Sunday 22 June 2008

Officially A Grey Nomad

So you may have met The Duckling already, well this weekend I've found my motorhome, a Nissan Civilian conversion that I sadly don't have pictures of yet or I'd bore you to death with those too. We'll arrange the transfer later this week, then I'll find my way to Albany and bring the beast home to alter to suit my tastes and then load up.

Anyone that's got friends out in the lower SW, I'm looking for a place to stay for about six months while I do the alterations and refurbishments, not too expensive if possible. Also if anyone's going to Albany this week and wants a codriver and someone to share some of the fuel costs, let me know.

Trish and I set out Friday afternoon and arrived in Pemberton after dark, booked into a motel and had dinner then went to our rooms, the smoke was so thick you could cut the air, and my lungs HATED it but having the aircon on just circulating air that seemed to help.

The motel itself had "aspirations" - it puts on social functions for the townsfolk but I thought it "missed it by *that* much" as far as the overall impression goes. That said, the rooms are economical and good value, the quality of the food was very good, and it hit the spot for us, and was very reasonable.

Walpole. As Tingle-jungle-y as ever, then through Denmark. And Albany. I could live here, I really could. Well, to tell the truth, anywhere in this quadrant is lovely. I met the motorhome and its owners, liked all three. It's not a young vehicle by any means but it is solid, dependable-feeling, and it drove well with no bad habits. Later this week, the money and paperwork changes hands at some remote spot halfway between Albany and Perth, and I'll own it.

Trip home, via Pemberton again, then off in the morning and a stop in Busselton to have breakfast at the Vasse, then a nice solid drive back in one stretch. Pet hate along this stretch? The section outside Bunbury/Australind where the speed limit changes every few hundred yards it seems. That's not a highway, come on Main Roads get this bit right! Sheesh.

And now I'm sitting on tenterhooks wishing the motorhome was here already so I can start loading and refurbishing. And trying to think of a name for it. So far Varduk is the best I can come up with, that's a cross of the Romany word for wagon ("vardo") with the Romanian word for gangster. ("haiduk") I like "Varekai" (Romany for "wherever") but there's already a motorhome with that name, it's the other one I liked. (But a fuel "economy" of around 27l/100km of diesel kind of put me off...)

So this blog will soon be hitting the road along with a daily log and Google Map showing key points of interest along the way.

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