Watching the weather

‘Keeping a weather eye out’ is a must when caravanning. You are more exposed to the elements and often in unfamiliar weather patterns and conditions. Caravanners from Victoria and South Australia tend to be more conditioned to bushfires than they are to tropical cyclones. In Melbourne it’s simple, the weather comes from the west. We watch Perth and we know that we’ll get the same thing but a little milder in a couple of days and we’ll get Adelaide’s weather tomorrow. On the east coast it seems to come from every direction leaving us totally confused about what to expect. … Continue reading Watching the weather

Put another log on the fire

Albury, NSW Fancy yourself as a baker but haven’t got a wood fired oven? Then imagine how lucky the good folks of Albury are, the city council has built them a fabulous oven and pavilion in the Hovell Tree Park down by the Murray River just for community use. Every second weekend the oven is fired up for locals to cook their breads, pizzas or roasts while an Oven Co-Ordinator watches over the oven itself. The Albury City provides details on their website. What a great idea that would be for a family get together. Smoky and warm crusty pizza … Continue reading Put another log on the fire

The Great Dim Sim Challenge

Victorians and South Australians for that matter love nothing better than good food. Farm gate stalls and gourmet food trails set their little hearts racing. On the road our mob are forever debating the merits of their favourite dim sims. Be it the huge juicy dim sim from Tai Wah in Mentone, the peppery cabbage flavour of the South Melbourne Market dim sim, the delicate balance of the Jimmy Wong from Footscray or the tasty recipe from the sadly long defunct Tai Ping at St. Kilda Junction (a demise that still brings tears to my eyes) that is now served … Continue reading The Great Dim Sim Challenge

Power problems

May 2014, Lake Boga, Vic Woody checks the battery charger and discovers that it isn’t being charged by the caravan park mains power. This is interesting because not only ours but three other vans were having power problems when we first hooked up here. On top of that the park is having new electrical cabling put in. Something is amiss. We pop into Swan Hill for some new fuses but they don’t fix our problem so we may have to rule out free camping on the way home. Eventually we get enough charge from the car via our Anderson plug … Continue reading Power problems

Why cataract surgery can be dangerous for women

Anyone who has been following this blog for a while will know that I recently had cataract surgery. Now any woman who has had this procedure will tell you that the new lenses bring every speck of dirt and every cobweb, no matter how high your ceilings are, into sharp detail. My hair has been various shades of bottled blonde since I was in my thirties. OK, a long time. Even when we’re on the road I colour my hair, slapping on the chemicals and wrapping my head in plastic wrap. Last weekend I was cleaning the house and colouring … Continue reading Why cataract surgery can be dangerous for women