Crap it's hot...

Greetings from muggy Thailand! Our brains hurt but here goes.....
Firstly, thank goodness our interviews etc are over. We were staying in a resort owned by the company who were interviewing us, 160km east of Bangkok. We arrived at the resort at 3am Thailand time (7am our time), some 24 hours since we took our heads off the pillow in Ballarat. We have been sleep deprived ever since! The programme was gruelling, we worked in the mill for a couple of days to complete an assignment which had to be presented to the owner of the company along with all his departmental CEOs. The locals were lovely, giving us the salute as we wandered to breakfast every morning and not to mention the local population of geckos (not so lovely making strange noises at 3am!).

Yesterday we came back to Bangkok. After a day cruising around on the high speed water taxis, the grand palace, the golden buddah and dodging tuk tuk drivers trying to rip us off, we are beat. Heading out of Bangkok tomorrow morning to see the Bridge over River Kwai, visit the floating markets and ride some elephants.

Oh did we mention that it's f*&#ing hot! Oh and the food is great.

Love to you all
Brons and Ruth

Who'll stop the rain...

Greetings from not so lovely Ballarat! After a damp and windy night in the Grampians we have booked a room at a motel in Ballarat in order to dry out and make preparations for flying to Thailand this Sunday. The weather today is miserable and we just couldn't be bothered setting up camp in the wet. As it stands everything is pretty wet already so we have to do some washing and drying (especially the van annex)so that things don't get all manky whilst we're in Thailand for a fortnight. Lulu is still performing admirably considering the burden we've graced her with. Apart from the weather, the Grampians showcased some pretty country. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to get the fly rods out so the fish tally still stands at zero. We did manage to see our first wild emus and lots of roos, one almost as big as Lulu who was in no hurry to get out of our way. We followed him up the road for 50 yards until he decided we could pass. After de-camping this morning we stopped to take a stroll to MacKenzie Falls. Not bad but not as spectacular as some of the tourists seemed to think. Guess we get a little spoiled in Tassie in that regard. Of course it rained the whole walk so as well as wet camping gear we were able to add wet campers to Lulu's list of contents. Yes we had rain coats but they only cover so much and mine has one of those hoods that's great if you like looking at the ground and not seeing anything around you! So the road trip is I guess put on hold for the next 2 weeks whilst we go and enjoy Thailand which apart from the job interview side of things we're very much looking forward to. Lulu will hopefully be able to stay with one of Ruth's rellies for the duration of our trip. We will try to update the blog from Thailand to let you all know what we're up to. That's all for now!

Bronson

PS. Yes Mum, you can write whatever you want in the comment thingy as long as you don't mind other people reading it!

On the road...

Well we finally got to the big island! After a fairly uneventful crossing on the Spirit we drove off the boat and within 300 metres I had us heading in the wrong direction. A quick u-turn tho and we were underway. After a little look around Bells Beach, we spent a fairly wet first night at Johanna Beach. It wasn't a terrible spot although we didn't have the place to ourselves. Probably something we'll have to get used to. Next morning we decided to head further south. After stopping to appreciate Clifton's Steps, the 12 Apostles and Bay of Islands we decided to head for Port Fairy where free camping appears to be non existent. And so we paid $33 for a small patch of grass conveniently located away from the grey nomads with there new cruisers and dirty great big caravans. I think we must look a little ferral in comparison! The next morning (today), and we're planning on heading to the Grampians where hopefully we'll be able to use the fishing licenses we picked up in Warnambool with help of an ace map drawn up by the chap at BCF just out of town. He had the map drawing skills of a pissed, illiterate aardvark. But it did help us find the right place so we're grateful all the same. Well it's time to hit the road again. Oh and Lulu is running like a dream!

Bronson

PS. I'd like to say a special hi to our followers. Without people like you we just wouldn't have ANY followers. If more people sign up you just might get a special hi too. Maybe. If i can be bothered. But don't go signing up on the premise of a special hi, do it for your country!

Getting there.....slowly!

Well not long now till the big adventure begins! Our little cottage is looking very empty with only the essentials left...the beanbag, the bacardi bottle and the fly rods on the ready for packing into Lulu!

We have all the bits and pieces that are supposed to be coming with us on the trip in the front spare room - looks like more than lil 1.3L Lulu can manage but I'm sure we'll squeeze it all in somewhere.

Been doing some searching for motor home insurance. No one is all that keen on insuring a van that is worth half what the Waeko that is inside it is worth! Not to mention the thousands of dollars worth of fly gear! Apparently she does not meet the criteria to be classified as a motor home, I mean she is no Winnebago but she's going to be our home for the next who knows how long, and she has a motor!

We have had a slight change of plans too, we are heading to Thailand on the 17th for a job interview with the mob who bought our paper machine. So over to Melbourne on the 11th, have a squizz about the great ocean road and the grampians, drop Lulu off somewhere, then off to the tropics! Planning to stay on for a bit so we can check out a few things - elephant riding is high on my list of priorities! Then we will return to pick up Lulu and start the east coast fly fishing odyssey!

Think I'm going to miss this place. Despite the wind, rain, rising damp and Bruno calling in waking us up for his morning coffee, did I mention the wind and rain?! This little cottage has been home for me for a bit over 12 months and has seen Brons and I fall in love and plan our next adventure together, ah the memories! It's all very exciting but also a bit scary too....who knows where we'll end up next! I know it's going to be ok tho, hand in hand with my Bronicles!

Next post....from the big island.

Ruth