The Snailhouse Challenge

How cute is she!

Hi Millicent Harry William and John. Here is the:-

Snailhouse Challenge.

All you have to do is jot down the answers to all the questions - all are contained in the Blog.
These could be either emailed to the Old Blogger or checked with her when you come to visit.

The prize for those with the correct answers will be lunch at the Lolly Shop after a visit to Mutton's magic store to choose a prize. A small Princess may have some help from a gallant Knight Pa said.

Tall people (Uncle Glenn) are not eligible for a prize!!

1. How many flat tyres happened on the trip?
2. What was the new addition for this trip that Nanma loved?
3. Which famous Australian poet walked the Dowling Track in the middle of summer?
4. What town has a dinosaur named after it?
5. How many States and Territories did the snailhouse visit on this trip?
6. How many border crossings did she make?
7. How many kilometers did she do all up?
8. What did miss snail throw at the cows?
9. What state was she in at the time?
10. What creature likes to hang out in loos?
11. What animal decided to pull into the garage and fill up with gas at Turkey Creek?
12. What was on the menu for the croc at Parry Creek lagoon?
13. What is camel power?
14. Where was the last place the Snailhouse camped?
15. What famous Australian was born there?????
16. What is the name of the Gulf that miss snail visited?
17. What was the most northern town she visited - it is famous for its Gorge?
18. What was the most western town?
19. What is the animal this town is famous for - (a movie was made about it)?
20. What did Nanma buy in Bendigo on the way home that the snailhouse is not happy about?

Have fun kids.
Love you all
Nanma and Pa

The Blogger has gone for a shower.

I was in strife for leaving out this Photo when I did big loads. Mary thought the little car in the background helped with scale.
Whilst here though I will give you some of the numbers Mary says are of little interest.
By the time we get home we will have covered over 16000kms, including all the U-turns to go back and see a bird (possibly).
Both fuel and camp fees have noticeably increased this year, most Parks are over $30 per night, usually $36 or $38. WE heard that on Cable beach at Broome the daily fee for a powered site was $55.
Last year i would have said fuel averaged about $1.75, but this year somewhere round $1.84/5. The most I paid was $2.60 at Billiluna at the top of the Canning Stock route.
I tried to put numbers on the Snailhouse, ignoring running costs that would be required whatever we were towing. This is what I came up with.
Forgive the earlier mistakes the blog won't let me take the cursor back.
I started with the purchase price then added the deluxe inclusions (like espresso makers) to get a cost number, then I subtracted the value of all the bits and pieces I'll be able to move to the Birdhouse(like espresso makers).
The number I came up with when divided by the number of days we have lived in the Snailhouse in the last five years gave me a daily cost. The total number of kilometers we have travelled (almost 80,000km) gave me a per kilometre cost.
By feeding all those numbers into an Algorithm I have been working on for 40 years I came up with costings for our daily use of the Snailhouse. Remember these are per person so must be doubled to account for the two of us.
Each day, for sitting in the comfort of the dining area and enjoying a cooked breakfast overlooking some amazing and some very ordinary places $0.75
In the Navy expense accounts always doubled the breakfast figure for lunch, so enjoying lunch each day in the snail house cost $1.50.
That makes $3.00 per head for cordon bleue dinners every night.
Using the average cost per km arrived at earlier it cost $0.50 per head to move the accomodation, which equals the cost per head per night of $3.00 to have a comfortable night in a warm bed.
This adds up to $16.50 for two people per day. If you accept these numbers, the Snailhouse owes us nothing but has given us much.
The Blogger is rattling at the door now so I'm off
Cheers
The editor

The last Campsite

The limping Snailhouse is enjoying resting on the bank of her favourite river preparing for the last leg home to Deloraine. This hopefully will be her last memory of being on the road.
She has been an amazing old girl and will enjoy being the Deloraine Snailhouse Clubhouse for small persons.

She will no boubt be miffed when the Birdhouse appears but she sure has some great adventures to remember. Chucking a wheel into a cow paddock, ploughing knee deep through chocolate brown mud for 80kms before she had to sit for 5 days on Glenormiston Station till the road dried out, having a timber corset screwed on at Parry Creek Farm in the Kimberly (can be seen on the left of the door) to name a few.
I suspect she is the only caravan ever to have wire stitches. John now thinks he should have been a plastic surgeon exploring the possibility of tie-wire sutures.



  

The blogger

The Blogger hard at work in the snailhouse, probably for the last time. Tomorrow we will put our limping heroine on the road to Braidwood.

the last couple

The Church camp.

Found the wheel this morning, had crossed the road twice. Appears that loose nuts are the likely cause.

Still more, should have been a brain surgeon.

The repairs in progress

More!

At least the camping fees were cheap.
Now a photo we hope

This was the wound the wheel made as it headed off quickly ahead.

Poor Snailhouse

It is ironic that we would end up in a Presbyterian Church ground as John's Great Grandfather was a Moderator of this Church both in the Hebrides and in Victoria. Spooky!

The Blog is playing up like the snailhouse but I will try to post some more photos.

This is why!

After we left Kaniva we headed for the Little Desert to discover with the recent rain all of the tracks were closed. We drove through the centre on the only bitumen road suprised to rediscover the sandiness of the area.
We drove down through Horsham and on to Marong just outside Bendigo for the night with the intention of visiting the Jayco dealer to look at a possible replacement for the Snailhouse.

Well she did not take to that idea too kindly because as we left Bendigo via Rochester she decided to throw her right wheel off into a dairyfarmer's paddock as we were doing 90kms per hour.

We had just passed the deserted church so my friend did a u turn on one wheel and a hub and waddled the old girl back to the church pull off. The gate was locked so himself took the gate off its hinges and in we went.
By now it is raining. A walk along the road did not produce the absentee wheel and no obvious dead cows so the decision was made to put the old girl up on blocks and have lunch!!

John phoned Doug the gentleman who had been so helpful at the Jayco Dealers. Up shot - we drove back into Bendigo with the hub and the guys in the Jayco workshop kindly produced another for us, put the spare bearings John just happened to be carrying in liberally greased.

While that was happening I bought a Birdhouse.


    

Just when you thought it was all over!!!



Why would we be posting a photo of a deserted church 13 kms from Rochester Victoria?