A LIFESTYLE REKINDLED

 It has been many months since my last posting and as a consequence I return feeling as if I am reporting for the first time. A forced sabbatical, brought about by the need to address a significant medical issue that had been troubling me for some time, meant a pause was unavoidable. Dental problems reached a point where continuing to ignore them was no longer possible. What I thought would be a simple fix, maybe requiring one or two visits to a Dentist, soon morphed into a protracted cycle of surgery followed by periods of healing then more surgery etc. In fact 7 months were required to complete this unholy procedure and before I could contemplate resuming my travels. Who said that modern dentistry was painless?
  While laid up I did take the time to have some modifications carried out on the Coaster that included a partial refit to make sleeping and seating arrangements more practical and the addition of additional Solar Charging capacity that soon proved its worth. A new TV, Laptop Computer and Mobile Phone were also purchased to improve entertainment and communication capability. 
   Eventually, during the first week of July, I finally set off with no specific long term plan in place. Prior to my toothy ordeal I had the idea to travel to Cooktown on the southern side of the York Peninsula in far north Queensland and then to follow the Savannah Way west via Normanton and eventually to reach Mt Isa. Unfortunately, the late start would invariably mean that I would encounter the northern wet season, something that neither me nor the Coaster were competent in handling with confidence. So, unusually for me, I decided not to preplan this adventure and to simple drift around for up to a year initially heading north into Queensland mainly to escape the now annoying winter chill.
  I didn't get far though before the new pleasure of roaming was interrupted only a couple of days out. The usually extremely reliable old Coaster began to grumble becoming increasingly difficult to start. At first I thought that the very cold mornings being at times less than zero degrees were the cause until I managed to flatten the starter battery a couple of times trying to get going. Limping into Merriwa in the upper Hunter Valley NSW, only 200 or so kilometres from Nelson Bay, my starting point, I managed to find a Mechanic who discovered the cause and after a 3 day wait for parts and with a new battery I was again on my way.
  Over the next few weeks by necessity, I travelled familiar a route and although I did stop at some new places here and there and managed to meet up with some old friends along the way there was not much that motivated me to write until recently. Now that I have finally reached warmer climes in western Queensland, where I feel entirely comfortable, the inner journalist in me has reawakened and I am confident that I will in future posts again provide some interesting insights into life on the road.