Where's Wanda?

The van is still not back and I don't know when it will be but it is being used so there has been no more trouble with the battery.  That is something that I will need to keep an eye on when I do get it back.  I will need regular adventures or I will need to get a solar charger and keep it trickle charged.  The adventures sound like the more fun thing to do.

The daughter needs a new radiator in her van and she is on the lookout for one but until her van is back on the road mine is out having regular trips adventures between her new home and her old one.  Sometimes they call in and visit me.  I actually got to drive it last weekend and it still makes me smile.  It's still a cool little van even with all her innards in our shed.   That's sad though, I go in the shed and see the bed and the stove and all the stuff I had in her and it does make me want to get it back in the van and used.  Maybe I wont be so lazy and sookylala when I do get it back now.  Maybe I will remember how I really want to use it now that I can't so I will be more more inclined when I can.  Maybe...

Nannup Area.

Hubby and I and the grandaughter went for a wander yesterday.  It was wet and windy at home and we knew it would be the same down there so we rugged up and went for it.
Our destination was Nannup.  I haven't been down this area for years which is not good as it's a lovely spot and only a couple of hours away. 
We wouldn't have gone now but a family member has moved down that way so we went for a visit.

I am going back down there when the weather is better.  For sure!!

I have somewhere to stay if I can't find a spot that I feel comfortable with but on the way Hubby pointed out where they put the bees when they are after Jarrah so I will be able to go and park there and we saw some other likely looking spots on the way down.

 Another spot to add to the list of places I can but probably never will wander to.

Wanda is Awandering....

Without me.  How sad is that!

Going...

Going...

Gone.

Daughter has borrowed it for awhile as hers is in the garage but she *needed* one as she was moving house.  Now my baby is hours away and I only have a vague idea of where.   I don't know where the van is either.

I have no contact with either, it is all a bit worrying but I am a Mum, and a van owner, and that is what I do.   I'm sure they are both fine.

Both are due back here in a week or two.

Then it will be my turn.  Really!!

My Adventure....To Gnomesville

My planned 2 day adventure was a bit of a fizzle.  I had managed getting the car battery out and recharged and back in the van and she started fine on the Wed so I didn't need a new battery after all.  Early Thursday I started the car again and it started right away, no worries...the adventure was going to be a goer.

I loaded it up, thinking I'd be gone for 2 days, one night so I packed enough for a week.
It was getting close to leaving time when I heard the calf out the back mooing for it's mother.  Found it in the dam paddock but after trying for ages to get the silly thing out I finally gave up and left it there.  Went and got ready to leave, jump in the car, turn the key and ....Nothing.  The damn thing wouldn't start.  I had left the ignition on and 2 doors open from earlier when I started it so the 4 hours must have been enough to drain it enough not to fire.  Never mind I had jumper leads and another car...But no, I couldn't get the jumper lead clamp onto the battery clamp so that was a no-go.

Cursed a bit but it was already an hour later than I wanted to leave so I rang the daughter, told her I was taking the blue car did she want to come....No, so I said I'd pick up her daughter and we'd go for the day.

The original idea was to go for the day and meet up with family at the Donnybrook playground so I went back to that with the thought of a small adventure with the grandaughter on the way home.

On the way home I went looking for Gnomesville.  I knew it was east of Dardenup and I have been here before, many, many years ago but it was a lot further than I remembered and seemed to take forever but we eventually got there. 

There are hundreds of different gnomes at this place, all left by different people, some local, some from Australian states and some from other countries.

 Some are in little box like houses...







Some are alongside the paths and there have beem lots of paths made through the bush and it takes a bit of looking to see some of the hiding ones.

 Some have even climbed the trees to see what they can see...

                                                            There are families of Gnomes.

It's a great place so if you are ever in the area take the pleasant 20km drive and see what you think
Maybe even leave a gnome of your own.  Or maybe you already have.  Let me know if you have and next time I am there I will say hello to it for you.

Vrrrooommmm, vrrrooommm

Yes I did it, and all by myself.  I know that it's kinda sad to be thinking 'yay Me" but I took battery out, I found the correct charger and connected it all and this morning I put the battery back in the van, connected to dicky terminals and it's a goer.  If husband had of been home he would have done it for me and any other time I would have waited for him to get home but he rang and said he'd be another couple of days and I was thinking about an Adventure soooo, I tried it myself and succeeded. 

My thinking was if I couldn't get it going then I wasn't suposed to go on this adventure and I'd just take the other car and come back the same day.  IF I could get the van going then It meant that I was suposed to stay away overnight somewhere.  The Universe was talking to me and I have to listen to her don't I. 

I am off tomorrow and Hubby is due home tomorrow so I don't have to worry about the chooks so it will be good.  

The place I have picked out looks easy enough to get to, it's off the main road but still close enough to walk to help if I need to.  I'm thinking there will be other people there though.  Maybe.  Dunno.  I'll find out tomorrow.

Feeling Flat.

Well all my fellow Intrepid Adventurers...Guess what I discovered.

If you don't go on Adventures then when you need to use the van for something else it wont start as the battery has given up the ghost.  
It wont start anyway and it sounds like a flat battery and though I know this happens with cars and I know they are like us people and need to do some moving on a regular basis to stay fit and healthy...I treated my beloved like I treat myself.  And now we are both flat and don't want to move at all.  We both need recharging...

We need an Adventure!!

The battery will be recharged and I am making a list of day trips that I can undertake, fortnightly at least, and hang the last post about saving the world.

Save The World Or Drive More?

After I had finished one of the three sooking sessions while going through Perth last week  and I wasn't the one driving!,  Hubby said that it might be easier if I drove more often in areas that I didn't know and built up some confidence that way.  He suggested that I just get in the van and drive.  Anywhere.  He may be right.  BUT!  I am in two minds.  I want to live simply and frugally and do my bit to *save the world*   Cutting down on petrol usage is a big part of that.  I stay home more than anyone I know and driving just for the sake of it goes against how I think.  But I do want to see more of the state I live in and I do want some *adventures*

I believe that I am a good driver but I see too many idiots on the roads and a couple of them have come quite close to hitting me.  We won't mention that 1 time I nearly wiped someone out on that stupid roundabout  The more often I am on the road then the more chances they will have.

This country is huge and I know that I will never come close to seeing it all but my little corner of the world?  I'd like to see a lot more of that.  And of course that means driving which means using petrol, or diesel in the case of Wanda.   So maybe I should push my conscience aside for a year or two and get out there exploring while I can.  Or I could just look at pictures on the web.  You know, be a watcher and not a doer.  That would save money, fossil fuel and tears.

So do I drive more and use more of the Worlds resource for no real good reason or do I stay home and just do a few one off  trips to places I really want to see.