My “grey nomad” adventure, 2015 08

MY FIRST “GREY NOMAD” ADVENTURE TO MORISSET AND MELBOURNE

Today I watched a TED talk by a young man named Scott Dinsmore on how to find work you love. He spoke about how he quit a job that made him miserable, and spent the next four years wondering how to find work that was joyful and meaningful. He said that statistics show that 80% of people work most of their lives in jobs that they do not enjoy. Scott described how he began to develop career and connection tools to assist people to find jobs that they loved. He called his new business “Live the Legend.”

After listening to Scott’s story, I considered my own life and thought about whether I felt happy about the direction my life had taken. Of course there were things I would have chosen to do differently, but overall, my pathway had not been too bad, I decided. Yet, the more I thought about it, I realised that I had never done what I really wanted to do and that was mainly because I simply had not KNOWN what I REALLY wanted to do. Over all those years I had just had the vague knowledge that what I was doing, was not what I really wanted to do.

I married in 1960 and in the following years I had five children and spent years trying to get a degree at Adelaide Uni, worked as a Real Estate Agent, and a worked at many other jobs in between. I started a Computer Mobile Phone store, Big Byte PCs and Fones, in 2005 with my friend and business partner, Darren Gore. We sold this business and commenced a new one this time selling Vodafone products to businesses. In 2008 I had a stroke and some time later we closed down the business and Darren went to work for Telstra and I tried to regain my health. In 2010 I became interested in our family’s genealogy and I began to research my family tree and to write about it, calling the story “Runaway from Santipore,” because my great grandfather Joseph Dangerfield skipped ship in Port Adelaide, leaving the ship “Santipore” instead of going back to England as a member of its crew as he had been hired to do.Then I decided to write my own story which I called “The Blacksmith’s Daughter, 1939-1960” and 52 chapters later finished this with my wedding in 1960. By this time I had run out of puff and thought I would leave it at that, but urged on by my growing readership, I commenced “The Blacksmith’s Daughter” Volume 2 to cover the years 1960-1980, and so far I am up to Chapter 4.

My health by this time was improving (comparatively speaking) and it was at Xmas time 2014 when my life’s direction changed, probably forever! My grand-daughter in law had some things she wanted to sell on gumtree and I did too. We put an advert in Gumtree to sell a plastic outdoor blind and some timber and two men turned up in an old ute to answer the advertisement. Having conducted our business, money changed hands and the two men were about to drive off when one of them saw my old camper trailer sitting on my veranda and asked me if I wanted to sell it. I told him, “No” because it had been made for me by my dear Dad and was very precious to me, even though it had seen better days and was seriously in need of repair. The two men looked at my trailer and then one of them said, ‘ What needs fixing?” “Well, it needs painting and greasing and the lights fixed, but even if it is fixed, I am not strong enough to handle it any more, so for that reason it is really not worth spending money to get it fixed.” They looked at it again and then Mitch said (Mitch was the name of the one and Geoff the name of the other. Mitch was small and wiry and Geoff was a giant of a man).

“What you need is an automated Jockey wheel,” said Mitch. “We could fit that, and we could grease the trailer wheels and paint the trailer and I am sure there are lots of innovations we could make if we put our minds to it,” he said. Well, to cut a long story short, some money changed hands, and I was soon watching anxiously as Mitch and Geoff drove off towing my precious little trailer behind their beat up ute. Soon I was receiving emails from Geoff showing the progress of the work on my trailer and it was very exciting. There was my trailer with the wheels off for greasing and it was now all painted a lovely duck egg blue. The old stick-out lights were gone and new LED ones were mounted on the mudguards instead. I got more and more excited as I watched the progress. They fixed a water bottle with a tap on the tray in front of the trailer and put a round table on top of the spare wheel and a small battery to run the lights and power points they were building onto and in the trailer. A solar panel was fixed onto the trailer bar to trickle feed extra power to the battery. Ak shelf was built along the inside of the trailer for me to store things on as I travelled. To top it all off, Mitch made a small brazier which he fitted on top of the table on the spare wheel and this would mean I could light a fire in it and use it for a stove to cook my meals as I travelled. A small gas bottle and cooker would provide extra cooking facilities when fires were not permitted.

With work on my little trailer almost completed I realised I had found what I REALLY wanted to do with the rest of my active life, long or short. I wanted to become a “grey nomad” and travel Australia and while I travelled write my stories. I thought about how I could best publish my stories. At present, I have published everything on facebook, but maybe a blog would be even better? I began reading and watching videos on “how to” make a blog. I chose a Domain name, fayberrystory.com and began to learn how to make the blog, For weeks and weeks I thought through everything I would need to do if I was to go travelling with my little car and trailer. I wrote up lists in my program “The Brain” and moved and shuffled things around so that when the time came I would not overlook anything that I had to do and pack.

I decided on a destination. I decided I would like to visit my friend Gail B. in Morisset near Newcastle NSW and then back to Melbourne to visit my daughter, Helen S. I rang Gail and worked out a time. Gail said that she could have me from the 21st of August and so the date and destination were arranged. I decided to leave on the 19th August and just amble up to Gail’s place and stay overnight at various places on the way. When the idea of becoming a “grey nomad” had come into my mind I had searched on the internet and found “the Grey Nomad Times.” I wrote to the editor about my plans and ended up getting two articles published in this magazine, one appearing on the front page with a picture of me in my car with my little trailer attached.

I received an email from Gail B telling me her timetable for the week that I was visiting and letting me know that I should arrive at 8 pm on the 21st because that was the time she would be home from work. She said that I would be staying in a little flat that she has on the side of her house, and that this had a bedroom, ensuite and wi robe, small kitchen and lounge and that I would be very comfortable there. I was delighted with this. In fact she told me that if I wanted to rent it she would be more than happy to have me live there permanently. Wouldn’t that be nice! But not going to happen unfortunately because I couldn’t afford the rent.

I spent quite a lot of time working on setting up my blog, hoping to finish it before I went on my travels, but in the end I had to leave it because I could not solve one of the problems that I came up against in the process. Instead I decided to just keep records as I travelled and work on the blog when I got back home again. I wrote to Gail B and told her that I was all packed and ready to go and would be leaving on the morning of the 17th. On the 17th I tried to link up my trailer but had trouble getting the jockey wheel in an upright position. In the end I got Jeff to help me. The problem was that the jockey wheel position had been set up for my previous Kia car but now I had a Toyota Corolla and the position of the towbar was set a little lower on this car and so there was not enough room to the ground to put the wheel into position. What we worked out to do was to dig some of the ground away under the jockey wheel and then it easily went into place and all was well. I decided to stay for one more night and leave the next morning on the 18th.

So at last, on Tuesday morning, 18th August, 2015, I sat at HJs and had two eggs in a wrap for my breakfast and then finally left on the first leg of my first “grey nomad” adventure. At age 75 I estimate that I may have only about 5, at the most 10 years in which I can hope to have my “adventure before dementia” and so here I was ready to drive to Mildura for the first day of my solo “grey nomad” travels. I had in my car with me a case of some clothes and goodies from my friends Colleen and Peter R to take to their daughter Shoshanna in Newcastle. That was good because it gave me an excuse to catch up with Shosh and Mick and their two children Amaya and Sebastian. One of the things I planned to do over this trip was to work out just what things and equipment I actually used so that next time I would not over pack. What I wanted to achieve was to have my car and trailer so “ready” at all times that I could just “take off” at any time with the minimum of fuss.

I drove up the Sturt Highway on my way to Mildura, stopping on the border to get rid of any fruit I had left over. I always forget about the fruit fly laws and always seem to find myself having to get rid of perfectly good fruit at the border. Most annoying! I stopped at Blanchetown at the Road House and filled up the car with petrol. I noticed that there was a free shower at the road house for use by travelllers. I parked by the bowser and because there were so many bowsers and so few cars I decided to leave my car there whilst I went to have something to eat and drink, but while I was drinking my coffee a whole load of bikies turned up wanting fuel. I left my coffee and went out to move my car. I noticed that two of the bikies wore yellow, one a vest and the other an armband. I assumed that they were “in charge” to make sure the bikies did not unnecessarily enrage the police. I thought they weren’t supposed to gather in numbers any more? I had been using my phone’s GPS and found that it was working pretty well, not that I needed it, at least not in South Australia. I thought that I would call in on my friends, the Mees at Waikerie, but then realised I was on the wrong side of the Murray river and had not come my usual way through Morgan.

I drove through Renmark and noted that it was a very pretty town with nice houses all along the main road. I stopped at McDonalds at Renmark and had a coffee. I parked my car and trailer over three car parks. I arrived at Mildura and it was around 5 pm. I went looking for a caravan park and chose the River Caravan Park, but could not raise anyone, so I droe to the Golden Caravan Park. They were full up but there was one last spot at a cost of $34!! It was already dark and I had trouble finding No 50 but in the end two men helped me park my car and trailer and there I was at the end of my first day on the road. I went to the loo. No dinner! I was too tired and it was too dark. I had to put the back down to get in my trailer and I thought I would probably be cold. I was too tired to charge my table and I couldn’t find what I had done with my bottle of water. I got myself settled in my bed and then realised my backpack must have slid out of the trailer. I opened the back again and retrieved my backpack and put it beside me then tried to use the LED light and that wasn’t working! U sued the torch on my phone instead. Definitely not getting my money’s worth at this caravan park I thought. At least with my little set up I could just climb in and didn’t have to spend a half an hour setting things up. I wrote an email to Deb on my phone.

” Hi Deb, I did get to Mildura but should have stopped sooner. By the time I got to the caravan park it was getting dark and luckily for me two men helped me park because I wasn’t doing a good job of it myself. I just went to bed, too tired to get dinner. Later I had toget up and eat some ham I had and some nuts because I could feel that my sugar levels were too low. Back in bed and hope I sleep. Cost too much for the site too $34. I have to plan better tomorrow. Car and trailer travelled really well, Love Mum.”

20150819 – Wednesday – I didn’t sleep very well and I had too much stuff in the trailer which didn’t help. I decided I must reorganise everything today. I had a shower but couldn’t find my toothbrush! Time was 7.55 and I had travelled 423.20 k yesterday from Adelaide to Mildura and now I was really looking forward to breakfast. I found an IGA store just out of Mildura and purchased petrol, 2 bananas, a curried egg sandwich and a bottle of water, and I was on my way. I continued on the Sturt Highway towards Balranald, stopping for a while at Lake Benanee. There were no showers here, but there were toilets. It is right beside the lake and you can camp two or thee days here.     are shelters and tables and it is 525.5 km from Adelaide. I was very tired when I arrived at Balranald, so I decided to park for a while and have a sleep. I went to the loo, drank some water and ate two dim sims and put my seat back and slept for a while in a rest area 655.2 km from Adelaide. At Hay I stopped at a service station and filled up with petrol and found that my solar panel had blown off. A very helpful farmer saw my dilemma and came and fixed it back on for me using plastic straps. After a meal of soup, coffee and chips, I decided to drive on to Wagga. I drove on for a short while but was feeling so tired I decided not to drive on to Wagga but to find a free place at Hay. It was 4.00 pm and I went to the Hay Showgrounds. I got a powered site and there were showers and toilets. A little old lady came up and asked for $15 for the site. She wrote me a receipt. It was such a relief to have found such a nice place for the night. It was private and treed and only a few other caravans nearby. I climbed into bed and this time I fell asleep easily and had a pretty good night’s sleep. I have solved the “loo problem” that worried me so much about this trip. I have worked out a procedure to get out of my trailer easily in the night to go to the loo. I swing myself to the back of the trailer by hanging onto one of the bars on the roof of the trailer. Then I lower the tailgate, slide out onto it and then step down using the big box-step dad made for my trailer all those years ago. Then I use the chamber pot I purchased for the purpose from America before I left Adelaide. Then I put it beside the trailer to get rid off in the morning and then climb back in the trailer, pull up the tail gate and zip up the canvas at the back of the trailer. Not too difficult at all.

20150820 – Thursday – I packed up and had left the showgrounds by about 7.30 in the morning. I decided to drive to Wagga and have breakfast there but ended up having breakfast at a road house at a truck stop at Bulgary instead. I was now 843.20 k from Adelaide. I drove on to Wagga and stopped at a big MdDonalds there and had a coffee and salad. I filled up with petrol and was on my way to Gundegai, Yass and then on to Goulburn. At Goulburn I pulled into a Council rest spot called French’s VC Rest Area which is 7.9k West of Goulburn. It is quite a large place and has toilets and barbecues etc. I intended to get a meal somewhere before setting up for the night, but if I wanted to stay overnight in this place I would have to stay there because the site was not accessible from the other side of the freeway if I tried to find a town cafe somewhere.

I decided to light my little brazier for the first time and see how I went cooking myself a meal on it. I unpacked the few things I needed for the night and put my little table beside the trailer with my chair beside it and unlocked my brazier from the table on the spare wheel and set it up on the ground. I was parked between two small trees and not in the main camping area and it was quite private. I used my heat beads and fire starters to get the fire going. It all workedut rather well and I cooked a stew of fresh vegetables for my dinner. I sat in the warmth of the fire for a while and just left the brazier where it was on the ground beside the trailer and didn’t bother to dispose the coals. I figured they were best where they were, inside the brazier. Next morning there was just a pile of ash in the brazier. Because French’s RV rest area was close to the freeway, the noise during the night was pretty constant, but having lived on a main Road in my early years at Parkside, I found it didn’t bother me too much. I was able to use my phone and use face book and email and I even watched part of a movie on Netflix. My Samsung doesn’t last out a full night with the amount of use I was giving it but that was okay because next day I attached it to the USB port in my car and it charged enough to use my GPS.

20150721 – Friday – I woke up next morning at about 8.00 am, dressed, took a couple of photos of my trailer and brazier. I could only take the photos because I plugged my phone with its depleted battery into the charger on the side of the trailer. When I left I didn’t want to waste what was left of my vegetables so I hung the soup container on a hook inside the roof of the trailer. I wondered whether it would spill or not on the next leg of my journey. This worried me a little but I decided I needed to know if it would spill or not for future use. I had breakfast at Goulburn which was rather expensive ($18) but I certainly enjoyed it. I rang my sister-in-law Beth to see if she was home and to arrange to call in to see her. I set my GPS and drove there with no problems at all. I just love my GPS. How different it is driving with GPS to driving without it as I used to do in my earlier traveling days. It was so good to see Beth. I don’t know how long it is since I saw her last. She tells me that she is doing quite well, though since she has stopped spending time with her grandchildren (they have all grown up now) she starting to get a touch of memory loss which she finds very annoying. Beth said that she had this uncomfortable feeling that something in her memory was locked away from her, and she didn’t know what it was but was well and truly aware that SOMETHING was missing from her memory. I found out what this meant when on my return journey I rang Beth to tell her I would not be calling in and told her about my stay at Gail’s place and Beth said, “Why didn’t you call in to see me?” and I said “But I did?” and Beth said, “Oh yes, you did, didn’t you.” This getting older is not fun.

I made a phone call from Beth’s place to my brother Graham and he said, “Come and see me,” I will be at MacDonalds at Westmead.” Westmead? I had absolutely no idea where that was, but with my trusty GPS I drove there without missing a beat. How wonderful this was! I parked my car beside a long wall and soon saw Graham driving towards me in his gopher. He is a large man on a very large gopher, quite impressive! We went into Maccas and ordered coffees and a meal (of sorts) and waited for Graham’s friend to arrive. She also uses a gopher and was coming by public transport. How she manages that I don’t know, but she does. Her name is Julz and she arrived about 20 minutes later and we sat and talked. I have spoken to Julz over the phone previously but this is the first time I have met her. Graham is her carer and they both have their health issues but seem to get along and cope reasonably well. We took some photos for posterity. Eventually I said goodbye to Graham and Julz and drove on the final leg of my journey to Morisset. I set my GPS to miss toll roads and drove happily on my way. I arrived at Gail’s place at around 7.00 pm. I had timed it so that I could catch a “cat-nap” before Gail arrived home from work. I found I couldn’t sleep so I read a book for a while and then just rested until Gail came.

When Gail arrived we hugged and kissed. It was so good to see her. I parked my car on Gail’s side lawn and left my trailer all hitched up and decided that I would not take it off but just leave it on for the whole duration of my trip. It is such a small, light trailer that I hardly notice it while I am driving and when I want to park I just find a place where I can park with ease and there are enough parks, I found, to easily do that. Gail had prepared the flat at the side of the house for me to stay in. It has a main bedroom with a queen-sized bed, an ensuite and walk in robe, an (unfinished) kitchen and a lounge room with TV and foxtel and lounge suite, in fact everything I could possibly want. I wrote a letter to one of my “bogan” angels, Geoff G, who helped renovate my trailer and made this trip possible.

20150822 – Saturday –
Hi Geoff,
I am at Morisset, NSW, at my friend Gail’s place. She is a nurse who goes out on helicopters for emergency work, anything that requires fast medical and nursing care. I got to her place at about 7.00 pm with no trouble at all. When she arrived home, she showed me to my “quarters” – a self-contained flat. I will be having meals with Gail in her kitchen and dining room and I have just set up my computer and electronics on her dining room table. She says I can stay as long as I want to. I am thinking about staying for about a week and a half and then will go to Melbourne to visit with my daughter Helen. The trailer travelled so well. I am so grateful to you and Mitch for all the work you put into making my little camper trailer such a wonderful “escape machine” for me.
The weather is just beautiful here. I think of you in frigid Adelaide, and I am so glad I am here right now and not there. I have discovered that I don’t even want to stay in caravan parks if I can avoid it because you have such a small space for the trailer and not really enough room for the car which means that it probably is necessary to uncouple the trailer and I don’t want to do that. If I can go to places where I can just drive in it makes it all so much easier and then it only takes me five minutes to be organised so that I can go to bed and sleep if I want. I haven’t used the “pit-stop awning” even once whilst I have been away and I don’t think I will use it at all. I slept most of the day today. I find that the trip has really tired me out, but Gail is working today so it doesn’t matter at all and it has been so nice just sleeping and eating and not worrying about a thing.
Fay.

20150823 – Sunday – After sleeping most of yesterday and then sleeping all night as well, I was now showered, dressed, breakfasted and ready to go to the meeting with Gail. Gail very kindly cut my toenails this morning and as far as I am concerned that shows a REAL friend who is willing to do that for me. Jake Ginn and his girlfriend Kate McKinlay were here this morning. Jake is Ray and Kaye Ginn’s grandson. His mother is Fiona Ginn (Dodson). Kate is not a member of the Melbourne McKinlays. It rained today so I got dressed in my grey and black skirt and grey top and jumper. This is virtually the only “best” outfit that I brought with me, so I was glad the weather was suitable for wearing it. The meeting was held in the main hall of a local school (not sure which one) and it was a very large hall. The chairs were all spread around in a large semi-circle so it was easy for me to look at all the faces and try to work out who everyone was.

After the memorial meeting, a barbecue lunch was provided. There were salads to go with the meat and this was followed by beautiful desserts overseen by Joan Bowen who is an expert in making the most beautiful desserts. There was also an afternoon meeting and at this I met up with Ron and Brigitta Jerrow and their children and grandchildren and I took the opportunity to take photos. Brig’s daughter and her granddaughter passed by and said hello. I felt a bit confused at first because mother and daughter looked so alike that I thought they were both Brigitte’s grandchildren and it took me a moment or two to work that out. I also caught up with Garnet and Renera Alchin who I haven’t seen for a long time, Jeremy and Nathan Ryan were there, Barry and Joan Bowen, Gwen Madden, Irene Yearsley and also Marg Ryan. Marg came up to me and hugged me and we spent the lunch break together talking over old times and the vicissitudes of our lives. Gail and I arranged for Marg to come out to lunch at Gail’s on Thursday this week and I took her phone number and she took mine. Gail has a friend from work called Bridget and she has a little girl called Grace who Gail brought to the meeting with us so that she could mind her to give Bridget and her husband a break for the day. Gail is really quite amazing. Grace behaved beautifully all through the meetings and played happily with all the other children in between.

20150824 – Monday – Gail had the day off from work today which was wonderful. When I got up Gail was already up and she cooked us an omelette for breakfast. Then we decided we would go for a drive through the Hunter Valley. It was a beautiful day and a lovely drive. We stopped at a winery and went to a chocolate shop/cafe there and had a Devonshire tea; scones and jam and cream. We chatted and chatted. We talked about how we make decisions and how we should make global decisions that are made once and for all so that we are not always making and remaking our decisions in life.

Letter to Geoff G. my “bogan” angel.

Hi Geoff, So glad you have given up smoking. It will be so good for your health. Sorry the aquaponics is not working out as you have planned, never mind, I am sure you will work it out in time. I have been at my friend Gail’s place for a few days now and I am enjoying it very much. She is away at work most days which gives me plenty of time to myself to do what I want to do because it means I have the place to myself. I have my computer set up on the dining room table and I can see out of one window into the back yard where there is a pleasant table setting and green grass and a tall hedge. Out of the other window on the other side I can see my car and trailer parked on the side lawn. I haven’t really unloaded much at all, so when I eventually leave, I will only have to put my box of clothes in the car, my computer and my little back pack and I will be ready to go. We went to the Hunter Valley yesterday and had coffee and scones and jam and cream and then later had lunch at a the winery. On Sunday we went to our church which was having a “combined weekend” so all the members from around Newcastle were there which allowed me to catch up with so many old friends. We had dinner there which was provided, a barbecue. salads and some beautiful desserts. I am staying home today to catch up with work on my computer and then will probably do the same the day after that. On Thursday I am driving to Newcastle to meet an old friend and she is going to take me out to lunch and we will probably talk the whole afternoon. Then in the evening, one of my old friends Marg is going to come to Gail’s place for dinner and stay the night. Then the next day, some more friends will be coming to dinner. Gail is being so good to me. The trailer has been simply a joy – you have really “given me wings.”
Regards,
Fay B.

2010825 – Tuesday – Today I moved my computer down into my flat into the little dining area there and set it all up. I took a large number of photos off of my tablet and loaded them into my external hard drive. Now I have to label them and file them all. I remembered that I have some appointments booked in Adelaide that I will be unable to keep so I rang and cancelled them. That made me feel a lot better. I received and email from Tim and Liz Colliver thanking me for the photos I had sent them and they sent me some new photos of Eli and Oz. In the afternoon I drove again to Bonells Bay and to Morisset to have a look around and to see if I could find a nice cafe there. I found it difficult to find a place where I could park my trailer because to do so takes up at least two car parks. I ended up going to an Indian cafe at Bonnells Bay and I had a meal there and then went home and I was so tired that I went to bed and slept until 8.00 pm.

2010826 – Wednesday – I rang up Joan Bowen to see if she was busy today and maybe arrange to see her, but she was busy because she and Barry were going on a short holiday to Dubbo Zoo. Joan was rather excited about it because it is pretty hard to get Barry to go away on a holiday. I spoke to Barry later when they got back and he was very happy with his holiday at the zoo and was recommending that I should go there too when I got the opportunity. I think this might be the first of a number of such trips for Joan and Barry.

2010827 – Thursday – Today I drove to Newcastle to visit with Shoshanna Hindmarsh. As I now do before every trip, I keyed her address into the GPS on my phone and drove merrily on my way. It is so wonderful not having to concentrate on trying to remember how to get to places as I used to have to do. All I have to do these days is just drive. Once again it was a beautiful day and the frequent views of the water were so beautiful. Shosh and Mick live on a very wide street and they live in an lovely cottage with a nice big lawned back yard It was so good to see Shosh and she was very happy to receive the boxes of goodies I had brought with me from her mother in Adelaide. When Sebastian had gone to sleep we sat and chatted and chatted. When Shosh’s parents first decided to come to Adelaide to live they asked me to have Shoshanna to live with me until they came, so Shosh came to stay with me for about three months when I lived at Aldinga Beach. That was the beginning of a lasting friendship. Since then, Shosh and Mick have got married and had all sorts of adventures on mission work, and riding their bicycles through Europe and even to Israel. I stayed with Shosh until about 4.00 pm and then drove home again.

I have been reading a book by Ion L Iddriess about the life of Sir Sydney Kidman, the cattle king of Australia and I have found it absolutely fascinating. It has given me such a good idea of the growth and development of Australia in the early years in Australia. It also mentions people my father used to talk to me about, people such as “German Charlie,” who features both in Sir Sydney’s story and also in my father’s story that he wrote about his early life in Pinnaroo where he was born. I also have a little book that someone wrote about “German Charlie,” by a woman who lived in Pinnaroo, can’ remember her name.

20150928 – Friday – I wrote a couple of comments in “The Grey Nomad Times.” They have already published two of my stories, so wonder whether my latest epistles will “make it.” All quite fun!

20150929 – Saturday – During the night I was checking my emails on my phone and sent a message to Marg Ryan asking if we were still meeting on Saturday. I didn’t expect my message to wake her because the phone usually only gives a little “ding,” but apparently Marg was just going to sleep and she heard the phone. She told me later that she thought, “Who would send me a message at 3.30 am?” and then she thought, “Of course, Fay Berry!” She rang me in the morning and we arranged to meet at her place. I fed her address into my GPS and off I went. Marg lives in a unit on the high side of the road. I didn’t drive up her drive or I would not have been able to back my trailer down again, so I tried to park along the verge in front of her unit. An aboriginal man tried to help me but only succeeded in making it worse. Then Marg came out and in her efficient and decisive way directed me to where I should drive and I parked on the other side of the road and left my car and trailer there. We walked up Marg’s long driveway and she took me into her lovely unit. It is small, but very pretty and convenient. I wanted to take photos but realised my phone was dead and I Had left my tablet in my car. So annoying! We had a cup of tea and chatted and then Marg showed me over her little home. It is all neat and beautiful. Marg is a very attractive woman, tall, slim with white hair that frames her face and the most beautiful blue eyes, good slim nose and features. I think she looks better now than she did when she was young. Marg’s unit has a small backyard and outdoor setting, good drainage and a storage room. It is really very nice.

Marg drove me to find a Dick Smith’s because my computer adapter had died and I was very anxious to get it going again. Dick Smith’s didn’t have one so we had to go to Jaycar at Warner’s Bay and they did have the right connection. We then found a coffee shop at Warner’s Bay overlooking the water and we sat outside and shared some Nachos and a piece of tart. We caught up on both our histories since the times we had travelled together in Qld. Evenutally we drove back to Marg’s place and I drove my car and trailer back to Gail’s place. Tomorrow Gail is going to take me to the Hunter Valley ecclesia for the memorial meeting.

20150830 – Sunday – This morning I drove with Gail to the Hunter Valley ecclesia for the memorial meeting. This is where most of Marg’s children go, Jamin and Janette Ryan, Jeremy, John and Nathan. I think that is right. It is something like 32 years ago when I used to spend time with them all. Now they are all grown up and have children now and their children comprise most of the Sunday School at Hunter Valley. Whilst the Sunday School was being conducted, a group of us sat out in the sun and chatted. It was very pleasant. Then we had the meeting and afterwards we went home to Gail’s for lunch. She had prepared a beautiful roast which was perfectly cooked, as were all the vegetables. Gail achieved it all in a very unhurried and peaceful manner. Present for lunch were Gail and I, Barry and Joan Bowen, Gail’s daughter Karen and her husband David Thurlow. Mark Glacken, and ? and Jenny Higgs. Joan and Barry told us all about their recent stay at the Dubbo Zoo which Barry recommended to us all as the place to go if we had a weekend to spare.

20150901 – Tuesday – This morning I drove to Ronda Strettons place at Wattle Grove just out of Sydney. I had arranged to stay there overnight. My GPS took me on a circuitous route to avoid toll roads and I arrived at Ronda’s with no trouble at all. Ronda has a nice house and I was immediatel reminded of how much Ronda likes shopping because her home has so many beautiful intricate treasures there. You could spend half a day wandering her house looking at them all. She has a whole room full of her handwork in plastic boxes and she gave me a number of her treasures to take home with me. Ronda has always been a “gift-giver.” I remember that when my children were little she purchased quite a large number of beautifully coloured petticoats for 40c each and gave them to me for my children to play “dress-ups” with. Ronda is such a generous person. Ronda looks the same as ever, slim and attractive with lovely fluffy hair. We talked about the early years when we spent such a lot of time together. She has some worries these days. Her friend Noel is now suffering some Alzheimers and this is a worry to her. One of the things she is finding very difficult at the moment is that he keeps breaking things in her house. He has just recently broken her electric kettle and all these things cost. I slept in a nice big bed that night and after a lovely breakfast of bacon and eggs next day, and after saying goodbye to my dear friend, I was on my way again, back to Morisset using my trusty GPS and missing all the toll roads. So good!

20150902 – Wednesday – Gail was at work today, so I just spent the day quietly packing up and getting ready to leave on Wednesday morning. I went for a drive around the Lakes and stopped at Wangi Wangi to check it out to see if it was a place where you could camp overnight. It was not, though it did have toilets. Pity because it is right by the Lake. The air is so beautiful up here in fact it is like wine. I could easily live at Morisset. In fact if I could afford to rent Gail’s flat and stay here, I would love to do that and yet I think I would miss Adelaide.

20159003 – Thursday – Gail came in first thing in the morning and said goodbye. I got up, dressed and packed my trailer. Matthew from upstairs helped me carry everything to put in my car which was great. I took one last look at Gail’s house and then drove on my way to Melbourne. It was so good to be on the road again. It is great staying with friends, but there is also something special about being in my little car, free to go wherever I choose, such a feeling of freedom and yet in my little car, also a feeling of security too. I put on my Bible readings CD and immersed myself in God’s word, thinking lofty thoughts!

It has been such a profitable trip, seeing my sister-in-law Beth, my brother Graham and Julz, Marg Ryan and Ronda Stretton and Shosh and Mick Hindmarsh and the Bowens, Alchins, Jerrows, Ryans and sundry other old friends. It has been a good trip. I drove from Newcastle through Campbelltown to Goulburn. I stopped on the highway near Goulburn and rang Miriam Wilkinson my niece because I believed that she lived in Goulburn. I rang Beth and she gave me Miriam’s address and phone number. I then rang Miriam. She answered but she was at work so unable to meet me which was a pity, but we did get to chat for a while. I started my car again and was on my way, My next stop was at Gunning and I found that there is a free show ground there and so I decided to stay there for the night. In the meantime I went to a hotel where there was a small cafe and I had coffee and some cake. I then drove to the show grounds and set myself up for the night.

20150904 – Friday – I had a pretty good night at Gunning though the noise from the freeway was pretty loud. Having the power point in my trailer was great because I could use the internet and I watched Netflix and read my book. I had to go to the loo a few times during the night but I managed so well with my chamber pot set up. I went to the Merino cafe for breakfast. I like Gunning. On the way out of Gunning I took a wrong turn and ended up going back towards Goulburn for 20 k and then had to return back the way I had come. I drove to the big Maccas on the way towards Gundagai and stopped there for a coffee. My speedo was 2644.2 since I left

I drove via Benalla to Euroa and stopped there overnight. There were toilets and caravan parking and it was free. I slept pretty well and I watched a movie “The Visitor” which was quite good.

20150905 – Saturday – In the morning I got up and dressed and then drove on to Maccas which was a few ks further along the Hume Highway. I cleaned my teeth and did my hair and such there and felt ready for the road again. I had breakfast there and had bacon and eggs and toast and coffee. I began to have trouble with the GPS on my phone. I couldn’t work out what was wrong, but it turned out to be that the car connection to the USB port and the cigarette lighter simply wasn’t charging the battery enough for the GPS to operated. I tried my phone on the trailer connection as well, but it still didn’t work. It worked on and off on the way to Helens and I felt so glad that it worked right until one street from Helen’s place and then it cut out, and that was that, but I easily found my way the last street or so to Helen’s place. Helen has a driveway that branches off to either side of the house, so I drove to the right and parked my trailer beside her back door. Helen came out and we kissed “hello” and I went inside and was so happy to see Jordan, Lara and Alex my darling grandchildren.

20150906 – Sunday – This morning I drove with Helen to the meeting at Blackburn and we sat near the front. David Reynolds was the chairman and he smiled and nodded towards me. Took me a moment to recognise who he was. We were sitting next to Heather Finnin and I chatted to her for a moment or two. After the meeting I met up with Andrew Lawson and we chatted for some time and I asked him to give me love to Jack and Sue Lawson who were not at the meeting that morning. After the meeting Helen bought some takeaway chicken and we went home and had lunch. It was Annabel Young’s birthday and she was having a party at Karen Simon’s place so Helen took me there in the afternoon which was so good because all the Simons and Young families were there, including all of Karen’s and Cliff’s children and David and Annabel’s children. Theo and Cheryl Simons where there as the patriarchs of the family and it was so good to see them all. Karen’s house is simply huge and there was so much food on a big food preparation bench in her kitchen. A group were sitting in the lounge watching Theo’s and Cheryl’s photos of their overseas holiday and and another group were sitting around the dining table and chatting. Through the window I could see Karen and Cliff’s swimming pool and Karen’s photographic studio was behind that. The house and outbuildings are set in 5 acres of land. Last time I was here, the driveway was just about a duck pond complete with ducks, but today it is a proper gravelled driveway. Annie Kortman, now Annie Vincent was there with her husband John Vincent. I had never met him before but he came up and said that he knew me from all of my facebook sites, Christadelphiand House Sitters, Christadelphians in Need, Christadelphians Without Partners, Christadelphian Gumtree, Christadelphian House Cleaners, Christadelphian Tradespeople and Christadelphian Car Mart, and he told me that he also reads my timeline. Fancy that, old friends without having talked to each other before this! After this we went home and I tried to help Helen with her study, hoping that we could go through her notes and photograph the relevant bits out of these and file them under each question. This didn’t happen because she has a Mac Computer that is just so slow that it would take too long, so she went back to working in the way that she was accustomed.

I had some chats with Jordan and with Lara. They are such beautiful kids, I am so glad I am able to spend some time with them and get to know them a little better.

201509807 – Monday – I slept well in my trailer last night. I had told Helen that I didn’t need to come in the house and disrupt all their sleeping arrangements because my trailer was warm and comfortable and familiar to me. I was able to use my phone right until morning for fb and whatsapp but it ran out just before morning. It rained during the night and it was so nice to be snug and warm in my little trailer. I got up about 8.30 am and by that time everyone had gone to school and Helen to work. I had a shower, washed my hair, took my drugs and it felt good when I was all cleaned up. Last night I put up a photo on fb of Karen and one of Annabel cutting her birthday cake.

My grandchildren are just lovely. Alex is very happy with his lot. He is doing year 12 and also has a job at Olivet which he loves and which gives him plenty of pocket money. Jordan is still considering his educational options. and looking for a career path that he will enjoy. He will be coming to Adelaide for a holiday soon and I told him that I would be happy to pick him up and take him wherever he wants to go if he has the need. Lara is an absolute darling and we hugged and cuddled a lot. Sally Berry was at Helen’s for a while yesterday and she is really delightful young lady now, hardly a child any more. Helen is a little bit stressed at the moment because she is now working two days a week as a radiographer and one day teaching keyboard with Annabel Young and at the same time she has to do assignments and study to update her radiography qualifications and do all the motherly and family chores as well. It will all be over by Xmas hopefully, so at least it is only in the short term that she is so overloaded.

20150908 – Tuesday – I got up early this morning and it was drizzling. I dressed and decided not to try to organise a new phone plan with Telstra until I got back to Adelaide. I would just fully charge up my phone battery before I left to go back to Adelaide. At least that should get my GPS working enough to get me the other side of Melbourne. Helen and I drove to Eastlands and went up into the food hall. I sat and had a cup of coffee while Helen went and did her shopping. When she came back we had a coffee and talked about family and her children and how they were all getting on and coping with their lives. Helen has been attending BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) for 8 years now and she says that it has been a wonderful resource for her over these years. Unfortunately they are going to be studying Revelation this coming year and she knows that will be too far out for her to get any benefit at all from so she is cancelling her membership for this one year.

I rang Cheryl Simons to see if it was possible to visit her on the Mornington Peninsula before I went to Adelaide but she said that Theo had the flu and she had appointments arranged for the day. We agreed that next time I came to Melbourne I would organise to spend some time with her and Theo where we could really sit down and chat. Helen and I got the chance to have a few good chats in spite of the fact that she was working each day. I love Helen so much and she is such a spiritually-minded girl. It really is lovely having daughters. I just wish I had a sister as well. I am so glad I came on this trip. When I get home I must keep exercising because I am sure that my legs are better now than they were before I left on my travels.

20150909 – Wednesday – I said goodbye to Helen this morning and left for my trip back home to Adelaide. I drove through Hamilton to Beachport. It was such a beautiful day and the grass was green and the sky so blue, it was really sublime. At Beachport I spent quite a lot of time. I had a coffee at the cafe just opposite the jetty which was much longer somehow than I remember it. I looked for the house that we had stayed in when the children were young – I think Deb would have been about 12 years old. I remember I wrote a great screed about the holiday we had then and it is in my files to this day. I also have no idea where it was that I went for that walk in large open area which must have been within walking distance of the holiday house we stayed in but now the whole area is all built up. I left Beachport and drove on to Robe and having checked out the caravan parks at both Beachport and Robe and not finding anywhere that I wanted to stay (could afford to stay is more like it) I decided to drive on and find a free spot somewhere on the way. I was driving along the highway from Robe when about 20k north of Robe I saw a little “tent” sign pointing down a road called “Long Beach.” I drove to the end of this road and it ended in an open area right by the beach. It was a good spot where it was permitted to stay overnight, but I didn’t feel “safe” there so I returned back to the main road and continued on my way. Then I found a bit further along another “tent” sign along a road called Wright’s Bay Road. I drove right to the end of this road and looking to my right through a gate I could see some caravans parked. I drove in and found an open grassed area protected by trees and bushes. I asked one of the caravaners about the site and he told me that it cost $4 a nigh per person to stay there. That sounded pretty good to me so I decided to stay the night there. I went to where the “office” was – a caravan shielded by green shade cloth walls. Ron was the caretaker and he entered my name and details in a book and I signed it and paid my $4. He then said he would take me in his ute and show me round. He said that the land was owned by a private gentleman who had decided to open it up to campers. The camping ground covers about a mile of his land and there are lots of toilets and there is spring water freely available on the property and there are plenty of sheltered spots to set up camp. The only thing missing is showers. With my little trailer I could see that I could come to this camping ground even at peak periods and be sure to find a spare spot somewhere. Ron told me that I would not even need to book. There would always be a free spot.

I drove back to Robe and had dinner in the town and then came back to the Wright’s Bay Camp site and got into my little trailer for the night. I slept so well because it was so quiet. It was only a short distance from the beach so I could hear the waves if I listened carefully enough.

20150910 – Thursday – I drove to Robe first thing in the morning and sat at a table in the Union Cafe on the main street of Robe. I ordered poached eggs and Rye toast and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. It is a gorgeous day and it is 8.45 in the morning and it is sadly, my last day on the road, and I wish it was my first. I have loved every minute of my first journey as a “grey nomad.” When I get home I MUST NOT settle back into my old rut. I want to keep on traveling. Maybe I will go to the Flinders Ranges and visit with Meryl Gay or something like that.

20150911- Friday – Today, home at last.