‘West to East Adventure 2024’ - Kidnippy Rest Stop (Nundroo SA) to Kimba

Too many vegetables, the crow & some cracking tunes!!!

I’m not sure how many vegetarians I thought I was travelling with but I can confirm none of them showed up, & just as I was setting up for my sponge bath before bed at 8pm last night, I remembered I had a decent sized stash of greenery that either needed to be cooked or handed over to the veggie police today. So into the frypan it went & sponge bath was delayed 🤪

And just in case we thought yesterday’s fuckuppery was complete… enter the most disastrous disaster of all…. My USB ports at the back of the bus have stopped working… & that means NO FAIRY LIGHTS 😭😭😭 This is very very BAD!!! (I wonder if my roadside assist covers fairy light emergencies 🤔)

(I have managed to pick up an extra cigarette lighter adapter to plug in under the bed so I’ll at least be able to charge my phone 🤪)

This morning started with my now regular routine (exercise, walk, coffee, cleanup blah blah blah) & we were on the road by 7.30. I don’t want to get cocky (coz the universe usually steps in with a firm “settle down bitch” when I do) but I scored on the fuel price again today. Nundroo Roadhouse at $1.76 instead of the $1.80 I’d made note of. A saving of half a maxibon. (It all adds up)

I wasn’t too far into our journey when a crow decided to kamikaze into the front of the bus. I checked the mirrors to see if I could see where it ended up (I couldn’t) & thought to myself… I hope it didn’t end up lodged in the bull bar. Whilst I have no issue, emptying my portaloo, cleaning my own windscreen & digging myself out of a bog (all ‘boy jobs’ according to the unwritten laws of couples who caravan) dealing with deadness totally grosses me out 😬

Coaster Karaoke took over with todays absolute cracker of a playlist Kylea relives her 80’s/90’s /naughties prime

Side note - I’ve built these playlists ranging from 10-40 hours play time & usually listen on shuffle but Spotifys shuffle function is absolutely shit & I end up hearing the same 4ish hours of songs on repeat. This trip I’ve decided to ditch the shuffle & listen to them all

In their entirety & im loving it sick!!!!

Anywhooooo…. Arriving at Penong, I pull over to use the loo. Jump out of Beryl, say howdy to the fairly rough looking dude emptying the bins, have a wee & remember the crow.

Well… {insert suspenseful pause}… I check the bull bar &… shit - the crows stuck in the bull bar. But not only is the crow stuck in the bull bar… the bloody things still ALIVE!!! And when I say alive, I mean pretty fucked up but still breathing. Holy shit… the only thing worse than dealing with deadness, is dealing with aliveness that needs to be made dead before dealing with deadness. Fuck!!!!

There’s clearly only one thing to do… Eye lash batting mode activated! Kylea wanders over to fairly rough looking dude (who’s name is Morg)

Kylea: “Ummmmm I’m wondering if you might have a stronger stomach than mine - {informs him of predicament} Morg: “Got a hammer?”

With hammer retrieved from my tool bag, my new found knight in shining armour proceeded to ‘take care of’ the crow, handshakes were had, selfies were taken & gratitude was expressed.

A quick perusal of Australia’s biggest windmill ‘Comet’ while we were there & we on our way again.

Next stop was Ceduna where we had to hand over a small bag of coleslaw mix to the vegetable police & then spent a couple of hours emptying my loo, trying out a new maxibon flavour (Peanut butter & jam - OK but wouldn’t have it again) & grabbing some supplies (including some antihistamines for my poor itchy dog & a hopefully decent led light to help me see when cooking outside at night)

We arrive at Kimba, check into the Caravan park (tonight we will have power, water and a REAL shower - plus Netflix for a special treat) and whilst checking in I have all illusions that maybe I look OK for my age shattered with these 6 words uttered by the young Indian gentleman checking me in… “Do you have a seniors card?” 😳 😂😂😂 Funny but also… WTF???

We find our spot, plug in to power, & connect the hose to fill up the water tank & FUCK… the hose comes away from the connector on the tank side & starts emptying the contents of my water tank. Shit shit shit….. with thumb over hose trying to stop the dumping, my brain is scrambling trying to figure out how this whole contraption works & what the bloody hell I’m gonna do to fix it. 😳 Thankfully I managed to get it sorted without too much drama & I now know one more thing about my bus that I probably should’ve already known 🤪 Clearly I’m living life on a need to know basis & today I needed to know… and now I do! Winning!!!

With all that done, Hazel & I went for a wander to check out the silo art & big galah before coming back to camp to boil some eggs for future lunches, have some dinner & then have a REAL SHOWER 🚿 & wash my hair. Heaven!