I was woken this morning to “There’s something wrong with this van and it’s my wife!!!”

It was cold last night. So cold Chris kept coming over my side and trying to steal my heat. I had turned the heater on to a low setting before I went to bed. Chris got up in the night and turned the thermostat up. It made no difference. This morning he got up. The setting was on fan – not heat. The outside air was being blown in.

Chris said “I thought to myself should I check the setting. Nah Leanne knows how to use the heater.”  I said well you did predict this trip was going to be disastrous … (Let’s hope the disasters remain on this scale touch wood).

Moving on. Girls you will understand this. And all people who have a toilet in a caravan. We are staying at an ensuite site. This is our ensuite site:

I wanted to have a shower this morning just to use the ensuite shower. Last night I showered at the bore bath. Kind of a waste. This morning right before I showered Chris grabbed the ensuite key.

“You better not be about to spoil it!!” He came back sheepishly saying he didn’t spoil it there is a fan in there. 

Everyone knows the rules! Ones in the ensuite (or caravan if there is a loo in the van)  everything else in the main camp facilities. Now I have to say I stayed in my first ensuite site and didn’t have a shower!  I wonder if there was a tiny subconscious part of Chris’ brain paying me back for the heater 

This morning before we left Lightening Ridge we did an underground mine sculpture tour. It was recommended by the so helpful Information Centre and it was a very good recommendation. On the way there we passed the mini golf. Yesterday I said you can tell a town by the Information Centre and mini golf. This proves my point. Mini golf Lightening Ridge style.

Here are the photos from the Sculpture Tour at Chambers of The Black Hand. We really enjoyed it. There was also a couple of films on mining in the area. Fascinating. Recommend this tour and watching the movies – but make sure you get there on time. I thought because it was self guided there was some flexibility but no – we nearly missed our time slot – they do a safety briefing first before you tour alone.

Some photos of Lightening Ridge I thought it was very similar to Coober Pedy with just so much junk everywhere.

Some random things observed on our drive today.

1. There was another Donald Trump assassination attempt. From our Prime Minister: “What we know is Donald Trump is safe. And that is a good thing.” Lucky he spelt that out for the nation.
2. They need a warning that the Welcome to Qld sign is coming up. I missed it. Quite disappointing. (I did get the Welcome to Outback Queensland sign so that was some consolation).
3. There is lots of road kill and still lots of caravans. I started a tally of both. Two wild pigs, 1 emu, a dingo, couple of kangaroo and a couple of unknown. I stopped the roadkill tally because it seemed a little depressing. Chris stopped the caravan tally.
4. The side mirrors required for caravans mean no pictures out the side window. A bit limiting when the windscreen is covered in bug splotches.
5. Roads are better on the Queensland side of the border. We were bouncing around all over the place on the NSW side. It wasn’t perfect on the Qld side but a lot better.
6. We lost all radio stations at some point after the Qld border – even Triple J and that’s everywhere. Thank goodness for Spotify. We did get reception of different stations as we came into towns.
7. Diesel is the same price or cheaper than Melbourne at all stops so far- a nice surprise.

I realised we made a terrible etiquette blunder today. We haven’t been acknowledging other caravan drivers with the obligatory whole hand, half hand or lift finger wave. I realised when I saw someone do it to us. How can I have forgotten that? I said to Chris you have to acknowledge every caravan driver. He needed some reminding at first. I asked if I still needed to remind, and in my defense he said yes. Then on a reminder he made a comment about not reminding him. I said ok, I will check your competency. If I observe that you can do it on your own, I will stop reminding you. I think I have been working in training for too long. He did prove to be competent by the end of the day mostly. Sorry to all people we ignored.

We are staying overnight at Roma on the way to Carnavon Gorge. We are staying at the Roma Gun Club because it’s only $25 night. They have a bar on site. It’s not at all what I expected. I thought there might be a grassed area out the back with a few vans. I reckon there are at least 60 vans parked here tonight. A sight to see. Not a pretty sight to be sure – but interesting. Staff are friendly. We walked around to check out all the different types of vans and had a drink at the bar.

We may be out of range for a few days but hopefully will be back to blogging after that.