The Wind Beneath My Wings (Annexed version)

There are things one can control, and there are things one can't. When one cannot control something, the best advice available seems to suggest that you prepare yourself as well as possible, then sit down with a cup of tea and cross your fingers.

We're in Robe now. Dramas with bookings have ended up working in our favour. We are in a good site with great neighbours. Barry and Bettina from Casterton also have a 23 foot van. What they have that we don't is 5 extra daughters. Eight year old twins, a six year old, four year old twins, and a two year old. Bettina does three loads of washing a day in her own washing machine. She also makes pavlova most nights so things can't be too bad.

On Sunday, Barry helped Sara and me park the van. He then helped us set the annex up with all walls in place. This morning I woke at 5 to the arrhythmic sounds of a northerly wind trying to lift our van up, up, and away. Barry went back to work yesterday. The annex is a massive canvas construction held in place with a series of clamps, zips, and pegs. I've checked it all, zipped flaps up, and re-pegged. It's still making a lot of noise and I just want Barry to tell me that that's normal.

It's almost 7 now, and because I can't sleep and don't want to go for a run because I may not have a van to come back to, I'm writing. We've been without a computer for over a week because of some IT issue. Luckily, Mark, our very own IT guru is in Robe also, and lent me his. If he can't fix it, I went for a surf yesterday with Perry who works for IBM in their Windows department. If I spring for coffee and doughnuts we'll be back online!

We left Nelson after a quick snorkel in Ewens Ponds which is a series of freshwater pools. Too cold for Ned who gave it a shot. lost a flipper, and was out in less than 30 seconds. Ollie and I explored a bit; the water amazingly clear and fishless. The drive to Narracorte was short, but difficult. It was a very windy, rainy day everywhere, and Kimmy the Wondervan does have a tendency to slide around a bit if you go too hard. Happily it was a Sunday, so the logging trucks were off the road, and we got a great site on top of a hill overlooking the amazing Narracorte swimming pool.

In two minutes we had met Ty and Janine from Altona. Ty loves 4WDing, and has travelled a lot of outback Australia. While Ollie and Ned began to make cubbies with his son Jy, Ty rearranged our schedule. All week he kept popping up with maps and suggesting places we need to go to. When we weren't trying to keep up with his enthusiasm, we visited the caves at Narracorte, crawling through tunnels, learning about Australia's prehistoric megafauna, ticking off great egrets and ibis in the bird book, and watching bats with thermal imaging cameras. Oh, and we also taught Ollie how to read a form guide and put bets on at the Coonawarra Cup. He did alright, being one dollar and two straw hats up at the end of the day. That's arithmetic covered for the year.

During all of this, Ivy recovered from gastro, and Ned decided he had an allergy to Narracorte water. Could not make the boy drink, and he was pretty badly dehydrated by the time we got to Robe. Luckily the rain water here actually tastes like rain water, and he's back on track. Stubborn little bugger. He's happy again, as are we all with Mark, Sadie, Roy and Della bringing some urban familiarity back to life in a caravan park.

The wind and the noise haven't gone away in the time I've been sitting here, drinking tea and typing. Can't say it's any worse though. The annex is still attached to the van. The walls are intact. Nothing's taken flight. I think all is well. Barry, stand down. Thanks for your help mate, but I've got it all under control. You've probably got enough to worry about as it is.
H