Leaving the EP - Finally

We returned from our overseas trip hoping to earn some money before Christmas.  Unfortunately as there was so little rain this season the harvest had started early and was half way finished when we got back, all positions at Vitera had gone.  Luckily Colman still had some work waiting for him with Rhett, I ended up volunteering at the library and doing lots of tidying and organising on Momo.  Colman's work also finished earlier than hoped but on the positive side we managed to get a lot of work done on Momo especially as we had decided to sell the trailer, meaning everything had to be either shifted onto Momo or shipped back to Adelaide.  Luckily K and B took some things back to Adelaide for us and it looked like we would get everything else back without too much ado.  I did one day work (paid!) at the local kindy, and apart from that lots of socialising, cleaning, socialising and tidying.  A couple of funny incidents need to be mentioned at this point. Poor T's farm was beginning to resemble Kimba CP number 2, at one point there was D & D as well as V & D staying here, mind you we all got along well and it was good having others to talk to.  They came and went quite a few times while we were there and it was always like old friends returning, especially with D & D.  One night we had a massive thunderstorm, we were woken by the sound of a huge clap of thunder and the smell of electricity in the air.  We got up and tried to decide what to do, I thought that as we were sitting on rubber tyres we were fairly safe, until Colman pointed out that we were in fact sitting on three metal jacks.  So we decided to head over to the house, I took what was important to me, my IPad, my iPhone and Bearly, our trusty travel companion for years now.  So off we trotted, me in my dressing gown clutching my goodies.  The thunder and lightning was spectacular, a couple of trees on the farm were hit as well as one of the windmills at the end of the road. So we stood there for a couple of minutes when we heard D & D approach from the other side of the house where they were parked.  So there we were at 2am, all four of us in various state of dress watching the sky show, D and me clutching assorted goodies.  D did ask me if I was holding onto my bible, to which I laughed, funny joke, little did I know there was something else to that question, more later.  Eventually all three lighting storms passed us heading for Adelaide and we all returned to bed.  Another funny incident was when we went to O and D's place for dinner, with J and B.  Not sure if everyone remembers the last time we had dinner with D & O was at Rhetts place and I got D into trouble because she felt uncomfortable saying Grace around me and ended up getting into trouble with her son, well it appears O has a great memory.  D put all the food into the centre of the table and had asked us to help ourselves, everyone fluffed and hesitated so I thought I would get the party started and picked up the serves to start.  Just as I had them firmly clasped in my hands, O pipes up with "right, shall we say Grace".  This was a well-planned bit of sabotage.....oh well, we are now even.  Another funny incident was back at home on Momo, we all use the shower in the house and will frequently run into the others.  One morning we headed in and met D, D, D & V, I headed off to the shower and Colman chatted for a while.  Next thing he rocks up in the bathroom in stitches, turns out that while they were chatting D had turned around and said that he really should hurry up if he wanted to get to church on time! It appears they thought we were 'churchies', we then realised that in fact we do hang round with people who go to church most Sundays, hmm, I wonder could that be seen as Grace by proxy?  So yes we did and no we're weren't, but I did offer to bless D & D's caravan before they left, for what it was worth. And the last one I will mention is when a friend called past to visit while Colman was at work; she was driving her son’s car so it was not a local car.  We were having coffee when there was a knock on the door of Momo; it was the one we now refer to as The Grim Reaper.  He wanted to know if we had any pets because he was putting out poison and wanted to make sure it was all right.  This confused the bejesus out of me as we had been here for 10 months and had definitely not hidden a cat, dog or budgie in all that time.  While talking to me just outside the bus he kept looking at the strange car and trying to work out who the visitor was and and trying to peer into Momo which  is impossible from that angle.  I realised then what was going on and I wasn't inviting him in, he walked away perplexed and dying of curiosity, not sure if he ever worked out who it was, I certainly never told him.  Eventually everyone headed off and Christmas was approaching, my mother was due to arrive in Port Lincoln on the 19th and we would pick her up.  We decided to head down there a few days early and catch up with everyone, met Geoff and Jenny on the way down and then we stayed with Ross and Stefan which was great fun, also caught up with everyone at the church, Petar, Josel, Yoli, Cousin John, Toni and Lee.  (By the way, The Church is the local Pier Hotel in Lincoln, nothing more sinister).  Had a few good nights with R&S and got them addicted to The Room, a brilliant IPad game.  Picked my mother up and had a lovely few days in Lincoln with her, went a couple of times to the Marina Hotel and generally relaxed and got ready for Xmas.  We also caught up with Ike and Sandy also while there and then we were off back to Kimba for Christmas which we were spending with K & B.  We set my mother up in the house as the day we arrived it was roasting (45C), put up a Christmas tree and had a lovely time.  Saw the Kimba Christmas lights on our own personal tour, which I had to end up driving despite having finished a bottle or two prior, Colman just didn't do it right!!  Christmas Day was with K&B and their kids and was very traditional and fun, Stoney & Anna arrived in the afternoon for coffee.  Took my mother to see all the sights of Kimba including the Big Galah, not impressed with that one!  Also had lunch with Anna & Stoney before we left which was a great laugh, Stoney had this wonderful story about a watch he had to buy in Germany so that he could tell the time back here.  Only problem was that it had no light so at night he had to work it out himself, but in day time it worked very well.  I told him that I was positive that there was Irish blood in there somewhere, (xxx I’m sure your still laughing at me even now xxx)).  Must also mention another great event that took place over Christmas, I won the coveted Port Lincoln Camera Shop photo of the month competition. The theme was Christmas food and looking at the photos it was all about cookies, cakes and sweet stuff, so we decided to do a savoury take and created a fabulous (if I say so myself) Christmas tree from olives, feta, rocket, tomatoes, tuna and more. It tasted as good as it looked. Thanks for all who voted for the photo on Facebook.  Took my mother back to Lincoln and then went to a party we had been invited to on our last visit. Stayed with Cousin John and partied at Josels, the best food and the most hysterical Karaoke all night.  Still pretending we could sing at 3 am, we'll we could!  Next day we headed off to Arno Bay to spend New Year with Joyce & John at the 'shack'.  Lovely time, lovely weather ran into friends (Margaret and Roger from the 4WD trip) who had just gotten engaged, so celebrated with them too.  Met a few more great people and ran into others we were delighted to see, or not as the case may be.  Went for lots of swims, including out to the buoy with T a couple of times, didn't want to do it on my own, he would give the sharks a bit more choice!!  Had a great New Year's Day which they celebrate in style in Arno, except I got burnt to a crisp, but we all survived.  Left there on the 4th for Kimba to organise and next day to Adelaide to stay at J&J's house, swim every day, socialising every other day, and also met Leanne, Shaun and Mitch, J&J daughter and family who we will hopefully stay in contact with.  Caught up with everyone near and dear, lots of great food, great wine and wonderful company and lots of laughs.  Then when we went to stay with my mother, we met Frieda a friend of my mother’s from Cairns who was a very happy soul and a great cook, got many a tasty salad recipe from her.  Went to see the charity cycle ride of the Tour Down Under where we had a funny incident which I must mention. Got up at sparrow fart to head out and watch the good people of Adelaide ride the tour down under track from Golden Grove to Tanunda to raise money for cancer.  We were part of a sewing club my mother belongs to and who happened to be Swiss.  So we had the full complement of cowbells, bicycle horns and other assorted stuff that made a woeful racket, which we used to full effect once the first cyclist passed by, admittedly at 7am.  Next thing this halfwit rocks up to tell us that we have woken up his kids, dogs, and wife and we need to stop - now. When we didn't he went into tantrums about the Aussies, their inability to do anything proper, and how useless these bicycle riders were.  Imagine fifteen or so women, ages between 50 to 80, with Attitude, at 7 am. It was truly beautiful! We explained slowly and concisely that these were not in fact professional, but ordinary citizens doing this for a worthy cause (a new concept to him), if he didn't like it he could return to whatever hole he crawled out of and leave us Aussies with a better class of immigrant.  I think he began to realised he was on a losing streaks when the police car he tried to pull over to arrest us, gave us a huge honk of the horn, a smile and a huge wave.  Hi finally decided that maybe silence was the better part of valour when the 80 year old asked him if he had kids.  He replied "yes" to which she answered, "Heavens, they would be so ashamed of you at this point, I feel sorry for them".  Women at 7am 10 points, arrogant stupid troglodyte 0 points! The silence was deafening!  It was beautiful as it always is when you win!  After that excitement we spent the rest or our time traipsing around Adelaide, a day in McLaren Vale, a day on a boat, discovering lots of new restaurants and a day relaxing at a spa.  Our stay in Adelaide was wonderful and it was very sad to leave again but also exciting to get back to Kimba where we are now sorting ourselves out to finally head off north.  We are doing our rounds of socialising here and have caught up with many of our new found friends already. The Grim Reaper has been around killing all and sundry and as someone told me the other day, he is from the generation of "if it moves shoot it, if it doesn't chop it down", great quote with a good deal of truth in it.

On leaving Kimba I have compiled Ten golden rules for living in a country town, no one please take offence and get narky with me, this is My Diary! 

These are not necessarily in order of importance...

1. When going out anywhere dress properly, you will run into someone who knows you

2. Never talk about people, they will know each other, be related or be neighbours

3. Take notes of who is who, they have met 1 person you 100 but that is no excuse when they bail you up for a great chat in the street

4. Never assume you can nip into the supermarket, this undertaking will take at least 20 minutes possibly more

5. Watch what you say, someone else will repeat it back to you and you will need to explain

6. Keep flirting to a minimum, many folks out here don't do the whole touchy feely bit

7. Never assume you can buy whatever you want in the supermarket or butcher, you can't if it’s the wrong day

8. Be ready to be quizzed, questioned and interrogated, all in good humour but everyone want to know

9. Never repeat what anyone tells you, you will get it wrong

10. Be prepared for some great hospitality, friendliness, laughter and be ready to make great new friends

I have written this from personal experience and friends who know me well will realise that I probably broke each rule at least once. Having said that, I really don't care, the new friends we have made will join in the laughter and the rest, well as I said above, don't bother getting narky with me, oops broke rule number 5 again! :-)