Our Wedding of the Year

On Christina and my 40th anniversary (17FEB13), son Dale married Ean (Yen Ngoc Than) at Lagi in Vietnam.

It was a spectacular occasion with several short formal elements where grandparents and other senior family members grant approval for the union to take place. The remainder was like something out of a celebrity event with fireworks and all.

Three hundred relatives from Ean's family turned up for the feast at midday and there was much frivolity and laughter as those who had not seen each other for a year or two whooped it up. A table of young people was rather loud and got louder as the intake of the dreaded drink beer took hold. But not to worry, the music from the karaoke type machine was so loud, my teeth shook and Dale, being hearing impaired had no chance of hearing anything but the music.

The session lasted until about 2:30 pm and almost immediately after the last course of food (fruit) arrived, the   guests began leaving slowly like crabs on a beach. As we were to find out, another marriage was planned and a reception starting in a hour. The workers at the venue had a tonne of beer cans and other stuff to clean up in a hurry before re-setting the tables.

By the time we departed from the venue, all I wanted to do was to crash for an hour or so. I had been "forced" to engage in a couple of "YO!" sessions and even though the beer has ice in it, it was beginning to take its toll. A Yo session is where you are challenged to drink a full glass of beer in contest with another. I had last done that when I was in my twenties ... now that I'm a responsible drinker, I'm out of touch with these rites of passage.

A good day was had by all and it was a joyous opportunity for families to get together. As you can see, Dale looked like a celebrity as did Ean in her traditional dress. Both had a couple of changes of clothes. Dale went to a white suit and Ean to a lovely royal blue dress.

Obviously we wish them every happiness and hope they live long, prosper and look after us when we get old and difficult.

Robin

My Remarkable Interaction with 6 Year Old Hung

Last night my new daughter-in-law asked me, my son and wife to attend one of her relatives places for a chat. We had already had dinner at Uncle Ing's place, where I learned why many of us in Australia are fat and obese and few Vietnamese are not. But that's a story for another day.

I had the most fascinating experience with a six year old girl called Hung. She looked as cute as ever in her school uniform, her long, jet black hair, smooth brown skin and brown eyes. She approached me and, probably never having seen an aging Australian with different eye shape, skin colour etc, addressed me in Vietnamese. I said hello to her in Vietnamese, one of a growing handful of words I know and then spoke a few words in English. She suddenly began speaking to me in English that was comprehensible, but slightly out of tone. She began counting to me and as I watched her searching for the next number, she reached 20 before she decided that was enough.

I told her she was very good at counting in English. We sat down and I began to point to parts of her body and say the English word. She responded, "nose", "eyes", "chin", "fingers" in her cute little voice and when the intonation was incorrect, I would tell her, "no, it's n-o-s-e" and as quick as a flash she would repeat it. Several times she had successive attempts, but eventually got it as close to 100 percent as anyone could expect from a six year old.

What I found quite remarkable is that she remembered every word we had spoken and got the correct intonation in several repeat sessions. Then she decided to teach me Vietnamese. She would say a word and then open her hands out in front of me to say, "well, say the word". If I got it incorrect as I did many, she would gesticulate in the way Vietnamese do to say "khong" ... "no" and redisplay her tiny hands to suggest I repeat the sound.

I couldn't believe it. There I was, a 65 year old man being taught Vietnamese by a six year old girl. And she was doing a great job of it. We had about a 3/4 h session, but I'm sad to say I'm not as efficient a learner as Hung.

It was an amazing experience and suggests to me that this young lady is brilliant. Truly an example of what is known in education as the "blank slate", the slate that has plenty of room for learning and absorbs everything quickly.

If I was staying here for an extended period, I'd ask her parents if I could have a few one hour sessions with her each week from which we could both benefit. I enjoyed our interaction very much despite our vast age difference and the absence of a considerable language barrier.

Robin

Finding Paradise in Lagi, Vietnam

Our trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Lagi, 200 km away took about four hours in a "bus" which was really a large taxi. Five of our extended-family-to-be met us at the airport, so they and we three had to cram into the bus with all our baggage. I had my feet up on the engine cowling and Christina was twisted a bit like a pretzel, however, after a slightly uncomfortable journey we made it to the Mai Long Hotel at Lagi where I sit now as I write.

As hotels go, it's very nice and it's also very cheap at about $12 AUD per night. Everything is inexpensive here by Australian standards which makes one realise how taxed and profit conscious we are. One thing that really impresses me is that wifi in the hotel is free and lightning speed, not like the service provided in our so-called "first world country" by Telstra/Bigpond.

The local currency, with the unfortunate title of "Dong" is in the thousands and you feel like you are being over-charged for everything until you work out the comparative cost. Twenty thousand Dong for two cups of Vietnamese style iced coffee is about $1 AUD. Take off the last four zeros and divide by two for an approximation.

A can of 330 ml beer is worth around $0.50 cents ... very easy to become a drunkard here.

Our new inlaws, Nup (mother of Ean, who is marrying son Dale) and Vian (father) run a fish wholesaling business and seem like a very lovely family. They are surrounded by what seems like a cornucopia of brothers, uncles,  grandparents, fathers and so on. The great point of note here is that everyone looks after everyone else in the family. The older family members are supported financially by their offspring ... no Centrelink Office here.

The people are friendly and manage to keep themselves reasonably well groomed and clothed with the odd exception. Everyone and everything here seems to busy with motor cycles coming and going day and night.

Our hosts have had us running from place to place meeting Uncle Ing, grandmother something or other, attending dinner here and breakfast there. We even found Paradise as you can see in the two photos above. And I thought paradise was only an imaginary place where the good, dead finished up. Not true!

There are no credit card facilities here which has been a pain, but we have managed to use ATMs to keep ourselves loaded up with Dong.

At present we are in the middle of the Chinese New Year so celebrations are ongoing, but shops are still open selling coffee and food, hardware and other things. The next week promises to be an interesting and demanding one for all of us. I'll keep you posted.

Robin

PS: Our new daughter in law is a lovely, intelligent lady who will be a welcome addition to our family and despite the cultural and language challenges, a great partner for our son

It's Different but Similar in Vietnam

After an uninteresting and ordinary flight from Singapore, we arrived safely (always a bonus) at Tan Son Nhut Airport around 6:30 pm. While the standard of the airport surprised us, the two and a half hour wait to get our pre-booked visas process didn't. Been there, done that in several other countries.

After standing in queue for so long, it reminded me why one has to be at least reasonably fit to travel. It's not just carrying the bags that is the issue. For some, standing without anything to drink for a couple of hours can be daunting. Fortunately, I'm reasonably healthy and a placid person and not usually prone to impatience, having learnt early in life that being impatient doesn't help to make things happen any sooner. I do admit though, that I was pleased to get my visa and get out of the airport.

Friends including our daughter-in-law to be were waiting patiently for us and as we were incommunicado, must have wondered whether we had in fact arrived. All's well that ends well however.

We spent our first night at Saigon where, in the course of finding a place to have a beer, son Dale and I had an interesting interlude with a couple of "bar" girls. One sat close on my left, threw her leg over mine and rubbed my thigh. Even after only one beer, I thought she was stunning ... we drank our beer quickly and scurried off with tails between our legs. Maybe we should have stayed to see where the journey led, but we had a fair premonition and decided cowardice was the best form of survival, my son being about to marry and me with a wife of almost 40 years with whom I'd like to spend the rest of my days. I still have a vague recollection of having said, "until death do us part", with no mention of sudden death!

The city was as expected, similar to other Asian countries we have visited and also had some similarity to the Arabic countries with the sole exception of course that most of the people are Asian (what a surprise). There is a flower festival under way at present and we spent about an hour wandering among the many beautiful varieties of flowers. Unfortunately, I had left my camera in the hotel so missed many golden photo opportunities which I regret.

After doing some necessary business with the Australian Consulate-General's Office at Saigon, which was almost as painful as the visa issuing process at the airport, we walked about the streets and markets and managed to find a restaurant for dinner. We had an early night for in the morning we were off to Lagi which is where we are now.

Everywhere in Vietnam is a reminder of how resilient and motivated the Asian people are, having a penchant to turn anything into a way to make a Dong or survive for another few days. The motor scooters and motorcycles are ubiquitous; the thought passed my mind that there must be a huge trade in sins of the flesh, motor bike sales and repairs. Everything else must surely be subordinate.

Thanks to our Vietnamese friend Phuong, adapting to the local routine is much easier.

Robin

Heading for Vietnam

It's taken a while, but in early March I'm heading to Vietnam (see previous post). I tried several times to get there during the Vietnam War period, but the Air Force obviously considered I was needed more in Australia, so I never got posted and consequently missed out on a Defence Housing Loan and some other benefits only available for "veterans".

I spent my war supervising the loading and unloading of C130E Hercules aircraft flying to and from Vung Tau, Vietnam, a long way from the front line.

Oh well, it's probably safer to visit now 40 years later.

My wife Christina and I are heading to Vietnam to hopefully marry our son Dale to Yen (pronounced Ian). So, not only will we get to visit the country for a month, but we will see our only son get married ... at long last. Having a daughter-in-law will be nice too, especially one who brings a different cultural viewpoint into our family.

After we return from Vietnam we are heading off on a 40 day (yes, you read it correctly) cruise from Sydney across to Japan via Airlie Beach and Darwin in Australia, Brunei, Hong Kong, China and then return via Guam. It promises to be a wonderful experience too, but I'll write more about it as it happens during the long days watching the ocean pass by.

Robin

Travel Plans 2013

While our new caravan sits about waiting for our attention, we are heading to Vietnam in February to see our son Dale get married to Yen (pronounced Eyan) at a smallish town outside Saigon.

We are delighted that he has found someone with whom to share his life and look forward to adding Yen to our family, which is very small.

After the Vietnam "holiday", we are off on a cruise from Sydney to as far as Japan and back with numerous stops enroute to such places as Airlie Beach (Queensland) and Darwin, Australia, Hong Kong, Shainghai, and Brunei. It's a 40 day tour on a very large ship and a totally new experience for both Christana and me. Neither of us has been on a cruise before, so we are really looking forward to it.

In the second half of the year, we intend to head to the north of Western Australia with our caravan and wend our way south eventually coming back to central Australia via the Nullarbor Plain and the Stuart Highway extending north from Port Augusta in South Australia.

While doing this, I will be doing some copy-editing and instructional design tasks for a client which will keep me busy for a day or two most weeks. Christina will work casually at the Alice Springs Hospital Midwifery Department during our time at home.

We've both adopted the semi-retirement life very well. I incorporate two or three games of golf each week into my less than busy life and Christina spends more time sewing and using her iPod and iPhone with which she has become very proficient. When the daily temperatures decrease a bit, I'll also spend some time fixing up our garden, a task that is long overdue, but among the many skills I have, gardening isn't one of them.

Stay well.

Robin

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012

The forecast for Christmas Day in Central Australia is 39 degrees Celsius ... so much for a "white" Christmas. It's a tad hot for roast meats and vegies straight out of the oven, so we plan to do our cooking Christmas eve in an outdoors barbecue after dark and then have cold meats and salads for lunch.

We usually start with a pancake breakfast around 10 am after we have opened our presents. Our pancakes are topped with jam, cane sugar syrup and cream (for anyone keen enough to bolster their cholesterol levels) accompanied by fruit juice, coffee, and a variety of seasonal fruits.

Around 2 pm we begin to feel hungry again, so it's back to the table for another round, this time pork, chicken, turkey and beef roast and a variety of salads eg, potato salad, bean salad, , prawn salad, and that green leaf stuff that has no nutrition, tastes like cardboard and doesn't seem good for anything ... lettuce. (By now I expect you will have guessed I don't like it).

At lunch we will probably crack a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine or Champagne depending on how much we have already consumed and who wants what. We have quite a collection for a family that doesn't really drink all that much (in comparison with other Territorians that is).

After lunch I usually get the job of cleaning up, (thank goodness for dish washers) have a nap for an hour if time permits and then in the evening Christina and I are off to Ilparpa (five or six kilometres away) to have dinner with friends. By then we probably won't care what our son, daughter and grandson are doing. All the excitement tends to wear us out these days.

It's a good thing Christmas only comes annually, although I seriously think that in Australia we should have it in July, not December. I may start up a Christmas in July Lobby Group to try to change our traditions. There is another group hell bent on eliminating Christmas, so my pressure for a change in timing shouldn't be such a bad deal.

We hope you and yours, wherever you are have a wonderful Christmas and New Year if it is part of your tradition and if not, we wish you all the best for 2013.

Robin

Mt Gambier - Volcano City

Mt Gambier is a beautiful city at the south-east corner of South Australia near the border with Victoria. Locally the region is called the Limestone Coast obviously because of the volcanic nature of the area and the subsequent limestone deposits.

We had never been here before, so it was lovely to visit and see all the beautiful gardens and the main features related to the city's volcanic history.

At the edge of the city is the Blue Lake, an ancient volcanic opening which is now filled with beautiful blue water ... the town's drinking supply. Underneath the city is a vast system of caverns, and waterways, many of which are frequented by scuba divers who explore the caves. On the surface are numerous sink holes where the tops of caves have collapsed creating holes of varying depths. Several of these have been turned into public parks with chairs, tables, and free gas barbecues.

There are dozens of walking paths around the city and nearby areas. It's truly a lovely part of South Australia, but unfortunately, in November (southern hemisphere Spring) it's still chilly, so it's obviously a cooler place unsuited to dry, hot weather people like us.

Click on the photo strip to see the following examples of Mt Gambier, with a description of each from the top down:

1. A park at the edge of the Blue Lake has a block of limestone with a small solution tube (water and acid eat through the limestone leaving a circular hole)
2. Christina stands at one of the viewing platforms erected in the 1800s
3. The Blue Lake taken from a lookout some kilometres away
4. Inside the Umpherstine sink hole which is now a public recration area
5. Looking into the Umpherstine Sink Hole
6. Bottle brush flowers are plentiful in the Umpherstine Sink Hole Park
7. A possum lives in a cave at Umpherstine Sink Hole and is obviously accustomed to visitors of the two legged variety

Today is our last day at Mt Gambier and we had for the Coorong before going to Adelaide and then back up the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs.

Robin

Visiting Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

Tourist brochures tell us that Bendigo and the nearby Heathcote Regions of Victoria are among the fastest growing areas in the state. The local population is around 100,000 which probably doesn't mean much to those of you in Mumbai or Mexico city, or perhaps in Indonesia.

Between 1850 and 1900 Bendigo mines produced more gold than any other place in the world, about nine billion dollars worth. But now the mining era has been and gone and all that are left are the stories of immigrants who became millionaires overnight and the remnants such as the poppet head in the photo at left.

I've visited Bendigo several times previously, the most recent perhaps 15 years ago and have always found it a pleasant, nice place to be, although prone to cold weather; I wouldn't want to live here.

Among the many things to do at Bendigo are:

1. do an underground mine tour of the Central Deborah Gold Mine which is situated within the city area (strange to see a poppet head sticking out from the suburban streets)
2. go for a trip on the Bendigo Tramways' "talking train"
3. visit the Bendigo Pottery and watch a wheel thrown pottery demonstration as an expert potter shows how easy it is to transform a lump of damp clay into a work of art
4. visit the Chinese Museum and cultural centre and associated gardens
5. follow a map to visit many of the very old buildings that date back to the early days of Bendigo's settlement

If none of these appeals to you, there are plenty of pubs, a nightclub, restaurants, shops and other things to do here.

There is an excellent tourist information centre here with dozens of brochures, maps and stuff to buy. Although we don't by any "tourist stuff" anymore, Christina and I found it nice walking through the beautiful parks and gardens and around the route covering the old buildings (even grey nomads need exercise). Many of the tree varieties here eg, Dutch elm and oak are not found in Central Australia, as are many of the flowers and shrubs, so it's uplifting to walk among them and admire their beauty, depth of foilage and the birdlife they attract.

We stopped at a business which is a coffee shop, restaurant and bar and had a cup of coffee and garlic bread with three accompanying dips. Fortunately, we only bought one to share as it was huge and one each would have been simply too much. We are finding more and more now that serving sizes have become inordinately large, so it's common for us to buy one meal and share it.

After all, every calorie counts!

Robin

The Popularity of Caravaning

We've been on the caravan trail in Victoria, Australia now for almost four weeks and I never realised exactly how popular an activity it is. Even in the chill of our southern Spring.

Every caravan park we have been to has had a large number of happy caravaners, RVers, people in tents and of course those who book cabins.

The standard of caravan parks has been impressive. All we have been to have had good amenities including play equipment or rooms for kids, barbecues, swimming pools, and other facilities like "jumping pillows".

While the travelling caravan population consists mainly of older, retired or near-retirement-age travellers, there are also younger families with pre-school age children having a few days holiday. Also, we have noticed that there are groups of "clubbers" ie, people with a common interest who are travelling together.

At Marong (20 km from Bendigo) where we are at present, there is a group of Jaycar caravaners who are members of a Probus Club. Apparently their group travels to a different town every three months to meet other regional Probus Club members and socialise. Way to go!

Given that our current nightly rate is $27 AUD, it's a much cheaper option to caravan than to be paying rent or perhaps a mortgage. This amount includes use of amenities, water and power although if you want to do your clothes washing, usually you have to pay for use of the equipment. We have a small Lamair on-board top loading washing machine, so we haven't had to pay for anything additional.

Marong Caravan Park has about 30 caravans here at present. Given that there are thousands of caravan parks about around this huge country of ours, I can only guess that there must be tens of thousands of people travelling from place to place at any time of the day.

Today we are off to Bendigo to take in the local sights.

Robin

The Duties of a Caravaner - Rooster to Feather Duster

When you buy a caravan and head off into the great Australian towns, the lower level duties still have to be done ... it's not all beer and skittles. For example, the caravan has to be swept, you still need to wash clothes (although ironing isn't a priority), prepare food, wash dishes, and now, empty the chemical toilet.

The latter is a new role for me. As I contemplated emptying our toilet capsule, I recalled the expression, "Rooster one day, feather duster the next". Although as head lecturer of prisoner education and in other positions I had never considered myself a big shot (or a rooster), I was well above emptying toilets other than that act with which we are all accustomed ... pushing the flushing button and letting physics take over.

Well, our shiny new caravan has a chemical toilet capsule. For those unfamiliar with them, I won't go into detail, but the capsule is self-contained and can be removed in one piece from the caravan and taken to a dump point and ... yes, you guessed it, the contents can be dumped.

My mate Michael Dougall just had to accompany me and take some "action photography" of me extracting the toilet canister, towing it to the dump site and dumping its contents. Fortunately, as you'll see in the photos, the capsule has an extending handle and can be towed like a travel bag. (The mind boggles and it lends another dimension to the expression, "taking the piss")

From this experience I have promulgated Caravaners' Rule One: If someone else provides a toilet, you never, ever use your own.

Remember that rule if you become a caravaner.

Robin



PS: I thought an appropriate advert for this page would be my range of Colon Cleansing Review e-books.

What do sullage pipes, microwaves and shower taps have in common?

You're right, they probably have nothing much in common except when they don't work.

Despite the Blue Sky Caravan company's four hour quality control process, gremlins got into our Sharp microwave and shower tap. The former didn't work no matter how hard we tried and the shower tap leaked as soon as we turned on the water supply. Much to their credit, I telephoned Bellerine Caravans and they arranged for us to tow the caravan to the Blue Sky Caravan factory north of Melbourne to have repairs made. The microwave was replaced and the tap fixed.

When we ordered our caravan many months back, I gave no thought to needing a sullage hose that is required to get rid of shower and sink water. Why would I think of such trivia?

Here's where mate Michael's experience came in. He gave me a heads-up about needing to buy a sullage hose, which I did as part of our set-up purchase. I bought an expensive flexible, black rubber hose 25mm in diameter which rolls flat into a special container for storage. All I had to do to use it was to buy a fitting to connect the 25mm hose to the 40mm discharge pipe underneath the caravan.

In the photo you can see the "gaggle" of plumbing bits that went into getting it up and running. It cost about $18 for connections to come up with a solution.

Why am I telling you this? Well, one day you may buy a caravan and you'll need to know all there is to know about sullage hoses.

Robin

Picking Up our Blue Sky Caravan

We'd spent a week or so at Keynton in Victoria and another few days with friends at Geelong waiting patiently to collect our caravan. It was something akin to being a kid and waiting for Father Christmas to slide down the chimney.

There'd been a few days delay in pick up, but it gave us a little longer to get our Toyota Prada 4WD fitted with a dual battery pack, electric braking system and tow bar preparatory to hooking up the van. We did that at ARB Geelong where the service was excellent and we also bought a set of load distribution or stabilizer bars. At almost $4,000 it was a tad more expensive than I had imagined, although we knew the work had to be done and we had budgeted for it.

Although we'd brought a lot of cutlery and equipment from home (a car full in fact), there was a lot more we had to buy. Another $500 for wheel chocks, sullage and fresh water hoses, tent pegs, extension mirrors for the car and so on and we were ready to collect the van. Because we had too much stuff for the one car, our friends came to the Bellarine Caravan site with us and brought some of it with them.

Our van, which we had seen a week earlier, was waiting patiently for us all shiny and new with a "new everything" smell inside. If only someone could can that smell, they could make a fortune.

Graham, one of the caravan people gave us a tour of the caravan and explained all the ins and outs ... how to erect the TV antenna, how to lock the  ventilation hatches, turn the water heater to gas, put chemicals into the toilet, all the time giving helpful hints and tips that would make our life as Nomad Caravaners all the more interesting and less challenging. That took almost an hour. At about that time it began to rain.

Next I had to hook the van up to the Prado. Staff member, Dave brought a bag of tools over and showed me how to set up the Hayman Reese towing equipment complete with stabiliser bars, once again advising me of the safety tips and traps. I stood there with an umbrella as it rained quite heavily for most of the time. When it was all connected, we set up the extension mirrors and although I could hardly see anything in the rear vision mirror, we drove out of the caravan site and up the Ballarat Highway in late afternoon traffic.

We had planned to travel only 15 km to a caravan park to stay for a day or two and get set up. Also, our friends were picking up a Blue Sky caravan the same as ours and theirs was to be delivered the next day. We arrived at the El Dorado Tourist Park on Ballarat Road and fortunately were allocated a drive-through site. (I'm yet to practise the reversing!). As it was still raining quite heavily, friends Michael and Gayle suggested we leave the van and return home with them and stay overnight. For that we were very thankful and although we were looking forward to sleeping in our new mobile home, realised it would have been a disaster trying to set up in the rain.

The next day we went back after the rain had stopped and spent a day or so finding spaces for socks, cutlery and getting all the other things settled in. We spent the first night in our caravan and as we were both exhausted went to sleep early and slept comfortably.

Michael and Gayle joined us in their Blue Sky van which they were fortunate enough to pick up on a rain free day. Damn ... some people have all the luck.

Next post, I'll tell you about the things that didn't go well and how lucky we are to have experienced friends to help show us the ropes of caravaning.

Robin

Starting Out as a Grey Nomad

Having retired from the workforce, this week Christina and I head off to Geelong in Victoria to pick up our new Blue Sky Caravan on 14 Sep 12.

It will look similar to that shown in the photo at left and promises to be an interesting experience. Neither of us has had much to do with caravans. We have a lot to learn about life on the road with our fellow "Grey Nomads" of whom there are apparently almost 70,000. That is, at any one time, 70,000 people are travelling here and there in caravans. Fortunately Australia is a large country with plenty of room and roads.

The caravan weighs just over 2,000 kg and is within the 3,000 kg towing capacity of our Toyota Prado turbo-diesel 4 wheel drive. We have to learn the art of carrying only what we need and not what we think we need so that we don't overload the caravan or the car. We have a collection of plastic and melamine plates, cups and wine glasses etc. Now I have to learn all about gross vehicle mass, ball weight and how to drive safely pulling a caravan. Given that so many other people can do it and they can't all be professional truck drivers, I'm sure I'll get there.

Reversing into caravan parks and maintaining the caravan are also skills that we will both need to learn. And then of course, we have to learn to live together 24/7 in such a small place. A tad smaller than our house!

Our first touring stint will be around the southern parts of New South Wales and in Victoria as we check out all the equipment, fittings etc of the van. We want to remain close to Geelong just in case we have to return to have warranty matters repaired. It's a long way to Geelong from Alice Springs.

We plan to return home in mid-November and take off for Western Australia in May next year.

I will be posting updates on where we are and what we are doing and hopefully some interesting commentary about parts of Victoria and neighbour state New South Wales. Keep your eye on our blog if you are interested in learning about our travels.

Robin

Now I've Retired ... er Refocused

On Friday, 29 June 2012 I walked out of the front gate of the Alice Springs Correctional Centre for the last time. Well, I hope it will have been the last time. 

After three years and exactly one month working as Head Lecturer Prisoner Education, I've retired or refocused or commenced transition to retirement. I'm not really sure which. It's not the first time I've retired. When I returned to Australia in July 2008 after a wonderful three years at Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, I didn't have a job and decided I really didn't want one.

Unfortunately, I wasn't mentally or physically geared up to do nothing after having worked fairly hard for so long. By June 2009 I had become bored and as I couldn't find a part time job that would pay me anything worthwhile ... one firm offered me $10 per hour for 20 hours per week, I applied for the advertised position of Head Lecturer Prisoner Education and the rest is now history.

Working at the Correctional Centre was often frustrating, but any sense of frustration was compensated for by the wonderful people I worked with and the salary was excellent too.

With the experience of my last retirement behind me, now I have a totally different outlook on retirement which I prefer to call refocusing. I plan to continue a small amount of work through my Desert Wave Enterprises business mainly to keep my brain going and to maintain links with people. I also have an associated blog, Working Smarter to update Wednesdays and Saturdays. Each day has a compulsory exercise component built in; Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays it's nine holes of golf at the beautiful Alice Springs Golf Club. Non-golf days are bicycling days ... anaerobic and aerobic exercise should be well covered in all of that.

Then of course, there is the housework, house maintenance, gardening, reading, chilling out with grandson Tory and sipping coffee at the Todd Mall.  I really don't know how I had time to go to work.

My wife Christina is still working 0.6 equivalent full time hours as a midwife but plans to revert to casual employment status in August, just before we travel to Geelong in Victoria to pick up our new Blue Sky caravan. It's all happening for us in the Henry family.

Robin

PS: If you know anyone who needs proofreading, copywriting or other business communication services, send them to me ... I have plenty of time.

Days and Nights in Bali

We've been at Bali now for six days and as we settle in tonight, we look forward to a day of complete silence and relative inactivity tomorrow, as it is Nyepi Day. I'd never heard of it before, even during my 45 year long study of religious mythology, but it's a Hindu day of silence during which Hindus meditate and focus on their deities etc.

While everyone keeps quiet, it is hoped that the evil spirits will think nobody is home and therefore avoid doing bad things. It's obviously an important festival for Hindus who get dressed up in their traditional finest and arrange processions etc.

All over Bali are Hindu temples included temples built and used by groups of people in an area eg, family temples. An example is at left all done up for Nyepi Day.

Bali fortunately, is a non-muslim part of Indonesia, which is predominately muslim. The muslim warriors invaded hundreds of years ago and took over. Those who survived the murderous onslaught didn't want to live under the sword of Islam, so they moved to Bali and surrounding islands which have a population of about 3.7 million.

As seems to be the way with Islam, the violence continues and during the first couple of days we were here, the Indonesian Police had a shoot out with three orthodox muslims who had been planning to kill Western tourists. Thankfully, the police won this round, but as the evidence from all over the planet suggests, it's far from the end of civilisation's war against Islam.

Everything here is inexpensive by Australian standards, with the sole exception of wines and spirits. No doubt this is a key reason why so many Australians visit. That and the short, inexpensive air travel required to get here. We thought we were probably the only Australians who hadn't visited, so that was the main reason we are here now ... didn't want to be left behind.

The locals are nice, friendly people who are obviously accustomed to high numbers of tourists coming and going. The population seems very young which means that in 40-60 years the Indonesian Government will have a huge challenge providing old-age, medical and palliative facilities for the aged population. I wonder whether they are planning for that at present.

Those working in the up-market shops are immaculately dressed and I saw more than a few stunningly beautiful young ladies, a couple of whom sold us some goods eg, a bottle of men's after shave that I probably didn't really need. Those in the shops lining local streets are not as impressively dressed, but clean and tidy and there are so many little businesses, I don't know how everyone manages to make a living, but they obviously survive.

The traffic in Bali, as in many other countries is legendary. Need I say there are billions of scooters and motorbikes, some of which move up to five people and weave in and out of the traffic. I'm only guessing, but I imagine the traffic incident injury and death rate is probably pretty high.

It's rained a great deal since we arrived, but we managed to do a full day tour of a volcano, coffee plantation, silver shop, and batik industry business, all of which were hard-sell operations (of course!). Having lived in the Middle East, we know all about pressure selling, dodgy deals and have learnt the art of ignoring people despite our inate propensity to do otherwise.

We move to Candi Dasa on Saturday for our last week and I'll post another blog about that towards the end of the week.

Robin

Sunset, Signs and the Caravan Escape

We travelled to Adelaide, 1500 km from Alice Springs during February to visit the Caravan and Camping Outdoor Adventure Show and to source a new caravan. It's well known that there are deals at the shows that strip thousands off prices.

The trip down takes two days if you don't drive for 15h straight, part of which is during hours of darkness. Strange things happen in the dark; kangaroos appear in front of you and at 130 km/hr, it doesn't take long to spread one across your front bull bar. Get a really big one and although your bull bar might survive, they often smash into your windscreen, destroy your lighting or buckle some of your bodywork. So we drive for eight or nine hours and take a break at a motel enroute.

We stayed at a large and very comfortable caravan and camping site at West Beach and our friends Michael and Gayle flew in from Melbourne to spend a few days with us. They stayed at a cabin nearby and we went to the Caravan Show and other venues together ... had a great time.

Here's a photo of Chris at the cabin in which we stayed. Our trusty Toyota Prado turbo-diesel is at the front. You can see what we have for a "bull" bar. I'd really hate to hit a bull with it! But it handles most kangaroos quite well.

On our return journey I almost hit an eagle. It was eating the carcass of a kangaroo (road kill as they are referred to) and as it was surrounded by hawks, I didn't see it. I was doing about 120 km/hr and when I passed it took off and almost collected the bull bar before veering left and up and missed hitting us by inches. Because their wing spans are so long and they are so big, they take a while to get airborne. When I see them, I usually slow down, but on this occasion it was almost curtains for the eagle.

On the return journey we stopped to take a photo of the sun against the clouds somewhere along the Stuart Highway in the Woomera Rocket Range. I've found it's always difficult to get a shot of the sun setting or rising ... the photo never quite seems to capture the majesty. But this was different and looks glorious. Where would we be without our friend the sun?

As we cruised through South Australia towards Coober Pedy where we stayed overnight at a motel that is higher rated than it should be, we saw some more interesting signage.

I was a bit taken aback to think that a government body would produce signs like these, but then I recalled from my business education training how important it is to talk to people in the language they understand. Although it has several connotations, most Australians understand the term "wanker".

So there we were rolling north along the highway when we spotted this sign. I just had to pull up and take a shot. I recall thinking that if it kept me safe from wanker drivers, then it was well worth it.

Ultimately, our trip was most enjoyable with a dinner at a Chinese restaurant, lunch at the Ramsgate Hotel, Henley Beach, shopping trips to Ikea and the Marion Shopping Centre which is huge. Chris even conned me into doing a 20km trip to visit the Spotlight shop which is a quilting, dressmaking type of place. Talk about boring, but being a dutiful husband, I did the right thing and suffered in silence.

Next blog I will place a couple of photographs of the caravan we have ordered. Our new temporary home as we cruise around this lovely country.

Robin

Travelling to Adelaide from Alice Springs

Most of us who live at Alice Springs agree; you have to get out of the place at least for a week or two every year. Why? Because The Alice is a small, isolated township (Population 25,000), with limited retail opportunities and the sights, although beautiful, are visible 24/7/365. We simply need an occasional change of scenery, climate, and some retail therapy. 


When you go to the "Big Smoke" there are many more retail opportunities, some different sights and sometimes the beach. The nearest beach to Alice Springs is at Adelaide 1500 km away, so it's not a weekend run, but okay for a week or so.


This week we are visiting Adelaide for two reasons; to visit the annual Caravan, Four Wheel Drive and Camping show and also to have a break from the rigours of work and sameness of Central Australia.


The drive down the Stuart Highway can be fairly monotonous, especially when you've done it a couple of hundred times. You spend hours just watching the same type country flick by at 130 km/hr in the Territory and 110 km/hr once over the South Australian border. On this trip, I thought I'd focus on some of the signage and a bit of geographical/historical background for readers ... something a little different.


The northern or outback parts of South Australia are known to be part of the driest state in Australia. Much of the land mass is covered by salt lakes and the high salt concentration excludes in some places and limits in others, the type of vegetation. The rectangular shaped state can be divided into three distinct parts. The southern third, much of which is is a green belt with good tree and grass growth and where most of the population lives. The capital city of South Australia, Adelaide is in this area. From Port Augusta north, the land has fewer trees and growth and much of it is what we call gibber plains (flat plains with rocks lying across the top). North of Coober Pedy (these are very approximate descriptors) there are thousands of square kilometres of short, native trees that get by on small amounts of water.


Coober Pedy is world renowned for its opal fields and also some other recent mining ventures which I am told are copper mines under development. It's a dry, dusty place with a thriving population of miners and public administrators. Many of the residents live underground and there are several underground hotels/motels that tourists flock to for the experience. Further south and east of Pimba is Roxby Downs and one of Australia's uranium mines.


In the middle of the gibber plains exists a huge area of Commonwealth (government owned) land that forms the Woomera Rocket Range (a woomera is a stick used by Aborigines to help add distance to their spear throwing). During the Fifties our friends the British exploded at least one nuclear bomb in the area irradiating a large area and a few Aborigines who had missed being gathered beforehand. The land is still radioactive and therefore declared as a Prohibited Area by law. Thousands of rockets were fired all about the place as the Defence Department tested them. Some of the infrastructure is still left standing.


Strangely, as you drive along the Stuart Highway you find that a part of it has been turned into a runway for the Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft to land and take off, presumably to meet ambulances carrying injured from traffic incidents. Most traffic incidents are roll-overs when people doze off at the wheel. In an effort to counter people driving for extended periods, nice little stopping places are provided by the governments. Some have toilets, sheltered covers and water and a few barbecues. At the end of day, groups of caravaners stop for the night and sit about sipping merlot and pina colado ... or maybe tea and coffee.


Double click on the photo strip at left to see a few things I saw enroute.


Robin

Australia Day 2012

Tomorrow is Australia Day, the day in 1788 when the British Navy fleet of 11 ships landed in what is now called Botany Bay near Sydney, New South Wales.

I've often tried to imagine what it must have felt like to have been sent from your homeland to travel for months to some part of the world about which nobody knew very much at all. If things turned bad at any part of the voyage, it wasn't as if you could jump on the next Emirates airplane and head home within hours. Many of those who arrived in Australia would never have seen their homeland again. There were no houses, no hospitals, no schools, just three million odd square miles of native scrub and of course the original inhabitants, the First Australians who had arrived from Africa thousands of years earlier.

It could have been the Japanese, Dutch, Portugese, French or perhaps a handful of other nations' people that arrived to take over Terra Australis. Whoever it was would no doubt have created the same negative impact on the native occupants, but we are indeed fortunate that our roots are British. From the "Old Country" we inherited a robust system of law, democracy and governance that has served us well for the past 200 years and will serve us well for a bit longer until it is subsumed by a foreign totalitarian regime that is working to undermine Australian values as I write. Our failing is that we are too democratic and too nice.

The British flag (Union Jack) on our flag shows our roots; the Southern Cross the star pattern visible in the Southern Hemisphere. The Federation Star, directly below the Union Jack has a point for each of our States and a point for the two Territories, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

For the first time in years we have nothing planned for tomorrow, but when we wake up we will no doubt have a breakfast of fruit juice, pikelets, golden syrup, coffee, and reflect on how very fortunate we are to have been born Australian.

Robin
 

Christmas Day Was Almost Spectacular

We had a very pleasant Christmas Day 2011, with the sole exception that our grandson Tory wasn't with us. Had he been present, it would have been a spectacular day.

However, as I cooked roast lamb, chicken and pork in our backyard barbecue amid a 39C temperature, I couldn't help but ponder how inappropriate many of the traditions brought to Australia by our English forefathers were in our climate. Roast dinner in the Central Australian heat? I wonder.
With the rather hot outside temperature and lack of breeze, we decided to have lunch inside in airconditioned luxury. Around midday we untabbed our first cans of beer and blew the cork off a bottle of Moet Champagne for the women. (Real men don't drink campagne ... and it tastes terrible too).

The meat was cooked to perfection, but some of the vegetables were slightly overdone. Not to worry, we managed to have a lovely feast from about 2 pm and topped off the roast, vegetables and salads with two different types of cheese cake. Nobody complained about the food.

Friends Tina and Vivek had also contributed some Indian food, some of which, because I can never recall the name which sounds something like the politically incorrect gollywog, I call mystery bags. Whatever they are called, they are very tasty and usually come with an equally tasty sauce.

Incredibly, my total alcohol intake for the day was two cans of beer (1 x 500ml, the other 375ml) and a large glass of red wine. I can't recall a time in the last few decades when I have consumed so little at Christmas. I really must get a grip of myself before I become a teetotaller.

Above are photos of Dale and me with the vegies and Christina and Meredith taking a break from preparing something in the kitchen.

We hope you had a lovely Christmas Day too.

Robin

Season's Greetings!

To all of those who celebrate Christmas, we wish you a

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012.

Robin and Christina Henry

The Day My Blundstones Died

In 2009 I wrote a post about the Betts Shoes for Old Feet  wherein I described the many years of service I had from a pair of Airflex shoes. Today I have to decry the death of my Blundstones.

That death occurred in a very embarrassing and messy way. Having not worn my Blundstones for a while, I decided to wear them to work yesterday, the fateful day.

I work at what is known as "Q Block", the Prisoner Services Section at a correctional facility and have a modest office with a carpeted floor and share the block with 25 other people. The hallways consist of painted concrete and after a short while my colleagues started commenting on the black flecks appearing from one end of the block to the other (from coffee room to photocopier).

Eventually, the black flecks also appeared on my carpet and I realised that I was the offender. Within an hour or two, my carpet looked like the Stuart Highway (connecting Adelaide with Darwin) when a road train has a tyre blowout ... pieces of rubber everywhere!

 

As I had nothing else to wear, I had to continue walking and depositing shoe rubber for the remainder of my day. By the end of my shift, the two heels of my boots were almost completely demolished and parts of the sole were falling off too.

The photo at left shows some of the damage.

Now I'm left wondering why a pair of shoes that were so comfortable and which have walked the hills of Oman, the streets of Al Ain and Prague, visited the Louvre, and been many other places all of a sudden decided to fall apart.

There's a kind of sadness when you end a relationship with a friend that has provided so much comfort for so long.

Robin

Alice Springs National Transport Hall of Fame

Having visitors occasionally is good, because you get out of the house and take them to local venues that you would not normally visit. Like the National Transport Hall of Fame. 

According to the home page on the Internet site:
"The Road Transport Historical Society is a volunteer based project dedicated to the preservation and presentation of Australia's unique road transport heritage. It does this through its magnificant Shell Rimula Hall of Fame in Alice Springs, the traditional birthplace of the roadtrain.The charter is not only to remember the great trucks, buses and vehicles of the past, but recognise the contribution of the men and women who drove and lived with these great machines of the past."
It must be 15 years since I have visited the Hall of Fame. Since then it has expanded greatly and improved it's stock of old trucks and equipment. What surprised me most is that many of the vehicles in the Kenworth Museum are straight off the production line. They must be worth millions and the Kenworth company still owns them, but stores them at the museum.
There are dozens of photos of people, places and transport from the early days in the Northern Territory as well as the obligatory cafe and tourist shop. Adjoining the NTH of Fame is the Ghan Railway Museum, which we didn't visit today.
If you ever get an opportunity to visit Alice Springs and you are interested in transport you must visit the National Transport Hall of Fame.

Robin

PS: Double click on the photo strip at left to enlarge the images.

Some Visitors Bring Wine ...

Some visitors bring wine ... others come to simply graze and provide photographic opportunities. Like this old kangaroo that grazes on our grass several times per week.

When I looked out the window Sunday morning, there he was busily eating our grass. Remarkably, he seems to leave the weeds as though he doesn't want to do me out of the job of spraying and pulling them, all too often.

Unfortunately, he's not a big eater, so I still have to drag the electric mower out of the shed and cut the grass every so often.

Our friend the kangaroo is accustomed to we humans and when I took my pot of coffee, camera and book reader outside onto the pergola, he didn't give a jot that I was now much closer. He simply gave me a glance, tweaked his ears and returned to the laborious job of feeding.

After about 20 minutes he simply hopped off into the adjoining hills.

Throughout most years we have a variety of colourful native birds, lizards and the odd snake visit our yard. While the snakes aren't all welcome - most are deadly, it's nice to see that our wildlife is still all round us and surviving despite our impact on much of our environment.

Robin

Life's Philosophy and How Time Flies!

Today is 1 August 2011. It's now just over three years since I finished my contract with the Higher Colleges of Technology at Al Ain and headed back to Central Australia via Durban, Cape Town and Stellenbosch in South Africa.

I occasionally reflect on one of my favourite quotes by either William Shakespeare or Louis Safian (I forget which), "Time goes you say, oh no, Alas, time stays, we go."

As the years pass, I'm increasingly aware that at some time I will go. I'm not sure where, but I'll undoubtedly "go". Most likely, and if my wishes are followed, I'll finish up as a few kilograms of scattered ash floating about somewhere in my beloved Northern Territory.

This brings me to the many things I still want to do before I go. There are only two very important things on my bucket list. One is too private to tell the world and perhaps too naughty, but the other is to have a beer with my grandson Tory when he turns 18. If I'm still here in nine years, I'll probably be able to stagger down to the local hotel and lift a beer to my lips. But if I leave my first bucket item too long, I may never be able to carry it out as it takes a bit more energy than lifting a schooner to one's lips.

Today at least, I'm still here and everything seems to be going well. So there are some other things I want to do before I'm too old to do them, or before I go. They include to:

1. caravan extensively around this huge country called Australia to see in detail those places through which I have passed fleetingly, and to linger in those places to which I have not travelled
2. learn more about the universe in which we live, the billions of others that surround us, and the physics involved in keeping this magnificent show rolling along
3. meet more wonderful people and socialise more often
4. improve my golf to the stage where others say, "He's an excellent golfer." (I may have to live a LOT longer for this to materialise)
5. help keep Australia free, democratic and progressive in honour of all those men and women who died that we might live in a good country; to keep out those who would turn Australia into an ignorant and backward country under a totalitarian regime
6. continue living a good humanist life not doing unnecessary harm to anything

There are others, but these seem the most pressing today. After a 30 year search I've already found the solution to the meaning and purpose of life, so I can relax a little now and focus on more material and mundane things.


It's indeed a great life for most of us and we need to make the most of every moment.


How about you? What remains on your Bucket List? What do you want to do before your life certificate expires? 

Robin

Dubbo's Western Plains Zoo

It's quite a few years since we visited the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo, so we were interested to find out what, if anything had changed.

With only a few days of our holidays remaining and the knowledge that there would be at least two more overnight stays before we arrived back at Alice Springs, we decided to have a lay-over day at Dubbo so we could revisit the zoo. Driving for 8-10 h per day is boring and wears one out, so a rest every so often is necessary, especially since the trip between Mildura (our next stop) and north through South Australia and back into the Territory is fairly ordinary. Especially when you've done it (the latter) dozens of times.

According to the Dubbo tourism site:

The City is a thriving regional home to some 40,000 people who have health, education, retail and professional services at their finger tips…and time on their hands. It’s the best of both worlds: city and country. There’s plenty of work ... great opportunities ... and the time to enjoy it all.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of regional towns throughout Australia that could be equally described. They are nice places with friendly people where life can be very comfortable. Having the Western Plains Zoo just outside the town is a bonus, especially for tourism.

The Western Plains Zoo is owned and managed by Taronga Zoo which is in Sydney.

Many of the unique African animals are present, there are some Asian animals and of course some Australian animals, all located in their own areas with nice roads and walkways wending among them. I perhaps like the meercats most as they are the animal most likely to make a lovely domestic pet (I think!). They seem to be a great example of synergy within a community ... everyone working together for the common good. Even in the safety of the Western Plains Zoo, one of the clan always finds a high spot and stands watch to protect the others from attack. They take this duty in turns and there is never a time when there is nobody watching out for the enemy.

The animal at the top, for anyone who hasn't seen one before, is a hairy-nosed wombat (unique to Australia).

If time permits, do look up the Western Plains Zoo link ... there is some interesting stuff there ... for anyone interested in animals that is.

Enjoy!

Robin

Escaping to Coolangatta - Queensland's Gold Coast

When you live in Central Australia, an isolated place about 1500 km from the beach and "Big Smoke" of the capital cities, occasionally you have to escape.  

During our recent escape, we spent five nights at Coolangatta, part of Queensland's popular Gold Coast. It was an unplanned part of our escapade, but never the less, pleasant.

We had intended staying at a time-share we had booked further south along the east coast of Australia at Port Macquarie (New South Wales), but unfortunately, flooding within the area put a stop to that. As a contingency measure, we headed for Coolangatta where it's sunny with warmish days and cool mornings and evenings.

The whole Gold Coast Strip is an entertainment and holiday region. Hundreds of thousands of people come here annually to soak up the sun, surf, fish, visit the numerous tourist attractions, gamble, shop, and have a break from the every day monotony of their mostly mundane lives. At the end of the calendar year the "Schoolies" flock to the coast to party, party, party and celebrate their success (or otherwise) at grade 12.

Coolangatta is far enough away from Surfers Paradise (often called Sufferer's Paradise) to be out of the glitter and high paced entertainment activities. It's more peaceful and you can find a parking place most days.

There are thousands of restaurants, cafes and hotels. If you can't find the food you want somewhere on the Gold Coast, you aren't really hungry. Attractions like Sea World and Dream World are still popular despite having been here for decades; a little like Disneyland in the USA.

Fortunately, there is a high speed highway at the back of the Gold Coast strip that enables one to drive from place to place without having to wend through traffic and 50 km/hr streets and traffic lights etc.

Only a few kilometres from Coolangatta and north of Surfers Paradise is Mudgeeraba, where our house is situated. We called in to have a look at it and the nearby Robina Shopping Town which is the largest shopping centre in the Gold Coast.

One day in the not-too-distant future, we will relocate to our Mudgeeraba house and be 3 km from Robina Shopping Town and far enough away from the entertainment strip for our quality of life not to be diminished. We are looking forward to it, but still have a year or two of caravanning to do first.

Robin

In Gordon's Backyard

In Gordon's backyard, there is a variety of interesting things.

When his cat died leaving him with a supply of fish-based cat foods, he decided to keep filling the cat's bowl hoping the neighbours' cats would trespass and help him get rid of it. 
They didn't. In their place came the magpies who descend every morning and most evenings to have their fill of cat food. As I watched them I couldn't help wondering if they'd continue eating it if they knew it was cat food. Of course they would ... I'm Caucasian but I eat Asian food. If I was really, really desperate, I'd probably eat cat food, or indeed the cat.

The strawberry patch has one huge, ripe strawberry, the garden bed some lovely colourful flowers, and near the shed, a potted plant that seems to say, "I'm here ... look at me, look at me!" Whatever they are called, they are among my favourite plant categories. I admire them. They have a beautiful simple symmetry that appeals to my sense of order, structure and space. Straight fronds, all parallel with each other, point towards the sky as if acknowledging the wonderful handiwork of the one true god, Mother Nature.

All they ask for is a little water and a place to grow. If only people were as simple.



Robin

2011 Brisbane Caravan Expo

Visiting a caravan expo is something akin to trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant; in the latter, there's so much water pressure, it's difficult enough to stay on one's feet, let alone, take a small mouth full. At the caravan expo, there was so much to see, it was overwhelming. By the time we had seen the fifth caravan, it was difficult to recall the features of the second. Thus the Canon came in very handy helping us to preserve a photographic aides memoire of those features we preferred.

We visited the show with Christina's brother Gordon and his wife Lindy who are Brisbanites. On arrival at the show there was a slight sprinkling of rain which, after about five minutes or so abated and thankfully remained at bay for the rest of our visit. The thought of getting wet on our rare visit to Brisbane didn't appeal at all.

The Caravan Expo included camping and associated products eg, electric generators, tents, portable refrigerators, and a range of RVs (Recreational Vehicles). You know, the tortoise-like motor vehicles where you have your house at the back of the vehicle and take it wherever you go. These don't appeal to us as it means you have to pack up your belongings inside the van every time you want to go somewhere. With a caravan it doesn't matter if you leave your plates and cups on the table, you drive off and leave it parked.

As we looked at various caravans, it became quite clear that most of them are similar with features dictated to designers by the need to maintain low weight and specific dimensions. This was, of course, no surprise to us, but it was a surprise that almost all the vans used the same fixtures and fittings. There are obviously few companies that design latches for doors and caravan air-conditioners.

Being novices at anything to do with towing, we were delighted to get a comprehensive explanation of all the ins and outs of ball weight, gross vehicle mass, tare weight etc from a lovely lady called Dale Timms of Nova Caravans, who has apparently spent decades designing and selling caravans. Knowing that our Landcruiser Prado's maximum towing weight is 3,000 kg, is a first step in deciding which caravan to buy.

Now we have several months to research what is available, what we need compared with what we want, to compare prices and buy something suitable for our towing vehicle and lifestyle. Only the Crusader range offers two comfortable leather chairs instead of bench seats, so it's possible that one simple feature - seating - could be the strongest determinant of what we buy after weight and price.

The search continues, but at least now, we know one end of a caravan from the other.

Robin