Day 65 Esperance

Jacob’s Birthday
When you’re 4, there are only two days of the year that you get up before 6am. One is Christmas and the other is your birthday and the surrounding holiday makers became aware very early that today was Jacob’s birthday. The noise began at about 5:45 with birthday cuddles, present giving, and then pancakes with maple syrup. Throughout it all, Jacob let everyone know that today was the day Jacob Nelson Peter Dinter was one finger older. The excitement continued after presents and breakfast with birthday messages and calls from friends and family, and Jacob filled in the gaps playing with the new toys Jacqui had miraculously kept hidden, in our own version of The Tardis.
Immediately after my responsibilities as Chief Pancake Maker had concluded, I headed out to the industrial area of Esperance looking for someone to check over the Jeep. I’d finally decided to replace the battery and keep the old one as a spare, as well as get a quote on replacing the shock absorbers. The problem was always going to be finding someone that could do the work in the time frame available; i.e. today or tomorrow. We’re all keen to move on from Esperance as it’s mostly been cold and windy here. I found Darren’s A1 Auto Repairs and Darren seemed competent so I agreed to come back after lunch while he called around to get quotes on the parts needed.
While Darren did his work, I headed back to the van as we needed to move ourselves to another spot before 1pm. We packed up the chairs and the awnings, pulled up all the stakes and disconnected the water and power. We lowered the roof and had the van ready to hook on to the car Car, and then we waited. Checkout here is 1pm and until the site was vacant, they wouldn’t tell us, to which site we’d be moving. Finally at midday, we got the call that we’d be in the same row and only 3 doors down, on the other side of the road. Approximately 12 meters from our existing location.
The move, from start to finish took about 45 minutes and I then took Jacqui, Jacob, and his brothers into town to see a movie for his birthday, while I headed back to the mechanic. The battery was replaced and the electrics checked to ensure nothing was draining the power from the battery, and the old battery was put on a charger for collection tomorrow. Quotes had come back for the shockies and with Jeep parts hard to get, the only ones available in Esperance are Connie’s. According to Darren, these are the Ferrari of shockies and at almost $600 a pair plus labour, I’ve decided to keep my $800 and wait until I get to a larger town where I can have Monroe’s or something similar installed. Never-the-less, the car now starts just fine and while we might be driving a little slower, we’re confident we won’t finish up stuck on the Nullarbor Plain using the satphone to call the NRMA.
Meanwhile, back at the van, I completed some paperwork National Foods are waiting on, before collecting the family from the movies. We had birthday cake, with Auntie Martina joining in to sing Happy Birthday via Skype, and we then headed into town for a birthday dinner. With the local Pizza place shut on a Monday, we settled for Chinese. Even though it was only 8pm, 3 quick hands of cards were all we could manage before it all became too much for us. It’s been yet another eventful day.
Cheers,
Jorg