Yay! Van life begins ...

Where are we now ...? 

For the second time within a few months we are housesitting in Tandur, near Gympie. Caring for 4 Frenchies and a little terrier. They are such fun, giving us loads of belly laughs every day. 

Another delight is that this property is surrounded by bush. 

The sights and sounds of nature all day are wonderfully relaxing. The garden is easy to care for. 

Our Wild Warrior van

Last week was an epic week for us. Finally, it was time for the handover of our Wild Warrior off-road 17’ caravan. We headed south to Brisbane the day before the handover so that we could limit the activity on the actual day. It’s a 90-minute drive from Gympie to Burpengary where the dealer is located. We found the lovely Caboolture Motel to stay over at. Highly recommend if you're in the area.

The caretakers recommended a walk over the railway bridge to the restaurants and shops which we did, so we stumbled upon a delightful Asian Bistro that served up an amazing meal to two hungry tums. 🤤

Caboolture offered up some interesting wall art

Police Dogs - In memorium

The tallest Christmas tree we've seen

At Sunrise Caravans the next day the handover took place. To walk around the corner and spot her for the first time was an amazing feeling. “She’s a beaut!” we said. 

Small, but well equipped. Sunrise had forgotten that we requested a full oven, not only a grill, so that alteration needs to be made when the oven arrives in February. A small automatic washing machine was fitted into the space beneath the fridge. We forfeit a microwave for the oven, though, but that is okay. We don’t use a microwave for anything important, and we can work around that one. There is only so much one can fit into a 17’ caravan with a queen size bed! 😅😆

We had originally requested exterior colours to suit our now non-existent Ford. That turned out otherwise, but fortunately the vehicle tones in quite well with the van. We don’t look too odd! 😅 

There is an external kitchen fitted to the van in the exterior boot. It slides out to use. Looking forward to creating our first meal with it. To utilise our water supply more conservatively, we decided to invest in a composting toilet. For us, it’s a rather exciting feature. We have an RV POD from Greenloo, Australia. Sunrise Caravans fits only locally manufactured components into their vans, so they were happy to install the loo for us. 

I’ll be doing YouTube videos on the van’s features, little by little. (Yes, eventually I’ll get our YouTube channel going, even though I’m appalled at my video skills.) 🤨😏

The first night in our van was planned for just around the corner from Sunrise Caravans, as we did not relish hitting the Bruce Highway late in the afternoon for our first tow to Gympie. So, 4 mins after pulling off with our van for the first time, we arrived at the low-cost camp. 😅 It was just enough for a first-time experience. 😄 To enter the property, you drive through a shallow creek.

The caretaker told AJ where to pull her up, after first taking the mickey out of him (knowing we were novices and that we had just collected the van), by telling AJ where he needed to reverse park. 😆 Another couple was watching from across the paddock, but phew, he was joking! We were spared the pain. It was almost dark but there was enough time to unhitch. There we were, trying to keep our pose while battling to recall the process we had just been taught 2 hours earlier. 😅 Of course, AJ, being mechanically-minded, worked things out. I was reminded of how grateful I am for my hubby. He’s a star! Eventually, we were unhitched, level and set up, running on battery power. Quite a feat for these two newbies.

AJ went off to fetch dinner down the road while I stayed to make up the bed. We thought we could sit outside to eat but had forgotten matches to light the mozzie coils. 🙄😄 Sitting indoors we had our first glass of wine in the van as we celebrated our first night in it.

See those cool camping wine glasses?

AJ was determined to use our shower. He was chuffed. I, on the other hand, decided to go for the camp shower; for the full experience, I braved a walk in the dark, dodged frogs, showered next to spiders and used a torch for light until I worked out that there was an electrical light overhead! 😁🤣 Fun!

Eventually, exhausted, we turned in, only to be rudely awakened an hour later by an almighty thunderstorm with pelting rain! And we had the 2 roof hatches open. 😆😂 It was a scramble to close them, but it was also exciting to experience our first storm in the van, and to listen to the rain on the roof. Soft rain fell for most of the night. We both slept – sort of. 😁

Our morning view

The following morning, we took off to the nearest mall for some breakfast as we had nothing with us to cook up. Then we left for Gympie. Two hours later, after 2 awful scares on the notorious Bruce Highway that will forever hold a bad memory for us (both involved a truck 😣), we arrived in Gympie. Seriously, Australia’s roads feel like the wild, wild west. Safe at Nadya’s at last, we were able to park our Wild Warrior, level her, and have a good night’s rest. The next few days were a discovery and packing of the van. All too soon it was time to leave for Tandur.

She towed beautifully to Tandur – it’s a 20-min drive, on a narrow country road. She is parked up right next to the house for the next 3½ weeks. We are planning loads of practice to hitch and unhitch. Pack up and pack down. Reverse park, reverse park and reverse park some more. 😂 Along with our chores on the property and looking after the dogs, we’ll spend a lot of time trying to become acquainted with everything involved with living in a van. (So many manuals to read through!) After Tandur we have a week to camp before our next housesitting in a town a couple of hours away.

Mothar Mountain Rock Pools

Arriving at the house and meeting the dogs was wonderful – they remembered us. The family made us feel welcome and spoiled us with a beautiful hamper for Christmas! Thank you so much Parrish and Karen. We pray that all will go well for the next few weeks, for your trip and for our housesitting. 

While we are here in Tandur, we plan a second visit to the Mothar Mountain Rock Pools nearby to experience a small hike. It’s a lovely picnic area too. 

It reminds me much of my childhood days, on holiday with my folks. My dad would stop at every similar spot on mountainous roads. Our first visit in September was just after heavy rains. We misguidedly thought we could hop, skip and jump over streams as we had 20 years ago. Until we tried it! We realised very quickly that gravity played a far bigger role now that we were in our 60s. 😂

Christmas and New Year

This housesitting enables us to enjoy these special days with our little family nearby. We are tremendously grateful for that. While it will be a toned-down celebration due to the cost of living, it will be special, as Christmas always is, when children are involved. Everyone will join us here for Christmas Eve, and on Christmas day we will gather at the in-laws’ home in Pie Creek. New Year plans are unmade as yet. What are you planning for New Year's eve?

Image by Eak K. from Pixabay 

We'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. May you fully experience the peace, hope and joy that the season brings, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Saviour of our souls. And may the New Year bring many blessings and ease gently into your life. 

Thank you for faithfully supporting our blog and following along with our discoveries. 

Until next time, be blessed. 🌼

At play with boxer dogs...

At play with boxer dogs... alongside some work, eat, and beach! 

The month in Moore Park Beach was wonderful! 

WORK

Work? Too boring to write about ... prepping for online training, training, blogging, planning for the van, mowing, raking, cooking, baking, pool cleaning, house cleaning, budgeting ... the mundane things of life. But without work, there can be no play.

PLAY

The Boss kept his eye on things. 

His apprentice, Junior, took chances where he could! Always needing an upbraiding when he forgot his proper station in life. 😁 

But, daily, around 5 pm, the Boss had a hard time of it, when Junior reckoned it was playtime. Ears and ankles were bitten, until he relented and sped around the yard, wrestling, to accommodate youth, and to finish off Junior's (undying) energy for the day.

Exhausted after a hard day's play

Junior had decided to test the boundaries with these foreign sitters ... on the first day! Before sundown, he destroyed his bed! 

He was left sharing a bed with The Boss for the rest of the month. And The Boss likes his space! 😁 

We bought him a squeaky chew ball ... hoping it would keep him (squeakily) occupied. It kept rolling into the space under the house, then he'd look all forlorn at us. "Sitter ... gets me ball! Please!" Those eyes... who could resist the expectation in those eyes. For the 100th time. 😅

Where that ball is now, we couldn't tell. 😂

Continuously ravenous, we've had to ration these two voracious dinner-seekers. But they were so good when it came to feeding time. They'd patiently wait, all eyes on the hand with the spoon!

Evenings allowed a little extra luxury .. and did they use it! Ooooh ... such comfort! Not their indoor bed, it was the sofa that was waited for all day long.  

In the first few days we couldn't believe that dogs could snore like humans. 😅😄 One night The Boss was having a dream and right through his earphones AJ could hear the sound effects of, probably, catching up with the cheeky neighbour-hound who runs too close to the fence. It's The Boss's fence, didn't they know?! 

Then the rain came! Three. Long. Days. And. Nights. Ugh!

For Junior, no chance to play off all that vibrant energy. The Boss... well, he just went into hibernation!😴 Well, just short of. Impatiently they would go grab a pee when I told them to. Speedily taking care of the matter, between bouts of constant soft rain, not relishing the water dripping on their backs. Neither did we. 😆 By midday on the second day, the damp dog smell would even extinguish the wonderful diffuser fragrance in the living room.

Muddy paws on the floor and rugs. 😮Muddy feet on the sofa! 😣 "Oh my", says the sitter ... "what will your ma and pa think?" "Hmph!", says The Boss, grunting back into hibernation. 

So comfy!

If the pillow goes to the floor, he goes after it.

Junior? Well, the rug copped it! The Boss copped it (around 5 pm one afternoon the living room ornaments were vibrating on their shelves – two wrestling boxers are not easy to contain. 😂) They sleep outside on the patio at night. So, their bed copped it! 

Their bed replacement copped it! Then when there was nothing more to chew, the potted plants began to appear unpotted by the front door. Tomatoes, still green, picked off the bush and half-chomped. 

"Junior", says I, "why are you so naughty?!" 

"Who me? Says who!" 

And those eyes go all mushy. My heart melts, so I smile. His tail wags his body.😄 Surprised, he tries to keep his composure, but winding and tripping he's all around my legs. Licking. Laughing at me. Tongue and gob lolling, as I head for yet another shower. 😅

Then, the patio chair cushions copped it. That was when we prayed, and said, Father, enough already... please stop the rain. We need to hand over the house as we found it, not all chewed up. Help! 

It took another day ... but it ended. 😅 And were we thankful?! All of us! 😉😄

Barf! Barf-barf, barf, barf!! Barf-barf! Barf! It went on for 5 mins before I registered that Junior may be barking mad at something. Thinking snake, I rushed out alarmed, praying that I wouldn't have to deal with an Eastern Brown or something equally as deadly. There was this little ... overgrown chameleon, no, lizard? 🤔 No, monitor? No ... wait ... (runs to Google), aaah ... Eastern Bearded Dragon! 😅😍 It was just after the rain had stopped. Its body heat needed replenishing, so it was trying to bask in the weak sunlight peeking through the clouds. It couldn't flee, didn’t have the energy. AJ called the dogs inside while I donned the workman's gloves we found in our 'new' old SUV. I lifted the little guy onto a rock in the safety of the pool enclosure. 

Needless to say, the pool area was very enticing for Junior, until, leaving him in the house, we decided to pick up said dragon and deposit him safely in a tree, away from those brown prying eyes. 

A week later, barf-barf, barf. Barf! BARF! Again, it took me 5 mins to register the alarm-bark. 😆 Running outside, we found big-daddy Eastern Dragon, all hooded and defending himself from Junior. Thankfully, Junior decided the sound of breakfast was more enticing, so daddy dragon had a chance to flee. 

Beautifully camouflaged

Seriously, these two boxers have been a treat!😄😅 An absolute joy to care for. 

Our other form of 'play' was, of course, sightseeing in the Bundaberg and Moore Park Beach areas. But that is a blog post for another day. 

EAT

Apart from meals at home, we've enjoyed a few delicious outings ... 

#Tinaberries

Catch-of-the-day from a fish and chips outlet, with Bundaberg ginger beer. (The Brewery visit will be in my blog post on 'things to do in Bundy'.) 

Breakfast at the River Cruz Cafe, next to the Burnett River, under the most magnificent (wild fig?) tree.

And tea at the enchanting Pink House, in Moore Park Beach, constantly spraying ourselves with my 'midge water', as I call it. 😄

For the first time since landing in Australia, I baked. Well, the rain did help bring on the urge! 😆 Rusks (aka South African beskuit) on one day, muffins the next, and a strawberry shortcake on the next. Must've been the gorgeous open-plan kitchen that is so conducive to baking – a baker's kitchen. 

On the day I baked the rusks, Junior decided that breakfast hadn't been enough, so he helped himself to a bite of the cooling rusks while we were elsewhere. So clever! He picked his moment, all right. 😁 

Licking his chops, he looked at us, guiltily, from the dog-bed, surrounded by crumbs. The Boss was snoring away on the sofa.

Four days later, Junior discovered the rusks in a packet on the dining table, while we were chatting in another room. Oh-so-neatly he lifted the packet off the table and carried it to his bed. Again, The Boss, deeply asleep, lost out. Junior managed to make the neatest hole and worm one rusk out of the packet before AJ came upon the scene. The look he got as the rusks were carried away. So hurt! You could almost hear him say, 'Seriously? Finders keepers, you know!' 😂

Yeah right. That's what you thought, Junior. Hehe. 💕😅

BEACH

Moore Park Beach is just gorgeous. We have enjoyed walks at low tide, at high tide, and in between. 

We have had coffee next to the waves and a devotion early one morning, perched on a soft dune, hearing our Father say ‘trust Me’, and yet again, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13 v 5). He knows our weakness – that gnawing anxiety for the future.

Image by Lisa Caroselli from Pixabay 

We watched in amazement when volunteers were relocating turtle eggs, freshly laid, to a spot that would be safer, away from the high tide mark, to give the eggs, all 160 of them, a chance to hatch.

Turtle conservation volunteer, relocating eggs
to a safer spot.

She must've been a big momma, to make these tracks in the sand. 

Turtle tracks up to the nest and returning to the sea

What a privilege, even though we missed seeing her by only an hour, to see the volunteers at work. We had visited the Mon Repos Turtle Centre two days before ... so we understood more fully the impact that these volunteers have on the numbers of these endangered species. 

Each tide delivers interesting finds, as the sand shifts and the waves roll in and retreat again.

(c) S Brandt

Memories of my youth in Athlone Park, on the Natal coast, came rushing in. Every beach visit was a joy. A chance for reflection and marvel at God's goodness and to enjoy His amazing handiwork.

Moore Park Beach, God willing, we'll be back one day in our van.

The beach, the birds, the garden, the plants and even the trees shedding their bark and giving us a load of work, have made this stay memorable. 

Eucalyptus shedding its bark;
important for keeping the tree healthy.

But, the cheeky boxers will remain in our hearts. The boys. The Boofheads. 

Boofheads? Well, ok ... affectionately, we say, Boofheads, we luv ya! ❤♥💕😄

Thanks for stopping by. We appreciate all our followers. In a week, we collect our caravan. The next post will be from Gympie, as we reveal our van to you all. 

Until then. Be blessed. 🌼