Saturday 26th September 09

Rain stopped play

Sunday 27th September 09

Garon/Sue took us out for an extremely nice breakfast.

Monday 28th September 09 to Thursday 1st October 09

Can not recall anything of significant interest so was probably shopping, washing, cinema, etc.

Friday 2nd October 09

We drove up into the Dandenong Hills to a Tulip Festival at a tulip farm which naturally had every colour tulip under the sun plus some wild and woolly shaped lumps of scrap metal apparently considered as artist sculptures.

We spent several hours amongst the tulips and were allowed to let Foxy enjoy the experience, and then drove back down the hill to Grant’s picnic area that we visited a few weeks ago, for lunch.


Saturday 3rd October 09

Assisted Garon/Sue with clearing out their garage, etc.

Sunday 4th October 09

Start of the daylight saving in Victoria.

Took the bus/train into Melbourne as the weather was good and it is the first day of the Seniors Week which entitles people with a Seniors Card to free transport for the week. In Perth this is available every Sunday.

We followed the alleyways and arcade route from Flinders Street Station which took us through narrow lanes, that we would otherwise know nothing about, that host numerous Alfresco cafés and on into high quality arcades which fortunately also housed a Haigh’s Chocolate shop.

This was followed by a general wander though some of the main streets.

After lunch (not on chocolate) we crossed the River Yarra and

went up the Eureka Tower that is claimed to be the highest in the southern hemisphere 88 storeys and has a section known as ‘The Edge’ that is basically an all glass cubicle including the floor, that is mechanically/electrically winched out of the side of the building so that you can look straight down past your feet. We didn’t bother with this partly because it cost another $12 each, but more importantly, it had a ninety minute wait to get in it.

We had the experience of standing on a glass floor in a high building in Auckland a few years ago.

When we returned to Flinders Street again, we caught a city loop tram and gave our feet a rest whilst we circumnavigated the city.

On returning home, Barry assisted Garon with another fence pole insertion for the fence on the other side of the house.

Monday 5th October 09

When Garon arrived home the fence was adjusted to the upright position, secured and the concrete poured.

Tuesday 6th October 09 Rain stopped play

Wednesday 7th October 09

We took the majority of our belonging that were at our Garon/Sue’s place back to the caravan ready to leave on Friday. Whilst there, Barry installed two ‘F’ type antenna sockets through the van wall, and chatted a guy modifying some sea containers and talked him into shortening the brace that is used to wind the van legs down as it no longer needs to be a metre long.

Thursday 8th October 09

Took the van out of storage and delivered to Bayswater Jayco for them to find/fix the leak and arranged to collect it the next day. This had meant an early start to deliver it for 9.00am so had our breakfast at the Dorset café near the Jayco agents

Friday 9th October 09

Collected the van from the Jayco agent and was informed the leak was due to the lack of sealant around one of the external power outlets. Set off for Carrum Downs near Frankston where we had booked in for a month, and set up the van and annexe. The park is well set out and spacious with low maintenance gardens, but lacking trees, but unfortunately the designers have no idea about the concrete slab requirements.

Saturday 10th October 09

Barry spent the morning fitting tool clips inside the front boot of the van to hold a variety of handles against the back wall, rather leaving them loose on the floor, which provides easier access to the items and tidies up the boot. He also moved the jack from the main storage area to the gas bottle compartment to provide easier access to the jack and a clear floor in the storage area.
Tried out the new washing machine and discovered that the outlet pipe had been fitted too low so that the water ran straight through rather than filling the machine. We did manage to complete the washing with some juggling.

Sunday 11th October 09

Lazy day

Monday 12th October 09

Jayco head office informed of the washing machine foul-up as it is covered by the warranty although Barry could alter the pipe work himself as it only involved making a hole through a shelf to raise the outlet hose, but Jayco needs to know in case some idiot is fitting all of the washing machines this way. Jayco sent out there mobile repair team and the job was done by late afternoon. Barry fitted support struts to the cupboards over the kitchen area so that you don’t have to hold them open whilst putting stuff in, or out, of them. Jayco do not fit struts to these cupboards because they have fitted some fancy halogen lights over the kitchen bench which scorch the cupboard doors if they are left open. We have removed the globes from the two lights as fitting the struts is a much more useful option.

Tuesday 13th October 09

Cold and wet. Went into Frankston to visit our friendly Centrelink crew and then shopped.

Wednesday 14th October 09

Assisted Garon with some packing and took some boxes to the new house.


Thursday 15th October 09

Assisted with the removal performance and some unpacking.

Friday 16th October 09

We returned to Garon/Sue’s old house and assisted with redecorating.

Saturday 17th October 09

Returned once again to assist with the redecorating

Sunday 18th October 09

Day of rest to get over the previous few days efforts but were on standby if required but as no call for help came we assume Garon/Sue worked their respective butts off.

September 1st to September 25th 2009

Tuesday 1st September 09

Returned to Fort Knox storage to collect various items required to make our stay in
Melbourne more comfortable and then drove out to Page brothers caravan display yard.
Here we found a caravan that would actually suits us to perfection if one modification was possible, which the sales staff assured us it was on three occasions. However, we resisted the urge once again and on arriving back at our son’s home made a appointment with Jayco to do a tour of their manufacturing plant for the following Tuesday.
Garon and Sue returned from their interstate trip, but Garon is crook.

Wednesday 2nd September 09

We drove out to another Jayco agent that operates in an area that contains several caravan brands to look at other options, and other Jayco variations. The other brands had some nice features but cost considerably more and in the final analysis Jayco is better value for money and improving all the time. In the Jayco section we made the same enquiry regarding the modified style of van that we would like and this time the agent contacted Jayco planning and found it was not possible, which shot the Page Brother sales team. We could have what we wanted if we went to a longer van but this was not an option we wanted to take. We did however, find a caravan that came close to being ideal which was our preferred size, and offers many advantages in comfort and practicality over our current van. This included stabiliser legs that are easier to use, shower with more room to move in, toilet with more room to move in, skylight in the bedroom area rather than a four seasons hatch. The kitchen also has a skylight rather than a small flimsy opaic hatch. The toilet has a window instead of a flimsy roof hatch, which effectively means two of this type of flimsy hatch has been replaced with better alternatives that do not break up due to UV problems. The kitchen range hood has been modified so Barry will not continue to bang his head on it (slow learner) plus the kitchen has a proper pantry and much larger fridge/freezer. The washing machine is built into the en-suite rather than mounted on a platform on the back of the van with a canvas cover. The most important advantage is the dining arrangement is now a café style rather than ‘L’ shaped which makes life easier for both to watch TV with our feet up. We submitted to the urge, and this van, which gives us another advantage in as much as the urge has been satisfied, at least until next time.
The disadvantage that goes with this urge is that the Jayco agent wouldn’t do a straight swap.


Thursday 3rd September 09, Friday 4th September 09, Saturday 5th September 09 and
Sunday 6th September 09

All of these days were wet and windy so all were treated as lazy days with some local shopping

Monday 7th September 09

Barry sanded the front door wooden threshold which appeared to be stopping the security screen door closing positively without being assisted. This improved the situation but the door handles hang down and had to be lifted to the horizontal position to allow the door to close properly. The handles were removed, and as expected, the return springs where permanently compressed from years of use and one was broken, therefore not returning them to the proper horizontal position.

Replacement handles were purchased and fitted, which annoyed Barry as buying the whole thing for the sake of twenty cents worth of springs doesn’t go down well with him.
When the weather is less windy the threshold sanding will be completed so that it can be re-sealed with paint, or varnish.

Tuesday 8th September 09

Rain stopped play

Wednesday 9th September 09

The car was taken to the local auto electrician for a new type 12 pin plug to be fitted to suit the new van which requires extra wiring to accommodate the larger fridge/freezer.

Thursday 10th September 09

Drove out to Fort Knox storage and started preparing the van for the handover and on attempting to exit the computer operated gate failed and wouldn’t let us out. After many computer re-starts and phone calls the staff manually opened the gate by winding the motor with a short handle that took quite some time due to the low gear ratio.

Friday 11th September 09

Rain stopped play

Saturday 12th September

We drove out to Dandanong and had lunch at the popular Grant’s picnic area where one can stand and hand feed the lorikeets, which unfortunately also attracts galahs and cockatoos that cause a lot of damage.

The authorities are trying to stop this feeding but the chances of success are next to nil.

From there we drove to an open garden display which had a wide variety of protea, camellia and azalea. The garden was only open for the weekend and Saturday had perfect weather for it, whereas the next day was wet and windy.

We moved on to a daffodil farm which really surprised us with the number of different variations in colour and formation, plus that is the first time we have seen vast fields of daffodils.

Sunday 13th September 09

Rain and wind. Garon is still unwell so we cancelled the lunch we were going to have in the Docklands to give him a chance to recover. As previously mentioned we picked the right day for our trip in the hills.

Monday 14th September 09

The weather is reasonable which allowed Sue to do her volunteer work with handicapped children riding horses. We on the other hand had a lazy day with the slight exception of removing an offending metal bracket from the front gate area and adjusting the bathroom door catch to operate more positively

Tuesday 17th September 09

The weather is still quite pleasant so we went into Melbourne by bus and train to Flinders Street Station and then crossed into Federation square and on along the river bank and eventually into the MCG. This was in the week leading up to the AFL grand final so everything is being prepared for footy.

Here we took a guided tour of the MCG ground and facilities which took almost two hours for a one hour tour, and then after lunch in their café we went into the National Sports Museum under the MCG which also took a good two hours.

We left the MCG somewhat footsore so we took the short stroll to Jolimont railway station and took the train into Flinders Street Station (2 stops) and then crossed to platform eight for the Frankston train home.

Wednesday 16th September 09

This was treated as a rest day as Tuesday had been full on.

Thursday 17th September 09 and Friday 18th September 09

Also treated as rest days due to bad weather but took the opportunity to drive to Bayswater and checked out some measurements on the new van for shelving and rugs and then went to a canvas place down the road to arrange to have the annexe fitted after we have taken possession of the new van. This will also require a new draft strip as the old one will not fit due to different door positioning.

Saturday 19th September 09

Shopped at Bunning’s for a few necessary items and then dug two holes in appropriate places by the driveway fence and cemented in two red gum posts to stop the fence leaning in over the drive. .This also included cutting the creepers back that were hanging over the top of the fence into the neighbour’s garden.

Sunday 20th September 09

Dug a third hole by the driveway fence in readiness for a third support post then moved to the fence at the side of the house and tensioned the five straining cables to pull the fence upright where the fence was leaning into next doors garden.

We then cleaned up and went to a restaurant in Docklands for lunch.

This turned out to be a very large lunch so we strolled round the shopping precinct to wear of some of the effects.

On our return home we cemented in the third post along the driveway fence

Monday 21st September 09

Went out to Fort Knox and prepared the van in readiness to do the changeover. On attempting to leave the area the electric gate refused to let us out, despite putting in the correct code three times. This held us and several other people up about half an hour until they wound the gate up by hand.

Tuesday 22nd September 09 and Wednesday 23rd September 09

Rain stopped play

Thursday 24th September

Collected the old caravan from storage and took it to Bayswater Jayco where it was parked alongside the new van to allow us to move our possessions from one to the other, in the rain some of the time. During this time we realised that the Auto electrician had fitted a plug to the rear of the car instead of a socket so when we finished the loading at Jayco’s knock-off time of 4.30pm we went to their recommended auto electrician and had it changed.


Friday 25th September

Drove out to Bayswater Jayco and finished the transfer and then took the new van about 200 metres up the road to have the annexe runners attached and a new draught strip made to allow us to retain our old annexe. This took about four hours during which time we tracked down a few items that we deemed necessary, such as new locking bolts for the spare wheel carrier, and longer bolts to hold the pole carrier on to the van ‘A’ frame as the ‘A’ frame is 20m deeper than on the old van. I then mounted the pole carrier whilst waiting for the annexe job to be finished. We then took the van back to the storage area as we had chosen to extend our stay at my son’s place.