Tuesday 10th May 2005

If you missed yesterdays journal entry - click here

After yesterdays drive, today was a quiet day with a slow start. Although not too early, it appears we were the first to get to the laundry and start our washing in the new front loader washing machines there. This particularly made 'One of Us' very happy as she misses our own front loader at home.

With the washing well under way it was then time to start on the web site page that we were too late to get organized the previous night. This was a fairly lengthy process as it was such a full day and there were a good number of photographs to look through and choose from, this is without the 31 minutes of video recorded along the way.

Once the washing was completed and hanging on the individual line provided for each caravan site, 'One of Us' walked down to the shops and bought a few more pegs for the washing and then visited the Retravision Store where she found an electric hotplate like we have been looking for to allow us to cook outside the caravan on good days.

Just after midday we walked down to the waterfront and along in front of the shopping precinct on one side and the fishing boats on the other. There are a number of carvings out of old tree trunks along the way, that are dedicated to the soldiers who were injured or lost their lives in WW1. The carvings were of soldiers, nurses and also a family looking out waiting for the return of their loved ones. They were very well done and were similar in some ways to those we encountered in Tasmania (15/03/2004 & 10/04/2004) on our previous trip.

By this time 'One of Us' was getting hungry so we made our way to a chinese restaurant that advertised $6 lunch meals. These meals were plentiful and passed the taste test with flying colours.

Next we made our way back to the Retravision Store and after browsing around it for a while, walked out with a Kambrook single electric hotplate ($49.95) for our outside culinary delights. We then returned to the caravan for the rest of the afternoon to rest up, read a book and think about what we may do in the morning.

Wednesday 11th May 2005

Another quiet day again today, starting off with a drive down the street to find an internet cafe or connection to make it easy to locate a Nissan Service Centre in Melbourne for a 100,000 km service on the Nissan Patrol.Our first call was to the local Information Centre and they re-directed us to the local library and gave us directions on Where to find it.

This didn't prove to be too difficult as it was right next to the Safeway Store, so 'One of Us' made a direct line for the shops whilst the 'Other One' found his way into the library and made use of the free internet connection for the next half hour. At the end of this internet session the Patrol had been booked in for it's 100.000km service at City Nissan's service centre in Carlton on Monday 16th May. A check of www.wapam.com.au (this web site) was also made to ensure all appeared to be in order and a search or two on www.finditnow.com.au was completed.

We then returned to the caravan and 'One of Us' watched the cooking shows on TV until midday before we walked back down the street to the RSL Club for lunch. We both enjoyed a Chicken Schnitzel, chips and salad for $8 each and 'One of us polished off a couple of glasses od Brown Brothers Fruity White wine. Although the 'Other One' may not have wanted one, he felt that it would be unsociable not to accompany her so he had a couple of glasses of red as well (He is very sociable!).

Within the RSL Club there was a display of military items in a large glass cabinet and one of the items was a sailors hat from the ship HMAS Perth. This does have some significance to us as an uncle of the 'Other One' was a stoker on that ship when it was sunk during WWII and he went down with the ship. This was a great loss to the family as he was only 23 years old, the only boy and was single at that time.

Before leaving, 'One of Us' had a large slice of strawberry and cream pavlova roll with ice cream whilst the 'Other One' managed a small cheesecake and cream slice with some help from 'One of Us'. During this time we struck up a conversation with a lovely couple from Moe at the table next to us who have a relative (His sister Pam) living at 150 Canning Road, Kalamunda WA and we eventually left the club at about 2:30pm feeling well satisfied.

What was left of the afternoon was spent taking it easy, getting ready for our own home cooked BBQ chops and salad tonight. Tomorrow we move off from Lakes Entrance and head back to Melbourne where we will be staying in a Big4 caravan park in Coburg awaiting the arrival of Travis and Lana in the early hours of Saturday morning..