#AroundOztheFirstTime

Most vans cut corners as well. On our van we have a “Do not overtake a turning vehicle” which allows you on tight turns to drift into the lane away from the corner, assuming you have available space, and drivers behind should not try to duck in under you as you turn into the corner.

Life is what you make of it. Make the most of it.

So we are home, almost three months to the day since we left. We catch up with our neighbours, who have been looking after our mail and keeping a watch on the place. We share a bottle of wine with them, then we head next door to the lady who has been reconstructing our garden, and here we consume significantly more alcohol. This time in the form of vodka and juice.

The rain has set in now, remaining that soaking rain and not the turbulent storms predicted that might have simply run off taking much of the topsoil with it.

Proud and stubborn, I finally got Aunty Kerre and her son Mitchell to apply for a Rotary Relief Grant, which they automatically qualified for, to assist them with fuel for his business and other necessities

Condobolin should never be visited without looking at the ute “museum”. The ingenious ute owners have created a display, oriented around the ute. I pull in and get Robyn to take a photograph of every one.

We snack, we dine on spinach pie from the van and even though Tracey suggests she might want more afterwards, another glass of Robbie Burns Shiraz satisfies her hunger.

With the tour over, dinner needs to be considered, a suitable venue found, and the evening repast devoured. We choose the local pub and settle in for some more than reasonable pub food.

Its hot, about 35 degrees, and once the van is set, I break out one of the bottles from Trentham to check we have purchased correctly

We now are able to finish our trip to the caravan park, at our pace, not stressed by the vision of a road train filling every rear-view mirror we have.

On one hand you have the dreamers, the ones with the answers if we were only able to listen to them. They are either drowned out by others trying to put forward their answers, probably just as relevant to the issue your solution will achieve, whilst having their collective reputations muddied by every uninformed Tom, Dick or Harry on social media, and an unlistening, arrogant government, hellbent on saving their jobs rather than doing their jobs.

For the moment though, she is finishing off some work that needs to be sent in the morning, and we might also be sending bills as well. Now we have been here a while, its not as noisy as it seemed when we first arrived, perhaps because it is Sunday the heavy traffic may have slowed down for now.