Back out on the road again

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!)

                                                         Meerkating in the Grampians

                         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.

                                                     Ah the life of a Grey Nomad!!!

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.

                                                            Elephant suits become him

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!"