Glen Aplin

Time to go!

We've done everything Stanthorpe has to offer, met lots of new friends here, doggy ones and human ones, including a Zimbabwe couple who are Conspiracy Theorists and have been making me laugh telling me I need to be 'Awakened' so I understand what's really going on in the world. Like a scene out of 'The Matrix'.

We thoroughly enjoyed being tourists, puzzled at the number of pyramids built here - and had a good time lunching at the wineries and cideries.

I've had dinner cooked for me twice this week. #winning

Our next park at Bonalbo in the Upper Clarence River Valley, New South Wales rang at 8am this morning. They are 4 feet under water and had to evacuate at 4am this morning. They have no power and the phone tower has gone down. He was calling me using the free WiFi at the local police station. They are expecting another 160ml of rain today, so he reluctantly advised we'd better give it a miss until the flood water recedes. Poor chap.

So, we're now heading south over the QLD / NSW border to Glen Innes, and have booked a park where you can fossick for gems for a few days. Cool. Then we're going to try a showground for the first time. I've been really keen to try these, now that I know what I'm doing with the van. Sort of.

Showgrounds are in every Australian town, they are usually cheaper by about $10 per night, some are free or donation only .
They all have large, spacious, powered sites and huge grassy well maintained ovals - so the dog can hop out of the van and have a gallop about on site. Much better than having to be on a leash 24/7.

The cons are usually that the facilities are old, they may not be cleaned, there may not be showers, if there are showers there will be enormous spiders watching you, there won't be a pool or a laundry and of course, there is no security. Most caravan parks have boom gates with codes or passes on a lanyard. None of this bothers us as the Mini Titan (I've named him Dave) is self contained and we don't need the facilities.

The last two parks I've stayed at have not had security or boom gates. So you get people sneaking in at night in cars, trying to hide from the caretakers. They leave early in the morning so they don't have to pay. Some sneak in just to use the facilities or the pool.

In Warwick, a car full of youngsters snuck in and parked on the site next to me, trying to hide themselves behind a tree. So you then lay awake all night, wondering what they might be stealing or damaging. Or in my case, ring the caretakers and in a nice loud voice, ask whether they were expecting guests at Site 28 at 1am in the morning? And have them thrown out.

Dick is useful in situations like those. He's a big lad and his "Who's there?" growl sounds really menacing. He looks more like the Rottweiler in his DNA than the Chihuahua / Greyhound / Cattle Dog parts.
And they don't know that he's a coward.

Anyway, I don't think any of those cons will bother us. We're not quite ready to go fully off grid yet as power is always useful for the aircon. I don't think the solar is strong enough to power that. And of course, we need the sun to come out for the solar to work..

Postscript:
I get easily confused these days, trying to remember my Aussie friends from my UK friends, especially on social media. Luckily there is one who straddles both; my buddy Jen from our Wiltshire days. She was the crime reporter for the local rag and hung out with the cops at The Bear Hotel in Chippenham, waiting for us to get drunk and spill details on cases 😁

It worked. We told her everything. She later emigrated to Aus and is now a local celeb in Sydney, as an expert in interior design. She swans about with the stars and gets herself on the telly. She emigrated (6?) years before I did, I think. We've kept in touch and are going to meet up whilst I travel through NSW - for the first time in, how many years? 16? 18, perhaps?

We're going to head out gin tasting for the day in Sydney to celebrate our birthdays in July, with sweets and newspapers at midnight. It's our tradition.Read more