Portland

We got back from the Sydney trip and were going to go to Mt Gambier when an engine warning light came on. Nissan could not fix it so we went to the Mount in the Honda and stayed in a cabin. The Navara went in to be fixed, and they found rats had got into the engine bay and chewed on the wiring loom.

While living next to a reserve is good because we get the wildlife, like parrots and kookaburras, in the garden, the downside is we get the wildlife like rats and snakes. We have to take the good with the bad.

The Navara is fixed now and we are in Portland, Victoria, for another week end of dog trials. Kathy has modified the annex to make it more stable, but the wind was too strong to try it out. We will have to wait until the next trip to see if it worked out. The pic shows the beach next to the Henty Bay Caravan park.

Castle Hill

After a busy couple of days at the NSW State Championship Trials, we have moved to the Castle Hill Show Ground and set up for the next 6 days. The setting is beautiful with lots of open space and trees around us yet we are about a kilometre away from a major shopping centre. (The one where the police shot somebody last week!)

The trials at the week end are about 15 -20 minute drive away, so we should be able to get there easily, and there is lots of room for us to practice here with Tiffany and Hannah. Not sure about the local dog club here, they told Linda (who has just got an Obedience Grand Champion) she must use their methods, not her own. Maybe we will try another club for practice.

Lameroo

We are travelling again, this time to Sydney for dog trials on two weekends. Judging at the NSW State Championships and the Blacktown trials on the first weekend, and then we go to the Toller shows and trials on the second weekend. Hannah is in Novice Obedience and Tiffany is in the Agility.

First stop is at the Lameroo community caravan park. It is next to a lake which is a great walk for the dogs, and us. The pic shows us preparing dinner and relaxing.

We will be somewhere over the Hay Plain tomorrow night and in Sydney by Friday morning

Red sun at Whyalla

We had a weekend in Whyalla for dog trials. On the Monday morning the storm clouds were gathering, strong winds were blowing up the dust and they turned the sun red. By the time I got the camera, changed the batteries (they are always flat when you are in a hurry) the blood red sun had started to turn back to its normal colour, so this is the best I could get.

Back home for a couple of weeks, then we go to Sydney for the State Championships.

Home in the rain

We left the warm weather around Tennant Creek, the cloud cover came in near Glendambo, the rain started at Port Augusta, and we thought about turning round and going back up north but we had too many commitments. Home now for a while before we go east to NSW for a couple of weeks.

The pic shows the outback south of Coober Pedy where we stopped for lunch and a leg stretch. Click on the pic to see a bigger version. Total time to get from Darwin to home was 6 days, with the Alice Springs to Cadney Station being the longest section. What we will do for a Cadney burger!

Singapore

The pic shows trophy table at the Singapore Trials. The trials were held under cover at a shopping centre. Dogs were not allowed in the shopping area but there was a big area under a roof with cool air blown on it, but there were no walls. Some very good dogs with good scores, and a Golden Retriever winning the top class. Some may say it is Kennel Blindness, but the Golden really was the top dog. Some hard luck stories, with dogs missing one exercise, and a few dogs that did not cope with the noise and atmosphere at the venue.

The Agility trials were in a dog park so there were non competing dogs roaming about but the ring was fenced well. Lots of good dogs with skilled handlers, but as with all trials, there were a fair number of bars knocked and things going wrong. Very hot and humid, glad to get back to the air-conditioned hotel.

Going back to Darwin tonight.

Fog Dam

The Fog Dam reserve is famous for its bird life, but where there are birds there are crocodiles. The pic shows a little croc swimming near the dam wall. Walking across the dam wall is not allowed, penalty is you will be eaten by a big croc, no court of appeal either.

There were hundreds of birds there, lots of magpie geese, egrets, ibis, various waders and we also saw a Jabiru.

The Darwin Royal is over, some good dogs there and a few qualifications too. Tomorrow I go to Singapore for dog trials and Kathy will be showing Hannah. We start back home next week.

Marlows Lagoon

The pic shows the view of Marlows Lagoon at Palmerston. When I lived here it was a bush camping place accessible only by a dirt track in dry weather, now it is a huge recreation park with a dog area that is second to none. We took the Tollers, and 3 more, to give them a run. If I get time I will put a video of the 5 of them in the lagoon.

We have been visiting the local dog clubs, and have been made very welcome.

The next few days will be spent relaxing, sight seeing and visiting old friends here in Darwin.

Darwin

Last night we stayed at the Adelaide River show grounds. Lots of people there and we got the last powered site for the night. The Tollers were the talk of the park when we walked them, everyone wanting to know about them.

The pic shows the view from the Dunmarra road house caravan park where we stayed on Tuesday. Very outback, no phones, no TV only the bush.

We have set up for the next few weeks close to Darwin, in the Coolalinga Caravan Park just up the road from the Fred's Pass dog club ground so we are handy for the dog trials tomorrow night.

Tennant Creek

We are at Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory where it is warm. Shorts are in, jeans are out and the skylights are open all night.

So far the dogs are coping well. Hannah has 78 points towards her title, and Tiffany has GD title, and they are enjoying the warmer weather.

I checked on the site marker that ripped the doors of the Navara last time we were here, and it does not show any signs of the incident.

We will be in Darwin probably on Thursday, so we have a couple of days to get there.

Heading North

The caravan is hitched up and we are on the road heading for the Northern Territory, and the warm weather. We reached Glendambo for the first night after starting out at 7:30 am, just as the sun came up. The pic shows the outback from the Navara window near Pimba

First destination is Alice Springs, we expect to be there by Wednesday. We will stay there for the trials and then move further north.

Point Lowly

We went touring along the coast on our day off from trialling. The pic shows the cormorants near the lighthouse at Point Lowly.
The trip home became a bit exciting when the electric brakes stopped working. It looks like the brake controller is on the blink because the manual over-ride works, but the normal braking does not. It is quite noticeable when you suddenly find you have 2 tons of caravan with no brakes pushing from behind, especially when some boy racer cuts in front of you at the traffic lights. The next trip will be to the Northern Territory in a couple of weeks, so I will have to get them fixed. Kathy is looking at doing some modification to the Annex as the wind caused the walls to flap because we could not tension the walls. Just extending the side wall so that we can wrap it round the awning poles should make it a lot sturdier.
The BBQ worked well and the Barossa Red was perfect.

Whyalla

We are in Whyalla for the dog trials. Our plans to go to WA had to be abandoned due to Hannah getting SRMA (See Tiffany's Blog, link on the left of the page).
The Supreme has been parked under cover since Easter, so we are still testing out the new van. The Ego Mover has been installed, and we are now able to move the van in to its parking space just with a remote control button.
The BBQ that was installed in the van will get it's first test at cooking tonight. The pic shows the BBQ out in the open just in front of the annex.
Tiffany is competing in Excellent Jumping and Agility while Hannah is having her first attempt at CCD. Check the dog blog for the results later.
The reverse cycle air conditioner worked well last night in Port Germein, it was cold outside, but toasty warm inside and stayed warm all night.
Well, time to open a red and fire up the BBQ.

Easter in Mt Gambier

We are in Mt Gambier for the dog trials, and to try out the annex for the van. So far so good. The annex is a bit awkward to put up but we will get used to it.

The pic shows the van at the Keith Caravan Park. We stay there a lot because it is a good place to stop when we start out late. It is only 250km away from home.

We had an excuse for being late away this time. We were delayed because we had to get Hannah to the vet for a checkup. Hannah and Tiffany were playing when Hannah ran into the clothes line and injured her self. She has done something to her neck muscles so that she is in a lot of pain and needs pain killers. Expected recovery time is about 14 days.

Warrnambool Trials

We took the new van down to Warrnambool for the dog trials. The pic shows the van and the dogs where we stopped for lunch at a little town in Victoria on the way back.

We were pretty busy, Kathy judged obedience both mornings, and Keith did Agility Saturday AM and PM then Sunday AM too. We were too stiff to do anything after that.

The trials went well with some magnificent dogs working in the Masters class, including a dog handled by a young girl about 7 years old. Unfortunately the dog knocked a bar off, so could not qualify, but they were well under the time limit.

Some minor teething problems with the van. The fridge needs an extra wire from the car so that the fridge can detect when the alternator is running. The fridge switches itself off if the alternator is not detected, to prevent flattening the car battery. We did not have the wire installed, so the fridge would not run while we were travelling. Have to get that fixed. Kathy wants some mods doing to the cupboards, plus a couple of other things that should be fixed up in the next couple of weeks.

New Van

We have traded the Jayco for a Supreme from Twilight Caravans.

We have had lots of thinking, talking and looking at what we want from our caravan, and after a long talk with Jayco we found that the features we wanted were not available from Jayco. It had to be less than 18' to fit in the yard, have a full ensuite and be a full van with dirt road capabilities, plus a few other options. At the Caravan show we found the Supreme Spirit that had all the features we were looking for. We picked it up after the show and are going to test it out at Warrnambool dog trials this week end.

Homeward Bound

We stayed at Kiama just a bit south of Wollongong so we were in range of visiting rellies near Botany Bay. It was good to meet them after such a long time, last seen when I was in England.
Kiama is a pretty place with the dog friendly caravan park right on the beach. The problem was that all round the caravan park was not dog friendly, so we were restricted as to where we could walk Tiffany and Hannah. The cliff top walk was good, with great views of Kiama, (see pic). We are currently in Narrandra and expect to be back in SA tonight.

The Garden of Eden

We are in the Garden Of Eden. No, we have not passed over to the other side, it is the Caravan Park at Eden on the NSW Sapphire Coast.
We were here last year when it rained and flooded the caravan park. The pic shows the back gate last year and this year. In the distance you can see the board walk where we take the dogs on their daily walks. The top pic shows the board walk almost under water, it did disappear for a while at the peak of the flood. The highest we saw it was just below the key pad lock, that is the black square in the gate. Today the water is at its normal level and we can take the dogs without needing waders.
The trials and shows start on Friday, when the rain is forecast. Until then we will be tourists and have a look around Eden.

Bermagui again

Since we got here we have had just about every kind of weather you can have apart from a blizzard. A big storm came in when we arrived on Wednesday, there were 2 hot, humid days until a thunder storm came in on Friday, just in time to frighten off most of the dogs for the trial. Saturday was windy with some rain, (and a pass in the trial for Tiffany), then the wind and rain came back for Sunday. The last couple of days have been pleasant and we have dried out, cleaned up and cooled down ready to be off tomorrow to Eden and more trials and shows.
The dogs are having a rest from eating hats, chewing books, (Hannah as taken a liking to Alistair Maclean), gnawing the floor mat and opening the cupboard to get to the Scooby Snacks. As Jackie Gleeson put it "One of these days Hannah; Smack! Right in the kisser."

Bermagui

We are in Bermagui at last. The pic shows the smoke blowing across the caravan park at Orbost. The fires jumped the Princess Highway south of Orbost and took out the power lines in the process. There was no power for miles, fortunately I had topped up the Navara's tank earlier and we were able to leave.
Just pulling out of Bega when we were stopped by a road block. A bad accident up the road meant that all traffic was being turned back and sent down the coast road to Bermagui. Narrow, road, narrow bridges, lots of traffic, perfect for towing a caravan. We arrived at Bermagui, met up with friends, and then the storm hit and wet everything. At least the oval is not flooded this time!

Orbost fire

There is a big bush fire south west of Orbost which has blocked the main road to Melbourne. Fortunately we are heading North today and will not be affected by the fire. Just in case anyone hears about the fire, we are safe, the evacuation point for the district is the oval next to the caravan park.
Should be in Bermagui by tonight.

Orbost

Orbost caravan park is a favourite of ours because it is shady, well grassed and near the town. We found a nice site surrounded by trees so that we would be in shade all day. Expected temperature is 38.
We were halfway down a bottle of Chateau Tanunda white after last night's dinner, when the lady from the next caravan told us we had water running from the van. It was hot water too. A quick check and I found the hot water pipe had burst near the hot water tank. The tank is under the bed. Under the bed was 20 litres of water, soaking all the stuff stored under there. The pic shows all the wet stuff piled up in the annex, and the inset shows the bit of pipe with the hole in it. I managed to cut off the faulty bit, slide the connector down and re-connect to the hot water tank. So far it is holding, but we wont leave the van with the water connected.
We had planned a rest day here, but it has also turned out to be a washing and drying day too.

Pakenham

The next adventure begins. This time we head to NSW Sapphire Coast for dog shows and trials. We started out on Thursday at 6:00 o'clock. PM not AM. I had commitments that prevented us leaving earlier, but we got as far as Tailem Bend for the first night. On Friday we left Tailem Bend at 9:00 am, had we started from home we would have had to start out before 7:00am, which is impossible for us. (If it is dark, you should be in bed.) The Pic shows the Murray River Flood Plain at Tailem Bend.

Friday and Saturday nights we were at Warrnambool for Hannah's first shows, and first 12 points too. We stayed on the Showgrounds and got a free nights entertainment from the greyhound track at the back of the caravan.

We left after the show so we could get through Melbourne on Sunday; hoping for less traffic. It worked, except for a rear ender a couple of cars in front that made us brake hard, and a P plater playing Guess Which Lane I'm Going To Next on the West Gate Freeway. We are in Pakenham for one night, who knows where tomorrow.

Preparing for the next trip

Why would you have a caravan and leave it in the yard? Well mainly because we have had a few things to do. I have put a Radio/CD player in the caravan so that when we are in a remote area we can listen to the ABC radio for all the local news, local activities and any weather, fire or flood warnings.
All the warranty issues have been fixed. We just take it to Jayco Service, tell them what is wrong and they ring us back when it is fixed.
Next trip in February will be to the NSW south coast, provided the roads are open and the floods have gone down. Maybe this time we can catch up with relatives in Sydney.