Okay so plenty has happened this week!
First we went to Thredbo on Friday to meet up with Ben and following an unexpected cold snap, it was only 3deg and icey (according to the car) when we arrived at 6pm. The trip took a bit longer than usual as there is still some floodwater around and we had to detour. On Saturday morning we looked at the weather and made the decision not to do the walk that we intended. Instead we went on the chairlift to the restaurant to find very big winds and the temp was, with windchill factored in, a very cold -9deg!!!
There was SNOW!! So we sat there by the fire with hot chocolate and hot scones, because that's how we handle snow :)
Anyway we had a relaxing weekend spending time with Ben and managed to also have lunch with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and great-niece (that makes me sound old). Monday was another long day driving with another detour. Arrived back around 4pm with the last grapes harvested that night, starting at 8pm.
Tuesday was the really big day because the truck arrived! It looks really big but at least my feet can touch the floor when I'm sitting in it :) I went for a little drive in it with Josh after work but I know it will take a little while before I really feel comfortable driving it.
Next big news is that Bun has a job! Again it's not what you know, but who you know. A friend from Winkie has a friend interstate who runs a contracting business with his son. The friend was visiting Winkie this week and after a bit of a chat, Bun has a job to start in October driving a harvester for the grain season. The boss is happy to train him and work alongside him so it's great to know that there is something lined up to go to as soon as we leave here. It will probably mean that I will be driving the truck and towing the caravan while Bun drives a machine between properties so I need to get some practice in. Also it means that we will be heading east not west! The guy works through NSW and down into Victoria so a 'slight' change of plan there but we had said 'no rules, no plans' so it doesn't fuss us at all.
Finally for news this week, Josh has just got word that he has a job to go to straight after Easter. He will be heading west instead of us :) He will be working for 3 months or so, somewhere around Geraldton. He only heard this morning so we don't have a lot of details yet, but I think it is on a station doing welding and stuff. Accommodation and food are included but he has to cook for himself. Sounds like a good deal to me. Oh, and Stevie dog will be going with him so he's happy about that too. The job was sourced through a job agency that I've been keeping an eye on for a while, with a view to us using it. They work at placing people into short-term, casual vacancies (backpackers, grey nomads, etc) and I think once Josh has done a placement with them, he'll probably have no trouble getting other positions.
Hopefully the caravan will be arriving soon (it's due in April) but I'm not holding my breath. Still, it will be great when we get that as we'll be able to have a couple of long weekends away to start settling in to it.
Okay, just got some more details on Josh's job. He will be working with a guy who plants sandalwood trees, employs backpackers, needs a tractor driver/supervisor, maintenance, welding, etc. Near the coast near Geraldton somewhere so apparently there are opportunities to go fishing, shooting goats, riding motorbikes, go to pubs, etc. I told Josh it sounds like it's just made for him :)
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Waiting patiently (sometimes!)
Well we're still waiting for the truck to be ready. We had requested that they fit an extra fuel tank and apparently when they went to order one, all the ones in stock were dented. So... we're still waiting :)
However on the plus side, at least we had put back the date for going to America because I guess it's just as likely that the caravan delivery date will be late too. This way we aren't stressing that things aren't happening when they should and we'll still have plenty of time to test things out before we make the big move.
I had planned to finish up at work at the end of June to allow time to get everything sorted here, however now I will have July off and go back to work full-time for 2-3 weeks in August so that my boss and his wife (also a co-worker) will be able to have time off with his sister when she visits from America. It will make life easier for them and doesn't make a big difference for us as we can still head off in the van for a couple of weeks at the end of Aug - start of Sept.
We head off to Thredbo on Friday to meet up with Ben, the plan being to walk up the mountain on Sat morning so long as the weather is fine. Then off to Canberra at the end of the day and catch up with my brother and his family on Sunday before heading home on Monday.
Only catch with it all is that we now have to harvest grapes from about midnight on Friday morning before we can leave at 6ish for a long day's drive. To top it all off, the last of the grapes are booked to be harvested early (and I mean early) on Tuesday morning after we get back late Monday! Timing is everything! If I hadn't booked the accommodation through Wotif, I would have tried to reschedule for the following weekend but whatever?! We'll just go anyway and see Ben.
We have also booked to fly to Sydney for a quick weekend catch-up with Bun's brother and my brother at the end of June. Both families have moved house in the last year or so and done renovations. We haven't seen the houses yet and thought we'd better see them soon before we head off.
I'm really starting to look forward to October when we finally get to leave. It seems like such a long time to go especially when people start saying "I thought you'd gone already" and we have to say no, that it was just a really long lead-in time for the whole event :)
At least I have been using my spare time productively, having finished off some long-term projects (and a short-term one) in the sewing room. I completed a king-size quilt for Kerry, about to finish a queen-size one for us (maybe for the caravan) and also about to finish a queen-size one for Ben's friends who are getting marrried in November. Also completed are a baby quilt (to go in the cupboard!) and an applique wall quilt that has been on the go for about 3 years now. Steadily working my way through the fabric and supplies that have filled the wardrobe so that I will just have some smaller, more manageable projects to work on while we travel. I decided that some of the smaller cupboards in the caravan are really not made to store big things but would be perfect for 'stashing' fabric and patterns! :)
Hopefully the next post will be soon to say that the truck has arrived.
However on the plus side, at least we had put back the date for going to America because I guess it's just as likely that the caravan delivery date will be late too. This way we aren't stressing that things aren't happening when they should and we'll still have plenty of time to test things out before we make the big move.
I had planned to finish up at work at the end of June to allow time to get everything sorted here, however now I will have July off and go back to work full-time for 2-3 weeks in August so that my boss and his wife (also a co-worker) will be able to have time off with his sister when she visits from America. It will make life easier for them and doesn't make a big difference for us as we can still head off in the van for a couple of weeks at the end of Aug - start of Sept.
We head off to Thredbo on Friday to meet up with Ben, the plan being to walk up the mountain on Sat morning so long as the weather is fine. Then off to Canberra at the end of the day and catch up with my brother and his family on Sunday before heading home on Monday.
Only catch with it all is that we now have to harvest grapes from about midnight on Friday morning before we can leave at 6ish for a long day's drive. To top it all off, the last of the grapes are booked to be harvested early (and I mean early) on Tuesday morning after we get back late Monday! Timing is everything! If I hadn't booked the accommodation through Wotif, I would have tried to reschedule for the following weekend but whatever?! We'll just go anyway and see Ben.
We have also booked to fly to Sydney for a quick weekend catch-up with Bun's brother and my brother at the end of June. Both families have moved house in the last year or so and done renovations. We haven't seen the houses yet and thought we'd better see them soon before we head off.
I'm really starting to look forward to October when we finally get to leave. It seems like such a long time to go especially when people start saying "I thought you'd gone already" and we have to say no, that it was just a really long lead-in time for the whole event :)
At least I have been using my spare time productively, having finished off some long-term projects (and a short-term one) in the sewing room. I completed a king-size quilt for Kerry, about to finish a queen-size one for us (maybe for the caravan) and also about to finish a queen-size one for Ben's friends who are getting marrried in November. Also completed are a baby quilt (to go in the cupboard!) and an applique wall quilt that has been on the go for about 3 years now. Steadily working my way through the fabric and supplies that have filled the wardrobe so that I will just have some smaller, more manageable projects to work on while we travel. I decided that some of the smaller cupboards in the caravan are really not made to store big things but would be perfect for 'stashing' fabric and patterns! :)
Hopefully the next post will be soon to say that the truck has arrived.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)