Day 55/56 Dec 10th/11th – Philip Island

We arrived at home just after lunch yesterday, and Barb was in the garden within 30 minutes weeding and tidying up.

A few bits from Bunnings and the necessary repairs were completed to the camper.   We unloaded all the goodies we didn’t need to cart to Philip Island, such as the generator, fuel cans, water cans, portable shower unit and a few other things.

Then in went the annex for its maiden voyage, and first erection at Philip Island.

Both Ross and Barb then made separate but equally excited trips to the new shopping centre and supermarket up the road from home that was being built before they left.   Both were mesmerized with it …. Ross more so with a coffee shop directly outside the supermarket.

We had pizza night at home last night and it was a delight to get the pizza we have become so attached to from our local pizza shop.

It was quite strange to be home with all that space around us, and having to go into different rooms. The plasma on the wall was like being at the cinema after the 16 inch LCD in the camper.

But all in all neither Ross nor Barb had any thoughts of not heading off again. Both have been very settled in the camper and would be happy to keep traveling indefinitely. The camper and the lifestyle fit very very nicely (extremely nicely)

A very casual morning around the house before leaving late morning for Philip Island with a good run down and little traffic.

We checked out the caravan parks in the order in which we wanted to stay.   The first one was a long way from town, old and tired and very expensive for what was on offer.   The second was a little too exposed to the relatively brisk breeze blowing through and Ross was a little apprehensive with setting up the annex for the first time in howling wind.

We ended up at the same small caravan park we stayed at over a year ago, not long after we first got the camper.

Where we are in Cowes, Philip Island

The camper was set up quickly.   The camper set up isn’t much of a challenge with having done it so many times.   The annex …… that was a slightly different story.

Ross opened the box and armed with the instructions (typically male, to only read if he couldn’t work it out without them) started to separate the pieces.

The camper was dropped off at the annex manufacturer back in May where it was measured and all the sail tracks and press studs fitted.   The awning arms were also marked with permanent marker as to where they are to be adjusted to before attaching the annex.

The awning is set up basically the same as it is done without the annex walls, and the walls simply slide into the existing sail tracks and then zip up in the corners.   All very basic on paper, and as it turned out very basic in its physical reality.   Even in the drizzle and being the first time, it all went pretty much without a hitch.

The only issue was every single marker put on by the manufacturer was wrong.

Ross rolled out the floor inside the annex and Poo Poo Head thought it was great having what he decided was his own enormous play room.

Ross had a rear door (zippered flap) installed in the annex so he could put up the shower/toilet tent at the rear of the annex and that rear annex flap would become the “en-suite” door. The “ensuite” got the thumbs up

The early consensus is that the annex is a complete success and will help make a very comfortable camp for those times that we camp and are more permanently based for a period of time.

We had a quick wander in town when we hit the supermarket.   We found a shoe shop for Mei Li which had a sign in the window that matched Mei Li as well.

There are a lot of things that we can do here in Philip Island with the Poo Poo Head so we should have a busy few days.

The camp kitchen in the caravan park is open on two sides, very rustic and very inviting with a large circular BBQ, a wood fire and a TV in the corner.

Category: 90 East Coast 2010
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