ANYONE GOT A SPARE WATER PUMP?

Tal and I drove back to Forbes to attend our first Auskick session of the year, we are going to try and find a clinic each weekend wherever we are and take part. It was a fairly small Auskick compared to what we are used to in Melbourne, there were 32 kids and they split into 2 groups, 8 yrs and older, and under 8’s. I was very proud of how Tal handled himself in the new environment, there was a 10 year old called Liam who was very rough and threw Tal to the ground in a few tackles, but Tal would not leave him alone, tagged him closely and gave him back some of his own whenever the bigger kid got the ball, was very funny to watch the two of them, I don’t think Liam was used to anyone not shying away from him. That afternoon I went to have a quick look at a rugby league match just near our caravan park. There was a very different feel to the crowd than at an AFL match, quite laid back. Had a nice round of golf on Monday arvo at the Parkes golf course, played with Jim Buckley, a local who was a very nice guy and he gave me a lift back to the bus, thanks Jim! We drove 20 km out of town on Monday to visit The Dish, the largest radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere and it really is quite impressive, a funny movie was made a few years ago about the part that The Dish (title of movie) played in bringing pictures of the first moon landing to the world. While Tal and Rennie watched a 3D movie about space in the next theatre, Helen, Jarra and I saw an informative 20 min movie all about the Dish and how it works. Helen and I were both amazed at some of the facts about the vastness of our universe like : Light year = how far light travels in a year at the rate of 300,000 km/second OR 9,642,000,000,000km ; the moon is 1 light second away, the sun is 8 light minutes away, our closest star is 4 light years away which is Alpha Centuri which is one of the pointers for the Southern Cross, it really makes you think about how vast our universe is. The other amazing fact is that the amount of light that they study there in a year would light up a 100 watt light bulb for about 1 millionth of a second. On the way home through the massive roadworks on the Newell Highway which was Jarra’s highlight of the day, heaps of diggers, rollers, compactors, bull dozers and other assorted roadmaking equipment, all of which he loves, Helen was telling the kids about when she was young, going to work with her Dad when he was working on the roads back on Mull. She mentioned that she did not even get car sick on the drive there as it would have been the last time her Dad would have taken her in his work truck. Rennie asked from the back seat,”but did you get truck sick Mum?” We left Parkes this morning after seeing Troy the truck mechanic at Triple T’s truck repairs. As I was doing the pre-trip check I noticed a little water leak coming from the water pump so made a few phone calls and found Troy who said he would have a look at it, but only after they had finished their smoko. Smoko consisted of five rather large, bearded mechanics in their greasy overalls sitting around a small table in a tiny, dark, dingy and extremely smoky room, with pictures of semi-naked women adorning the walls. After consulting with Troy we decided to nurse her to Dubbo as finding any parts for a water pump like ours around there was about as easy as finding rocking horse poo, he said. Saw a sign on the way to Dubbo that said 942km to Brisbane, not too far to go now, we are starting to get excited about our trip to Fiji, we so need a holiday at the moment!!! Ha! Fixed the plumbing problem at last, it was Plan F that finally worked, incorporating some of Plan D as well. In Dubbo I found Ray Payne in the Yellow Pages and he is sending his young bloke Matthew around tomorrow morning to pull out the water pump. I will then send it to Don Kyatts Spare parts in Sydney, who will send it to Melbourne to be repaired. It will then be sent back to us the same way and re-installed after Easter. So we have about a week here in Dubbo, we got the last site in the caravan park here, it is fairly ordinary and next to the airport (which is handy if you want to squeeze into a sardine tin with wings and fly somewhere) and the juvenile detention centre ( which might come in handy if the kids play up too much), but all the other ones in Dubbo were booked out as the school holidays start in NSW after Easter. We plan to spend a couple of days at the Western Plains Zoo which we have heard a lot of good things about, we are also expecting some mail at the Post Office which is quite exciting. There is a place near here that has boomerang making and throwing lessons that we might check out as well. NEXT MORNING Went for a run to the airport down the road this morning, I love the smell of aviation fuel in the morning…….. It was quite lucky that I did end up there as I had an early morning call and the toilet in the departure lounge seemed an appropriate place to go. Matthew the young mechanic was here bang on 8.30 am and had the water pump out by 9.15, a very nice, quiet young guy. So glad I did not attempt it myself as I fleetingly considered. So it is back on its way to Melbourne for a new seal ARF ARF.