Happy Birthday Dad! There wasn’t much point ringing Dad for an early birthday wish because he does like a sleep in and we thought he would be enjoying one today, so we put it on our “later list” until we were in the road.

When we are at home, Ray frequents a local coffee shop most days of the week (OK…Six days a week…Only because it’s closed on Sundays). He has met a lot of new people there and when he catches up with old friends, it’s always here that he takes them. I keep telling him he should have shares in the cafe.

In the past I’ve had friends send me selfies, “Look who I ran into”, from the cafe. And people tell me he’s “always” there. This is not news to me. Even Caleb who drives past on the work truck will say, “Yep, saw Dad on the way past this morning.”

Anyway, his friends are obviously missing him because yesterday he got a request for a zoom coffee meeting for this morning from two of his regular meet ups. He was excited!

He was out of bed early, walked The Captain for his morning toileting and was sitting eating his cornflakes and drinking his coffee when the call came through. It was windy and raining outside, just like a regular Melbourne morning so this was the perfect set up to make him feel right at home. It was a great catch up and put a pep back in his step for the day.

When I suggested that he should not forego his Dutch breakfast as well, Ray heartily agreed so we hooked up, negotiated the stream at the back of the van, the power box, rubbish bin and neighbor’s annexe to get the van out and then we parked out the front. We entered Oma’s cafe and ordered an Uitsmeiter (Traveller’s Breakfast) which is ham cheese and fried egg on thick toast. This second breakfast would keep Ray going for a while!

We stopped in at Bulahdelah for lunch. It was raining and cold so Henry and I stayed in the van while Ray braved the weather to go to the local bakery. Ray unplugged the Anderson plug from the car which draws power from the car battery to feed to the van fridge, so we wouldn’t have a flat battery like we had when we had lunch with Hannah and Sam. The weather was miserable and I was so cold. I had the seat warmer on in the car for the remainder of the way to Stockton beach caravan park which is just above Newcastle. It finally stopped raining as we pulled in and stopped.

A lady came up to Ray’s window. “ Excuse me. I’ve been following you. I noticed you have no brake lights, no indicators, nothing! You might want to get that checked out.”

We looked at each other…The Anderson plug!

We thanked her. That’s one mistake we (Ray) won’t make again.

Ray reversed onto our site which was one huge muddy puddle. Luckily the step folded down onto a green mat. I set up the van, took Henry for a spin around the park to stretch his legs and returned to the van. I pulled out the extra blanket, wrapped Henry and myself in it and we stayed there. I didn’t leave the van until the next morning, Henry had to because he can’t use the inside toilet.

During the course of the evening Ray reluctantly put on long pants first, then a jacket, exclaiming that it felt “weird”. We were both resigned to the cooler weather now that we are heading home and have been in shorts, or dresses (me), for 9 weeks.

Ray went and got fish and chips for dinner and we invited Henry to eat his fish at the table with us because we were so sad at the weather blowing a gale and raining outside. I can hear some tuts of disapproval and it would normally be me as well, but I think Henry was sad for us but happy for himself. At least we were in a van, not in a tent like the poor neighbors next door. Struggling with the wind, rain and cold.

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