It’s a real old-fashioned holiday camping ground, with lots of space and no formality. There are toilets but we can’t even see them from where we are. There are modern, self-contained caravans like ours but across from us I can see a classic tear-drop shaped van from the fifties. Clearly, families from Launceston come here for the school holidays with their caravans and tents. There are campfires, and barbecues and kids on bikes and everyone is having a jolly time.
Those clever enough to book early get a site on the river but we just called in on spec so have had to accept a site about 20m from a little gravelly beach. The site is enormous with lush grass, shady trees and a picnic table. We feel very privileged to have such a great spot. We’re ‘free-camping’ which means we don’t have electricity or running water but we can run our TV from the solar panel, cook with gas and draw on our built-in water tanks, so we have no problems. I didn’t mention that it costs only $3 per night to stay here and that includes access to the camp kitchen, with a microwave and barbecues, and to the hot showers. What a paradise!
People seem to come here in groups of 4 or 5 vans or tents. Maybe that’s why the sites are so large; they’re to accommodate multiple occupancy.The only drawback is that there is no mobile phone access so I can’t check emails or download additions to my eBook collection. And it also means I’ll have to wait until we go to Launceston to upload this blog episode. However, these are minor considerations when they are balanced against all the other advantages of being here. There is a public ‘phone at the little kiosk if we need to make an urgent call. The kiosk also sells fish and chips if we run out of food.
Marilyn and I had a rare trip to the movies yesterday. We had a couple of hours to fill in Launceston and decided we should see Dark Swan, the movie which gave Natalie Portman an Oscar. I couldn’t say that we enjoyed the experience. The movie was very dark, with some challenging (and I think gratuitous) sex scenes. It was hard to tell what was real and what was fantasy, but that only proves that I’m old-fashioned and haven’t kept up with modern trends in movie-making. Those of you who keep up-to-date with what Jamie is doing through Facebook will know that his car was stolen during the week. It was found on Thursday morning, burnt out and totally destroyed. Sadly, he had left his collection of glass and jade in the boot. There were some very expensive pieces among them and he has accepted that they may never be found. Another problem is that his insurance company, as a ‘matter of policy’ investigates thefts where the car is burnt, and, apparently, rarely pays out. I suppose it’s a good way of someone getting rid of an unwanted car and collecting the insurance money but it’s a bit hard on the honest victim of crime when he is treated like the criminal. Also, ‘as a matter of policy’ payouts for theft and burning are at the bottom end of the of the value range. So, if Redbook says a particular car is worth between $2500 and $4000, depending on condition and mileage, they will only pay $2500, no matter how carefully it was maintained.
Insurance companies are getting away with murder. Look at the nonsense following the Queensland floods where companies are rewriting their definitions of ‘flood’ to avoid paying out. For goodness sake, a flood is a flood is a flood. And there’s not much point in changing companies; they all seem to be tarred with the same brush.
Sunday, 6th: Sitting outside the caravan in the sun is a great way to meet passers-by. There seems to be an invisible line which they won’t cross so they stop about 15m from where we’re sitting to pass the time of day and find out as much as they can about us without appearing nosey. A couple this morning opened with the classic line, “Another beautiful day!” Then it was straight into, “Where are you from?” and “Where are you going next?” It turned out that they are planning to head for the mainland in May, as we are, but haven’t made a booking on the Spirit yet. When I told them that we had one for the 10th May and thought there may not be many spaces left, they decided they should look into it soon.
I found the most interesting question was, “What are you doing about your house?” I love the assumptions behind that question. Anyway, I explained that we didn’t own a house, having lived in school premises for over 20 years, and we moved back to commenting on Myrtle Park and how nice it is.
It’s mid-afternoon and the park is clearing out rapidly. Some ‘vans had moved on quite early but others are leaving now, clearly heading back to Launceston for work or school tomorrow. We could have our choice of sites now but we’ll just stay where we are.
Seeing how other people operate is nice and looking at their setups is educational. Generators are popular and so are bicycles; many families have little boats of one kind or another. Others have portable fridge/freezers. Some put up a small tent to store their gear during the night or have little choofers – little wood-fired heaters made out of old gas bottles. You can buy firewood at the kiosk and many people are taking advantage of that. The trouble is that everything we carry adds extra weight and we’ve got to be sure they’re worth the expense and effort.
No doubt we’ll add to our ‘stuff’ as we get more experience of travelling. In the meantime, we seem to be set up pretty well and don’t lack for comfort.
No comments:
Post a Comment