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.

Home

Home for a while. The Navara is in having the doors fixed after the incident up north, (see Devils Marbles post 5th Sep.) at a cost of $3700 and 10 days. Metallic paint means that after the doors are re-sprayed, the paint is blended in to the rest of the body. To do that they pull the car apart and re-build it when the paint dries.

The Caravan is also in getting its 10,000 km service and a few warranty issues fixed. That should be done in a few days too. In the meantime we are staying home.

The dog trials last week were a disaster with Tiffany chasing a dumbbell in the ring next door, then falling asleep in the sit stay. She has a chance to make up for all that at an Agility trial on Saturday.

The dogs are getting on well. The pic looks grim, but they are just playing at who can make the most noise. 5 minutes after the pic they were curled up together, fast asleep.