A quick stop at Gin Gin

We checked out of Karrinyup on the Sunday, giving Mum and Dad the chance to participate in the loading of Baby Bertha, the unloading of the black water tank, to “have a ride in the bus” and to watch us pump $1500 worth of diesel into her tanks! We found a fantastically cheap petrol station and filled her to the click for the first time ever. We are hoping that might get us somewhere near Broome??

Mum had arranged for us all to catch up with Rene and Christobel before he jetted off to the Architecture Biennale in Venice. Rene is like my cousin, for want of an easy way to describe our relationship. We met for lunch at their beautiful house in Gin Gin, giving us the chance to admire the architecture, the amazing property and to eat their delicious cooking! Dunc managed to squeeze Bertha into a spot near the house and we ended up staying overnight, even though Rene and Christobel went home to Fremantle after lunch.

We had a wonderful afternoon, and Christobel made Angus’ day by taking him on the quad bike. Angus was rather jealous of Max’s quad bike, which he described as a “Big mini quad, Mum” “You mean a quad bike. Its just a normal quad, Angus.” “No! It’s bigger than our mini quad, but smaller than a quad. Maybe its a medium quad!” Sadly Max wasn’t at Gin Gin, and her quad battery wasn’t happy, so we were confined to the normal quad. Which, considering the rate these kids have been growing at, wasn’t an issue in the end!

We waved Rene and Christobel off, and then had a lovely quiet evening. The kids had a shower and Lexie was able to wash her hair (Neither Lexie nor I will wash our hair on Bertha. We are NOT going to contribute any hairs to her hairball issues!!) We raided Christobel’s veggie garden and had some yummy corgettes and aubergines, because the children don’t really like zucchini or eggplant, though the ratatouille seemed to go down quite well.

The next morning we swept the house out and prepared to say goodbye to Mum and Dad. I’m not quite sure how I ended up with a whole house to sweep - I rather like my 5-minute cleaning routine on Bertha! Thankfully I had some helpful assistants…

The kids took me on a quick spin around the boundary before we packed up, which was also heaps of fun. Our time in Gin Gin was a blissful break. We bid farewell to Mum and Dad who headed to Margaret River and then back to Melbourne, while we headed to Fremantle to await delivery of a new inverter Duncan had ordered to replace the original one in Bertha, which was driving him mad.