Over-exuberance

It is great to see drivers acknowledging each other. In a motorhome, I find motorhomers and caravanners usually wave. What I have noticed is that I get an exuberant wave. As a child I remember my Dad acknowledging other drivers with the laconic lift of an index finger. Now we seem to raise four fingers or even lift a whole hand and wave.  Is this the result of the hugging kissing culture that has developed over the past few decades? Is it because we are now better drivers and can afford to drive one-handed? Are we just friendlier?

One of my little detours was to the former gold mining town of Hillgrove. Somewhere in the back of mind is the possibility that my great-grandfather may have tried his hand at prospecting in that area. Someone will probably tell me. The town is obviously just a shadow of what it has been. I was impressed with one of the solutions they had come up with. Right through the town, signs had been erected showing what had been there initially, with information boards also dotted about.

Over the past couple of days I have circled back and will be home tomorrow to get work done on the van. One of the things that I love is when someone asks where I am going today and I say I haven't looked at a map yet. After I left Bellinger, I headed back towards the coast and amazed myself when I passed Annie's new property, then the turnoff to Tracie's. At that stage I decided that I'd go back to New Italy for the night. Bad decision! On the weekend, it had been a lovely camping area. On a Monday night, trucks thundered by without a break. Because I was awake most of the night, I did a lot of counting. The lowest count was an average of two trucks a minute. At times eight or nine passed in a minute. My neighbours Jan and Ken had gone before I got up. I don't know when they gave up and left.


At a Toastmasters meeting last week, one of the men talked about the Lions Way, the road built by the Lions club from Kyogle into Queensland. I had intended to drive home that way but somehow missed the signs. I followed the Mt Lindsay Highway which is a very picturesque trip but narrow and winding. The big advantage was the lack of trucks, and after the previous night, I was quite happy not to see or hear them!

 

Spoiled for Choice

I had a wonderful few days with Tracie and Darryl. Their home is an oasis of calm with a sprawling house and extensive lawn and gardens. Darryl is a lawn mowing contractor and, unlike some specialist tradesmen, is proud of his lawn. Despite lots of recent rain and perfect growing conditions, his yard is immaculate.

Tracie and I spent our afternoons sitting in what is probably called a conservatory, an enclosed area of the verandah, drinking wine and enjoying the serenity of the garden. We also managed to catch up on several years of chat. She teaches at a small school with about 70 students and has the Prep/Year 1 class. I had a day with her at school and did a bit of testing for her.

I managed to catch up with Annie and Les. They were supposed to be sailing to Sydney last year but didn't get any further than the Mighty Clarence. When I met with Annie, she motored across from the boat in a rubber dinghy, totally at home on the river. They like the area so much that they have bought a home, in a lovely spot with the river wrapping itself around two-thirds of the property. There is a large house, a fair expanse of lawn and garden and a small jetty. When not doing domestic things ( and studying for Annie) there is plenty of opportunity for messing about in boats, to quote Ratty in Wind in the Willows. 

So now, when I am travelling through, I will be spoiled for choice - being able to stay with Tracie and catch up with Annie, or stay with Annie and catch up with Tracie.

One problem I have when I am moving about is that most of my fellow travellers are early to bed and early to rise. As I don't bother much with TV (though I would this time if I could work out how to connect it), the evenings can be long. However Annie has joined the Yamba Yabbies Toastmasters club and I attended with her on Monday night. There were ten apologies for the meeting so several spaces on the agenda had to be filled. I was lucky enough to be given a table topic (my favourite part of the meeting), evaluate the other topics and evaluate one of the speeches. Inspired by this, when I moved on to Glen Innes, I went to their meeting on Thursday night and again managed to be given a table topic. What a great way to spend an evening, among like-minded people and given uninterrupted time to talk.

I think I could live here

Armidale is a beautiful city. Three days is not enough to soak it up. I stayed at the show ground with plenty of space and good hot showers. To orient myself I went on the free heritage tour bus. It was a bargain, even at twice the price! People were very generous with their donations, and rightly so. It is a great service for visitors. With its lovely cool weather and four distinct seasons it reminded me a lot of Ireland. Even the rain was generally a light Scotch Mist that barely warranted an umbrella.


 


We toured historic Armidale with beautifully preserved and carefully renovated homes in the older part of the city. And it is a city, because of the cathedrals. Both the Catholic and Anglican churches  have a Bishop here.  So even if the buildings were small and insignificant, they would still be classed as cathedrals. They are neither small nor insignificant, built from the local blue brick.

As well as these cathedrals, there are other impressive churches, schools and city buildings. The university, UNE, is an important part of the city and the large number of international students has probably helped provide the wide range of ethnic restaurants dotted around the city. The Main Street is an eclectic mix of old and new or new and modern on the ground floor under period facades.

Driving east out of the city today, I followed the Waterfall Way. The recent rain and the current occasional downpour meant that the waterfalls were flowing. Unfortunately most were obscured by cloud, mist or heavy rain. It was almost impossible to get decent photos but that didn't detract from the beauty. In fact, there was an eerie atmosphere with the sound of the waterfall muffled by rain and the falls only glimpsed through the drifting cloud. Spectacular!

As usual, the people I met along the way contributed to the enjoyment. On the bus tour I met Lynne from Brighton and Carol from Bracken Ridge who just happen to be Red Hatters. We will connect again when we are all back in Brisbane. Last night I kept to myself, arriving after a late dinner when everyone seemed to be settled.  The Show is on next week and most of my neighbours were Showies getting ready to set up. They were interesting to talk to but most were busy getting domestic duties out of the way before the Show started.

Tonight has provided an interesting mix of travellers. I had planned to camp closer to Dorrigo but the recommended camp ground was very wet and soggy. I drove around the area and decided that it wasn't worth the risk of getting bogged so continued to Bellingen sports ground. Bill from Cairns was first to arrive with his dog Shadow. Next five German girls in a van and a car came and set up in the shed to play cards. Three friends travelling together have come across from New Zealand, two are Czech and one Japanese. Since then a young woman has pulled up in a car. She hasn't socialised and appeared to go straight to sleep. There may be another car up further but I will never know. Usually by the time I surface in the morning, everyone else has left,

We are fairly close to the road but the grounds are pretty dark and the road is not busy and will get even quieter over the next couple of hours. I will try to be like my neighbours. I will batten down and try to sleep.

Paddington Bear

The very adventurous Paddington Bear wore a label, Please look after this bear. Although I am not looking for a protector, when I leave on a trip I feel  a bit like a storybook character setting out on an adventure.  I am well labelled. I have my Silver Gypsy sign on the back window. I often have to tell people that I am the silver gypsy, not the motorhome. Her name is Angel.

As well, I have my CMCA membership sticker so that my fellow Campervan and Motorhome members recognise me. Recently I signed up to the Solos' Network. I love their logo which made total sense when I discovered that all the Solo chapters have bird names. This gives them a profile among other CMCA chapters.


 On Friday I finally got out of the driveway at about 9.30.  I had dozens of fiddly bits to do before I left, including another 2 hours trying to get an internet dongle working. It must have been well after 2pm before I got on to the motorway. My only objective was to get out of Queensland, not because I don't love my home state but because I wouldn't feel as though I was on my way if I was too close to home.

I spent the first night at Yelgun roadside camp, a very popular spot. My immediate neighbours were a couple from Austria who had flown into Cairns and bought a. campervan. They had four weeks in Australia, leaving Sydney in less than a week. On the other side of me was a woman from the Sunshine Coast, probably my age but, unlike me, fit and energetic. However, like me, she had no fixed destination and was making decisions on a day by day basis.

Day two was spent in Ballina, just poking around and exploring the area. I finished the day at New Italy. I spent some time (and money) in the museum and the glass maker's gallery and enjoyed a coffee and cake in the cafe. Once again, this was a popular camping area, free of charge, with toilets available and the cafe open for morning coffee. I hauled out my camp chair and joined my neighbours  Lorraine and Cec who were on the last leg of their trip and heading for home. I got a few good ideas for camping spots and had a valuable lesson on Wikicamps.

Next stop was with my friends Tracie and Darryl.Tracie and I taught together at Humpybong way back in the eighties. She was a newly graduated teacher and I was already long in the tooth but we worked brilliantly as a team. We've spent time reminiscing. I think those couple of years were career highlights for both of us.

Rosu Purporio

 My Red Hat Society friend Lynne gave me a companion for my travels. It is a little purple dog in Red Hat regalia. I thought it appropriate to give her a gypsy name as she is travelling with the Silver Gypsy.  Drawing on fairy tale names like Rose Red and Snow White, I have given her the name Rose Purple or Red Purple. In Romanian that is Rosu Purporio, pronounced Rozoo.  So Rosu is ready to leave.

I am also ready but my Angel is still feeling a bit battered and bruised from the hail storm.  The damage to the roof and lining can’t be fixed until materials arrive at the end of the month. I’ve decided to risk heavy rain and go away for a couple of weeks anyhow. The repairer has bogged up the part of the roof which he thinks has leaked so hopefully I won’t drown as I drive around.

The time spent waiting for quotes and repair dates hasn’t been wasted. I have had a reversing camera and mirror fitted. My drive home was an interesting experience as the mirror had been set in reverse. When I checked in the mirror, I’d see a car on the left hand side, then it would zoom past on the right. This was very disorienting. I took it back for the 30 second adjustment that was needed.

I’ve also had some drawers made. There is plenty of room under the double bed but it is only accessible from the outside which involves getting out and walking to the back of the van. This would not be much fun in the dark or the rain or a lonely spot. I’ve had two banks of drawers made and have had the fun today of beginning to fill them. Of course, I immediately discovered that the tubs of clothes, food, utensils and stationery, games and books are more than enough to fill them so the second part of the day was spent taking stuff out again.

A drawer under single bed pulls out into doorway

A bank of drawers behind driver's seat

Drawers under bed, solar screens on doors,
single bed widened and lengthened.

 While I was busy spending money, I had solar screens made for the front windscreen and windows and the rear barn door windows. These are heavy duty insulating panels, made to measure with strong suction pads to hold them in place. I am hoping that this will give me a lovely dark sleeping area so I don’t get that horrible feeling I should get up early and start moving just because the sun is up. Besides, I've just had a custom built inner-spring mattress made. Getting up too early wouldn't help me get my money's worth. I have enough Scottish background to make sure I get good value.