7 - Home time

Entry 7 - Home time 19/4/18 - 21/5/18 for family duties and a mix of caravan maintenance. 

We returned home for a family wedding where we caught up with Steve’s side of our family. There was a Mother’s Day function for Steve’s mum, along with another couple of mum’s day outings, a couple of days work at Ashley’s – our youngest son’s home - paving and our granddaughters 1st years birthday. Also some of old faithful, more caravan maintenance, with some further wear and tear identified, possibly exacerbated by us seeking out those beautiful locations travelling through some rugged terrain. Steve does like a good ship, always monitoring the need for maintenance to support a comfortable lifestyle with luxuries provided by our caravan.

1st birthday meal

Our family

Steve's parents

On our way home, we had spent a day driving through heavy rain, resulting in some water entering the inside of the caravan via two windows. One of the windows needed to be screwed shut, necessitating replacement. We decided to replace three windows due to the amount of identified wear sustained to them. Unfortunately, the windows fitted on the caravan were no longer available with the closest replacement a different colour. It was another two weeks before the arrival of the new windows and of course delivery of the windows coincided with the start of winter rains making removal and fitment challenging without access to shelter from the elements.

Out with the old

Clean up, reading for new window installation

In with the new window

The TV had played up a couple of times during our last outing and we also decided to replace it. Following the same form with the windows we were unable to obtain the same size TV, which resulted with more cabinetry modifications to incorporate the new TV.

One of the caravan tyres had scrubbed out during our latest outing with a fix requiring a wheel alignment. Just another job for Steve. Thankfully Steve was able to provide the required labour for all of these jobs saving several thousand dollars in the process. Steve was very busy during our month at home and Mary assisted whenever she could be of help. It was tiring work but rewarding seeing the fruits of your labour.

We also decided to get a dash cam fitted to the tow tug. We got an auto electrician to fit the dash cam and even then, we had issues with faulty workmanship needing attention to get the dash cam operating. All of the above reiterating life is full of hic-ups!

In between working duties, we enjoyed time spent with friends and family. We felt fortunate, experiencing plenty of good times at this stage of life and it was good for your soul and wellbeing, being your own boss, in control of your day to day activities and future plans.

Good times with friends

It was a busy period at home and by the time all those deemed work requirements were completed to our satisfaction we were in need of a well-being reboot for our bodies.