The heater

Brrrr it's cold here in Melbourne. The diesel heater bought through eBay had arrived the week before us. First job........install the heater




The tank is attached to a bracket


Then both attached to a spare wheel bracket. It fits nicely in the gap between the spare wheel and the back of the caravan.



And it will fit nicely into the vacant space between the pot drawer and wheel arch.



So a hole is drilled into the floor.




Brandt spent a lot of time under the van. I believe there was not much room for fitting and tightening nuts and bolts.


A plate was attached to the floor


And the heater attached to the plate.


There was a place for all of the above bits ( and no stray part left over!)



Then a hole into the van's living space - for the heated air to, in turn, heat us.



Oh yes, unusually, the installation instructions were often consulted. - too important a job to get wrong!


And finally, the outlet has its cap on.
I can report that it doesn't take long for the van to be heated. We are lovely and warm no matter what the outside temperature.

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Eighteen months of waiting

As stated previously, our stay in NZ was meant to be three or four months. Circumstances dictated that we were here until July 2015.
So what have we been up to during that time?

It was hard to keep Brandt in relaxing mode while waiting for his Achilles' tendon to heal. (In fact by the time the plaster cast came off the base needed a retread). There was no question of us being offered the cast as a memento, it went straight into the bin!

Then he was on to cutting down trees on Donna's boundary and in general clearing the yard. - he even climbed on to the roof tho fix the chimney pot.

Then there was the wedding. That involved many trips to the venue to help with the preparation of the grounds. And it was a lovely day.

Also with the Achilles' tendon predicted to take a long time to heal properly Brandt decided to set the ball in motion to get his Dupuytrens Contracture seen to. That finally happened on June 8th, so now we are looking for and to our return to the Grey Nomad lifestyle.


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Second grandchild arrives

At 6:40 am on February 20 Donna gave birth to a healthy boy. Big sister was a little late for school that day as we spent an hour or so at the hospital.








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NZ stay extended

Shortly after arriving back in NZ Brandt almost fully ruptured his archilles tendon. We were still in Auckland staying with Donna and Richard in Titirangi which is a hilly suburb. My niece was coming to visit and couldn't locate the driveway so Brandt rushed up the steep drive to show her the entrance. Part way up he felt a sharp pain in his ankle. After a couple of weeks he went to A&E and was given some anti inflammatories. When they were about to run out and there being no improvement we went back. This time a more experienced doctor ordered a scan which showed the severity of the problem. So it was into plaster for him for 8 weeks followed by the wearing of an orthotic shoe plus physiotherapy. We were told that it could take up to 18 months to be fully healed. With this in mind we decided the most sensible thing to do was to postpone our return to Oz.

Early in the year I had a couple of biopsies taken from my leg. For some reason an insect bite (while in the Kimberley region) turned into a wart like lump. This happened while I was working at Halls Creek in the 1970s and again last year at Broome. Both at the same place on my leg. The biopsies gave a clear result.

Donna couldn't resist compiling a composite photo of us






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The final few weeks....

While staying at Gisborne we helped with the renovation of a rental property. Brandt painted the interior walls. I helped a little in the gardens.
One weekend we met up with Grey nomad friends at St Kilda beach. We used the garmin (GPS) to direct us. One problem was that it was difficult to know which turn off to take at a spaghetti junction. I know that on the way home we took a wrong turn, but got there in the end.
It was the first fine day for a while and lots of people seemed to have decided to visit the beach too.


We made another day trip to Greens Lake and said our good byes to the nomads there.


Then on Thursday 28th November we flew back to NZ


We will be here in NZ until sometime in April, when we will return to Melbourne ready for another 6 or 7 months of travelling around.
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Some birds at Gisborne

The bird life round here is amazing. Our hosts buy "wild bird seed mix" and feed some to, in particular, the king parrots. I have learnt their chirp when they come and ask for feed. In fact they are fairly tame. I have a video of one on David's arm and trying to eat the seed mix directly out of the container.


The crimson Rosella also likes the bird mix and often appears on the back porch rails too.





One day Brandt and I were here on our own. I heard the king parrot asking for food, so gave it some.


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Greens Lake revisited

After 7 weeks in Port Augusta we were finally able to get on the road again. We now had a new motor under the bonnet and the automatic transmission had been serviced.
First night we stayed in a small caravan park in Morgan, second night in Euston. Both are on the banks of the Murray River.
Monday 4th November we arrived to free camp at Greens Lake. The lake is fuller this year than it was last year. The grass has been mown regularly. So the place looked lovely.


Now we know that some of us live as cheaply as we can, but going through the rubbish??


Tuesday was Melbourne Cup day. So of course the ladies had to wear beautiful creations on their head.


We were planning to leave on Wednesday, but one grey nomad said, "you can't leave yet. We haven't had our pav or the rest of your menu"
We obliged, staying another night. I made a pav and Brandt made a camp oven casserole and a trifle.
Once again it was a good gathering at Greens Lake.


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