February 2023

11 February 2023

Our week at Wandering went by pretty quickly so after a visit from our son and from friends Bob and Julie, we made our way to the big smoke and spent a few days at our eldest daughters home.

Having dropped off some stuff in our storage unit and picking up some things from the shops, we made our way to Pinjarra where we joined a number of others in enjoying the free RV camp for the night.

The next day we were off again, heading to Narrogin where we were going to have our air conditioner looked at. For some reason it was not always blowing cold air and with the recent hot weather we wanted to get it looked at. City based caravan repairers and aircon people always want a number of weeks notice and then for you to leave the van with them to get to when they have the chance. But this is our home and this obviously doesn't suit us. The man at Narrogin however was going to come to us, so it was a no brainer.

We made our way to the free camp at the old Railway Dam, and on arrival, being the only ones there, had the pick of the place. So naturally we took up a nice spot right on the water.

The next day we decided to move into town and spend 24 hours at the RV camp near the railway and right in town. Having camped there before we knew it was a good spot and so settled in and enjoyed it.

Next morning we made our way to the Narrogin Caravan Park, that way we had 240v power and could test the aircon after the tech had done his thing. Later that day Grant from Airesponse, and his daughter Claire, came by and it didn't take Grant too long to find the problem. A frayed wire and an undersized starting capacitor replaced, wiring tidied up and the whole unit cleaned it ran happily and as it should. Money very well spent and a business we would happily return to for assistance.

After a pleasant night at the Narrogin Caravan Park we made our way to another town free camp in Katanning before receiving a call for help from our friends at Ducketts Mill Wines. The silver eye birds had invaded and the nets needed to go on the vines. So we made our way there, set up and enjoyed another nice evening on the verandah looking out over the vines and local bush.

The next day I was driving the tractor while Jason, the vineyard manager and the owners two sons pulled the nets over the Chardonnay vines. Nets on it was time to walk the rows and clip the vines down.

The remaining Riesling, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Cabernet will be done next week and beyond before they begin to ripen. And while we will be able to help with some of it, we are hitting the road for some adventure before we come back to prune the vines, and will miss not only putting the nets on but their removal and harvest.

So with that little bit of work out of the way we pointed the rig towards the East and headed off across Australia to Towoomba in Queensland. Not being able to fix the small leak we had encountered in our rig we chose to drive to the maker of the rig for assistance.

Fuel prices across the country were rather high but we used a fuel price app to find the cheaper fuel as we went to ease the impost. The trip was also a rather quick one, and we arrived in Toowoomba about 2 weeks later.

Mark Twain once said "...years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do that by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - and so we will.