Well here I am in Adelaide, well actually out at Salisbury or there abouts at present. I have spent 2 days at West Beach at the Big 4 caravan park, which was a delight. It was very busy given that it was the long weekend and the middle of school holidays. Nice park though and good solid flat sites. The facilities are excellent and the spotlessly clean. Security around all the time, so noise and going on was kept to a minimum at the appropriate times. Of  course having said all that I have actually had to drive from Mt Gambier to Adelaide. That was great. I had a wonderful trip and it was different from driving the car up. It was a very windy day so I had to really drive Miss Daisy to keep her on the straight and narrow. It is lovely to be able to see further up the road from the ****pit. I did not have music along the way because I still have not worked out how to use the new beaut gizmo that has been implanted in Miss Daisy's dashboard. So a quite trip with me talking to myself. Interesting conversation believe me.

I stopped at Keith for a toilet break and decided to have lunch. Hmmm, was a good idea. Had a beautiful hamburger, so yummy, and so big, I only ate a small amount but it was soooo good. There were a lot of people around and the police were out in force with breath testing and speeding checks. I also managed to buy  two bottles of the most magnificent dressings. They are too die for. Jamies dressings from Lake Boga in Vic, Honey Mustard and Poppy Seed Dressing. Very good on the salad. So tummy filled and bladder empty I hit the road again.

As I was approaching the hills coming into Adelaide I had momentary lapse in my thinking and started to think about driving through the city traffic again towards Glenelg and West Beach. Had a good talking to myself and reminded myself that I had done this before in a MH and even driven through Melbourne in  MH, so get over myself and get on with it. See told you it was an interesting conversation. No comments from the peanut gallery please.

Anyways made it safe and sound to West Beach only to discover the most dangerous part of the journey was about to take place. All booked in, no problems, driving around to my allotted site, hmmm, negotiation was needed, narrow roads, and children, children everywhere, on skateboards, bikes, trikes, roller blades and everything inbetween, then once to the site and having reverse in, that became another thing altogether. If someone could please explain to me why some parents allow their little ones, around 3-4 riding their bikes willy nilly when there is such traffic around. I lined up the site, no prob, but in the mirror I could see this little boy, Mum was the other side of the MD, so was he going to run to Mum, was he going to stay put, was he just going to fall off his bike, all this going through my head and Mum standing there yelling at him. I just wanted her to go to him and hold his hand for me, but no she yelled and in the end the little boy decided that perhaps to continue on the road well travelled was best to get away from Mum yelling and this big blue thing that wanted to be somewhere else. All reversed in and set up it was time to just kick back for a bit while waiting for Joanne to put in an appearance to go for dinner at a Thai restaurant at Henley Beach.  Nice dinner, good wine, good conversation, but nothing compares to the Thai in Bulimba so we have decided that next time I am in Adelaide we are going to go Chinese or some other cuisine.

Sunday seen me up and about later than I thought, as I had actually slept in for the first time in a long time and ready for a walk to a supermarket somewhere. I had invited Jan and Eric Burgess around for lunch along with Joanne. Let me explain who these people are, Jo is an old neighbour of mine from when I lived in Brisbane, and the Burgess' are actually two of my teachers from high school that have become excellent friends. So once again I knew I was going to have a great afternoon. However first things first, had to get food to feed the guests. Off I set with back pack at the ready, up the path a little ways was a couple cleaning out their letterbox, so I stopped and asked where the closest shops were, up the road further or head over to Harbour Town. They suggested a group of shops aways up the road, and offered to drive me up there as they were on their way out. It was lovely and they were really nice people, as it turns out living not too far from me in Brisbane so we chatted for the 5mins it took them to drop me off at the IGA. Shopping done, and a nice walk back to the caravan park. At least I had my daily walk that had been lacking for sometime at home.

The sun was shining and quite warm so sitting outside was a delight. In fact I ended up rather burnt. All guests arrived and after a couple of bottles of wine, good food, lively conversation, and many laughs it was time to bit farewell to Jan and Eric. Joanne and I took off for a walk along the beach and discovered that there was actually a path all the way to Glenelg, so when she went home she walked it. It took her an hour to get home so Jo, had her exercise also. See how well I look after my guests. A great day had by all.

Now while sitting in Adelaide I met a lovely English couple that were out here for 2 months in an Apollo campervan, making their way to Cairns via the coast. I also had time to observe other people, in many forms of accommodation. the funniest had to be the older couple that were in their new toy. This toy was a Jayco Conquest MH, with all the bells and whistles. I am only assuming that this was their first outing in it. Said MH is put into place and out come all the bits and bobs from every opening. there were BBQ's, a ladder that converted to a table, chairs, sinks, bins, and goodness knows what else. Thought they had settled in, but no, next I look it had all been put away and they owners had disappeared. This happened three times over the time I was there, yet never once did they cook on the BBQ, or sit outside to eat a meal. I did see the lady of the MH, sitting outside reading once, all covered up against the sun I guess. It provided entertainment. I thought I was bad with some of the stuff that I have but geez I think I might be doing OK compared to some. I also enjoyed the experience of being in close proximity to the good old whiz bang. Of course this was in overdrive because it was a rental, well there were a couple actually, and the doors had a good work out. I was pleased for the doors, however people please get what you need and shut the flipping door or just leave it open.

So that brings me to today. I am now out here with my sister and her partner. I have had a busy day cleaning MD, and doing my washing. It was great to try out the washing machine and all was going well until it wasn't. I could not work out why the washing machine was suddenly not working. I turned it off and then on again, still nothing, so decided to let it have a little rest and I would clean some more, except no water coming from tap, scratch head, mild panic and then decided to check the water supply, the  lady next door had been cleaning her car and for some reason turned off all the taps. So I had empty house tanks and no mains water, so no harm done, just a mild inconvenience, so all turned on again, tanks full, and washing machine doing its thing. Phewwww, all good. I then decided that I should go introduce myself to another GN that lives here near my sister. I ended up meeting Cruising Granny, as she lives across the way from my sister. I had a couple of hours with her, hearing her life story, which is very interesting and about her job, once again interesting. Thanks Chris for an entertaining couple of hours.

So over the past couple of days I have learnt a couple of valuable lessons. 1. turn the tap off before disconnecting the hose as you get wet if you don't.  2. Do not walk close to MH when the awning is up. The arm of the awning hurts. I am sure I will have a bruise on my cheek tomorrow after trying  to walk through said arm. 3 It is still Ok to iron ones t-towels even on the road.  4 Even downsizing there is housework to do, only it does not take quite as long and seems to be fun rather than a chore. of course this might just be because I am starting out.

So all in all, it is great so far. Of course I am sure there will be days of glass and days of diamonds, I choose the diamonds to sparkle brightly.

This is Jan and Joanne, getting ready for the afternoon and being snap happy.

-- Edited by shekon on Tuesday 8th of October 2013 04:18:38 AM