Home Alone

Lilly pilly berries mentioned in previous posting (above)

my new/old wheels

Do not pass out with shock, - two postings in quick succession, lol but I am awake and siezing the moment so to speak. This weekend between bouts of work, I am home alone as the WM and family have gone camping at Hidden Valley out at Wandalgu, which was where the boys boarded when we were all out at Tardun. They have gone with another ex Tardun mob for two nights away. I would be extremely envious, however they have literally gone bush, no conveniences or ablutions which are basic pre-requisits at my age and stage of life. I can cope with long drops, and boiling water to wash with which is probably my minimum requirements these days. The last time I recall trying to go to the loo in the great outdoors was on a trip round the south island 37 yrs ago. Just as I wandered into the bush, (bearing in mind, no snakes in nz so one less thing to worry about), and was lowering jeans et al, there was a humming sound, and a cloud on incoming mosquitos/midges flying towards exposed nether region, whereupon, jeans et al were immediately hauled up, and that was the end of that until we reached civilisation which was the next motorcamp we were staying at. (mosquitos or midges in the south island are the size of small aircraft carriers and are carnivourous I swear). I also have work, and as I now have a car here to keep up, have joined the new poor again, lol.

You have 14 days over here to change ownership of a vehicle before being fined a reasonable amount. The seller and the buyer both have to lodge paperwork so there is not a lot of chance to fall through the cracks it would seem. I went to DOT - the Dept of Transport where I had to press a button on a machine that indicated I was there for vehicle ownership where upon it spat out a piece of paper with a number on it and told me to sit down and wait to be called. There was a screen up on the wall behind the counter that indicated which numbers were being seen by which section. when it was my turn, my number flashed up on the screen at the same time an automated voice invited me to go to counter 6 - very trippy indeed, lol. There is not a flat rate here to change ownership, they use a sliding scale of fees depending on the worth of the car. I was charged $57 and the girl laughed when I said, what the car was worth, and what I paid for it was not necessarily the same thing. She updated the details on my licence at the same time, - I will get sent out a label to affix to the back of it with my new address details. There is no registration sticker here anymore to affix to the windscreen, as it is all electroncally logged into the police computer should I be stopped and it need to be checked. The car is registered until July. I asked how much it would cost then and nearly passed out when she quoted between $300 - $400! for a year and around $200 for six months. I am told however that there is an automatic third party insurance that is included in the rego so when taking that into consideration, it probably isn't too bad.

Whilst I was on a roll, I decided to check out RAC which is the equivalent of the Automobile Association in NZ and woohoo, struck lucky there. Because I am a member of the AA in NZ, they waived the joining fee, and have also taken into account my 14 yr membership of same. There were a couple of options re membership, the basic one being attendance and help to nearest town in 100k radius of breakdown, one tow a year, amongst a few other things and is linked to the car only, and then the ultimate level of membership which is linked to the person and covers towing and or pick up anywhere to the nearest member garage, transport for member and up to four persons, and a host of other good things. The first option was around $90, the second just under $200. As you can drive 100's of k's in WA between settlements or roadhouses, even though I am not likely to travel that far in my car, I opted for the you beaut membership, as it means no matter what I drive, I will be covered should any sort of breakdown occur.

So' now I have a vehicle, the next thing on my hit list is new glasses, or at least getting my eyes checked out again. I called into the optometrist in the mall which houses RAC and had my next win for the day. I asked how much for a consultation and because I have a medicare card, the govt covers a large chunk and it will cost me in real terms about $10 for basic eye test, and a bit more for a retina photograph (I think that is what they called it) which they advise for the age and stage I am at, lol. Am not sure if hbf, of the health ins fame covers the rest, but again, it is in the doable range, and will give me an idea if I require a new prescription for glasses or what. Co-incidentally, the business is owned by a kiwi - woohoo. Will check out my work schedule for the next two weeks and make an apt and then I guess it is the dentist!

They have been short staffed at work this week so have had a couple of extra hours overtime which is all good for the new bottomless financial pit I am working towards, lol. Had to load the shake and ice cream machine today (could not dodge it this time), and did so with trepidation but am happy to report managed it without incident. This weeks shifts have all been around 7am ish to 4pmish but have a 3pm - 10.30pm tonight (Sat) and noon to 8pm tomorrow. I bought some gel pads to put in my shoes under my big toes and that has made a considerable difference to my feet by the end of the day which I am very happy about.

I had dinner tonight with Phil - ex Tardun neighbour seeing I was to be on my own (would have come back here and had honey sandwhich if left to my own devices, lol). He did pork strips marinated in a very yummy mix of cumin, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, chilli flakes and grated orange zest (rind). We had it with rice, chokos, spinache and cooked beetroot which was an interesting mix but it worked. Havn't had choko's for years and had these steamed with a little butter and salt and pepper so much like zuchinni but not, lol. He had got my fav Castello cheese for a snack before and bless some NZ mussles, and then apple and blueberry crumble for desert with ice cream. We watched Master Chef cooking class afterwards on TV which featured some very yummy recipes that looked reasonably simple to do so am going to google them and try a couple I think.

OMG, have just got up to see it pouring with rain outside!!!!! The sixth time it has rained now this year. It is reasonably heavy which is what caught my attention as it was louder than the sprinklers that go off on the lawn each night. I do hope the campers are escaping the wet though the farmers out there will be blessing any rain so they can get started seeding for this years wheat crop. Thank goodness for work this weekend, lol.

It is well past the witching hour so will sign off for now.