We had a friend of Mals from work come and do the wheel bearings on the van during the week and he checked out the brakes for us too so we knew that they were all good. Mal had to rewire the external lights on the van as the old ones just weren't working....as usual once he got in to the job he realised how easy it was - ah Mal!!! Now he can add 'auto' to his title of electrician!!! We haven't got round to getting the gas tested yet, but since we were staying in the caravan park it didn't matter anyway, and we made sure we tucked in our faithful heater which kept the van lovely and snuggly.
Esperance is a good 4.5 hour drive from Kalgoorlie....its a very long and boring drive..but when your feet are on the sand and your looking out at the gorgeous aqua blue sea and listening to those waves, it all seems to feel worth it...needless to say Chippie just loved it and had the time of his life finding sticks and digging in the sand once again.
It was good to be able to give the van a go living in it, we could pull out the awning for the first time and make sure it was all okay, and give it a good clean too. As usual there are things that we want to add to make it easier to live in but thankfully the bed turned out okay as its only a double and Mal was worried it was going to be uncomfortable - but we all had a really good sleep last night. Considering its so much smaller than the previous van and doesn't have the luxury of hot water and an en-suite, its really quite livable.
Our next adventure will be free camping somewhere along the coastline....so we have a few things to get sorted to make that happen over the next wee while. Here are some photos of our weekend away
