and Stumps

One week of school down, three until we get into a house.
A house!!!

I must say it again, a HOUSE, whooo hooooo.

Firstly, satellites.
I have always wondered how satellites fly above us, staying in orbit etc. Amazing.
More amazing are those that are in geo-stationary orbit.
You know, sitting above one specific point of the Earth, never falling away or towards Earth, never moving forward or backward at all.
I can reveal the secret.

From a satellite point of view it is always racing forwards and falling towards Earth at a constant rate, it is not sitting stationary at all.
The reason it does not crash is that the Earth is round! As the satellite races forward, it does so at the exact rate of rotation of the Earth, and it is falling at the exact same distance that the Earth is moving AWAY from it (the Earth being round means that Earth is always curving away from the satellite which is falling towards it).
So it is falling towards an object that it never gets closer to, and it is racing forward but never gaining and distance from the surface point of view.
Fascinating, I reckon.

That's just how Len felt last Thursday and Friday.
Two days to prepare for school, three brand new subjects and one of those days was spent in meetings (how I love meetings!!).
By Friday I was very unwell, headaches, neck aches, a pain in the left ankle and a desperate feeling that I wanted to run away. Possibly a panic attack and not pleasant at all.
It turns out that the pain in the ankle was cystitis, and is not a good thing and very painful.
A trip to emergency and antibiotics are sorting that out now.
since then the week has progressed reasonably OK, and calm is slowly replacing fear.
Judith went off to work and all is well, she keeps ranting about 'A House', for some reason. (Did I mention 'A House' before?)
She seems to like her new duties, and this week will be off to the other campus (students = 12) about 30 mins drive from Korumburra along a very windy but picturesque road.
Jessie has found a few friends already and seems to like the school, Sam has been in a cricket match already, and they are in the finals in a week or two.
He has displayed great maturity with some of the students at the school, one in particular who uses others to get dirty jobs done for his own benefit, Sam has stood up to that very well indeed.
On Friday night sam And Ln went to Melb to the MCG and watched the Paki/Oz T20 game. It was a thriller and great to be there, even if it took HOURS to get out and home.

So, satellites, school and stumps have all had their way this week.
It is a very beautiful area and we went to the Anglican church this AM, which was good.

What will this week bring??

Until next time.

And back again.

Well, here we are.

Back in Leongatha.

We had a good time in Tasmania meeting again with family and friends.
Some of the time was interesting, much was excellent.

It will be these people whom we miss that will be the hardest thing about being in Victoria.

We collected our trailer and crammed the Prado and Xtrail with gear, put heaps onto the roof of the Prado as well, upturned our kitchen table onto the trailer cover and packed that as well and eventually made our way back here safely. This was not always a 'given', as it all looked a bit over the top.

That is, until we went to board the Spirit of Tas., where there were all sorts of people with strange loads on top of all sorts of vehicles. We felt right at home there.
The prize for strangest in the loading bay queue must be the person who had a complete shell of a VW Beetle on top of his car!
I felt positively small fry compared with that effort.

We loved the wedding of Jude's niece, seeing family and having some time to sit and breathe.
The Prado has decided that the fuel pump needs attention, and the exhaust billows smoke when it is first started. It is only $3500 to fix, we were told!

On our return we stopped in at the Fountain Gate Shopping Center, and proceeded to spend lots on furniture orders as we have no lounge or bedroom furniture or TV (actually we had to go into debt to do it, oh well). So they are ordered and will be delivered in 8 weeks when we get a house (we hope!), and some pay.

We thought that it would then just be a matter setting up the van and resting for a few days in Leongatha Caravan Park, then work and being at the park for the 8 weeks or so to come.

However the lady there informed Len that even though we had booked a week we would have to leave after that, as she had a golf tournament that had booked the park solid. We were floored, as we then had no home, a van, two cars and new jobs/schools/everything else.
We had told her that we needed the spot for some time, around 6-8 weeks, and had booked one week already. She had said we did not need to book the rest until we returned so we didn't.

To top it off the lady was very rude and her grandson was worse. Len is in shock!! Judith is calm.

In a panic we phoned the Korumburra Caravan Park and explained our situation, they have put us up and we will have to shift for a weekend in 5 weeks, and return again after the weekend, we can stay at the park, just in another temporary spot they will make for us. How good! The manager talks fast and non-stop to the point of nausea, but it feels, and is, much nicer here, so it has worked out well after all.

Korumburra is just west of Leongatha, and you drive through it to get there. So, we have to travel 15 minutes to work each way now, instead of 2 minutes, but we have a place to lay our heads at least.

We arrived late today (Monday) partly set up and will do the rest tomorrow.

Now, for a good lie down.

Tasmania

After being in Leongatha for a short time, we high-tailed it to Tas, to collect some gear and see dear family and friends.

Leaving Leongatha proved much more difficult than first thought.

We went to FOUNTAIN GATE shopping centre.
An enormous, maze of shopping delight.
There are shops enough to keep Imelda Marcos happy for a few days. Jude and Jessie for weeks, Sam for hours, Len for... well no time actually.

We then went via the M1, using the trusty GPS to guide us safely to the Spirit.

Unfortunately the male got into Melbourne, and disbelieved the GPS ('You can't be serious, you stupid machine. Shut up!, What? Surely you can't turn off the M1 THERE!!!! I am going to find it MYSELF, so there!').

It turns out that you CAN in fact turn off the M1 where it was recommended by the GPS.
(To be fair, the maps have not been updated for 2 years and there are new freeways in Melbourne that are not on the maps, so the doubt factor was high, having driven on non-existent roads coming into Melbourne a few days earlier, thought I should just like to make that clear, OK)

It turns out that not following the GPS adds considerable stress to the whole affair.
Added to this was the fact the one car was dangerously low on fuel.

After a couple of laps through the center of town, much grinding of teeth and considerable calming talk from the wife via our two way radios, we stopped for directions.
The older male was considerably stressed.
Stress has a way of spreading.
After some desperate conversations with a video shop operator (thanks customers who waited for the talk to stop) we set off, knowing we were in fact close.
Bursting onto the M1 again with instructions to 'Turn onto the M1, get into the left lane immediately, then turn off onto blah blah blah road, and you are set'.

We raced onto the M1, raced into the left lane and Len raced past the left turn off.
It was only a few hundred meters where we entered.

Needing to smash a few things, much hard breathing was done.

The train station looked lovely as we drove past it again. It was the first time we had driven over the Yarra.
Around we went again, time was ticking by. And why do light take SO LONG to change when the teeth are clenched so hard?

This time we saw a fuel station which we had driven past some 30 minutes earlier from the opposite direction.
Jude filled the car (one problem down), Sam looked at our new shiny Melways, Len spoke to a bloke who offered to drive in front to the ferry.
His instructions were so clear that we declined the kind offer.

Onto the M1 again, we made the turn and Sam (GPS Sam, Global Positioning Sam) guided us safely and directly to the vessel.

Instead of 45 minutes spare, we had 30, so that was OK.

The voyage began smooth enough.

At midnight it was not so smooth.
At two in the morning it was positively rocking.

Len has always been a chronic motion sickness sufferer, so it was earlier that we unleashed the secret weapon, GINGER.

Applause, admiration, almost devotion to the miracle that is GINGER.

NEVER before has Len traveled and not been violently ill for days, so it was with much fear that the trip was planned.

The family had Travacalm, the ginger ones, Len loves ginger (how good is that) and ate it crystallised.
No-one was sick, even though much of the night was spent tossing back and forth, expecting the worst.
All hail ginger, and thank you Myth Busters, where they tested it thoroughly.

Sunday morning began at 5am with an announcement over the loud speaker, 7am arrived at the in-laws for breakfast, then to Burnie Apostolic where we saw lots of good friends, lunch with some of them and it was great to meet our mates again.

Later we went to the Walkers and are staying with the lovely daughter and hubby, and seeing our dear grand-daughter.

Very nice.

Oh, one last thing... it is cold here!

Until next time

Leongatha - and A NEW ADDRESS FOR POSTAL THINGS

So, we made it.

Leongatha is actually better than Len remembered it to be.
There are a few more shops, and very friendly people.

What there is not, however, is accommodation.
The new desalination plant is to be built near here (somewhere) and homes are nearly all full up.
We inspect two tomorrow. Here's hoping!

A certain Mr. Flower esq. wanted us to be over the magic 10 000km mark by the time we got here from Darwin.
well...




The stats are (NOT counting from Melbourne to Leongatha).

1904.88 litres of diesel (I am so sorry, Planet Earth!)
$2585.00 fuel cost
Average of 19.22 liters per 100km (that is soooo bad, but a very heavy pulling load)
9856km to Melbourne in total.

If we add on the KM from where we were in Melbourne when we last filled to now, we add another 145.1 kms

WE GET.......


10001.1

Hooray, I hear Mr. Flower esq. exclaim.

Hooray, we exclaim.

The rest probably say nothing much at all and go and make a nice hot cup of tea.

Now, we have been busy, and we have already secured a post box, so you can post donations to the 'Pay for the diesel' fund.

This is the new address for us all.

L. J. S. J. Clark (Whomever it may be you want to post to)
P.O. Box 93
Leongatha 3953
Victoria, Australia

Now, get writing!

Until next time (or you visit us here)

Addled Aide

We arrived in Adelaide after the trials of the Nullabor.
We saw a bloke on a push bike half way across!
We also knew what lay in front of the intrepid traveler, and wondered how the heck he was going to survive the time in the sun.
Then we drove through what he had already pedaled through, and wondered how he HAD survived the time in the sun.
There is an old bike at Nullarbor (The town that is, Nullabor on Nullabor, get it?) with an even older helmet. It is the bike and helmet of the first person to ride across the plains.
We are also pretty certain he was mad.

Adelaide put on it's best weather for us (read 'Stinking hot', and we had the pleasure of staying with the Flower family, and visiting the Jack family, both dear friends of ours. That was great.

We were a day ahead of schedule and were going to leave on Monday, but a Catastrophic Fire Warning was issued for the area we were heading to, and it would have been a struggle to get the van up the hill heading out of Adelaide. We waited until Tuesday.

Tuesday was wet and much cooler, so we headed out and drove to Ballarat, we would have driven into Melbourne but it was too hard to find a caravan space.

The van found additional leaks and we have wet bedding and coverings etc.
It looks bleak for the future of the van, insurance people will have a look in the next few days in Leongatha.

Today (Wednesday) we head to our new town and try to find a home to live in.

Today is also dawning bright and sunny.

The Main Game commences.
Until next time

The view from here is hot

Esperence is a jewel in the tiara of the south west of Oz.
The Beach Drive is stunning. The water is so clear that close to shore waves seem to shimmer inwards, rather than move, as you can see straight through to the sand. The deeper water is magnificently turquoise, and we were fortunate enough to see a pod of perhaps a dozen dolphins frolicking in the waves on the first beach we looked at.
Driving along, seeing magnificence after magnificence we went into sensory overload and returned tired and happy to the caravan.
We left the next day to try to get as far towards Adelaide as possible.
It was 47 degrees in Esperance later in the day we left!

We decided that we would not dally on the Nullarbor, and skittle across as quick as possible. 'As quick as possible' turns out to be between 80 and 100kph. It also means 'two days of lots of driving'.
The view across the Nullarbor for passengers is not as one may expect. There is no places that are red dust either side, but much low scrub-land and some wooded areas. It is not a place to settle down and raise a family, we feel. We met my brother and partner (now newly pregnant) at Caiguna Roadhouse where he is working until next week.

The view for the driver across the Nullarbor looks a lot like a temperature gauge of a motor vehicle.
There is a very solid and delicately balanced link between the temp. gauge and the accelerator pedal.
As the vehicle is pulling quite a heavy load, it tends to run from 1/2 way up to 7/8 to the dreaded RED zone. A slight touch harder of the accelerator pedal and it soars to the RED zone, and heart attacks occur spontaneously for the driver, who must nurse the system down a tad, until it feels safe-ish to continue on. Even stopping and idling to cool things down a bit actually makes the car get hotter!
MANY hours were whiled away looking anxiously down to the temp. gauge and up to the road, then repeated, and .... well you get it.

We have driven for over 800k one day and over 700 the next.
Adelaide is only 5 or 6 hour away now.