26/4/2018. Thursday.
R & R slept well again and were awake by 6:00am. Determined not to disturb anyone they went
quietly downstairs to put a wash in while they had breakfast. By 7:15am, they were hanging washing on the
line and heading back upstairs for a shower.
Everyone was up and downstairs breakfasting by 8:00am so R & R went
to join them for a cup of coffee. RL and
C chatted and sorted music, while RA looked at maps for cheap fuel and made a
couple of phone calls. AB Bolts on Wood
St Thomastown had the nut the Hum was after so RA checked out its address and, fortunately,
it was actually on their chosen route for the day. In between the boys and their music, RA
sorted what was left to sort, brought the wash in, made the bed and under
instructions from CH, made some rolls and sandwiches for lunch to eat on the
journey. At 11:30am, R & R stuffed
everything in the Ute and, after hugs all round, drove off so that CH and L
would be free to go to their lunch to catch up with friends. Roxburgh Village was a direct route for
shopping and R & R were familiar with it so it made sense to pick up some
supplies for the next couple of days. At
1:15pm, RL spotted a United with diesel even cheaper than the one near J, so he
pulled in to fill up. One less job to
sort later! AB Bolts was easy with the
help of the Navigator, so by 2:00pm R & R were on their way to Dandenong
some 60kms away. RA had picked direct
straight lines for the route so they did not use the Navigator who always wants
to use freeways. That meant that the
journey had more stops and starts with sets of lights but it gave enough time
to recognize which lanes and turns are needed.
As RL turned east on Whitehorse (away from the city) for Springvale Rd, RA
noticed a couple of very tall buildings off in the distance and was surprised
that they stood like sentinels all by themselves and were not downtown
Melbourne. When they got closer, the
signs on buildings read THE CHEN and Whitehorse Towers. They are just spectacular because one is
sliver in colour and the other, gold. Awesome!
R & R arrived at J’s, (RL’s brother-in-law’s) workshop at 3:55pm to
find no one there and the gate locked.
RL rang J who rang back with T’s number and T rang them back about
5:00pm with the assurance it was no trouble to be round in 5 minutes and let
them in. R & R set up the camper
within the hour, rang H, their daughter, and then cooked dinner timed for
7:00pm in the hope that J would return from Geelong in time. No sooner had they started without him, he
turned up. They all enjoyed chatting
quite a while before quitting. It was
great to be with family again … to share common ground and feel at home.
27/4/2018. Friday.
R & R woke at 6:00am and had a cuppa before having breakfast and
coming over to say good morning to J and T and the other guy called, D. J drove ahead for RL to follow and to
introduce R & R to his preferred mechanic PD Automotive just down the
road. He brought them back and they had
a cup and tidied up. J needed to go to
the bank so he offered to drop R & R off at the markets at Dandenong. RL & RA walked through the markets and
then from the top of Lonsdale St down Princes and back to J’s taking a couple
of photos and popping into the op shops along the way. At 11:30am, they were back and sorted out all
the emails from CommSec about shares for their SMSF and downloaded the photos
from Z and B’s wedding. The photos were
really lovely and they both looked so happy.
Everyone had lunch together and about 1:30pm the Ute was ready so J
dropped R & R back at the garage. On
the way back RL stopped in at Carac to see if it stocked camper door locks or had
any ideas about snorkels/vents for preventing dust coming in. When they got back, R & R tidied up all
the different notes on the camper ready to see someone/anyone at Jayco on
Monday. After that RA really needed to
go for a walk. S, their daughter, rang
while they were walking so they chatted more than half an hour. R & R cooked dinner for 7:00pm before
enjoying it, chatting and watching TV.
The day proved that R & R were quite capable of filling in a day …
when everyone else around them was working.
28/4/2018. Saturday. R & R were woken at 2:45am by
an alarm beeping. RL immediately sprung
out of bed while RA lay, wondering why a smoke alarm could be beeping if it had
been disconnected. The wailing continued
as RL tried to work out what to do.
Eventually, RA got out to find J and RL at the alarm for the building
itself. That alarm, T and J asserted had
not been working for months! Suddenly, it was inexplicably alive and well. J turned it off and everyone all went back to
bed after a trip to the loo. J and T
were working again by 6:00am but R & R stayed in bed til nearly 8:00am
before having breakfast. After breakfast
RL helped J in between working on his new spotties with the bolts he had
acquired and fixing the tap which a fellow camper had broken while trying to
help them. RA cooked a curry for dinner
and worked on the computer. Shortly
after noon everyone had a cup of tea together with T before he went home. That meant lunch was a little later and they
chatted more before showering and heading out.
About 2:00pm, J was driving down to Arthur’s Seat which is the highest
point down on the Mornington Peninsula. RA thought it was lovely to drive away
from the built up areas on the edge of the city and to actually see farmland
and animals grazing along the highway on the way to Frankston. J drove to the bottom of the Eagle, the
gondola chair lift, and they all considered taking a ride or driving up. Everyone was game for it, though R & R
were at a distinct disadvantage since J had been on several all around the
world. Put off by the $24 ticket, it was
decided that J drive up. It was very
steep and winding with hair pin bends and RA tried not to look down as they
went. The view from the top was amazing,
with a sense of not believing how high up they were. From the top a tourist can see how high it
really is but the best views are at the top two lookouts where it is possible
to see the Dromana and Rosebud jetties, the Eastern lighthouse on the coast
about half way in between, and east to the point where Port Phillip Bay meets
the sea. Shortly after 4:00pm, J drove back via Frankston to check out a
basketball stadium that the guys had recently completed. He also stopped in at Dandenong Village for a
quick shop and checked out another 24/7 basketball stadium that has Ringleader
equipment in it. It was getting dark
when they got back so it was a good thing that the curry had been prepared
earlier. Everyone enjoyed dinner and
watched a little TV. RL rang R, his
sister. R & R had enjoyed a lovely
afternoon … they had not expected that J would want to take them on an
excursion.
29//4/2018. Sunday.
R & R were both very restless, possibly anxious not to sleep in and
make J late for the markets, even though he had promised to wake them in
time. They came out shortly after 6:00am
and had coffee followed by breakfast. By
7:30am, they were all at the rear gates of the Lunar Sunday Markets handing over
$5.50 early bird fee and looking for a bargain or two. Lunar Market is quite, large filling the car
park at the centre of a 4 screen drive in.
Shortly after 8:00am, it was swarming with people from every culture,
some speaking in languages other than English.
They spent a couple of hours there, all bought a few things and were
back having coffee and testing the chestnuts that J had bought and roasted for them. RL and J went back to measure a drill bit before
J bought it. They left RA behind so she
could start on a camper cleaning binge. They
had lunch at 12:30pm and talked about going to a different market but settled
on having a quiet afternoon. RL worked
on putting the skid plate back under the front of the Ute while RA made stock
from the chicken bones and finished the tidy up/clean in the camper. R & R
were contemplating going for a walk when J’s nephew and his girlfriend turned
up, so they had a cup with them. It came
up about the Harvey Norman Factory Outlet on Greens Rd just a couple of
kilometres away, so R & R went there to see if they could find a suitable
vacumn cleaner for the Ute and camper, which would need to be bag less, have
small sucking tools to fit in tight places and be fairly light and
compact. They did not find anything but
it didn’t matter as they were already out so the Hum drove to IGA for soap,
coffee and blades before parking at St Mary’s on Foster St for 5:30pm
Mass. They were early but it was a great
opportunity to get a walk in and take a photo of the Dandenong RSL chopper on a
pole. After Mass it was a quick job to
throw together a chicken soup with quinoa in it and make some toast for
dinner. S, their daughter rang while the
soup was cooking. After dinner, they all
watched Grand Designs before heading to bed for a well-earned sleep … RA hoping
it would be better than the night before.
30/4/2018. Monday.
R & R slept well and were out of bed for coffee, followed by
breakfast, putting a wash in and showering so that J could take them to meet
his friend and business contact, M, who has an engineering business. M had
recently launched a company called Little Gym which sells home gym kits for
younger gymnasts and a fabulous electronic learning mat suitable of kindergartens
or special needs. They were back by
10:00am to hang the washing, have coffee and put the camper down to go to Jayco
with a list of issues that needed resolving before they headed off again. RL & RA spoke with a guy called, C, who
asked for the issues in writing and he would see what he could arrange. RL was thrilled to see a fold down bicycle
for $79 that the service department had in reception as an ex display
item. Naturally, he bought it. Shortly after noon, they were driving back to
email their concerns to Jayco and have lunch.
J insisted that R & R try eating walnut with licorice. Totally a novel idea and totally a taste
sensation! RA paid their PBF account
over the phone as it was due that day.
Shortly after 2:30pm, when the workers from the business next door had
shut down and gone home, everyone shuffled vehicles so that T could paint some
stuff and R & R could fit the camper in. C, from Jayco, emailed with the
offer of servicing their camper on Friday which gave R & R a few days with
no plans. M, who was interested in
buying a Jayco Swan, came round to watch R & R set it up and to have a look
inside. They all chatted quite a while before
R & R went for their half hour walk and a chat with S, their daughter. RA cooked dinner using some of J’s
vegetables, sweet potato and corn and making gravy mince with theirs. Again, J was able to wow them with his food
knowledge. He cooks his corn as a whole
vegetable with its husk and silk still intact for 5 minutes. Easy! They
all watched some more TV while J wove his nets and RA worked on the
computer. RL and RA looked into maps and
parkwebvic.gov.au with the thought of making a loop drive away from Melbourne …
and the intention of returning to Dandenong on Thursday afternoon for Friday’s camper
service.
No comments:
Post a Comment