Spending Time with Family

In Albany a few months ago we noticed water in one of our cupboards. It seemed too much of a coincidence that it was the cupboard holding the hot water service, but after 3 visits to the local repair people we were convinced by them that it wasn't the hot water service, but a leak coming in from the outside, and they said they would need to keep the van for several days to identify it. Given the van is our home this wasn't practical, so we booked it in to a repair place just north of Sydney, near where John's sister Diane lives.

Last week we left Lithgow and hauled the van over the Blue Mountains - an operation requiring a great deal of use of second gear both going up and coming back down. We got to John's sister's place on the Central Coast, unpacked the things we thought we'd need for a week, and took the van over to be repaired (hopefully). They took one look and said it was probably the hot water service, as if it was an outside leak there would be staining on the caravan wall. Sure enough a couple of days later we got a phone call from them, saying they had taken out the hot water service and it had several corrosion holes, a new service has now been installed and everything should be ready to go again tomorrow. We weren't very happy at the short life span of quite an expensive item - after all it is still less than 3 years since we got the van. We have been assured that the problem was that the old service did not have an anode, so the aluminium tank corroded easily. Apparently the new tank will be fitted with an anode, which will corrode and need to be replaced at least annually, which should be an easier and cheaper exercise than replacing the entire tank.

Meanwhile we have taken the opportunity to visit with John's family - not just Diane and her family, but his 2 children and 2 grandchildren, plus his brother and sister-in-law. Wendy's legs have had a bit of a workout - she and Diane climbed Mt Blackwall in Ettalong, not a hugely long walk but very steep, and on another day we went 10-pin bowling with John's 6 year old grandson. Needless to say John won, but Wendy did manage to just scrape home second. Not sure whether the same will be said next year!

A big thank you to Diane and Steve for their hospitality, hopefully we'll be able to return the favour when we tire of the nomad life and finally settle down.