In accordance with popular belief that old Returds don’t
die, they just keep cruising the highway, so it is with us. After a hiatus of
nearly six months, and what a six months that was, Maurs and I are back on the
road armed with a loose plan and a tight budget (that seems to be the lot of
the Grey Nomad). We have been travelling for just over a week now – wrenching
ourselves away from our daughters, their partners and worse still, our new grandson
Harvey, whom I might say is a bit cute and totally addictive. More on that
later.
Harvey - 2 months old
We drove out from Melbourne roughly in the direction of
Adelaide and stopped at Halls Gap in the Grampians purely on a whim. It is great
rugged country with a lot of walking tracks through there as we found out –
funnily enough the clincher in the decision-making process was that there was a
zoo there and they had Meerkats! We did enjoy the zoo. We had committed to get
to Adelaide by the Friday and so we took off on the Thursday into the teeth of
a developing weather system – gusty headwinds and equal helpings of blowing
dust and sheeting rain to give the vehicle a muddy tone – to see how far we
could get. We decided the little town of Tailem Bend on the Murray River was going
to be our funkhole for the night (about 100 km from Adelaide). The Caravan Park
had seen better days, possibly in 1965. In keeping with the environmental
movement there were stickers plastered all over the shower recesses urging
people to “Save Water”. Sadly upon entering the shower cubicles all the shower
heads were leaking vigorously – without the taps on at all! Tailem Bend was the
proverbial Curate’s Egg – good in parts – and the meal served at the local pub
was terrific (and within a poor pensioner’s budget too!)
New-born baby marmoset clinging to Dad's neck - pretty rare
Onwards to Adelaide the next day. The weather had eased down
some and it was an easy drive to South Australia’s fair capital city. The van
park there was superbly appointed and lawns manicured (plumbing worked too!).
Our mission was to catch up with friends; the Wehrs, the Harris’s, the Watsons,
and Jamila – really good to see them all. South Australia might be the driest
State in the driest continent (yes I know about Antarctica – but it’s a popular
saying, alright?) but try telling a guy that as he packs up in patchy rain and
drives 160 km to the next destination in steady rain. We booked into a place
called Burra, only because it was one of the few places with a vacancy as the
Easter holiday looms up and everyone leaves home for the four day break. We are
rendezvousing with my brother Thomas and sis-in-law Margaret there – they are
coming from Brisbane via Broken Hill. We had so much fun together last year
through central Queensland that we thought we’d try it again. Unfortunately my
sister Mal and bro-in-law Roy (the self contained entertainment system)
couldn’t make this one but plans may be afoot for next year.
So that’s where we’re at, cats. After this we’re heading
north in a valiant attempt to stave off yet another winter. We’ll keep you
informed. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in our last six months “off-road” so
to speak...read on.
We ended our last road-trip in Melbourne last September by spending
some time with family and friends before flying back to Perth where Maurs had
to do the rounds of the doctors regarding the aftermath of her breast cancer
diagnosis. She got the all clear health-wise plus a spot of reconstructive
surgery and hopefully, eternal vigilance aside, that will be that. We also
caught up with friends (those that hadn’t got sick of us never being around)
before heading back to Melbourne via Singapore. We heard the Singaporeans did
Christmas rather well and we were not disappointed by the street decorations,
the general vibe, or anything else in Singapore for that matter – it is a great
city. We met our friends Elly and Mike there and we sampled as many different
cuisines as we could in the time available. The time available turned out to be
a little more than planned. For the first time in my flying career we
completely missed our flight to Melbourne – misread the flight schedule –
realised our mistake at about final check-in time – dashed out to the airport –
threw ourselves upon the mercy of Jetstar who were very obliging and simply
booked us onto the next night’s flight – rushed downstairs at Changi Airport to
find some accommodation for the night – got a room at the same hotel we had
just left, same floor and about four doors down from Mike and Elly’s room –
caught a taxi back to the hotel and resumed partying. Unfortunately it meant
that we had yet again missed being with Renee for her birthday, so there were
consequences when we did get into Melbourne.
We spent Christmas in Melbourne, followed by the main event,
the birth of Harvey on 14 January. He arrived nearly a week late and it was a
difficult birth but he is a little gift to Renee and Justin (and to us as
well). We spent a lot of our time assisting the new parents around the house,
helping them to adjust to their little arrival. The guest room was renamed the
Servants Quarters and I reckon Justin would have been howling the most of all
of us when the time came for us to leave, with the possible exception of Dexter
the dog who was clearly on easy street with his G/Ma and G/Pa tending to his
every need. But Returds need to be on the road – that’s the way of things.
"Please come back...pleeeeasse!"
"Please come back...pleeeeasse!"
