The Wandering Tews

Thursday 12^th January 2012, Heathcote Junction.

Yep we have now finished our three weeks, or there abouts, house sitting at Port Melbourne for Matt and are now back at the caravan at Narrelle’s. I had plenty of practice getting to the Telstra Museum from Port Melbourne as I didn’t have to get up so early, no all I have to do is get used to an earlier start from here to catch the trains. I have been doing work at the museum even though Centrelink have not yet approved the organization as being one that I can work for, but I think that even if they do not approve it I will continue to go there anyway, they did indicate that there would be no apparent reason that they would not approve it.

Tuesday 27^th December 2011, Port Melbourne.

If you are wondering about the Port Melbourne location we are house-sitting for son Matthew while they are on holiday back in Tassie. They have gone over for three weeks and we were to stay here to look after the animals, then they took the dog with them, there is still the bird to drive us mad though.

Yes Xmas is over, and as usual it was another rather hectic one, and we now have the New year to look forward to which should be a quiet one for us being in Port Melbourne. Son Adrian is over here from Tassie for a week and staying with us at Matt’s and will be going home on New years day, so he will be here to see in the new year with us, if we decide to sit up that late.

Another reason for coming over to Matt’s for a while is to do some repair work on some push bikes that the kids were given, so that should keep me busy for a while. I now have a choice of which bike I do up first so I can ride it myself as there are some quite good tracks around here along the shoreline of the bay.

Saturday 17^th December 2011, Heathcote Junction.

Almost two weeks since the last report. We have been extremely busy, as we usually are whenever we come to Melbourne, and most things just seem to be the usual run of the mill things that don’t generally get reported on. We have settled in to Narrelle and Matt’s and have been doing a fair bit of work around the yard, there is plenty to be done so I don’t think I will be lost for something to do while here. The front yard already looks much better with the little bit of cleaning up I have done. The voluntary work thing is all go, I think, I have had a practice day at the museum even though I have not yet received permission from Centrelink, but I think if things come to the worst I would keep up turning up at the museum regardless as it does bring back a lot of memories, and there is heaps of work to be done there.

Tuesday 6^th December 2011.

We are back in the van again with repairs done, and with a couple of others things as well. I was impressed with the workmanship of the repairers until I arrived home, well Narrelle’s place anyway. The initial repair was done very well, with them doing a couple of extra small tasks like replace totally the rubber insert along the edging of the van, the same ones I replaced in Darwin, but this time with white, and it does look a lot better. They also sprayed a little paint in several places of the chassis which improved overall looks, a task I do on occasions but haven’t for a while, and they even replaced the damaged wheel bearing covers with decent ones. Then when arriving home and setting up the van I found the hand brake cable had no play at all, so I had just made a trip with the brakes partially on so they overheated a bit. A phone call to them did have them here to remedy the situation though they did take a while to get here. I would still recommend them though I think.

Monday 5^th December 2011, Heathcote Junction.

All has been happening! Matt and I have been working on the driveway for the van and it is now complete enough for us to pack the van on. We have been staying at Narrelle’s anyway as the caravan has been in to get the Emu damage repairs done, and a phone call this afternoon reveals that the repairs have been done so it will be pick up the van tomorrow, move it to Narrelle’s driveway and set up camp.

Volunteer work has been organised and when Centrelink get a registration request from them, and approve it, all will be ok for me to start work after the new year. New year is the ok date Centrelink gave me but in the meantime if I find myself doing nothing I might as well go in and organise what I will be doing when I do start there. It is definitely a case though of not having any spare time as there are heaps of jobs I can do around the yard here to help out as much as I can, I have already had a lesson in laying paving stones.

Monday 29^th November 2011, Kilmore.

Most all has been finalised with Centrelink now and I am finally receiving a payment to help with our income. What is left to do is to organise the volunteer work, with one of the requirements, for one my age, being to do voluntary work instead of looking for a job. I have an organisation in mind, that I am sure I have mentioned, being a Telecommunications museum in Hawthorn that houses working models of most of the telephone exchanges that I spent my working career installing, and they will all need maintenance, right up my alley. We will see tomorrow anyway, as I have an appointment with the museum first of all to see if I am to suit their requirements, and likewise mine, and we will take it from there.

The driveway at Narrelle and Matt’s is not ready yet, has been a bit wet, so we are still at Kilmore and look like being here for most of the next week.

Wednesday 23^rd November 2011, Kilmore.

We are now in the Melbourne area, being at Kilmore. We will be here for a week or so until we can get the repairs on the caravan started, then we will move into Narrelle’s house until the repairs are done, and by then the driveway should be ready for us to move the caravan onto, and with matt and Narrelle’s permission we hope to be there for a while.

I will from now on continue the process of the new start claim from Centrelink and hopefully that will go as anticipated to supplement our income. I have organised a place for me to do voluntary work, the requirement of Centrelink, and I can’t see any reason why that will not eventuate. All we can do now is follow procedures for all our tasks and see what eventuates.

An added bonus at Kilmore caravan park since being here last is the TV has been cabled to all sites so good reception is available. The turning off of the analogue TV signal in may this year has seen poor reception here so it is good to see the park has undertaken to see everyone gets good reception, and no need for me to use my VAST satellite system.

Tuesday 22^nd November 2011, Shepparton.

The time has finally come that I hoped would not occur for a fair while yet, I am not sure that it has sunk in yet. Tomorrow will see us in the northern Melbourne area for what could be a fair while. At this stage I don’t know how many reports I will be posting in future, but I will keep it up with what I consider is worthwhile, so do keep tuned. For those that use this site for TV information nothing will change, I do intend keeping all information as up to date as is possible.

Wednesday 16^th November 2011, Shepparton.

Our last leg before we move on to Melbourne, and a sad day it is. As most people are aware, people like us who have been relying on Superannuation have had a hard time lately, and we are included among them, so I have had to make a phone call to Centrelink to make a claim for New-start allowance and it is starting to look like we will have to settle in Melbourne, or somewhere nearby, for quite a spell. We now have a process to go through so it is wait and see what the result will be. In the mean time I guess I will treat this week at Shepparton as possibly my last free time for a while.

Monday 14^th November 2011, Narrandera.

Back in Narrandera for another visit, we have been through here on several occasions and stopped here back in 2002, gee was that actually 9 years ago, I think I am just starting to realise how long we have been on the road. We only intend being here for a couple of days for a rest as it was too far to go on, and our next planned stop will be Shepparton, then into Melbourne. The caravan park here seems so much nicer than it was last time we were here, just seems a lot neater and greener, then they have been through a few owners since then I believe, and new owners do seem to add a bit to parks when they take over.