It’s been a while!

Looking back to when I last posted to this blog, once again I’ve been backward in recording our journey.  I’ve spent a lot of time in the last couple of months putting together a submission for Department of Veterans’ Affairs and Veterans’ Review Board.  This involved a lot of research and writing and finally topped out at 28 pages.  The purpose of the submission was to provide as much detail as we could for the Veterans’ Review Board, so that they can make a decision on Rick’s claim for war-caused Post traumatic Stress Disorder.  This claim has been hanging around for three years now, and we just want to get it finished and over with.  A date has now been set, and Jeff Wake (Rick’s advocate and close friend) and I meet with the Board probably on May 28.  Rick will not be attending as it will put way too much stress on him, but we’re hoping that Dr Malcolm Roberts, Rick’s trick cyclist will be able to attend and put forward the case.  I also have a few things I want to say!!!  Now that that is finished, I can spend more time working on the Family Tree.  It has been sadly neglected in the last two months.

We left the house-sit in Rockingham on 6 March 2010.  We were both kind of glad to leave this property.  Not because there was anything wrong with it – it was just so big!  Two stories!  It was also very hot during that period.  I don’t think we had any days under about 34 degrees for the whole month.  Unfortunately, the night before we were due to leave, our van fridge died, so we had to change our plans slightly.  We spent a week in the Mandurah Caravan Park, while TRYING to get it fixed.  It’s a Top Tourist Park, very nice and customer service to die for!   They lent us a huge esky while we had no fridge, and we used the Engel in the car as a freezer.  It was still very hot, so we were very thankful for the help.  Sadly the Fridge company we arranged to look at the fridge were idiots.  The serviceman came out (he was pretty good), checked it out and told us that the electronic controller for the fridge had died.  So, he disappeared back to the office to get the manager to order one in.  So far, so good we thought.  WRONG!  After numerous phone calls to the manager, and then contacting Camec (the supposed supplier) ourselves, we still didn’t have a controller.  According to Camec, it would take them two weeks to get one from over East??  We absolutely had to leave Mandurah after the week was up, because of medical appointments in Perth, so when we arrived in Coogee Beach caravan park, once again rang the fridgie.  He wouldn’t even talk to us that day, so I left a message – by this stage getting reeeealy cranky.  Guess what – to this day (9 May), we still have not received either a phone call or a new part.  Rick ended up calling Glen and Leisa at Kedron, and we had one in our hands within two days.  Got hold of another fridgie in Perth, and it took him twenty minutes to install!  Fantastic!  Don’t know what happened to the guy in Mandurah, but don’t really care!!

Whilst in Perth, Rick took part in a sleep study to check for Sleep Apnoea.  Within two days, he had a CPAP (Controlled Positive Airway Pressure) machine, and his sleep became much easier.  Instead of snoring and stopping breathing all night, he can now sleep peacefully and quietly.

From Perth, we spent a week in Busselton at the Mandalay Holiday Resort.  This is another well run and lovely park.  It’s the second time we’ve been there (last time was in November last year), and it’s the sort of park that’s easy to return to.   Then onto Albany for a week at Kalgan River Caravan Park.  We were there over Easter which meant we did not have to hit the roads during that awful period.  It was busy at Kalgan River, but not totally chaotic as many other places were.  It’s a lovely spot too, on the banks of the Kalgan River about 10km east of Albany.  Met some really nice people there too, which makes it more memorable.  There was a really big thunderstorm the first night we were there.  We didn’t get too much water through the camp-site, but some people took a couple of days to get rid of it.  Weather was pretty good after that. 

And then on to Dunsborough for the last house-sit in WA.  We arrived on April 10, and it’s really hard to believe that we’ve already been here for a month.  Jane & Len, the owners, are such lovely laid back people, and the house is wonderful.  They renovated the original house and added a large living, games, bar, etc type room at the back.  It’s possible to open all the doors and bring the outside inside.   The kitchen adjoins the room, so the cook is never cut off from the happenings outside, and can pass food, drink, goodies through the screened windows.  We’re looking after a cat, Oscar.  He’s a big fella, and spends most of his time curled up in the garage asleep.  Occasionally deigns to come and visit us, funnily enough it’s usually a mealtimes?  He’s certainly not a high maintenance cat.

So, we have another month here, and then we’re probably going back to Perth for the month before the Junior Recruit’s 50th Reunion in mid-July.  We’ve got to get the car and van serviced before we leave here, as well as attend doctors appointments.  Then, after the reunion, we hit the road again.  The decision has been made (finally, after a lot of discussion) to head back to Queensland via the Great Central Road.  This will take us from Perth to Leonora to Alice Springs (via the back of Uluru) and then onto Winton.  Not quite sure where we’ll head from there, but probably down towards Brisbane eventually.  We need to be there for 2 September, ‘cos it’s my Dad’s 80th birthday.  We’ve then got a Kedron Owners Group gathering at Millmerran on the first weekend in October, for the bi-annual Camp Oven Festival.  We were there four years ago, and had great fun.