The best laid plans of mice and men....that was definitely me today. Everything all organised - or so I thought. Caravan out and checked (or so I thought!). Car fuelled up the night before and ready to go as soon as pusses taken to the cattery.
Hiccough No. 1 - Pusses knew that the jig was up when the carry baskets came out. Of couse, let's hide on Mum. Taffy, after a quick hide and seek around the bed ends ended up under the dining room table in the corner of the room. Discovered and despatched to basket. Scamp - another story. Wery, wery quiet. OK. 5 minutes spent searching very few places, but no puss! Looked in the dressing room. Not to be found. This is ridiculous. Search again. Look at the top of dressing room shelves. Oh yes, here we are. Hiding at the back, under Gary's old welding jacket. Drag puss off shelf (slight temper) and into basket. Off we go to the cattery. All good. NOT.
Hiccough No 2 - The oil warning flashes - Oil High. Shittybrickety! Have just had car serviced. Oil High means, in the Merc, that it has been overfilled which can damage the engine or catalytic converter. You have got to be kidding me! Immediately find phone number for mechanic and advise of problem and if they can drain off the excess oil as I was due to head out to go away. Very obliging and shot down the freeway and after about 1/2 hour, all done - and yes, overfilled by 300ml. Yep. That's just enough to send the gauges flipping out.
Back home and it is just after 10.00 am. Load up car with clothes, computer and food. Check tyres and hmmm, they need just a tad more air, but I'm on the way and decide to stop off at the Servo on the way to Geelong. Nup. Not happening. Queue a mile long refuelling. Finally stopped at Colac, refuelled and aired up and on the way.
Journey was uneventful, but traffic heavy until Colac. The new freeway out of Geelong certainly helps. The Monash Freeway out of Melbourne does not. The trucks on the road this morning were unbelievable. Our Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, will have a lot to answer for in 4 years time if the East/West Link does not go through. Every truck from Gippsland and South Eastern Greater Melbourne is now all fusing onto the Monash at all hours of the day and night and it is DANGEROUS. They all either go to the ports, head to Geelong or out to the Hume - and it is the only way to go! The East/West Link will take all this away if they have a more direct route to the ports and the Hume. The whole of South Eastern Greater Melbourne is being held to ransom by a handful of people who live inner city. Walk a mile (or Drive a mile) in my shoes everyday and see if you thought patterns change. Giving us more trains is not going to alleviate the congestion of trucks on the road deliving goods around the country!
Anyway, enough of my soapbox.
Hiccough No 3 - Arrived in Port Campbell. Beautiful spot. Set up caravan and realised that the garden hose is still in Dandenong North (used it for the front garden) and had no way to fill up the water tank! Shittybrickety! Into the town centre. Nup. No garden hoses or hardware store in this town! Next best is in Timboon, 17 clicks away. It's 16.00. On my bike and shoot down the road to the Timboon Home Hardware and get another hose - which will stay in the van now, forever!
Went for a walk to see the ocean and settled in for some nuts and a glass of wine - much needed! This is really a beautiful place and the caravan park is not full. Amazing for Easter. I have a great spot backing onto the river, so no neighbours behind me. Yay! The caravan spaces are very big so you don't feel hemmed in by others. All in all, the first day was rather eventful, but the end result turned out well.
Missing Gary so much. It's so unbelievably hard. On the way into Port Campbell, the cemetery is right on the main road. I went in to have a look and some of the gravestones are so old and tell such stories of families' sad stories of loss and so many young ones and people taken too soon from life. It made Gary's death so poignant and left me so sad and in tears. I thought of the theme song from Twilight - "I have loved you for a thousand years and I'll love you for a thousand more".
I have Gazza's wetsuit, fins, hat and gloves and a new set of boots, so am intending to do some snorkelling and have Auntie Jean's little fold up bicyle in the boot, so intend to cycle around town and do the walks along the cliffs. Let's see what happens tomorrow!!
No comments:
Post a Comment