Alice Springs

We are on our way north to the warm weather. I know it is a long time since our last blog, but I have to get Keith to type. Lots of things happened since the last post, we both have had birthdays, we have been on short trips away and spent a couple of weeks at Maggie, Stella and Tessa's new block.
The pic shows us at Cadney Station posing under our photos on the back of the caravan. We got to Alice Springs yesterday and will be moving on up north on Monday.
I am retiring from competitions, I have gone a bit deaf and cannot hear commands. I was a lot faster than Keith so I relied on my hearing to get directions, so now we just do fun courses. Hannah is also retired as she has slowed down a bit and much prefers to walk than run.
More posts as we move on, Maggie, Tessa and Stella are with us so it will be fun all the way.

Starting out for 2018 trip

Starting out for the next big trip, well staring again. We went to help friends build a shed before we set off, but the shed, weather and various other considerations caused some delays. We came home for a couple of days rest before starting out again. The van is at Port Broughton and we should be there for a few days subject to the weather before we head north to the warmer climate.
We have had a few smaller trips not recorded here. A trip to Geelong was a bit of a disaster when the wheel studs failed on the caravan. Fortunately, the RAA Insurance paid for the majority of the damage, and Gawler Caravans bent over backwards to get the van ready for this trip.

Merry Christmas

We had Christmas at home this year, with Kevin and Molly. Molly is not very well so she was sleeping most of the day, but Kevin Hannah and I had a great time. There were humans there too, which meant that we could scrounge treats everywhere. When it got warm some of the humans got in the pool and we did too. It was great fun, Nate the young human played with us all day. I towed him around on a noodle, we splashed and I jumped into the pool to splash him. After a while, Hannah and I had to go and have a rest and then, later on, we went back in the pool. At the end of the day, we were exhausted. We had our dinner and then just flaked out and slept while KnK cleaned up the mess.

The Pool

We have our own Pool! We went in it today for the first time, and it was great. I got in first while Hannah ran around the outside barking and then she got in too. We swam and swam until we were exhausted, We quickly found the steps at each end so we could get in and out easily, and I can sit on the top step and still be in the water! After a while, we were kicked out so that Kathy could dry us off and Keith could clean the dog hair and dirt out of the pool
There is still work to do, Keith has only just finished building and painting the back fence and we have a temporary front fence. There is a lot of paving to be put down too, which means the pool is surrounded by paving sand and that makes for lots of dust in the pool so we may be limited in how much time we can spend in the pool.

Back Home

We got home a couple of days ago, welcomed by cold wet days but warm nights in front of the wood fire.
The picture shows us at the Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine Queensland. It was the centre of the Shearers Strike in 1891 and then in 1892 where the Labour Party (when they could spell labour) manifesto was read and which later became the Australian Labor Party (when they couldn't spell labour).
It was a quick trip home. We got in the car in the morning, went to sleep, woke up for lunch, went back to sleep, woke up to set up camp at night and have dinner then slept for the night. Next day was the same, so we were home in two shakes of a dog's tail.

Townsville Tourists

Here we are on top of the Castle Hill in Townsville. It is nearly 300 metres high and we started at sea level. It was a long slow climb up to the top. We passed a group of school children on a school outing but we did not have time to stop for a pat, we just kept plodding on up the hill. It seemed like ages until we got to the top and then we had a drink of water and got out of the Landcruiser for a walk around the top. (Surely you did not think we would walk up the hill?) The pic shows us at the lookout taking in the views. We will be here until the weekend and then we will start the long drive home.

The Chimneys

We were out for a drive when we came across these old chimneys out in the bush. They are all that is left of a homestead built in the 1920s when soldier-settlers built a sawmill and their home here. Not very interesting for us, so we went for a mooch around and found an interesting plant that had a funny way of spreading its seeds. The seeds have a sticky coating on them so that when an animal walks past they stick to its fur. It Worked. We were covered in green sticky things that took KnK ages to get off us. Ah well, it was a nice day out.