Keep the seat warm...

For those of you who haven't been with us before...you'll get used to it.

(This paragraph is for Rob Preston. Rob is from England and plays golf very badly. For those of you who remember, Rob likes paragraphs. Rob has a very nice wife named Julie).

More about the seat later on.

We're off on the trip at last...
That became official when we were having lunch on the first day, (Hungry Jacks on the Hume Highway). This man at the table next to us must have seen us pull up with the van and asked Mal where we were travelling to. She told the man, (who was from Warrigal, let's call him Warren from Warrigal as we didn't get his name) that we were going north and they were going north too, (their van is a Jayco, ours is an Evernew).


Anyway, after they left, Mal said..."Gee, now it really feels like we are on our way because we just met our first set of caravan people travelling north". (We were at Diggers Rest...so you can imagine how exciting the rest of the trip is going to be!). For those of you who don't know where Diggers Rest is...it's almost a northern suburb of Melbourne, so we hadn't gone far.

We stayed the first night at Nagambie, only about 150kms north of Melbourne. The caravan park is beautiful, right on the Golbourn River.

We didn't meet anyone here, (mainly 'cause there wasn't anyone to meet), but a couple of strange things did happen...

They have very aggressive possums. The bloody things walk into the light at the communal barbecue and expect to be fed. Possums are nocturnal and can't really see in the light, so while I was trying to shoo them off, I felt like I was denying food to blind paupers. (God possums can make you feel guilty).

Next morning, I went to the ablution block, (isn't block a wonderful word) and proceeded to have a shower in me Y fronts, (I hadn't finished getting undressed for some reason. Dunno why, it may have something to do with age).

But there's more...I reached down and picked up the shampoo that I had very deliberately placed on the soap holder, only to discover it was underarm deodorant. (Probably is age when I think about it).

Later that night, Mal came back from the ablution block, (read dunnies) and was laughing her head off...she was wearing 2 Berkinstocks, (now you may think there's nothing funny in that but one was mine and the other was hers...and they were both left feet). Now that is definitely not old age, that's the white wine talkin' right there.

The next morning off we went, onward and upward. There were heaps of vans heading north and only a few heading south, (there were 2 Evernews heading south which we suspect were being returned to Heidelberg so that Bruce, (the owner of Evernew) can fix 'em, (our van is an Evernew).

Stayed at West Wyalong, didn't really meet anyone here so we'll move on.

Next day we visited the Dish at Parkes, it's amazing...gotta be pretty proud of Ozzie technology. We passed more trucks and stayed at Nyngan. It has a beautiful river with a sad name, (the Bogan) and fantastic caravan park with a bar the defies description. Sort of a cross between Wycliffe Downs and Daley Waters for those who have been there.

We did however meet some people at last...Kevin and June from Coffs Harbour. I started talking to Kevin when his wife appeared from around the back of their caravan and proceeded to tell me that he always does this, (this being talking to people). It was 3.30 in the afternoon and June was wearing a bright pink, (terry towelling) nighty and slippers, (she looked quite fetching really).

Probably the highlight of the trip so far has been Bourke. It really is the start of the real outback and has so much history attached to it. Henry Lawson was sent here to try to dry out, (the pub he used to drink at is still standing!). He spent the following 2 years writing some of his most memorable poetry.

The first shearers strikes occurred at Bourke, leading to the setting up of a workers union.

The Darling River is amazing, so much water so far outback...enough to support cotton growing, orchards of lime trees and heaps of other irrigated crops.

Probably the most moving moment was a visit to Fred Hollows grave...

We met John from Kilmore at Bourke, (his van is a Paramount, ours is an Evernew). John is a real nice bloke but we didn't see his wife 'cause she had a 48 hour bug, (she'd had it for 72 hours).

Oh yes, we also met Helen, (not Helen Goland or Helen Limbach who also talk a lot). This Helen lived in Murray Bridge. She had been in the Navy, been a music teacher and travelled at this time of year, playing her guitar and singing all kinds of songs for a gold coin donation. We went to one of her singalongs with a whole lot of other mature aged people, (a lot of them joined in the choruses).

Next night we went to a barbecue and log fire in the camp and this bloke, (a local cocky) stood up and started reciting some of Henry Lawson's poetry. It was fantastic...

From Bourke we travelled to Nardoo Station, (not Nardoo as in Indira, this is a 110,000 acre working cattle station). Had another night around a camp fire with about 40 other people and the property managers wife. She had just come in from mustering cattle and cooked a roast dinner for all of us. (Wish I could get my wife to multi-task).

And how small is this world. We got talking to Janis Hill...who went to Stewart Street State School in East Brunswick. That's where me and me 2 sisters went, (that's Lorraine, (not Lorraine from New Zealand but Lorraine, Cate and Shane's mother and my oldest sister) and Barbara, (that's my middle sister, Karl and Simon and Robbie's mother) to school in the 50's.

Janis is married to Rex, (their van is an Evernew, ours is an Evernew to only smaller). Janis and Rex live in Traralgon...she talks a lot but he's OK.

We're currently at Charleville. There's so many people on the road that there's caravans squeezed in everywhere, but everyone is pretty relaxed and friendly, especially the guy who was standing outside the toilet door this morning, who, as I left simply said with a wry grin..."Did you keep the seat warm for me..."

Sort of poetic that...