Greg and Dee' s meanderings

[GregnDee]

Watch it! Paella ??

Lol
We'll be seeing you around November if all goes well!

[Dot]

[GregnDee]

Now at last we are ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Left Bucca yesterday....the owners returned with two old ladies on Wednesday, tired and not very pleasant....so we kept out of the way. I was p'd off because I had thoroughly cleaned the house, kitchen sparkled...I even used our stainless steel polish on the cooker and sink. And I walked in and she was scrubbing the whole lot down like it was covered in botulism. She threw 2 tea towels at me and said these are yours....and then threw some paperwork at me that Greg had left.

Next morning, nice as pie. Maybe because she found the cookery book I had left her as a gift. It must have been tough having two very old, one of which is doollally, ladies in tow. Moving them from where they had lived all their lives.....near Townsville...to somewhere nearby so that they can look after them.....

Anyway, Greg has now learnt how to make whisky or rum with a still, so that's his next project when we are finally in one place for more than a month! I've been able to dehydrate a heap of fruit and veggies, plus we made tomatoe sauce, I made chutneys, so I've had my cooking "fix".

We are now parked at Claude Wharton Weir. Drove 30 Kms from Ban Ban Springs this morning before we decided this would be a nice spot for an overnight stay. Heading towards Chinchilla and then on to Charleville before heading south to catch up with friends in Nyngan.

Can't travel too far each day! This is a citrus area, I didn't know that, so lots of orchards around. Seen some birds I don't recognise, so am doing a search online to see if I can name them. Greg back on the crosswords. No cranky horse to feed, no watering an hour a day. But also no drinking buddies for him so his liver may recover a little bit!

Cheers
Dee
PS one of the birds is a blue faced honeyeater!

[GregnDee]

Been off the grid for a bit...here's the rundown....

Stayed at The Weir at Chinchilla a couple of nights. Nice spot. Free electricity. Boating. Etc.

Then on our way to Judd's Lagoon we got a message ...we are volunteers for Outback Links, and they needed urgent help at an Outback Ladies weekend. In Noccundra...147 Kms west of Thargomindah. We said yes.....that was before the Aircon belt broke, followed by the autotrans belt...which affects the brakes....found that one out as we arrived in Morven!

Luckily we got a spot in the recreation ground with power...$5 charge not bad eh. So tomorrow it's an early start, into Charleville to get belts, then 500 Kms to the event.

http://channelcountryladiesday.com.au

Could be interesting...check out their schedule of events!

We get fuel vouchers, plus all accommodation and food...

Cheers
Dee

[Dot]

And I bet you a Paella that you told the male of the duo to always carry spare belts just in case..

[GregnDee]

Yep

[GregnDee]

Left Morven real early, and after passing so many smelly dead kangaroos on the Warrego.....which I might add is probably high up on my list of WORST ROADS, we got into Charleville, Greg got the fan belts and has fixed the problem. We now have aircon plus the battery is charging....oh and the brakes work....Greg was using the caravan brakes to slow us down, plus he said he needed to be Hercules to use the car brakes.

I really wanted to stop and look around in Charleville but we are committed to being in Noccundra by Friday early arvo, for this outback ladies event, where Greg and a couple of other stalwart men will be surrounded by about 200 country women and from the photos of last years event they are not little women....

So headed towards Cunnamulla, then Thargomindah today.....and there's a high temperature alert on for this area....hoping the Aircon etc will cope!

Cheers
Dee

[GregnDee]

These girls were all involved with the Corner Country Ladies Weekend, and they did very very well....but to be honest without the 6 guys doing the catering (one of which was the male model for the life drawing class! And another caused a sensation with his guitar playing!), plus the three guys for muscle work, they could never have done it! The caterers came all the way from Toowoomba too!

[GregnDee]

After Channel Country Do we headed back to Cunnamulla, and then south towards Bourke. Stayed in. Free camp 100 Kms south of Cunnamulla, 5 Kms in on dirt, by a dry river bed. It was very hot so the air conditioning was. Boon, we were the only people there so the gennie didn't bother anyone. While we were cooking dinner I freaked when what looked like a European wasp appeared in the van...then another. Then another. Greg told me it wouldn't hurt me and it was only a bush bee! Then we found ourselves surrounded by them! But they disappeared when it was dark. Woke at 05.30 am to the sound of bees! They were coming in through the air conditioner! Without ado Greg got up, we got dressed, and hit the road..no wash, no cuppa! The bees had been attracted to the water on the top of the van from the aircon.

Down the road, half an hour later. Stopped at a road house and checked the vents. Etc. all gone!

We headed on to Bourke, pretty boring drive on the Mitchell, arrived at Mays Bend, negotiated some pretty rough track before ending up right by the river. Nice.

Now sitting outside the van under the awning etching two other vans set up.

Cheers
Dee and the big boy

[Dot]

That sounds soooooooooo nice