JOURNAL 1998

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January 2nd 1998 (Friday)

Our visit to the D.S.S. was less than impressive. Somehow they managed to lose my last form and have cancelled my benefits. How they managed to do that is beyond me as Belle and I both submit our forms together, and they still had hers. This is on top of trying to get changes made to Belle’s data access status. It took four goes for the twits to get it right, and despite asking (in person) for our mailing address to be changed back to Perth, they still had the Burekup Post Office listed. Words fail me!

With Christmas and new year celebrations out of the way, we are back on the road. Sadly we had to leave Sam at home, as the bus gets too hot during the day. We will pick him up again after the hot weather has finished, or if he frets and won’t eat we will come back and get him and try to find a way round heat problems.

The Albany Highway is a nightmare for the bus. There are an endless succession of rolling hills which impede progress and make fuel consumption skyrocket.

There are at least three very good overnight sites between Perth and Albany. The first is on the east side of the highway just north of the Beaufort Roadhouse. The second is also on the east side of the road and about 20km north of Kojonup. The third is on the west side of Albany Highway at the entrance to the Stirling Range National Park.

All three are large, shady, and provide seats, tables, BBQs and bins.

January 3rd 1998 (Saturday)

We arrived in Albany early and made our way out to Emu Beach Caravan Park. We will spend at least the next two nights here while we have a look around the town.

The town has improved immensely since we were last here. I was never too keen on Albany, but now I have changed my mind. The general appearance of the town has been upgraded, and many more tourist facilities have been added.

January 4th 1998 (Sunday)

We were up early and after a bike ride around Emu Point, we made our way out along the coast to Frenchman Bay. The coastline is majestic. Sheer cliffs of weathered cracked granite plunge into turquoise seas and white sandy bays dot the shoreline.

In the afternoon we took another ride further along the coast with John (who is here for 2 weeks holiday), and visited Shelley Beach as well as Cosy Corner. Shelley beach is a popular hang gliding location, as well as providing one of the most spectacular campsites you will ever find. A fee of $5 per night covers the upkeep of toilets, BBQs and flat grassed camping areas. (No dogs as it is in a national park.)

At Cosy Corner camping is not permitted at the main site between December 1st and April 22nd, but there are a number of good campsites dotted along the beach to the south. Unfortunately for us you need a 4wd to get to any of them.

January 5th 1998 (Monday)

We took time to register for employment with a local agency today, and have opened up a post office box ($10 plus $6 deposit for keys). That will give us a local address for the moment.

There isn’t much work around yet, but things should improve as the new year holiday period fades away.

January 7th 1998 (Wednesday)

Our time at the caravan park has run out and we had to find a place to camp for the night. We managed to find a really beautiful spot at Gull Rock. The view is incredible, and there is a white sandy bay to the right with crystal clear water.

Unfortunately on the way up the track Belle, who was driving the Barina in front of the bus, decided to stop without warning. I managed to haul the bus around the right side of the car just in time. It was a very dangerous situation and she could have easily been seriously injured. She now has instructions to stay at least a kilometre ahead of the bus on gravel roads.

We spent the afternoon on the beach, Belle got too much sun and was sick. Sunstroke is no fun at all.

(We subsequently discovered that the carpark overlooking Gull Rock isn’t an authorised camp site, but there is a good camping area at the far end of Ledge Beach.)

January 8th 1998 (Thursday)

We were up before the sun and went fishing in the bay. Not even a nibble. I think I’ll sleep in tomorrow.

January 9th 1998 (Friday)

We have managed to stay by Gull Rock for three nights without any interference from the local ranger, but we won’t push our luck any further. Tomorrow we will head west to Torbay Inlet where there is supposed to be a good authorised campsite.

The fishing seems to be right off at the moment. We have tried fishing off Emu Point, Ledge Beach and Ledge Point without so much as a bite. Hopefully Torbay will be better.

We are waiting on replies to several job applications and have decided that we will spend Monday to Thursday nights in a caravan park, and Friday to Sunday free camping. This should give us a better chance to apply for work during the week without having to worry about rangers etc.

I miss having Sam in the bus and it doesn’t seem to get all that hot here. I think I will go up to Perth next Thursday and get him. Having him along does cause us a few extra worries but he has been with us for so long it’s hard to leave him at home. I know I would feel awful if he died without us being there.

January 10th 1998 (Saturday)

The campsite at Torbay Inlet is small but shady. There are bins and toilets, and the inlet is safe to swim in. The fishing is still awful, but we have plenty of time to wait for it to improve.

The track leading to the campsite is reasonable until you get near to the camp. There is one bad boggy sand patch that has to be taken at speed, but the bus managed it without any difficulty.

There are a number of snakes, including tiger snakes, here, so caution is advised when walking in the bush.

A short walk from the camping area is the ocean, and Mutton Bird Island can be seen to the east, with Cosy Corner to the west. Perkins beach is a five minute drive from the inlet.

January 11th 1998 (Sunday)

We drove along the coast to Denmark to do some sight seeing. I had forgotten what an absolutely gorgeous area surrounds the town. Wilson inlet empties into the sea at a good beach, and the forests to the north west of town offer a variety of walk trails, scenic beauty and picnic sites.

The town straddles the Denmark River, and parks line the river banks.

January 12th 1998 (Monday)

Had a look at the track to Mutton Bird Island, it looks ok for the bus, and the turning circle at the end should be negotiable. We will probably spend next weekend there and try some fishing from the beach. The area behind the island is sheltered and should also make for good swimming.

January 13th 1998 (Tuesday)

We moved back towards Albany and into Panorama Caravan Park. It is more expensive than Emu beach but at least we have been given a level campsite, and people are not crammed in like sardines.

Belle has an interview at he regional hospital next Tuesday, and I think she has a good chance of getting the job. It is with the Health Dept. who she was with for 16 years. Strange that she is getting work and interviews and I can’t seem to pick anything up. I will step up the job seeking campaign this week and begin bombarding local businesses with letters. The ‘Local Link’ produced by the Chamber of Commerce is a good source of information for job seeking.

January 15th 1998 (Thursday)

Left early and travelled to Perth in the Barina. The 409km trip cost $17.90 in fuel and took just under 4 hours.

Sam was happy to see us, and we spent the night sleeping on the floor in the lounge.

January 16th 1998 (Friday)

After dropping our forms in at the Gosnells D.S.S. we headed back down the Albany Highway. The weather has turned nasty with high winds and rain, but we still managed to make the trip in 4 hours 25 minutes.

Sam has settled back in to bus life straight away, and it’s good to have him back where he belongs. He is very wobbly on his legs now and I know it’s just a matter of time. At least he is happy.

January 17th 1998 (Saturday)

As we only have enough in the budget to stay in caravan parks four days a week, we are off again to find a free camping spot over the weekend. Thankfully we have already found three sites near Albany which we can alternate between. (Ledge Beach, Torbay Inlet and Muttonbird Island)

This weekend we are going to Muttonbird. Some of the camping guides say that space is limited, and there is really only room for one or two caravans on sloping sites, but we are fortunate as we can park in the carpark near the island.

As with Ledge Point, there are spectacular views of the bay. It’s a pity the fishing is still off, but it would be hard to find a more pleasant spot to spend the weekend.

There is a short walk down to a nice swimming beach, one thing you get used to in this area is walking down to the beach, and trudging back up again.

I’ll miss the mobility and the ability to find nice campsites when we are both working again, but we need to build up our savings. We will probably stay in this area (if we both get work) until Sam passes away, that way we don’t have to worry about him and the heat up north.

January 23rd 1998 (Friday)

We are now staying at Albany Tourist Village, and have managed to get a discounted weekly rate of $70, which is above my budget of $60, but if I take into account the fuel used by the generator, the fuel used to reach free campsites, and the extra gas which would be used by the fridge, it is just within acceptable limits.

After applying for more than thirty jobs in the area we have not had any luck yet. Belle has had one interview for the medical records position at Albany Hospital, and she is still waiting to find out if she has made the second round interview.

The normal Albany weather pattern seems to have resumed, rain followed by sunshine, followed by more rain, and so on.

As we will be in the caravan park for the next few weeks we have put the annexe up which doubles our living space.

Sam is still tottering around, but I don’t think he will improve.

January 25th 1998 (Sunday)

Poor old Sam had a bad seizure today. I was taking him for a short walk and he just keeled over and began to have spasms. He seems to have recovered now, but this is probably the beginning of the end for him.

He had another seizure later in the day, but has since been ok. We will take him to the vet as soon as Australia Day is over and have him checked out.

January 27th 1998 (Tuesday)

We took Sam to see the vet this morning, and she thinks (as I do) that he may have a brain tumour. We have some medication to control the fits and we will see how he gets on over the next few days.

Tried fishing from the town jetty in the afternoon and managed to catch some herring and a small trevally. The trevally was a bit small and we don’t like herring so they all were put back.

January 28th 1997 (Wednesday)

I think Sam is going down hill rapidly. Belle wants to keep him going, but he can hardly walk now and I don’t think it’s fair to keep him alive for our sakes, it’s my job to look after his best interests and he has very little quality of life left.

I will make a decision in the morning.

January 29th 1998 (Thursday)

It is exactly three months to the day since we said goodbye to Lucy. Today it was Sam’s turn. I am hard pressed to write an epitaph for such an extraordinary companion. Belle and I have been married for sixteen and a half years, and Sam has been with us for over fifteen. The hole he leaves in our lives can never be filled, but our memories of him will last until we die.

I will miss him in more ways than I can ever hope to express. He had a presence, a sense of self that I have never known in any other dog. The fact that we knew he was close to the end didn’t make his passing any easier.

I know the pain we feel now will gradually subside, life will go on and things will return to ‘normal’ but with the passing of our dearest companions, part of us dies too. The last links to our old lives have gone, gone but never forgotten.

Goodbye Sam, goodbye Lucy, I hope you are together again wherever you may be, and I hope one day we will all be together again.

February 2nd 1998 (Monday)

The last few days have been difficult, but our lives are gradually returning to normal. We have been away from the bus as much as possible to try and keep our minds off losing Sam.

Now it is time to get on with life and start thinking about what to do next. Neither of us really want to stay in Albany now that Sam has gone. Even though he was only here with us for two weeks, the town will always hold sad memories for us from now on.

It is too early to head north, and we have to wait for our job applications in the area to be processed. We have decided that we will slowly make our way to Karratha in about four weeks time if no work comes along here.

February 8th 1997 (Sunday)

The winds of fate are about to move us on again. None of the work we have applied for in Albany has eventuated, but we have found something which may be suitable based in Mandurah. The work involves cleaning pillows for hotels and hospitals. A mobile home is provided, and the work will take us on a circuit through Kalgoorlie, Esperance, Albany and towns in between.

It doesn’t pay that much ($1.50 per pillow) but the mobile home, fuel and maintenance are supplied, so it is a way to bring in some money and travel at the same time.

If it works out we will have to leave our bus in Mandurah for three months while the job takes us around. We are leaving Albany today and are due in Mandurah on Tuesday.

We are still missing Sam very badly, getting away from Albany should help. My mind keeps playing tricks on me. The other day coming back from town I started thinking that we should hurry back as Sam would be waiting to go out, and then reality returned and I remembered he had gone. Another time when Belle was acting a bit strange (as she is wont to do sometimes) I was almost about to say something to Sam before realising he was no longer there. As we were packing up, Belle saw his water dish and started to cry. He has left such a hole in our lives.

February 10th 1998 (Tuesday)

We attended an interview for the pillow cleaning job today, and are waiting to be contacted about staring some training. If we get the job it will mean living in a very poorly appointed Mazda 3500 motorhome while we are working. Most of the area in the bus is taken up by machinery, and I don’t think Belle is too keen on it. If we don’t get a phone call then I’m not going to bother following it up as there should be some work coming up at Kailis in Exmouth, and I think we would both prefer to be there.

The last two nights have been free camping again at Heron Point. We may as well make the most of it before the site is closed.

The weather is hot again, funny what a huge difference 400 km makes. In Albany we had the heater on at night and here we can’t sleep for the heat.

We have run into Julie & Neville in a bus called ‘Tardis’ from Victoria. They have just come down from Karratha and are waiting out the hot weather in the south west.

February 13th 1998 (Friday)

We have done two days training for ‘The Pillow Cleaner’ and feel ready to take the work on ourselves now. We are waiting for a phone call to confirm this so we can start to get organised.

Yesterday we went up into Perth in the company’s truck and had a full days work refurbishing pillows. The work is relatively easy and we shouldn’t have any trouble taking off and doing it ourselves now. I am not willing to do any more free work in any case, so it’s up to the owner of the business to make up his mind.

We are still at Heron Point and the weather is still hot.

There are very few crabs around now, most have already been taken from the estuary. The best time for crabbing seems to be just before and after Christmas.

February 18th 1998 (Wednesday)

We are still waiting for the pillow cleaning job to get organised. We have been told that some work will be arranged for us in the metro area first, but I am still waiting to hear back from the owner. If he hasn’t organised anything by mid March we will head for Exmouth.

Meanwhile we have been making friends among the other campers here. A couple of nights ago we were invited over for dinner, and later went out prawning. Last night Belle produced a large batch of chilli crabs, Joyce (one of the many people we have made friends with here) made fried rice and noodles, and about fifteen people gathered around for dinner.

Everyone is so friendly on the free campsites, it’s a pity there isn’t the same level of togetherness in caravan parks.

Another bus (Highway Wanderer) with Robbie & Kerri called in for a couple of days, and we also met Laurie & Janet in a Mazda 3500, and John Davis from Esperance in a Winebago on a Ford Trader chassis.

We have had a lot of fun with John, prawning, catching mullet, and listening to stories of his extraordinary life. John was in No. 2 Commando during World War II, and spent many years in Africa building bridges, factories etc. He has led the kind of life that the rest of us can only dream about, and he is still living a life of adventure on the road.

Wednesday is the night people are allowed to put out set nets to catch fish. I helped John with his net and we had a good feed of mullet, which we filleted and smoked. Mullet isn’t much good unless it is smoked as it is a very oily fish.

February 20th 1998 (Friday)

The old 500w generator packed up today. I pulled it apart twice trying to get it going again, but it was wasted effort. In the afternoon we went into town and purchased a new Honda 1kva ($1100.00) which we should have done in the first place. This puts a big dent in our savings as it represents about 20% of what we have remaining, but it looks as though the pillow cleaning job may eventuate so we should be able to put the money back. At least the new generator runs our microwave.

Crabbing is much better at night now. the crabs are all digging in during the day, and won’t come out unless you tread on them. At night there are still plenty to be caught, but they are a nuisance when we are trying to catch prawns. Up to 30 at a time come up in the prawn nets on some nights.

March 7th 1998 (Saturday)

It’s hard to believe but we have been at Heron point for four weeks. The job with The Pillow Cleaner didn’t work out. We had done two days training and had an agreement that the next job would be paid work. We didn’t hear anything for over a week and then out of the blue we were asked to do another three days training. At this stage we smelled a rat and lodged a complaint with the CES. Needless to say we won’t be having anything further to do with that business.

It turns out that it is illegal for companies to ask prospective employees to do training without pay in any case.

We are getting ready to head north again. The prawning season starts at Exmouth on April 1st and we have been told that there is a good chance of getting work. Come Monday we will be on the move again, but we will be sad to say goodbye to the friends we have made at Heron Point.

March 9th 1998 (Monday)

The excitement of moving on was tinged with sadness as we left our new found friends behind.

After a brief stop off at our house to swap the cars over again and do a bit of shopping, we were on our way north again.

We pulled in at a rest area just south of the Jurien turn off. There is a large parking area well back from the east side of the road. There is plenty of room and shade and in winter a small creek runs by the campsite.

After a short sleep we were up and moving in the early hours of the morning. Not long after getting going a tyre on the trailer disintegrated and we had to unload the car and drive both vehicles to Eneabba where we waited for the petrol station to open.

March 10th 1998 (Tuesday)

After fitting a second hand tyre ($50) and having a shower at the petrol station ($1 each) we made our way to Gladstone for another overnight stop. The track into the campsite is 6km of the worst corrugations I have ever driven across. Once we arrived at the beach we were confronted with small tracks bordered by hundreds of wooden posts.

I don’t know what idiot was responsible for the design of this area but they should be made to park a bus and trailer in it and then have to get out again. Smaller vehicles should have no trouble parking, but for us it was a nightmare.

There is a groin out into the sea which may be a good fishing spot, but we didn’t have the time to try. After parking and filling the generator the tin Jerry can developed a leak and we had to transfer fuel to the other plastic containers.

Once you arrive at Gladstone there are good facilities available including shelter and toilet, but the road in needs grading, and half the wooden posts need pulling out.

Supposedly there is a $1 per night charge for the area, but I wouldn’t pay due to the state of the road in and the difficulty parking once we got there.

The turn off to Gladstone is just south of the WM 20 (Wooramel 20km) sign on the west side of the road. The track in is impassable when wet.

March 11th 1998 (Wednesday)

Today we arrived at Bush Bay (about 50km south of Carnarvon), Again the road in isn’t too smooth, but at least here there is a big turning area. New Beach to the south isn’t really suited for large vehicles, and there were too many sand flies about to camp there.

We have settled down early and are waiting for the tide to go out as we have been told that cockles are easy to find in the sand.

… later …

Well the tide didn’t go out all that much and we found no trace of cockles. I really can’t find much to say about Bush Bay except that it is isolated and quiet. We have another unwanted passenger, a mouse, which is smart enough to steal the cheese out of the trap, but I’ll get him eventually.

March 12th 1998 (Thursday)

We arrived in Carnarvon early and booked in for two nights at Star Trek Caravan park. The fees are $15 per night, and there is a nice enclosed swimming pool. When we went for a swim we were joined by a small snake which was summarily dispatched by the park staff. A small reminder that life in the north west isn’t quite the same as down south.

The bank balance is down to about $3700 now and I am starting to really worry about getting work. I hope there is something for us at Kailis or we are in real trouble.

March 14th 1998 (Saturday)

Left mosquito ridden Carnarvon behind and made for Minilya. The bus is overheating again, probably the radiator needs flushing. Stopped off at the campsite by the Minilya River and waited for the temperature to drop before heading on to Exmouth.

I haven’t got anything complementary to say about Carnarvon. It isn’t very attractive, and I would prefer the campsite at Quobba. Monroe’s Banana Plantation was nice, very tropical, but otherwise the town hasn’t got much to offer. The Gascoyne River is usually dry above the surface (an aquifer runs below the river bed and that’s where the plantations get water for irrigation.) so there isn’t any picturesque riverbank to look at.

Once we were off the main highway there were plenty of kangaroos, sheep and goats to avoid. Thankfully I didn’t hit any but there were several near misses. Belle has started driving again, she has got the hang of the gears going up, but not coming down.

We arrived at Learmonth after dark and immediately went down on the jetty to fish. Apart from a bite off and one that shook the hook loose, there I didn’t get any further bites. Probably sharks in any case and not really worth catching.

March 15th 1998 (Sunday)

Arrived at Kailis to find that the manager is being replaced and no accommodation had been arranged for us despite being told we would be able to stay during a phone conversation last Thursday. We had no alternative but to stay at a caravan park in Exmouth until we can sort out what is going on.

With $80 rent to the caravan park, approximately $22 for electricity, $85 for the van at home and $143 for the mortgage (total $330) the $290 a week we get from Social Security is gone before we even think about food etc.

The weather is hot and humid. Spent most of the day in the bus with the air-conditioner on.

March 17th 1998 (Tuesday)

We went down to Kailis to fill in formal applications for work and Belle was told that she is guaranteed work. It doesn’t look like we will be able to stay on site though, which is a shame. They seem to give preference to tourists over workers wanting accommodation which is hard to understand. Maybe they make more out of the tourists. In any case it seems a lame idea.

Went fishing at Learmonth. Caught a squid and a few nice bream but nothing big.

While we were in Carnarvon we bought some Aroma essences from Woolworths Liquor, and these mixed with sugar and water produce different alcoholic drinks. They are really quite good, and relatively cheap. A litre and a half can be produced for about $10, and the drinks imitate well known brands like Kaluha, Grand Manier etc.

March 19th 1998 (Thursday)

We joined the local library and organised a post office box for mail. The weather is still hot and humid. The air conditioner in the bus is essential for sleeping at night.

March 20th 1998 (Friday)

Went fishing at Learmonth again. Not much around today. Caught some bait fish and one legal sized bream but nothing else.

The bus has been invaded by a mouse again, but this one didn’t last long. Ants and mice are the biggest pests while we are travelling.

March 21st 1998 (Saturday)

Nothing really happened today, but for the first time I think I am ready to talk about the reasons why we finally made the decision to leave Perth.

For a long time (16 years), Belle had worked for State Health, first as a Laboratory Assistant, and later as a Medical Scientist after she had studied part time while she was working and looking after our home. She was very happy in her work and very committed, but after taking on a new boss in T.B. and training him to a level of competency, she was discarded. After transferring to another lab, (when she had no other choice) where she was subjected to what I regard as mental torture, she reached a point where she came home and beat herself against the wall in our hallway, and I had to physically restrain her to stop her from causing herself real harm.

After seeking help from her union and receiving none, after reaching a point where her every action was questioned by supposed superiors and after 16 years of dedicated service, she was forced to leave her employment. Within four weeks of my wife leaving this department, three other staff members with a combined total of over forty years experience resigned. My wife made sure that the C.E.O. of PathCentre knew why she had resigned, but he did not even have the courtesy to respond to her letter.

Our belief is that a round of redundancies were planned and that every employee who resigned at that time was a bonus to the **** who ran the place.

For myself, well I must admit that I have had real problems staying in one job for too long. In the last fifteen years I have had fifteen jobs. Some have lasted as much as three years, others have lasted as little as six weeks.

My problem is that I get bored with work once I stop learning new things. I have had jobs that were very stressful and demanding, but the last job at Motorcharge was so boring I could have cried. Sitting in a grey cubicle all day where no one talks to you and staring at a screen looking for errors that some other clot has made, is not my idea of living. How I managed to last six months in that place is beyond me. The only solace I had was a half hour lunch break which I used to spend walking or sitting in a nearby park. Not that Motorcharge in itself is a bad company, in fact far from it. I think the stress of organising the bus and having to deal with a job that didn’t suit me led me to a state of desperation.

My other problem is that I don’t suffer fools gladly, and some of the twits I have had to work for in the past shouldn’t be put in charge of a compost heap, far less running a business.

Apart from hassles at work we had a couple of really thoughtless ignorant neighbours. One with a stereo who wanted the whole suburb to listen to his awful choice of music and the other little thug with two large very noisy dogs, who refused to keep them quiet.

My advice is don’t waste your time complaining to councils about dog noise as they couldn’t care less. I even went as far as the minister for local government, but surprise, surprise he didn’t have to put up with being woken up several times a night, so it wasn’t his problem either.

Belle and I were earning over $80,000.00 per year between us. We had an air conditioned home, pool, two cars and a boat, but we were so miserable I think if we had not found a way to escape we may have ended up taking our own lives. It may seem odd to others, that people with seemingly so much could be so miserable, but that’s the way it was for us. Money didn’t bring happiness, all it did was tie us into a way of life that we had come to despise.

If I sound bitter about all this, well I guess I am. When we bought our home over seven years ago the street was quiet, and we enjoyed coming home at the end of a days work, and despite pressures at work we were happy and relatively content. We eventually reached a point where we dreaded coming home, all due to stupid ignorant people whose only thought in life is what they want and to hell with everyone else.

Well enough of me and my soapbox. We are finally free of that kind of trash. Now if some of them pull in next to us we can move away overnight.

March 22nd 1998 (Sunday)

We went fishing again in the afternoon. I caught a small shark and a sea perch, but apart from some more bait fish there still isn’t a lot around. We really need a small boat.

March 23rd 1998 (Monday)

Unfortunately our air conditioner is playing up. It works well for a while but gives up after a few hours. Looks like time to shop for a new one. This is going to play hell with my budget.

March 24th 1998 (Tuesday)

We had a new air conditioner fitted today ($925.00 installed), this is the last major item we can spend money on for a while. At least it works well and cools more of the bus than the old one did.

March 25th 1998 (Wednesday)

It’s now time to step up the campaign for some work. With all this money going out we have to get some coming in before we go broke. Belle still hasn’t found out when she starts at Kailis, hopefully we will know by the end of the week.

March 27th 1998 (Friday)

Went fishing at Learmonth jetty again today. We didn’t have any luck but other people on the jetty were pulling in mackerel, queen fish, trevally and squid. We were both a bit brassed off about not catching any ourselves.

We will have to get a bait jig and catch some of the small bait fish that hang around the jetty. That’s what the locals use and the results are good.

March 28th 1998 (Saturday)

We finally moved on to our permanent site in the caravan park today. It’s good to have the annexe up and everything set up properly. Belle has to go down to Kailis on Monday for an introductory session. I’ll go down and do some fishing at Learmonth while she is there.

March 30th 1998 (Monday)

Belle went to Kailis in the morning and was taken through the factory and given an overview of the work. She will get $11.20 an hour plus overtime if the season is good enough to provide for more than 40 hours a week. There is also a zone allowance of just over $20 a week.

While she was at Kailis I went fishing at Learmonth again and managed to bag some squid and a queen fish. Finally some good fishing!

We now have a bait jig and having local bait seems to make all the difference for catching the large predatory fish that hang around the jetty. I have started using live bait, a practice I have avoided in the past as I regard it as cruel, but the fish I am targeting won’t touch dead bait, so if I want to catch them there isn’t much alternative.

Belle starts work next Tuesday so I will have to find a job quickly to avoid being stuck in the bus and bored. Luckily Exmouth is a small town and I can get around on my push bike if Belle needs the car. Kailis is 20km south of town, but she may be able to join a car pool.

March 31st 1998 (Tuesday)

Fishing yet again at Learmonth. This time I seem to have hit on how to catch queen fish. I caught three in quick succession and filled up our small esky. I continued to catch them but had nowhere to put them so they all went back into the sea. I must have caught about ten in all, and we had fish and chips again for dinner.

April 4th 1998 (Saturday)

On the way down to Learmonth the car collided with an emu. Sadly the bird didn’t survive and we have lost a headlight. Fishing on Thursday was quite good with a haul of mangrove jacks and bream, and today we caught a few more of each. Hooked a huge queen fish but after four spectacular jumps it broke fee. Still it was a thrill just to watch such a big fish jump.

April 6th 1998 (Monday)

Fishing again, yes that’s about all there is to do up here. The full moon is only a few days away and as usual the fish are getting harder to catch. Brought home three bream, but nothing very exciting. There are dozens of long toms around and they are a real pest.

Took the car in for a quote on fixing the damage.

April 7th 1998 (Tuesday)

Belle’s first day working at Kailis. She had 6 hours work and seemed to get on ok. I spent the morning going round the shops leaving my details in case some work comes up there. The trouble with this place is that there aren’t that many businesses in town. It won’t be long before I have applied to all of them.

Kailis sells what they call broken prawns, to it’s employees at $8 per kilo. Belle is crazy about prawns so it’s no surprise that she brought some home today.

April 10th 1998 (Friday)

Today we had a good downpour of rain. Not something that would normally rate a mention, but up here rain is so infrequent that when it finally comes it breathes new life into the area.

We sat on Learmonth jetty trying to catch a feed of fish and getting absolutely soaked. We did come home with a couple of bream and a mangrove jack, but it was pretty quiet.

Belle doesn’t go back to work until Tuesday due to the Easter break and the full moon. The prawn boats always stay in during the full moon as prawns seem even more elusive than normal.

April 12th 1998 (Sunday)

Fishing again! Yup, that’s all we seem to do when there isn’t anything like work to keep us occupied. The full moon is wreaking it’s normal havoc on the fishing and we were lucky to come home with a couple of bream and a mangrove jack. I did pull in a small queen fish but let it go.

The tourists are starting to turn up now and crowding the jetty. It was nice having the place to ourselves, I guess I know how the real locals feel about the rest of us ‘blow ins’. Some twit just had to listen to the football with his car radio turned up full blast. Murphy’s rule 256: ‘Find a nice peaceful spot to fish and some wanker will turn up with a radio and spoil it.’

If you’re tired of all the ‘fishing’ entries in the journal you will have to look for the entry made when we finally leave Exmouth – but as yet that should be a long time in the future.

The weather is turning hot again after a couple of days of overcast skies and rain.

April 18th 1998 (Saturday)

Tourist season is starting to fill the town up now. The weather is starting to cool down and the cold water in the showers is actually cold at last. I may even have to consider using the hot water soon. I still haven’t found a job, but there may be something coming up at Kailis. We are still hoping to get into the Kailis caravan park as it is $30 a week cheaper than where we are now.

April 19th 1998 (Sunday)

I finally managed to find some work, even though it’s only casual. I was on a run with an Exmouth Pearls boat today and did a job called shell chipping.

Exmouth Pearls is 30km south of the town, which means getting up at 5am, yaawnnn.

The day starts at 6.15am when the crew boards a dinghy and is taken out to the larger boats moored off shore. After a long (very noisy) ride out to the strings of oyster lines, the boat hooks a line on to two rollers on the port side. The boat moves slowly up the line retrieving each cage as it moves forward. Each of the trays contain six large oysters and it is the shell chippers job to clean any barnacles and other shell fish off the outside of the oyster shell. First the tray is sent through a cleaning machine which takes off the ‘fire weed’ which grows on the cages, then the tray is set upon by four shell chippers with chisels who strip off all the growth on the outside.

With chisels and bits of shell flying everywhere it’s a wonder no one gets stabbed or has shell grit in their eyes, but somehow the work gets done without any harm. My main problem is that loads of gunk gets on to my glasses and I can’t see too well. There isn’t a lot of point in cleaning them each time as every tray deposits it’s share. At least I managed not to cut anyone’s fingers off.

Each line contains between fifty and a hundred trays with six oysters in. We cleaned three lines which equates to about 600 oysters. It was a long tiring day and I got home about 5pm. At $100 a day for casual workers it just makes the Exmouth average of $10 per hour. I am hoping there will be more work available in the next week or so, but I just have to sit back and wait. It’s not the sort of job I would want to do every day, but three or four runs a week would come in handy.

April 21st 1998 (Tuesday)

Out on the pearling boat again today. This time as well as shell chipping I did some line cleaning and tray scraping. I got to find out first hand why fire weed is so named. The slightest touch on the skin causes immediate pain. We were short two crew members so the work was much harder and we didn't get back on to shore until after 5pm. I am totally exhausted.

April 27th 1998 (Monday)

No more work has eventuated from the pearling boats, but apparently the cleaning has just about been completed. Kailis are just about to go after tiger prawns and are expecting catches to increase from 4 tonnes a day to 10 tonnes a day. There may be some work coming up at the factory so I’m crossing my fingers again. I spoke to Daryl (the factory Manager) and I am on the short list for work so I hope they catch more prawns than they expect.

A couple of days ago Belle caught her first spotted mackerel. It nearly pulled her off the end of the jetty, but she managed to land it by herself. The sand flies are so bad at Learmonth that we have given up going there for a while. I have been fishing at Bundegi but only managed to catch a large dart. Still it’s the biggest fish I’ve caught since we have been here.

April 30th 1998 (Thursday)

Well, so much for optimism. No work has come out of Kailis (for me) even though they have had catches of up to 10 tonnes. Belle is having trouble keeping up to pace as she has to examine each prawn for defects. Her eyesight isn’t exactly 20/20, in fact far from it, and doing the job properly takes her longer than other workers.

We are still going broke, even though this month we came closest to breaking even. In other months we lost between $1500 and $2200, this time we lost just over $300.

We have to start thinking about moving on if I can’t find something soon. Even with Belle working we can’t afford to stay here too long, it is imperative that we both have work.

At least we have finally got the car booked in to have the headlight replaced. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take as long to repair it as it did to get the work approved.

May 7th 1998 (Thursday)

We have decided to move to Karratha and are now waiting for the repairs to the car to be completed. How long we will have to wait is anyone’s guess. We were told the parts would be here yesterday but they weren’t and they haven’t arrived today either.

Belle stopped work at Kailis on Tuesday, this was after getting very sick on Sunday. The work is too much for her and as I can’t find anything here, it just isn’t worth staying any longer.

The bus is packed and ready to go so as soon as the car is ready we are off.

At least Karratha has a decent shopping centre. We are hoping to free camp for a while at Cleaverville Beach and slow down the rate at which we are losing money.

May 8th 1998 (Friday)

We left Exmouth early but stopped off at Learmonth to do some fishing before we left the area. We managed to catch a couple of queen fish which we let go and a couple of trevally for dinner.

We spent the night at a roadside pull-in and woke early to resume the drive to Karratha.

May 9th 1998 (Saturday)

Everything was ok until mid morning when the engine started overheating again. We stopped every few kilometres to replace water which boiled off, but by the time we reached Fortescue I was too worried about cracking the engine head so we were towed the last 100km into Karratha.

$527.50 later we arrived in Karratha and booked in at the Mooligan Road caravan park – big mistake – this is a caravan park for workers and is not a pleasant place to stay, and at $18 a night it was a real rip-off.

Our CMCA insurance will pay for $500 of the towing bill so at least we don't have to worry about that.

May 12th 1998 (Tuesday)

We have now moved to Cleaverville Beach, a free campsite about 32km out of Karratha. As usual the council is trying to close it down and is telling travellers that it is illegal to camp here. Everyone here is ignoring the bombastic little twits so we intend to stay here as long as we can to save money.

We have met up with Blue and Skeeta again (we first met them in Exmouth) and everyone here seems very friendly. There is one other bus here and several caravans. Everyone gets together in the evenings for a chin wag, and like Heron Point, people are much more sociable than in caravan parks.

We will use this as a base and go into Karratha to look for work.

It was hot and wet last night but the clouds have gone away and the breeze is blowing nicely through the bus. As I sit here typing I can hear the waves rushing up the beach which is about 50 metres away.

One of the intriguing things about this place is the number of hermit crabs in the area. There must be thousands of them and they all come out at night in search of food.

May 15th 1998 (Friday)

Over the last couple of days we have been exploring the area around Karratha. Point Samson and Wickham aren’t much to rave about but the old settlement at Cossack is picturesque.

The annexe on the bus is up again so we expect to stay here for a few weeks at least.

As usual the work is staying one jump ahead of us. When we were in Bunbury there was plenty of work in Albany, when we went to Albany it moved to Karratha, and now we are here there is plenty of work showing up in Kununurra. Maybe one day we will arrive in the right town at the right time.

The days here are pleasant but the nights are still and humid. Today we have had a lot of rain but I went out onto the rocks and caught a large trevally. It’s the biggest fish I’ve caught so far and the fillets will be enough for six meals.

Tomorrow we plan to go back to Cossack and try to catch some mud crabs off the old wharf.

May 19th 1998 (Tuesday)

We didn’t catch any mud crabs, or anything else interesting either.

It’s been raining again and everything is damp and unpleasant. Sleeping is very difficult in these conditions, I can’t begin to imagine how horrible it gets up here in the hot months.

Yesterday we spent most of our time in Karratha getting various chores done and applying for jobs. We also did the laundry and found that the local laundry-mat charges $4 per wash and $1 per five minutes on the tumble dryers. Needless to say we won’t be going there again – it cost $12 to get two loads of washing done.

Today we are off on a free tour of Robe River Iron, and we also get a guided tour of Cossack.

…later…

The tour was very good. We were taken round on an air conditioned bus and shown the old settlement at Cossack, then out to Robe River’s operations at Cape Lambert. The loading facility there is huge, and the ore jetty is the second longest/highest in the southern hemisphere.

We caught up with another couple who we first met at Heron Point. The numbers of people at Cleaverville are steadily growing as the cool season approaches.

May 20th 1998 (Wednesday)

Had another go at fishing this morning but there wasn’t much around and the tide was falling too rapidly. When I got back to the bus, I received a call for an interview tomorrow for work selling computers. I’ll cross my fingers that we have finally turned the corner and can start putting money back in the bank.

We will also call in to Robe at Wickham as the driver of our tour yesterday told Belle that they may need lab assistants in the near future.

May 22nd 1998 (Friday)

The interview yesterday seemed to go well and I should know about the job on Monday. It would be nice to get back into sales for a while and with the large companies here I expect commissions would be quite healthy. But I won’t start counting my chickens just yet.

The trailer was showing signs of rust so I have spent the last couple of days applying Fisholine and Kill Rust. That should keep it rust free for a while. The only trouble is it was expensive ($57 all up), but the salt air here really gets to any exposed metal.

I have finally managed to rig up a shower off the back of the bus. We purchased a shower kit yesterday for $75 and I have set up a screen under the air-conditioner. We run the pump from a large basin so the water can be recycled, that way we can stand under the shower for ages without wasting water.

Unfortunately the water from Karratha is horrible, it’s like drinking swimming pool water and after a shower you feel all sticky. The water at Roebourne is much better so as long as we are at Cleaverville we will have to try and fill our tanks there.

One good thing is that the local council have finally decided that they don’t have the power to move people away from Cleaverville. There are probably about 20 vans, mobile homes etc here now and I don’t think anyone would have moved anyway. At night it’s just like a little town in the middle of nowhere, all the lights from the vans make the campsite look quaint.

Again I have to comment on the difference between free campsites and caravan parks. Here everyone says hello, and we all keep an eye on the area when people go into town. Caravan parks are horrible places, no one wants to talk to each other and no one mixes.

May 24th 1998 (Sunday)

Yesterday I went out with Blue in his dinghy. His motor has packed up, and I have an engine but no boat so we teamed up and went along the coast to the nearest creek. I dropped some crab nets but the only mud crabs around were too small to keep. The only thing we caught all morning was a barracuda which grabbed a popper I had out as we motored down to the creek.

Today I went fishing off the rocks again and landed a large remora (sucker fish). They aren’t any good to eat so I dropped it back in again.

This is also the first anniversary for the bus. Exactly one year ago today Rex pulled the bus into our driveway and our lives slowly began to change. So far they have changed for the better, even though we still need to settle into work for a while. It has been a long traumatic year in other ways with the loss of our dogs bringing us more than our share of heartache, but we are slowly recovering from that. In four days time we will have been on the road for six months. It’s hard to believe that time has gone so quickly.

May 29th 1998 (Friday)

Belle had an interview at Karratha College on Wednesday and as a result has been given a job as a casual lecturer. She will only be working one day a week (6 hours) at first, but at $35 per hour it’s very good money. The only catch is that she will be teaching in ROEBOURNE GAOL ! It will be interesting to see how that turns out but it could open doors to other areas. She has also been contacted by Western Pathology about job sharing which would see her back in her own field as a Medical Scientist again.

My interview doesn’t seem to have come to anything which is a real shame. Hopefully there will be something else available through the college, but I have to wait and see. Meanwhile I am still applying for anything else that comes along.

Now that this journal has been going for over twelve months, I find myself going back and reading what was going on, on this date last year. There isn’t an entry for May 29th but on the 28th I took my first driving lesson for a ‘B’ class license. Driving such a huge vehicle seemed a daunting prospect at the time but since then we have travelled over 8300 kilometres in the bus with only a few minor dents to show for it. The odometer shows 56,000 miles, I wonder how many times that has been wound round in the last 35 years?

We saw some sort of sign being erected at the track leading in to Cleaverville today. I expect the council is up to some mischief. No doubt we will find out sooner or later.

May 31st 1998 (Sunday)

One of our neighbours (John) leant us his boat today and we were able to go out to an offshore reef and do some fishing. There were plenty of fish biting but the best catch was a large emperor (north-west snapper). Yesterday I caught a small Spanish mackerel off the rocks. Smoked mackerel for dinner yesterday and deep fried snapper today. Who could ask for more?

The sign we saw being erected was, as expected, the council trying to scare people away from Cleaverville. As this is crown land and is supposedly part of a land rights claim by the local Aborigines, they don’t have any authority here, so no one is taking a blind bit of notice.

June 2nd 1998 (Tuesday)

Belle had her first day working at Roebourne Gaol today. The work isn’t difficult and the pay is good so hopefully it will last for a while.

The weather has turned hot again, and sleep doesn’t come easily.

June 3rd 1998 (Wednesday)

Belle & I borrowed Blue’s boat today and tried fishing out on the reef. The water was as flat as I have ever seen it. The water was clear and still, but there weren’t anymore nice snapper around. I hooked the largest long tom I have ever seen, it was over 3 feet long.

June 5th 1998 (Friday)

We had to go into Karratha in the morning and on the way back one of the water container taps got turned on. The car is now sloshing with about 15 litres of water. I will have to leave it open for the next few days to dry it out.

We had a party at our bus tonight. Blue, Skeeta, Jack, Lyn, Hilton, Daphnie, Joy and John all come over for a BBQ. Several caravans and campers are going to pull out shortly so the campsite will seem quite empty. Everyone contributed to the meal and it was a fun night.

I lost count of the number of beers I drank, and we finished the night polishing off Blue’s bottle of bourbon. Everyone finally crawled off to bed about half past eleven, that’s very late for us as the generators round camp usually go off before 10pm.

June 6th 1998 (Saturday)

The bait fish have reappeared round the rocks today. Blue & I took the throw net out and caught about a hundred or so. If the bait fish are back it won’t be long before the larger fish are back too.

June 7th 1998 (Sunday)

We went fishing in John’s boat again today. After a fairly ordinary start we came back in with 2 flag perch, 2 bluebone and one sweetlip snapper. A tiring but rewarding afternoon. We discovered that the proper name for bluebone is blue tusk fish.

June 8th 1998 (Monday)

One thing dominated today and that was rain. There was a brief but quite severe storm with high wind and bucket loads of rain. Blue’s camp was blown about a bit, but we survived without any major problems. Later in the afternoon we walked along the reef collecting octopus for bait. We caught 19, which were then put in the freezer for later use.

Blue & I are planning to take some drop nets out to the creek tomorrow, maybe this time we will get some ‘muddies’.

I have had another call from the computer mob I had the interview with, and I have to go and see them again on Wednesday. I’m still not holding my breath.

Five caravans have pulled out of Cleaverville in the last few days, there are only ten campsites left now. The place seems almost deserted.

We’ll miss Jack, lyn, Daphnie and Hilton, and happy hour seems to have finally petered out.

June 9th 1998 (Tuesday)

Belle went in to work again today, but was lucky to get through as the track out to the main road is getting very soft.

Blue & I went out in his boat and tried crabbing at the creek again. Still no luck. Fishing wasn’t much better as I only caught one small queenfish which was thrown back.

The weather was ok on the way down to the creek but it blew up a bit on the way back. It’s a good job we came back when we did or we would have had to pull the boat out of the water and walk back.

June 10th 1998 (Wednesday)

I was due to go in and see about a job in Karratha today, but the track is impassable to 2 wheel drives and we got stuck in mud. Luckily we were still in mobile phone range and Blue came along to pull us out again.

June 12th 1998 (Friday)

It’s still raining! I hope it stops soon as we’re getting cabin fever from being stuck here and unable to get into town.

At least we aren’t short of water. In the space of about 20 minutes on Tuesday I collected enough rainwater to fill our tanks and reserve containers.

Apart from the rain there is another new development, it’s COLD.

June 13th 1998 (Saturday)

The rain has finally stopped! I was able to go into Karratha today with Blue in his 4wd. The track is still impassable to 2wd vehicles and will probably take until Monday to dry out. Hopefully there won’t be any more rain between now and then.

We had a look at Miaree Pool (another free camp site) but that is just a muddy hole at the moment. There isn’t a good level area to park the bus so I doubt we’ll ever go there to camp.

Jack, Lyn, Daphnie and Hilton moved to Miaree Pool when they left Cleaverville, but they left only an hour or so before we arrived.

June 17th 1998 (Wednesday)

The rain started again last night, I hope it doesn’t last as long as the previous lot.

June 18th 1998 (Thursday)

Woke this morning to glorious blue skies and warm sunshine. We walked along the coast gathering octopus for bait and came across a blue ringed variety. There isn’t much chance of confusing them with a normal octopus, they have very bright almost fluorescent markings.

Later we went fishing further along the coast than normal and found a good little bay bout a kilometre west where we caught a cod and a mangrove jack. We’ll probably try there again tomorrow when we get back from town – presuming we can get through after the rain.

We have been here for nearly six weeks now which has saved us a minimum of $690 in caravan park fees. Taking into account fuel for the generator and gas for the fridge which has cost about $135 we are still $555 ahead.

June 22nd 1998 (Monday)

The hardyheads (bait fish) have shown up again and I used the throw net to catch enough to last the next few days.

Went fishing at the creek mouth again today. This time we fished on a low tide and found that there were fewer snags and more fish. Belle caught a good size (310mm) black bream, I caught three yellowtail bream and also pulled in a stonefish. Another oddity we caught was something called a banjofish. - We later decided this wasn't a Banjo fish but something called a butter fish.

June 23rd 1998 (Tuesday)

Belle is off to work at the gaol again today, I went down onto the rocks to try my luck fishing but there wasn’t anything around.

There are still plenty of campers and caravans pulling into Cleaverville despite the ‘camping prohibited’ notices. At the moment there are about 18 different camps here and another six or seven along the coast.

I hope the van sells soon as we will then start to get back on top of our vanishing finances.

June 25th 1998 (Thursday)

Belle went into town shopping and I spent the morning out on the rocks fishing. I caught a big catfish which punctured one of my fingers with a spine. The pain lasted for hours but the fish ended up in the fridge so I had my revenge. The clouds are gathering on the horizon again so I have started packing the camp up and loading the rack on the bus. We will wait out the night but if there is any sign of rain in the morning we will move out rather than be trapped up here again.

Blue & Skeeta are leaving in the morning so we went over and sat round the camp fire with a few wines and ports to wish them farewell.

June 26th 1998 (Friday)

The rain has been threatening all day but so far there have only been a few drops. We pulled out of Cleaverville just in case and are now down at Miaree Pool, Sadly we can’t get either phone or television reception here, but we’ll only be here for a few days. Blue & Skeeta left Cleaverville today as well. We will miss them a lot.

The big worry with this campsite is flooding, so we will keep a close watch on the weather.

June 27th 1998 (Saturday)

The weather is starting to clear today and it seems that we may not have had to move from Cleaverville in the first place. Oh well the change of scenery is welcome in any case.

The pool is deep and nice to swim in, but I seriously doubt that there are any fish worth catching in it.

We took a trip into Dampier which is 35km if we take a shortcut along the H.I. railway line.

June 29th 1998 (Monday)

Well we are back at Cleaverville again. Miaree Pool was too cramped and too noisy so we packed up this morning and came back.

While it’s nice to be back here, it still doesn’t feel quite right. Something I have yet to get used to is the transient nature of friendships that we strike up as we travel round. Over the past six weeks, we have had a lot of fun with Blue & Skeeta. Blue & I have been off fishing together. Blue has pulled our car out of the mud a couple of times when we got stuck, he even tuned up the engine of the bus for me. Belle & Skeeta have both cooked meals and we have visited each others camps all the time. We have got drunk together and basically had a lot of fun. Now they’ve moved on I feel quite sad.

June 30th 1998 (Tuesday)

I can’t believe it! It’s b&**#y well raining again! We are supposed to go for an interview tomorrow at the Karratha Country Club and the way it looks now, the track out will be impassable again. If I didn’t know better I’d say there was some kind of conspiracy to prevent me from getting a job. I’m getting sick of this stupid weather, it should be dry until December and all we are getting is rain.

We are in a real catch 22 situation. We can’t afford to live in town but we can’t seem to get work so that we can afford to move there because the weather keeps forcing us to abandon job interviews.

July 2nd 1998 (Thursday)

I have finally got round to making a camp fire outside which we used today to heat water for the shower and then boil some potatoes for dinner. A couple of potatoes cooked in the coals brought back memories of camps with the scouts.

We went over for happy hour with John, Pat, Baz, Buz Jack and Lil. I had a few too many ports and ended up with a hangover. Cooked dinner while I was still under the influence and almost sliced the end of my left index finger… OUCH!

July 3rd 1998 (Friday)

The rain cleared on Wednesday but it is still dull and cloudy. We have to wait a few days for the track to dry out – the council actually closed the road this time as the flooding was so bad. Let’s just hope it doesn’t rain again before we can get into town and get some supplies.

Today we went fishing at the mouth of the creek and caught a number of black bream. Four of the largest were brought home. One was a real beauty, 34cm long – bigger than the one Belle caught last time ?

July 11th 1998 (Saturday)

Not much going on at the moment. I’m still sending off several job applications a week but nothing has come up. I can’t even afford to pay the insurance money on the bus, but as it’s $765 that’s hardly surprising.

We’ve been at Cleaverville for nine weeks now except for the three nights we spent at Miaree Pool. I would have thought that something in the way of a job would have turned up by now.

I am thinking about going back to Perth and bringing the van and boat up here to sell. Since the van isn’t generating much interest at home maybe it would be better to sell it here. I want to sell the van, trailer, boat and car all in one go and then buy a small 4x4 and a dinghy. if I can get all the items together it will make it much easier. It will also simplify all the licenses and insurance we have to pay.

Two new busses have pulled in to the campsite recently. Nikki and her two boys are travelling round Australia and have the first bus I have seen with a bonnet. It’s very similar to the American school buses you occasionally see on T.V. We haven’t met the owners of the second bus yet as they only pulled in yesterday.

Jack & Lil are due over tonight for dinner. Jack hasn’t been too well over the past couple of weeks but he’s not doing too badly for 80.

July 16th 1998 (Thursday)

The weather has been a bit dull and drizzly for the past couple of days. Haven’t had much luck fishing and the phone is playing up.

We enjoyed the evening with a BBQ over at Nikki’s bus. Fish, crabs and prawns were on the menu.

I am now keeping written records of petrol usage for the generator and have found that we use 20 litres per week which is about $18. Gas is being used at a rate of 9kg every two weeks which is $7.75 a week, so our power costs are 25.75 a week.

We have now been in this spot for nearly 10 weeks.

July 21st 1998 (Tuesday)

Belle has got the contract work again for Karratha College but they have reduced the hours from 6 to 5. Because of the strange way the dole works that means only a drop of about $6 instead of $35.

Nikki is leaving tomorrow and she came over in the evening and we roasted chestnuts on the fire and had coffee and port. We will be moving into the spot her bus is now.

July 22nd 1998 (Wednesday)

After much stuffing around with the batteries I finally managed to start the bus and we are now right by the beach. We have put the annexe up again as we aren’t intending to leave until the end of September.

Fishing has been lousy but we were given a threadfin which was caught in a net so that took care of dinner.

July 24th 1998 (Friday)

We were given a nice big gold spot trevally and have invited four people over for a fish curry tonight. Even though I’m not catching any fish myself at the moment it’s good to know that they are still out there somewhere.

To try and earn some extra money we have taken to collecting aluminium cans. At 65c per kilo it’s going to take a lot of collecting to get a good return but at least it’s tax free (as long as we keep quiet about it that is.)

The local council are starting to make grumbling noises about closing the campsite down again but with about 55 caravans along the coast here now they will be pretty unpopular if they try anything.

July 29th 1998 (Wednesday)

Today we drove down to Millstream which is about 150km each way, most of it along dirt roads. Millstream is the biggest fraud I have ever encountered. The tourist brochures show palm trees lining the banks of the river which is coated in lily pads. Since CALM have poisoned and cut down all the date palms and the lily pads have gone it’s not even as pretty as Miaree Pool which is only a few metres off the highway. The drive down to Millstream was interesting and Python Pool was worth visiting, but Millstream has been ruined and CALM has a lot to answer for.

July 31st 1998 (Friday)

Went into Karratha to pick up supplies and to get some money out of the bank. We have finally found a dinghy for sale and purchased it today. We have been carrying round the auxiliary engine from the boat at home in the hope of finding something like this so now we can finally make use of it.

We signed a contract with the bank which fixes our home loan repayments for the next five years. At least that should head off any interest rate increases. (Turned out that interest rates only went DOWN after we did this; B&**#Y TYPICAL!)

August 2nd 1998 (Sunday)

It’s hard to believe how quickly the year is going past. This time last year we were in the final stages of preparing for the test trip to Exmouth. Financially we have a bit of a reprieve as the tax department owes us quite a lot of money. That will keep us going for a few more months and we are hoping to find work at a roadhouse over the wet season.

We took the dinghy out today but didn’t have a lot of luck fishing, but after seeing what other people caught I felt a bit better about all the fish we threw back. Some people take some awfully small fish.

August 5th 1998 (Wednesday)

Over the past few days we have been out fishing four times. We have had some good catches of blue lined emperor (north west snapper) as well as Spanish flag (stripey or striped perch), big bream and cod. Needless to say that the freezer is now well stocked with fish again.

The water has been calm and clear. Sitting out in the boat enjoying the warm sun and blue sky has been as close to perfect as anyone has a right to expect.

We have met another group of people travelling round in two mobile homes. George, Kathleen, Flo, Bill and Merle headed off to Millstream today but we had dinner and drinks at their campsite last night and it was good fun.

George was an ATC in Perth and knew Ian Sibert’s sister Anita.

August 6th 1998 (Thursday)

I had a job interview at Opposite Lock today but again I’m not holding my breath. We have decided to bring the van up from Perth just in case some work eventuates so I am going down on Saturday to pick it up. Belle was offered a job as a cleaner today but the trouble is she needed to start today and the job is Monday to Friday 5pm to 9pm and since we are out at Cleaverville it isn’t practical for her to travel alone out along the dirt track to town.

The bus to Perth leaves at 8.40pm on Saturday so Belle will stay overnight at the Backpacker’s hostel ($15) and drive back to camp in the morning. The trip costs $139 and takes about 20 hours. I hope to be back either Wednesday or Thursday.

Mum wants to come up and visit so she will come back in the van with me and then book a flight back when she is ready.

August 8th 1998 (Saturday)

Belle & I had dinner in Karratha before I caught the bus down to Perth at 8.40pm. Belle stayed the night at Karratha Backpackers rather than drive back to Cleaverville in the dark.

August 9th 1998 (Sunday)

Arrived in Midland at about 3.15pm and caught a taxi back to Maddington. 20+ hours on the bus and one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. The only plus is that I had a seat to myself from the Exmouth turn off to the Jurien turn off.

August 10th 1998 (Monday)

Spent the day running round town getting all the shopping done. Sold the boat to Foothills Marine but only got $1200 for it. Pretty poor but at least it’s out of our hair now.

August 11th 1998 (Tuesday)

Left Maddington at 4.30am and drove all day. Mum came along and will stay with us for a week.

Some idiot of a truck driver held me out on the other side of the road as I was overtaking then proceeded to overtake me and slow down again. When I put me high beam on him for a while he let me past and then tailgated with his lights on high beam for a long time. What a twit, no wonder most motorists don’t have anything good to say about truckies.

August 12th 1998 (Wednesday)

Arrived back at Cleaverville at 3.44am (23 hours and 15 minutes after leaving Perth.) The drive up was very tiring but I still managed to find enough energy to take the boat out and go fishing. Only caught one snapper so perhaps it wasn’t worth it.

The only problem on the way up were the number of roos on the road between Nanaturra and Karratha. One found out the hard way that jumping in front of a vehicle is a health hazard, but I managed to dodge all the others.

August 13th 1998 (Thursday)

Took mum up to Roebourne, Cossack, Wickham and Point Samson.

August 14th 1998 (Friday)

Took mum to Karratha, Dampier, Burrup etc and also have finally both found work – at Halls Creek! We have until next Thursday before we leave. Mum flies back on Wednesday.

Now that the van is here as well we will both have to drive separate vehicles. I am giving us 5 days to reach Halls Creek which means an average of 280 km per day. We should be able to manage that with no problems.

We have ordered a rack for the van ($300) so the dinghy can be carried easily. We will pick that up on Wednesday.

Took the boat out again today but only managed to catch one spotted mackerel. Still that’s better than nothing.

August 19th 1998 (Wednesday)

After meeting everyone at camp and enjoying several ‘happy hours’ I think mum has had a good time with us and has found out what living in the bus is all about. I think she wasn’t terribly impressed with the WC & shower facilities but she seemed to have a good time anyway.

We dropped her off at Karratha airport this morning and then set about our last big shopping spree before we go to Halls Creek.

Mum would have arrived home before we did and it was quite sad to see our campsite all cleared up and packed away. (We have been here since the 12th of May, just over three months).

Mum will now have to save her pennies and fly up to stay with us again when we get to Darwin. I’m glad she had the opportunity to stay with us for the last week and really see what life on the road is like.

August 20th 1998 (Thursday)

Took off about 8am and made our way through Port Hedland (I hated the place last time I was there and I hate it even more now!) and on to a camp site by the banks of the DeGrey River.

The area by the river is very pretty and has a lot of shady trees. It’s a pity about the crocodile warning signs as the water looked so inviting.

August 22nd 1998 (Saturday)

Last night we camped near the Broome/Derby turn off and today we arrived at Derby. We will spend the day having a look around town and we have booked into the caravan park ($16) for the night.

The bus is running reasonably well. It got a bit warm yesterday when we stopped at Sandfire and wouldn’t re-start until it cooled down, but otherwise it’s a case of ‘so far so good’.

August 23rd 1998 (Sunday)

Arrived at Fitzroy Crossing about 11am and booked in at the Crossing Lodge for two nights. ($18 p.n.) There isn’t much to the town, just a few shops and a couple of petrol stations. I expect Halls Creek will be much the same. Fitzroy lodge is definitely the best place to stay in town but the flood level indicators show it can be a bit dodgy in the wet.

The bus started to get quite hot today but didn’t boil over. Hopefully there won’t be any major problems before we get to Halls Creek.

August 24th 1998 (Monday)

Took the CALM boat tour of Gekie Gorge in the morning ($17.50 per head) it was a bit expensive but we couldn’t just go past and not see the gorge.

The bus is dropping a bit of oil which seems to be coming from the cap on top of the engine. With luck it won’t stop us getting to Halls Creek tomorrow. We will leave at 4am to avoid driving in the heat of the day. It’s already reaching the high 30s here and the bus doesn’t like the hot weather. 288km to go.

The lodge has a nice swimming pool which we have made use of during our stay and the air conditioner has been going all through the daylight hours.

August 25th 1998 (Tuesday)

Well we got here, but not with out a bit of drama. We had booked in at a caravan park at Old Halls Creek but the track out there was so bad we had to turn back and stay at the caravan park in town. Along the way the bike rack on the trailer snapped off, one of the supports on the trailer snapped in two and God knows what other damage has been done to the bus. The bus kept conking out when we were trying to get back into town and I finally lost my temper and hit the door. That didn’t do a lot of good as I now have a broken thumb.

We are having problems with the petrol system in the bus so that will have to be overhauled while we are here as well.

The caravan park in town charges $90 per week plus power and it’s little more than a red bowl of dust – what a huge con! Well at least it has a swimming pool. The site we have been put on has no shade and slopes so I’ll have to dig under the wheels to level the bus up. Not a good beginning.

August 26th 1998 (Wednesday)

The computer screen died today (this is being put in on October 1st while I have the loan of another monitor – which looks like it’s about to die as well.)

August 27th 1998 (Thursday)

My first day at the roadhouse today, 2pm – 10pm, 8 hours on my feet with no break!

August 28th 1998 (Friday)

Belle’s first day at the supermarket, she enjoyed it, I didn’t enjoy working at the roadhouse much. My feet are so sore.

August 29th 1998 (Saturday)

Today I discovered that shifts at the roadhouse can be from 3.30am to 2pm and 2pm to 11pm – all without a break. If you get an afternoon shift and finish at 11pm and then have a morning shift starting at 3.30am there are only 4.5 hours to try and get some rest. That's plain stupid and probably illegal. There is no written contract so there’s no way of telling where you stand.

No too impressed!

August 30th 1998 (Sunday)

Perhaps not surprisingly I am no longer working at the roadhouse. I don’t know how these people get away with the stuff they pull on employees these days. When I took the job I was told that the shifts were eight hours not 9 or 10.5 with no break. Well now I’m looking for another job.

August 31st 1998 (Monday)

I have managed to find a part-time job at the supermarket where Belle works. I will be doing some after hours cleaning but it’s only 10 hours a week. It’s better than nothing but I will need to find another job as well.

September 4th 1998 (Friday)

No a lot to do around here. Belle works during the day and I work in the evenings. It’s boring and hot.

Prices here are about twice those in Perth – a pity the wages don’t keep up with the prices.

September 5th 1998 (Saturday)

Belle is coming down with the flu. All the stupid tourists coming through town are coughing all over her at the check-out so it’s no wonder she’s caught something.

September 6th 1998 (Sunday)

Belle is very sick today. I work at the supermarket for 4 hours on a Sunday polishing the floors. It’s not a bad job and the store has the air-conditioners going all the time but the pads on the polishing machine need replacing. The stupid thing drags me all over the floor. With a damaged thumb I find it very hard to control the machine.

September 7th 1998 (Monday)

Belle was too sick to go to work – a bit embarrassing when she has only been there a week. I went in to help out as they get all their stock delivered on Monday morning.

September 12th 1998 (Saturday)

I celebrated my birthday by drinking far too much of a 1125ml bottle of bourbon whisky and then for some reason didn’t seem to feel too good.

September 23rd 1998 (Wednesday)

A big break in the journal reflects just how little goes on around here. I have finally managed to get another part-time job, this time as the Coordinator of the Halls Creek Telecentre – a bit more prestigious than the cleaning job but I still have to do both as they only add up to 20 hours a week between the two of them.

September 25th 1998 (Friday)

We were invited out to dinner by a lady called Margaret who is financial coordinator at one of the Aboriginal corporations in town. She has only been here 9 weeks and has already had enough of the faction fighting and poor work standards. She is leaving in three weeks which is a pity because we got on well and had a very enjoyable evening.

September 26th 1998 (Saturday)

We got up at 4am and drove up to Kununurra for the day. It’s 359km from Halls Creek and only takes about 1 tank of petrol in the car (each way).

The drive to Kununurra is quite spectacular once you pass Turkey Creek. The town is quite large and modern with REAL shops (we spent $275 on groceries to avoid buying stuff in Halls Creek for a while.)

Although we stayed overnight we didn’t have much of a chance to look around the area. It is much more humid here than at Halls Creek.

September 27th 1998 (Sunday)

On the way back to Halls Creek we stopped off at Turkey Creek (Warmun) roadhouse and bumped into Nikki and her boys again. She has been making her way along the coast and sounds like she has been having a good time in Broome and Derby for the last few weeks.

We have had a look at Old Halls Creek – not much there, and Caroline Pool, which is almost dry, as well as China Wall and were not very impressed with any of them. When we can afford it we want to book a flight over Wolf Creek Crater and the Bungle Bungles. A place called Sawpit Gorge has also been recommended.

October 1st 1998 (Friday)

My impressions of Halls Creek to date: hot and getting hotter, dusty, remote, expensive and the caravan park is just over the road from the hotel so when we aren’t being assaulted by noise from bands we get the enchanting sound of drunken Aborigines fighting in the streets at night.

Temperatures in the bus have reached 49C and are currently 35.8 at the front (furthest from the air-conditioner), 27C in the bedroom which is right next to the air-conditioner and 33.2C in the middle of the bus with the air-conditioner on.

October 8th 1998 (Thursday)

Time slips by but nothing much happens here. the big event of the day was a few drops of rain last night and some clouds today which kept the temperature down to about 34C (Perth recorded 24C today).

Belle finally lost her temper with one of the YADAs today (what’s a YADA – yet another drunken Aborigine.) He came into the store asking to get some money out of his account and Belle explained that he had to make a $10 purchase before funds could be taken out using EFTPOS. He got abusive and started swearing at her non-stop so she threw him out of the shop – GOOD! The drunks around town are a real pain and need a good kick in the pants. Why the booze outlets are allowed to sell grog to the Aborigines is beyond me, perhaps the politicians think that death from alcohol abuse is the quickest way to get them off of welfare.

October 17th 1998 (Saturday)

Well the cleaning job I was doing at Super Value has gone by the wayside now. I have ended up getting a hernia and when I saw the local doctor today he said I had to stop putting stress on my abdomen. It’s a nuisance as the remedy is considered elective surgery and I may have to wait until we get to Darwin to get it fixed - if I can wait that long and nothing bursts inside.

Meanwhile I have to be careful not to make it any worse. At least I still have the job at Telecentre – which still may get increased funding for more hours.

The weather just keeps on getting hotter and the air conditioner is hardly ever off now. The clouds are beginning to build up but there isn’t enough rain at the moment. When the ‘wet’ finally starts the temperatures drop by as much as 10C - so I am told.

This town has been pure bad luck for us so far. Even though we have managed to find work, so many things have gone wrong that the money we are making is chewed up by the repairs.

This is a list of the problems we have had since we first arrived:

1)3 welds on the trailer broke

2)Windscreen on the bus cracked

3)Windscreen on the van cracked

4)Computer screen broke

5)Electrical element in the fridge failed

6)Radio in the van stopped working

7)Annexe roof ripped

8)Printer broke down

9)Tail pipe fell off van

10) Starter motor in the van is playing up

11) Left rear tyre on the van has a slow puncture

12) Air-conditioner belt in the van has come loose

13) Bus not running properly on petrol

14) Broke my thumb (my fault but it still happened here)

15) Got a hernia

(Note: little did I know just how bad things were going to get or I would have packed up and gone at this stage)

Apart from all this we still need to get the trailer light fixed (broken since Eneabba), two new tyres for the bus and the trailer has to be re-registered. We also need to re-insure the bus and the van and register the change of ownership of the dinghy before we move on again.

The only thing I have managed to put aside money for is the computer screen and I am hoping the replacement I have ordered will arrive some time next week. (How am I writing this? I’m borrowing a screen from the Telecentre.)

October 21st 1998 (Wednesday)

I received my new screen today, it came from Adelong Computers in Sydney - they were cheaper than anyone in W.A. and only charged $20 freight. The cost all up was $295.00 as opposed to $375 plus freight from Perth.

Today was actually cool, I was able to sit out in the annexe during the afternoon and the air conditioner only had to go on when I cooked dinner.

October 29th 1998

Today marks one year since we lost Lucy. I still dream about the dogs sometimes and in a way that brings them back to me if only for a short time. We still miss them both so much.

November 6th 1998 (Friday)

The weather is getting wetter. Days are still hot but we regularly get thunderstorms at night now. We lashed out tonight and went over to the hotel for a meal. The place is surprisingly up-market and has a good menu. We ended up having Atlantic pink salmon and a couple of bottles of bubbly.

Next week I start working 20 hours a week so that will help the finances a bit.

November 17th 1998 (Tuesday)

One of the biggest problems with living in Halls Creek (besides the never ending heat) is the boredom. There is nothing in the town besides the pub that could be classed as a recreation facility. It's probably little wonder that the Aborigines get drunk and start fights, it's the only way they have to liven up mind numbing boredom.

We have finally saved up enough money to pay the insurance on the house in Perth. The next hurdle is the insurance on the bus which has been uninsured for nearly six months now. I used to wonder why people didn't insure their homes etc now we are on restricted incomes it's not so easy to come up with $675 for the bus, $212 for the house structure, $235 for contents, $517 for the van, $364 for the car and whatever it's going to be for the dinghy and engine - a total of over $2000 a year. So far we only have the house structure and Belle's car insured.

The Telecentre has had the long planned expansion finished so I now have more room at work and we now have a total of 3 computers available. Although my hours of work have officially been increased the funding hasn't arrived to pay for it. I hope it will turn up soon.

November 24th 1998 (Tuesday)

After a week of stinking hot weather it has finally started to rain today. I was so impressed I took the camera out and took some footage. It has been raining on and off for about 7 and a half hours now and we have only had the air conditioner on for about three hours during the day.

It looks like the Telecentre may move to new premises before Christmas and we will be able to park the bus there. That will save us about $15 a week as we will share the rent of $75 a week (we are currently paying $90 a week). The only minus is that we will lose access to the swimming pool.

We had been hoping that the house in Perth would be taken over by Kate (John's sister - our niece) when he leaves in March but now we find out that that is all off. I don't know what we are going to do about it except just cough up the whole $143 a week ourselves as mum won't want strangers in the house. We will probably manage as the van has now been paid off and in real terms it won't make us any worse off than we were, but I would like someone to be in the house to keep mum company. Maybe John would consider staying if we cut the rent down to a bare minimum.

(How I wish I knew then what I know now).

November 28th 1998 (Saturday)

Went over to visit Karen this afternoon. She and her husband have been trying to run a business with a mobile food outlet and are getting nothing but hassles from the local council. The reason for that is obvious, all the local shopkeepers are on the council and don't want any kind of competition. They are a greedy selfish load of backstabbers whose only concern is shovelling as much cash into their pockets as fast as they can. Not one of them gives a damn about the town and the attitude of most of the 'whites' living here makes me sick.

December 1st 1998 (Tuesday)

Below are the financial results of the past year.

Effectively this means that we have dipped into our savings to the tune of just over $3000 for the year. Despite this we have survived our first year on the road and with a little luck the coming year will be a bit better.

Our bank account went as low as $1108.78 but we have now been working for three months we have $6671.73 and have started to get some of the items that were damaged when we first got here repaired or replaced.

We have travelled from Albany to Kununurra, seen some amazing things, met some wonderful people and generally had a pretty good time. We have had our share of misfortunes but they are easier to cope with when you are away from the hassles and pressures of the city. At the start of all this we did not know what to expect or even if we would survive, we left behind everything we were familiar with to face uncertainty and challenge. We have made it through the first year in fairly good shape and now have more confidence that whatever comes our way in the next twelve months we will get through it.

December 10th 1998 (Thursday)

Belle has had a series of problems at work stemming mainly from the owners two stupid sons who are incapable of doing anything right themselves and seem to resent anyone with more than half a brain.

The owner is either too soft or too ignorant to do anything about the situation and it looks like we will either end up taking them to EEO or Belle will just have to walk away from the job. The decision is up to her.

This has overshadowed the fact that we moved into Sister Sarah's house today which is a nice change from the bus. When we asked the Scottish shrew who runs the caravan park for a reduction in fees because we wouldn't be there she refused point blank. It seems to me there should be some regulations governing caravan parks and what they can charge. I will spend some time looking this up and see what I can find out.

I bet the entry in the tourist guide I am writing will make them think twice about trying to screw other people once it gets published. It is the only caravan park in town and as a result they think they can do anything they like. I hope to prove them wrong.

December 11h 1998 (Friday)

This morning Belle 'had it out' with the owner of the business she works for. His son was all for sacking her immediately and Belle dared him to issue a separation certificate. Knowing full well that they had no grounds to dismiss her and we would have them up for unfair dismissal they backed down but Belle was given veiled threats. Stupid Son 1 guaranteed that the conflict would continue and that things might then get out of hand. We take that as an implied threat of physical violence.

I am proceeding with a claim for workers compensation for the hernia I suffered while working there simply because they have shown no compassion for my injury, they have denied any responsibility under the Workers Compensation Act and they are trying to make it difficult if not impossible for me to get to Kununurra Hospital to see a Surgeon next week It's bad enough that I have to suffer the pain of the injury, the apprehension of surgery and the costs involved with going to Kununurra without all this other nonsense. The elder stupid son has got a big mouth and dared me to take action over it, maybe after this he'll learn to keep his trap shut. If they had given Belle the necessary leave to get me to Kununurra I would have let it slide but now I'm going after them to the bitter end.

I don't know if it is because Halls Creek is so far from civilisation or if it is just because they are unbelievably stupid that they think they think they can break the law and get away with it.

They have also tried to infer that Belle has been dishonest with No 1 stupid son saying 'I wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw you.' This unfounded, untrue and highly slanderous remark was made in front of several customers.

If this goes on there are all sorts of juicy things I can tell the Taxation Office about the owners relatives being given free reign to take stock from the shop and only making token monthly payments for it - that breaches the fringe benefits tax. Also they use a forklift, which is even driven on public roads by an operator with no forklift ticket - Worksafe would love to hear about that.

They have put themselves in a no-win situation and continuing to make threats will in the end only make things worse for them.

If I have one piece of advice for anyone looking for work it's 'never ever work for anyone with Aborigines in the family' they are impossible to reason with. Even the owner tried to use their Aboriginality as an excuse for their disgusting behaviour.

As far as the Worker's Comp claim goes, they are trying to claim that I was operating the floor polisher incorrectly because I was using one hand. I had to operate it that way because my thumb was so badly damaged - a fact I made the Manager aware of on at least two separate occasions. Allowing me to continue to operate the machine in this manner may or may not have contributed to the hernia, (in fact by the time the injury happened the thumb was almost healed and I was using two hands) but it was his responsibility to stop me from using it if he felt it was unsafe.

December 12th 1998 (Saturday)

The word 'stupid' does not even start to describe the latest actions of Belle's employer. Today they fired her, and the reason… the ONLY reason given on the Separation Certificate, that she sexually harassed the owner's two sons - a pair of 6' half cast Aborigines who are 20 & 29 years old. Words fail to express the utter stupidity of such a claim. Anyone who knows Belle, who is only just over 5' high would never dream of making such an outrageous claim, far less being crazy enough to put it in writing and use it as a reason for sacking her.

Needless to say we are now going to register a claim for unfair dismissal and take these fools to court. They could have come up with any more plausible - if untrue - reason for sacking her, but SEXUAL HARRASMENT ! They must be completely out of their tree.

December 14th 1998 (Monday)

We left Halls Creek about 1pm to go to Kununurra. Despite having an air conditioner in the van the journey was hot and uncomfortable. We booked in at a very nice caravan park by Lake Argyle (Kona Lakeside). The budget cabins were $50 per night and looked out on to the lake.

The only problem is the mosquitoes - we thought they were bad in Carnarvon, but that was nothing like Kununurra in the wet season.

December 15th 1998 (Tuesday)

I saw the surgeon about my hernia but he has decided to send me to Darwin to have it attended to so this trip was a waste of time and money.

December 16th 1998 (Wednesday)

We have loaded up with shopping while we are here which will hopefully save us some money over the coming weeks. I think this trip cost us about $1000 all up. A lot of that was covered by food but accommodation was $150 for the 3 nights and petrol was about $120 - the van isn't nearly as economical as the Barina. Hopefully I'll get some of the expense back under workers compensation insurance.

December 17th 1998 (Thursday)

Woke at 4.30am and went back to Halls Creek - known to Kununurra residents as Hells Crack - can't say I disagree with that description much.

December 18th 1998 (Friday)

We filled in the Unfair Dismissal and Workers Comp claims today and sent them off by post. Now the fireworks should really start.

It may sound strange but now that we are temporarily living in a house again, I miss the bus. I have become so used to living in the confined space and having everything within reach I now feel uneasy about living in a house.

December 24th 1998 (Thursday)

Christmas Eve in Halls Creek - no one about and nothing to do. The only positive note is that we will be long gone from this dump this time next year.

Now the rains have really started it's impossible to go outside at night because of the mosquitos. They seem particularly hungry and a dozen or more will attack you within seconds of stepping outside.