Last week was very eventful to say the least. It all started with our normal routine on Monday and by Sunday it turned out to be a very busy and different week.
Monday saw us doing the bus run together as we have had very heavy rain over the last few weeks and the road on the mountain gets very slippery. Maree drove the bus to get experience in the wet and slippery conditions and did a good job in the process.
My sister had an opening for a person to do a mail run up towards the Upper Horton as their business was building up at the Post Office and the run became available so we decided that we could fit ii in with our bus run as it was only about 4 hours a day three days per week and it was extra income.
On the way into town Maree dropped me off at the park as I was scheduled to do a training day learning the Plumthorpe/Upper Horton mail run which we will take over during the coming weeks.
Tuesday also took us out of routine as Maree did the bus run solo and I walked up to the post office to do the mail run sorting for Wednesday - more training.
MAIL SORTING ROOM AT THE POST OFFICE
Wednesday I did the bus run solo and Maree had a break which is turning into what our routine will be over the next few weeks running up to Christmas.
Thursday and Maree did the run solo whilst I did the sorting for the Friday run. The run is done three days per week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and currently it is covered by two drivers between them.
After our training in December we will then be allocated the run on a permanent basis for the Wednesday and Friday drops and when we return from the school holidays in February we should be allocated the complete run.
Friday 12th November we headed back to Sydney as we had a dentist appointment on the Saturday and one of my friends from my previous employer was going on Maternity leave and we were going to send her off with a bang.
We woke up at 5:30am and was on the road by 6:00am to arrive by 2:30pm at Homebush, the company had moved from town to Homebush, for the lunch send off. We actually arrived at 2:10pm and had a great time catching up with my friends again.
With so many people to catch up with the time flew by quickly and by about 5:00pm after adjourning to the pub to finish off it was all over again amongst a lot of cuddles and hoorays. We had a great day.
After the extended lunch we headed back to the old stamping ground at Campbelltown and stayed at my Sons place for the night. When we left Campbelltown we gave our queen size bed to the kids to put downstairs in a flatette they have so that when we were in town we could have a place to stay.
We ordered Pizza in, which was their preference for the night, and enjoyed a nice night watching a video and eating Pizza, one of our favourite pastimes. Saturday morning and we took my Grandson shopping for his birthday, which was the previous week and he bought some nice clothes for himself and had a lovely time picking out what he wanted most.
After shopping he had to go to work and we went to the dentist for our appointment which we thought would be the final, only to find out that we had to return in two weeks for additional work.
The prices of living in a small town is enormous so whenever we hit a large town we stock up on the essential non perishables. So after the dentist we went shopping and stocked up, picked up some lunch for the grandkids and us returned home to their place, knocked off lunch and headed back at around 2:00pm.
We stopped overnight at Musswellbrook as it was getting late and we were tired so we thought it better to stop over. Had dinner at the RSL club and headed to the motel for a nice sleep. Sunday saw us up fairly early and we hit the road around 7:00am. Although we only had a short run home, about 3 hours, we needed to stop at a couple of places on the way.
At Wallabadah (prounced waller-bar-dar) the town has started a first fleet memorial park which has lists of the names of the first fleeters. As my eldest sister (more my mum than my sister I must say) had traced our ancestry back to the very first ship that landed in the first fleet I was anxious to stop and get photos of the plaque with their names on it.
We stopped at the park at around 8:45am and loaded up the camera gear only to find that it does not open until 10:00am so we were very disappointed and decided that we would get close ups in a fortnight when we returned to Sydney for our dental appointments.
However I did take some long shots of what it looked like and I will post others as I get them.
The photos are taken on my phone and from a distance but it gives a bit of an idea of what it looks like. More in a couple of weeks. We arrived home about 12:30pm amd time to wash the bus again. It was a mess due to all the rain and mud on the mountain. I wash the outside and Maree cleans the inside as seen below.
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Boy a mans work is never done - taking all these photos
Anyhow that brings us to this week and Monday sees me heading up the mountain to do the morning pick up and Maree heading to the Post Office to do her training on the mail run. The roads are really hacked up both on the mountain and on the mail run which are both in opposite directions.
A couple of years ago Barraba council was taken over by Tamworth Council and they just see the town as a small village and a cash cow and take their time repairing roads. The mail run takes about 4 hours but because of the conditions it took Maree nearly 5 hours to complete the journey today.
Our routine mentioned above has kicked in now and Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday I do the school runs and Maree stays home and does the washing and domestic stuff which I hate doing.
Thursday morning I sort the mail and Maree does the run and on Thursday afternoon and Friday I do the run and Maree washes and irons and stuff. Since we have been up here in Barraba it has rained constantly for about 70% of the time and we have had very little fine weather during that time so it has been difficult getting things washed and dried.
It is difficult to keep the floor of the caravan clean and it can become very frustrating at times. But just when you think it will never stop it does, at least temporarily and on Thursday night we watched a beautiful sunset which just had us mesmerised. Check the photos below.
It looked like a bush fire off in the distance but of course it was too wet for fires. This was an awesome sight that we enjoyed very much in watching as it faded into the distance.
Friday morning after the beautiful sunset, which we thought would bring us a nice and warm day, and it was a thick pea souper fog that greeted us and as I climbed higher into the mountain it got thicker. But then about half way up the mountain we climbed above the fog and it was a glorious clear sky and the sun was shining beautifully.
By the time I had driven across the top of the mountain and heading down the other side the fog returned and the sky was overcast again which was a bit of a drag. In the next couple of weeks we will be complaining about how hot it is up here and all the dust that will be on the road and blowing everywhere. Such is life.
Saturday and it is time to do some maintenance around our site. We bought a sun shade to assist in keeping out the sun, when it re-appears, and fitted it to the awning which opened up the area for us and gave us more room to move around.
The day turned out really nice and we pottered around the site and headed up to town to pick up some things and a "nana nap" and for dinner out comes the pot belly bar-b-q to cook one of the raffle prizes we had won over the past weeks.
Add a couple of veges and it was delicious - tough life up here.
Sunday and here I am writing the posting. Maree went to the doctors on Friday as she has a dose of the flu. The doctor prescribed ant-biotics which have since kicked in and she now feels terrible. So a day in bed should help her along and we will see how she progresses tomorrow.
Good start anyway - breakfast in bed
Although it normally takes a few days for her to get over these set backs but with a smiley face like mine looking after her she will probably be on her feet before we know it. Today we get the privilege of cleaning the bus again as it has to be cleaned at least weekly as part of the contract so it looks like I get to do the lot today, inside and outside.
We have our fingers crossed but so far it looks like two fine days in a row. We will see!!! So for now I will sign off and keep you updated again next week.
See ya all soon
Bill and Maree
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