Comment: Beginners....she's at her new home

Well its getting to feel like the night before Christmas. I am getting pretty restless. In my supreme wisdom, I decided to take tomorrow off. I thought that with the early start out on Thursday, I'd take the day to get those last minute things done and double check everything.

The last couple of evenings have been spent putting the knic-knacs in the van and putting in clothes the cupboards and draws. There really is ample space in this van for what we need and can't believe we still have some space left over. It's great. I have to be honest though. Although I am satisfied I've got all the kit we need in the van, I've gone through the shed and garage a couple of times to see if anything has been left out.

My very good mate and neighbour is a plumber. He has got me all the hoses and fittings we needed to make us fully operational. He is going to close the overflow pipes with a tap and check that the breather is fitted. He wanted to do it before we go away on Thursday but I told him that it wasn't important and that it could wait. Once again, and its my only complaint about Retreat, is that I am STILL waiting for a reply to correspondance regarding the issue I have with these open tanks. They want to clear all modifications otherwise the warrenty will be void. I won't get the pipes fitted with a tap until I here back. On past history this could be months or even never. They do come up with some strange excuses when they want to wriggle. I will wait till next week and get back onto them again.

Another stupid thing we've done that most of you experienced vanners will laugh at, is to make a departure checklist. Everything seems so simple just looking at it, but we are a bit nervous about missing something stupid when we hit the road. So, much as the airline pilots tick things off prior to take-off, we will be ticking our own departure checklist for the first few trips, until we are completely comfortable with what we are doing. I think because the set up of the van is so much easier and less hassle than the camper, it would be easier to overlook something.

That will do for this evening. The next input for my blog, hopefully will be from Hamlin Bay. We do have one stop on the way. We are calling in at Bunbury as my other half's sister has a curtain shop there. She is going to do some measuring up for us and fitting the curtains. She that must be obeyed has already chosen the material so it should be a quick and painless exercise. I just hope that I can find somewhere to stop without any problems.