First road trip in Gino's Dream

It’s been such a long time since I uploaded my blog, I really don’t know where to start.  The  reason I haven’t been updating is because it was starting to look like a medical blog and not the travel blog it was supposed to.  Having said that, I will update on my condition briefly, and then get back to the travel.  I had my 11th round of chemo on Friday 21/12/12.  My tumors have shrunk to half the size they were 3 months ago and the oncologist is really happy with that.  Well, not just the oncologist actually, we are really happy with that.  We couldn’t have anticipated such a good result considering I was only given an 18% chance of actually responding to it, and considering I stopped responding to the chemo I was having before hand, which was supposed to be the miracle one.   Unfortunately, I can only have 6 of this particular one at a time.  I may be able to have another 6 at the end, but they will have to calculate how much I have had and see if it is worth starting me on it again, because there is only so much that can be given to any one person because of the damage it does to the heart.  What does it matter I say, if it’s right at the end of my life doesn’t that mean I am going to die anyway, so what difference does it make if I die of cancer or heart failure.  But, that’s how it is and there’s nothing I can do about it. 

It’s nearly one year since my dad died and I still miss him terribly.  I have dreamt about him a few times, and sometimes I am sure he is here with me.  I have smelt him beside me and sometimes, I just sense him there.  One time, when I really was not feeling well and feeling sorry for myself, the words “It’s not time yet”, actually came into my head.   It’s really strange actually, because I’m sure they came from dad, and he was telling me to keep going.  I don’t even remember thinking about not fighting but maybe in my subconscious mind, I was thinking of giving up.  I have never told anyone this, and I’m sure Terry is going to question me about it as soon as he reads it, but I took it as a sign that I have to keep going no matter what, and that is what I am doing.  I am fit and healthy at the moment, well, as healthy asI can be with stage 4 ovarian cancer.  The oncologist said it would take about 6 weeks for the chemo to start working its way out of my body, and then I won’t be feeling so tired all the time.  I am looking forward to that time, because I miss being able to do things.  I hate being tired and having to have a rest all the time.  I am just looking forward to being “normal” for a while.  

So now I will leave my health there for the moment and tell you about Gino’s Dream.

It’s been a long hard year, but we finally managed to get Gino’s Dream registered.  That was one of the highlights of our year.  It wasn’t easy, every time we called the transport department to see what the next step was, we were told a different story.  I think it depended on who we spoke to and what mood they were in.  One person would tell us we didn’t need a fixed cooking appliance in the bus, the next person would tell us we did.  One person would tell us we needed to get the work signed off by an engineer in Burnie, another person would tell us the local person who had been guiding us all the way would be able to do it.  Then the next person would tell us that no that is not the case, he is not qualified to sign off on anything.  In the end, we called the mechanic, he took the bus to the workshop and let the local fellow know where the bus  was, and it came back and all we needed was the seatbelt compliance plate to be screwed in and it would pass, and we would able to get it registered.  The seats and seat belts had been passed a few weeks beforehand, there was just a delay getting the plate.  For some reason, it took weeks for it to be sent, but it finally arrived, and Gin’s Dream was finally registered.  With the bus registered and insured we were keen to take him out for a drive.  Every time we planned on going out, something came up and we had to postpone it.  Finally, se decided on Boxing Day.  Nothing is going to stand in our way this time, Terry said.  Well we nearly didn’t make it.  I did some washing before we set off, and the washing machine stopped half way through.  Checking the troubleshooting guide, I learnt it was due to fluff in the filter.  That turned into a major operation, with Terry having to take the front of the washing machine off, then taking the filter out and cleaning it up.  I had washed the cat’s bed a few days earlier, and hadn’t realised there was a tassel on it, and it came apart and wrapped itself around the wheel in the filter.  (we have a front loader).  I normally hand wash the cat’s bed, but for some reason I threw it it the washing machine this time.  I’ll never do that again.  This set us back over an hour, and I wasn’t sure if it was worth going out so late, 

Terry said, with daylight saving, it will still be daylight till about 9, so we should just go, so we did.  We set off, and it felt great.  I must admit, I was a bit nervous at first, but soon settled down and enjoyed the ride.  Horatio looked out the window for a while, then curled up on my lap and went to sleep.  Towards the end, he was getting a bit restless, and was pleased when we arrived and was able to go out and cock his leg.  We drove to Hadspen, which is about 85 K.m.’s from home.  It’s a nice little day camp by the river.  There was a small playground, b.b.q’s and tables, there was a powerpoint in each toilet, and it was dog friendly.   We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch, went for a little walk, then had a rest on the bed.  It was nice to lie in bed and look out the window and see trees on one side and the picnic area and the river on the other.  At home, we lie on the bed and see a house on each side.  We got back home about 5.40p.m. and were pleased with our afternoon away.  We promised ourselves that next time we will head off earlier and stay away longer.  We hope to get out again New Years Day, and make a full day of it.  

Gino’s Dream handled like a dream.  The only problem we discovered is that the speedo doesn’t work.  It gets to 60 and doesn’t go any further, so we really have no idea how fast we were actually going, however, at some stages, I’m sure we cracked the 100. I do know that every time we got to an overtaking lane, we were overtaken by at least half a dozen cars.  Like most buses this age, the petrol guage doesn’t work either, so we have no idea how much diesel we actually have.  We have asked about getting it fixed, and were told it’s going to be a difficult job, so have decided to not worry about it.  We will just make sure we carry spare diesel and, once we are actually on the road, we should get to know how far we can go on a tank and fill up when we need to.  It could take a while, but we will get used to it.  I just don’t know if I am game enough to fill up the tank and keep going until we run out of fuel.  I don’t really like the idea of pushing a 40 foot bus along the highway until we get to a petrol station.  Wouldn’t that be a sight.  And with that, I'll leave you for now.  Hopefully, my next post wont be too far away.

Here are some photos of South Esk Lions Park, where we parked for lunch.

Terry was parking the bus and this woman
pulled up right in front of us
and parked right there.

The river

The playground