4/5/2018. Friday.
It rained heavily somewhere in the middle of the night and both R &
R were awake and listening to it but drifted off again. At 6:30am, they were out of bed and into gear
as they needed to get the camper to Jayco to sort out its issues. They had coffee, breakfasted, left at 8:00am
and arrived there in good time. A guy,
called P, greeted them and another, called S, joined them as well. These guys were patient, listened to R &
R’s grievances and explained some things they were not sure about. Half an hour later they left the camper with
the assurance that Jayco would look at everything but that R & R would be
charged for the cost of the wheel alignment.
R & R had a cup of morning tea with J and the boys before heading to
the Dandenong shopping plaza. It boasts 3500
car bays. They wandered around the shops
a while and popped into to enquire about vacumn cleaners, in particular the
Dyson stick variety. They shopped
quickly for food, firstly at Coles and then for fruit and veg at the Market
Place in the middle of the shopping centre.
When R & R got back the boys had finished lunch with a view to
heading off for a job in the truck. RL
may well have gone with them save the fact that the job may have taken a couple
of hours and that meant he may not be back when the camper was ready. R & R had lunch before RA started
preparations for dinner. It rained and
misted on and off all day but in between there were splashes of sunshine. At 1:30pm, R & R headed back to Jayco as
they understood that the work should be completed before 2:30pm. Things must all have taken a little longer
than expected and Jayco did discover an issue with the water pump that required
exchanging for a new one. There was,
quite rightly, an issue with the alignment and as they were nearly ready to
leave the new door lock was not shutting properly. It being already after 4:00pm, the guys at
Jayco offered to look at it on Monday morning.
It took ages to get from the Frankston-Dandenong Rd to the Sth Gippsland
Hwy along Greens Rd and RL commented that it was even slower that travelling on
rough remote roads and tracks.
Fortunately, the hold-up was with traffic heading south and since R
& R were heading north they were then home quickly. They arrived back at the workshop at 4:45pm
to find all was quiet so RL sat and read while RA wrote the diary and sorted
some paper work. Dinner was a quick think about what they had left over and
what RA could find in J’s pantry.
Consequently, everyone enjoyed tuna Mornay and mixed steamed vegetable
after which they all only watched a little TV before quitting early as everyone
was tired. Overall, it had been a good
day despite all the delays … as Jayco had come to the party in helping R &
R sort out things so that they could be on their way again soon.
5/5/2018. Saturday.
R & R slept well and were out of bed at 7:00am just like J. Everyone had a lazy morning chatting while
breakfasting. J was measuring cord and
weaving nets while R & R read a blog draft.
J needed some seed mix for his breakfast and some special cheese so they
all went shopping to the Dandenong Markets about 9:30am. They wandered round for ages before heading
off to look at the Dandenong Stadium which has 15 basketball courts with
Ringleader backboards. Pretty
impressive! J then drove along Stud Rd
up to Hume Basketball about 11:00am.
This stadium is near new and features Ringleader basketball equipment.
It is amazing to see so many kids playing basketball, so many games over the
period of a day, so many courts and such big car parks with so few empty
spaces. J then drove back via East Link
and drove around many of the back streets of warehouses in the Dandenong
area. Again, there was a sense of so
many and so busy. Interestingly, there
are little café lunch bars on many of the corners as there is a real need for
the right kind of food at a reasonable price to suit the workers in the
area. By 12:30pm, they were back for
coffee and lunch, a chat and then quiet time for a while. R & R came in for a cup of coffee about
3:00pm and were drawn into a production on ABC TV called “Kakadu”. It explores various aspects of Kakadu
including the search for indigenous rock art, animal survival in the dry time
before the monsoon season begins, crocodiles and crocodile farming and the
research into saving an endangered quoll species. Compelling viewing! RL and RA went for a walk for about an hour
just around the area and were drawn into conversation with a couple of car
salesmen because they had three veteran cars on display: 68 Camaro, 66 Mustang
and an old Chevy Ute. One of the salesmen, recommended Walhalla as a free
camping spot as a favourite of his and his son.
RA had a bit of a sugar dive which was fixed by a chocolate binge. Luckily she was carrying some in her back
pack which she’d taken to carrying with her ipad at the ready for any photo
opportunity. When they got back, RL
helped RA cook the mince and onion ready for satay for that night and for a
quick start on the next night’s dinner after Mass. Everyone enjoyed the satay and watched some
TV. S, their daughter, rang and RA wrote
a little diary. They made plans for
going to the Caribbean Markets in the morning … a novelty for all of them since
J had never been himself.
6/5/2018. Sunday.
R & R were awake and out by 6:30am as they did not want to make J
late for the markets. RA had had a
wakeful night for no reason that she could claim so she was glad to be getting
out. At 7:50am, having breakfasted and
chatted with tea and coffee, they were on their way to the Caribbean Markets at
Scoresby. J was early for its 8:30am
opening but everyone was happy to sit and wait. This market unlike the
Dandenong Markets had little or no trash and treasure style of stalls. It did not take them long to do a quick scoot
around and decide that they would not be finding anything of interest to any of
them. Everyone was very disappointed,
though RA could see that the Gardens and playgrounds would be a fabulous place
for a family outing and picnic. There
are train rides, a chair lift, a suspension bridge and food stalls that would
provide lots of entertainment. So, it
was unanimous that they head for the Lunar Markets that are near where J
lives. J found a couple of bit and
pieces that he wanted and RA was lucky enough to pick up a couple of pieces
Delft china for $2 each, so she was happy.
They returned for coffee at 10:30am before putting a wash in and having
a shower. RL had rung G, his brother,
and left a message so G returned the call and RA hung the washing. Everyone enjoyed chicken and salad sandwiches
for lunch while watching ABC “Landline”.
About 1:30pm, everyone had a rest/quiet time and emerged for a cuppa
just before 3:00pm. J wove his
basketball nets while RL checked a draft and then read his cowdy (cowboy
book). RA paid a couple of bills on
line. Right on 4:00pm, R & R went
for our walk before fetching the washing in.
Luckily it was all dry as it had been a fine day despite the cloud and
the threat of rain. RL had a fiddle with
the light bar on the top of the Ute before he and his wife headed for 5:30pm
Mass at St Mary’s. Dinner of Chow Mein
was easily prepared and RA was serving it just as the 7:00pm ABC News
began. RL worked on his lights again,
while J worked on his nets and RA did her diary. Well, the next day should be interesting RA
thought … her 63rd birthday.
7/5/2018. Monday. R & R were awake and out of bed
early about 5:30am about the same time as the guys were getting ready for
work. R & R needed to have breakfast
and be at Jayco for the work to be done on the camper door as arranged. RL gave
RA the lovely opal bracelet they had bought a couple of weeks before, downtown
Melbourne. R & R left about 7:30am, had dropped the camper off and were
sitting waiting outside Harvey Norman shortly after 8:00am, an hour before the
store opened but they did not want to go back and disturb J yet. It was a good time to make a coffee and to
try to download an ebook through Overdrive, something they had tried before
without much luck. Success this
time! R & R were in search of a
vacumn cleaner and after much deliberation settled on one that would be
suitable for use in the car and camper.
About 10:00am, they went back to J and had a cup of coffee before
heading downtown Dandenong to do food shopping in readiness for leaving
Melbourne the next day. On the way back they filled up with fuel. R & R had a late lunch and waited a while
for S from Jayco to ring. Eventually,
the Hum just drove there and waited outside.
Jayco had not yet finished so R & R had a cup of coffee while
waiting. R & R looked over the work
that had been completed and were satisfied that Jayco had done their best to
deal with all the issues and drove away contented. When they got back, they had doughnuts for
afternoon tea with the guys instead of a birthday cake. At 4:45pm, R & R went for a walk and
chatted with S, their daughter, for nearly three quarters of an hour. It had been a lovely day with emails and
messages and phone calls from absolutely all our families, including RL’s
siblings and some others as well. On
return from their walk R & R set up the camper and began to prepare
dinner. RA wanted RL and J to indulge
her in trying a new recipe, a gravy beef with cornmeal dumplings. She enjoyed making and eating her own
birthday dinner and hoped they enjoyed it too.
After dinner everyone watched TV for a while before bed. It had been a really good day … and the next,
they would be off again with only a vague idea about where they were going.
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