So...... we're in Los Angeles!!!!

It was a fairly lengthy flight, about 14-15 hours all up with not a lot of sleep to be had between us.
We went and checked in before heading off in search of some food then a little walk along Rodeo Drive. We actually decided that a small nanna nap was in order, then it was straight to the beach at Santa Monica Pier and a walk down to Venice Beach.
The weather was very hot and a bit too humid for my liking, turns out it was the hottest Sept day since 1894! Oh Yay!

I think Callie was happy to be here!

Saturday we caught up with my nephew Stephen, who has been travelling the world pretty much for the last year. He came in from Arizona to meet us and has spent the last three days doing stuff with us.  We went back to the beaches and hired bikes to ride between Santa Monica and Venice Beach, lots of fun and so much quicker than walking. There were however plenty of distractions of the bikini-clad kind! After a long day in the sun, we ended up going up-market for tea to a steak house within walking distance.  We had a great night with lots of laughs and celebrated our anniversary too.

Sunday we were feeling a little slow and decided a quieter day was a good idea. We went on a 2 hour driving tour to see the Hollywood sign, where the movie stars live, etc.  Then it was back to the hotel to see Stephen again and we chilled at the spa/pool before heading out for pizza. On the driving tour we went along Sunset Blvd where the Hollywood stars are and saw the theatre where they hold the Oscars too.

Today we hired a Lexus and Stephen drove us around, we went out along the coast to Malibu Beach and while we sat at the Malibu Inn for lunch, we saw Adam Sandler!!! Very impressed but we played it cool and didn't ask for photos or anything :)
This was taken on the pier later.

We've been having a great time and we've only been here for 4 days so far hahaha. Going to shut down now as we have to be up and ready in the morning for a full day at Universal Studios woohoo!

It happens next week!!

Finally we can say that we're going overseas next week! Starting to get excited and just a little nervous, hoping that everything goes according to plan.  People who have visited Vegas are saying how amazing it is but I'm also really looking forward to Disneyland :)

I made a quilt for Ben's friend, Meaghan, who is currently on HMAS Anzac in the Middle East. I sent this along with a laundry bag and some lollies to her.

 

Typical Stevie poses!

 

 

Josh sent Stevie home for a week or so to visit, apparently he was getting a bit annoyed with her but has realised since she was away that he really missed her, awwww!

 

I did some packing the other week (while procrastinating about doing housework) and worked out that I could flatten the carry-on bag and pack it into the suitcase for going over and that would give me more room for 'stuff' when I'm coming home. Winner!

I received an early birthday present last Friday when we purchased a new DSLR camera for me, Bun says it's to keep me busy while he's working hahaha.  He said that I would get bored and this way I can go for walks and take photos, I actually think he's more concerned that my butt will get big if I sit and sew while he's working!

I've also been busy in the sewing room, getting quilts out of the way and making some pyjama pants for me (3) from fabric that Ben brought back from Indonesia for me.  I've also managed to make a couple of tops for me plus there's another on the table to be cut out.  I wanted to make full use of the overlocker before we leave because that's definitely staying home.

There's still a few things to organise but unfortunately now we have to deal with police reports and insurance companies because early on Saturday morning, 2 motorbikes and 3 chainsaws were stolen from our shed!  Bun's pretty pissed off because they took the 2-wheeler that was going to be going on the back of the truck when we leave!  Still it's all only 'stuff' and can be replaced or gone without.

Next post may just be from America!!!  Whoo hoooo!

So moving right along....

We finished up our first trip 3 weeks ago now and then I went back to work for the last two weeks.  Now I've really finished up at work and have spent the last few days working on getting all the bills paid, visited the accountant to organise our tax and now need to spend some time on the phone arranging for electricity, phone and visa cards to be paid by direct debit the day they're due. Not looking forward to those calls because I just have a feeling they are going to be long and involved :(

So this is how I did some of the bookwork and filing :)

We're missing our Boof again, after spending 3 weeks with Callie in Mildura, he came home for a week and then she messaged to say that she 'needed her boy back'!  This was taken while Bun was doing his morning exercises, Boof obviously thought he would be a big help.

I did some baking for Ben who was home for a quick visit the other weekend, mainly to visit the travel agents with Stacey to book their holiday.  They are off on 14th Dec until 15th Jan visiting Copenhagen first for a few days then on to London to join a Contiki tour of Europe for 24 days. They will be in Barcelona for Christmas Day then spend New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in Venice!! Some of us are a little jealous but Callie insists that we win because our trip is in 3 weeks!

We had lunch on 8.8.12 down by the marina in Berri, the plaque in memory of Bun's Mum, Fiona, was placed on the other bench seat.  The 8th August was Bun's Dad's birthday and his plaque is on the facing seat.  As always there were lollies involved :)

Bun has been busy making adjustments to the van and putting new springs on the truck, hopefully the ride will be just a little smoother. Other than that, we are just trying to get things in place ready for leaving.  We may only be home for a few days after getting back from America before we head off interstate so we really need to have most things in the van and truck before we leave for USA.
Callie is getting pretty excited now and reckons she's finding it hard to concentrate on TAFE stuff and I have to admit to zoning out sometimes, having a little daydream too.
That's it for now I think but will probably post again just before we go OVERSEAS!! :))

We're still talking to each other!

Having talked to someone before we left who said he and his wife would last about one day travelling together, I think we're doing quite well :)

I got up early to walk a little way out of Tibooburra to get this photo at sunrise. There are piles of granite around the township and this stone was balanced on just three points

Don't quite know whether Bun wanted to fly off the edge here! I think he's planning on only having photos of the back of him appear on the blog :)

This was one of the 'much better' dirt roads that we've been on!  There had been rain in the general area in the last couple of weeks and so some of the roads were pretty bad.  There were times that we went back to about 25-30kms per hour because of ruts and corrugations.  There is also some pretty lucky wildlife out there too because we missed an emu by a tail feather and a little goat put the brakes on very quickly and just missed the side of the truck.

We went from Tibooburra to Wanaaring to Bourke to Louth to Cobar to Broken Hill and we are now in Mildura again.  We would have liked to go to Ivanhoe or White Cliffs or Tilpa but roads have been closed and we figured we had given the caravan a bit of a workout already.  It doesn't look so clean anymore :)

We will stay in Mildura until Tuesday when the truck has it's first service then we will head home.

Saw this sign in the pub at Pooncarie and thought it was a good one for the blog!

And we're off!!

We left home on Tuesday and went through Mildura and part way towards Broken Hill and spent the night beside the Anabranch Bridge.  It only took Bun about an hour or so to find a dog to cuddle :).  I did some driving during the day and apparently it only took an hour or so for me to scare him!
I continued driving the next day and was passed by a semi for the first time without incident.
We decided that we could take things pretty easy as this is really only to get used to driving, towing, etc, so we stayed in Broken Hill for the night.  We are so going to turn into grey nomads, pulling in for the night at about 3pm haha.

So it sounds like 4pm is happy hour for grey nomads??

Thursday we headed towards Tibooburra, calling into Packsaddle Roadhouse about 1.30pm.  After a leisurely beer turned into a couple more, we decided to stay there for the night.  The company both sides of the bar was great and the hot chips for tea were the best we've had!  Friday morning we headed to Tibooburra with a stop to climb up a mountain (well, large hill?)

Our truck and van are actually in the second photo too so we were pretty high up! Think we scared away the goats as we climbed up.

Today (Saturday) we took a drive out to Camerons Corner where the 3 state borders meet.  Bun enjoyed a beer at the Roadhouse/Pub.

We've decided to stay on tomorrow night as well and do a couple of drives through the National Parks before heading off on Monday, probably towards Wanaaring because Bun's heard about some guys catching Yellow Bellys there.

Wish the Drive-in still worked! Bun looked a little lonely :))

Catch you all later

I attended a great class on Sunday in Adelaide on bag making and picked up so many helpful little tips! Nicole said we want our bags to be handmade rather than look homemade. So good to spend a day doing stuff with others who 'get it'!

I was pretty happy with the result, looks quite professional I thought.

In other news, the storage boxes for the truck were picked up last Friday and then on Wed/Thurs we had a UHF installed.  Water tanks are filled and the fridge is on!

We plan to head off on Tuesday for a couple of weeks, still unsure of a direction as we'll wait and see what the weather/rain does.

Brrrr!

Sometimes it's so cold outside that you start work a little later than normal :)