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27th July,
Last night (free camping at Boulder Creek) was real scary.
At 3:00 am in the morning I heard the heater cycle on for one of
it's routine 5 minute runs - a very comforting sound. Then the worst possible
thing happened - it switched OFF completely.
I was paralyzed with fear. Within minutes I could feel frost forming on my nose, and my toes began to change color (in the dark .. ??). Do we have an emergency plan? How will I survive? I visualized those other brave men who have climbed Mount Everest.
My brain moved into survival mode and I started to work
through a list of possible causes.
maybe a wild animal has eaten through the fuel line under the van
the Vietnam veteran from Conway Beach has found me
the heater has actually worn out; and will never go again !
have I have reached my 'use by' date anyway?
As I reached for the first aid kit, I noticed that the fridge was making a strange noise, and then it also failed to start.
.. that's when I realized ... my batteries were flat ! Oh No!
As the sun rose, it took all of my super-human strength to get out of bed. Then I had to have cold milk on my cereals. We packed up and headed for Battery World in Mackay where we were told that the batteries were all OK - just flat. (that was a relief because each of the three batteries cost $465!) But what happened during the night ????? time will tell.
Mackay Central Caravan Park was our next stop and I was happy to see the battery charger pumping 50 amps into our batteries.
I was not quite so happy when another caravan squeezed in beside us - with three NOISY kids. Bugger, are we are back into civilization?
I grabbed my camera and climbed onto the roof of my caravan
to look around (left).. yep .... civilization.
That's Mackay.
I needed a pub quickly, and the choice was the Eimeo hotel on top of the hill at Eimeo. The views are great (left) and so are the scones with jam and cream.
Nah! just kidding, had a xxxx or two.. (below right).
After a few beers I tend to take photos of anything at all (below left).
30th July,
From Mackay to St Lawrence was a short trip - and that's the way it has been lately. The closer we get to home, the less we travel. St Lawrence was a new one night free stopover for us, and it was a neat little ... er ...tiny little town. The pub (below left) (called Sportsmans something) is licensed by Dot Pirini (below right). Dot made sure I got my De Bortoli Old Tawney at the right price. I'll be back!
31st July,
Our next stop is a very familiar place called Calliope. We have stopped in this pleasant free camping area so many times. Connie even took control of the traffic (below left). The Calliope river is still flowing (below right) - but we discovered that there are now skiers just up river making a noise that we haven't heard for months.
The view that we [think we] will see in the morning from our bedroom window is fine. We can see the very old Bruce Highway and the original bridge (over the Calliope river) that was used many years ago
When we awoke the next morning and looked out the bedroom window ... THIS is what we actually saw. Yup - cold and foggy!
Our Dutch neighbor refused to exchange his crappy old two million dollar Denning coach for our luxurious caravan. I thought he was missing out on a bargain. He said he might consider it more seriously if I included Connie in the deal. Er.. no deal!
Our neighbor was moving on today, and so he parked his little car in the garage (inside the belly of his coach) and shut the garage door.
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