What happened in the shed on Boxing Day?

The men went to work! They modified the fuel caps and pipes...so now we CAN fill up at the servo. And even more exciting, they fitted Digby.

Digby is our Ironman 12000lb winch!

The trial run. Worked a treat...only 1 minor hiccup but then.....purred like a kitten....or like a tiger???? 

Uncle Stu made sure the boys didn't run the Navara into the barbed wire fence. Check out the finished tray...looks great hey?

Success! Thanks to all the supervisors and TAs. And that's how you get a ute ready for a big drive. She looks TUFF! All done now, just waiting on the Carry Me Camper (due in Brisbane at the end of January) and maybe a set of roof racks. 

CHRISTMAS with the FAM

FAMILY ARE LIKE FUDGE - MOSTLY SWEET WITH A FEW NUTS

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOUR LIFE, THE GREATEST HAPPINESSES 

ARE FAMILY HAPPINESSES. (Joyce Brothers)

Christmas Day was spent in Biloela at Dad and Mum Van Itallie's place. It was a great time of catching up with the extended Strelow family, including aunts, uncles, cousins and 2nd cousins. There were 36 of us who enjoyed a roast lunch on the deck after the biggest gift giving session I have ever been a part of. Jon spent a fair bit of Boxing Day in the shed....next post I'll show you what he was up to. Actually, can you recognise him in the pic below?? He tried a new look for Christmas 08.... which did not go unnoticed:))) and certainly provoked a number of comments.

Mark, Dad, Jon, Andrew

Mum, Katherine, Kirsty

(It was my first Van Itallie Christmas....much to Mum and Katherine's delight, the boy/girl balance is improving!)

Then we made the 5 hour trip south to the Litzow family Christmas at the lake. Again, a special time with family sharing presents, stories and great food. I think the last time we were all together was our wedding....August 07. All the kids are growing up, so much so that they all (except 1 year old Ben) had a spin on the tube behind Grandpa's tinny. What fun!

Megan, Dad, Erin, Mum

Jon, Daniel

Kirsty, Nathan

Benjamin, Taryn

Bradley, Andrew

Andie, Brielle

Good Bye My Friend!

We said farewell to a faithful friend today. Kirsty's lovely old Lancer is no longer a part of our family after we sold it to a girl in Biloela this afternoon. Yay! Another Yay! is God's goodness in allowing Kirsty to drive it out to Bilo and miss all the storms (and the hail) that swept across the region. The girl we sold the car to was very excited, so it was easy letting the car go in the end...even after such a close and trouble-free relationship for the past 9 years. Meanwhile, that takes us another step closer to hitting the road next year, helping us pay for a couple of tanks of fuel and other goodies like....a winch, portaloo and big shovel!  Another step forward was also made by Jon and his Dad finishing the tray for the ute. Yay! x 3!!! 

PS. We'll post a picture of the new 'tuff' tub-less tray-full Navara soon.

My My! How Times Change!

Once there was a young man....single, in possession of 2 motorbikes, owner of a ute with a tub and with lots of free Saturdays to ride like the wind!

The Gr8 Unveiling....not quite!

There's still too many cable ties holding the new tray together for it to be said that 'the tray's finished.' So until next time, you'll just have to be satisfied with a picture of another step in the process. In order for the Candy Camper people to cut out the right length of canvas for our rig, we had to do the 600kg weight test. Thanks to our Port City friends for their enthusiastic assistance with this task. So yes....we are another step closer to owning a Navara that's ready and able to carry a camper. Yay! A huge THANK-YOU to the incomparable Mr Roger Van Itallie (Jon's Dad) for all his amazing work in helping us get to this stage. Dad is a whiz with a welder and put in hours of work in a stinking hot tin shed to make and paint our creation. U R a legend Dad! How awesome to have such generous and skilled family to help you out in life. And a huge THANKS to Mum VI too who so generously shared her husband with us for so long to do the work.....even on their anniversary:)

The 'GR8 TRAY MAKING ADVENTURE'

Stage 2....measuring, cutting, welding, grinding, painting and all sorts of other fun things that boys can do in sheds!

Stage 1 ......remove the tub from the Navara. It has a new resting place by the chook pen. I have to say, the Navara looked more than a little weird naked:)

New Boots & Old Stuff

Saturday was 'G Day!' Our Garage Sale took place, along with another 17 in Gladstone apparently. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have sold as much of our old stuff as we did, considering how much competition was out there. The day started incredibly early...1am and the storm started, so I was up moving some of the gear we'd set up the night before out of the 'wet zone'.  By 2am it was bucketing down and Jon and I had to move more stuff and sweep the excess water out of the carport. We were told by a customer later in the morning that we'd got 2.5 inches in the 2 hrs of storms. Anyway, we were set for a 7am start but had 20 customers by 6.30! 6 hours later we were packing up, all smiles after a successful morning of sales and socialising. 

To add to the excitement of the day we had my sister, her husband and their 2 year old visiting on the weekend; Jon's work Christmas party on Saturday arvo; an awfully smelly blocked drain which has our kitchen sinks and dishwasher not working AND a tour of our house by potential renters. Phew! The adventures never stop!

The previous Saturday saw our trusty Nissan get 'new boots'.....tyres! It looks great, ready for all sorts of off-road adventures in '09. We chose BF Goodrich All Terrains and were able to get them very easily through Bob Janes here in Gladstone. Feels a little different to drive....but I'll let Jon explain the technicalities of all that.....next time.

This week more work gets done on the Navara...it really is getting 5 star treatment. Jon and his Dad will be spending some quality time together in Dad's big shed building a tray for the back of the Nissan. They are such clever boys!

Giving the Navara a Run

Jon and a heap of guys from church headed off on an adventure for the weekend to Byfield NP - north of Yeppon. They had a night camping and spent the day in 4WDs on the beach. He survived the Orange Bowl....hasn't always been able to say that:) It's adventures like these that continue to whet the appetite for next year. Meanwhile, I spent the weekend doing things not at all related to adventuring. Cooked, cleaned, dyed my hair, watched a chick flick and went to a Tupperware party. How will I survive 09 on the road, far from all things 'girly'????? You know, I think I'll be just fine!

Whetting our Appetite

We had a lovely visit with friends yesterday afternoon who spent 6 months travelling round Oz this year. They did it in style with a Land Cruiser and Off-Road caravan, leaving from Boyne Island and heading anti-clockwise. Ok....so we're in a Navara (even better) and tent and headed clockwise, but same great country to see. Such a blessing to have time to pick their brains for ideas and tips and have "their obvious enthusiasm and excitement continue to brew the same in us." (A Jon quote there!) Highlights for James and Glenda were the Red Centre and WA. We were warned about some rather unsavoury public conveniences, budgets and some rip-off servos....all helpful advice. Thanks J & G for all your stories and your 'show & tell'....we're EXCITED! 

Felt Like Hiding Today

Sorting through all your stuff certainly gives one pause to consider the following....

a) HOW in the WORLD can 2 people accumulate so much junk??

b) WHY??

Our theory of putting an hour/night into sorting and either piling in the garage sale pile, chucking or keeping has had trouble becoming reality....so far. Maybe tonight?

Put the car in for a RWC today and......it failed! But, only need to replace the windscreen, which is great testament to how good Lancers are. Mine's 9 and still runs well.

Duh!

A BIG apology to all those trying to visit our site after my email invite.

Hmmmm...I am obviously technologically challenged. Got that address wrong twice!

But hopefully you are here now.

Thanks to our 2 'followers' - you are so cool & obviously far more intelligent when it comes to technology than I am. 

A little amendment needed to our first post....we have not sold the Lancer after all. So....if you're in the market for a reliable, zippy, economical 2nd hand Mitsubishi...call us:)

Heard a timely sermon today...thanks Pastor James. From Isaiah 43...God is doing a NEW thing. You bet He is! But our challenge is to realise that He will often leave us in the 'wilderness & desert' and ask us to 'see' what He is doing right there. Hmmmmmmm...I wonder......

We have a PLAN!

The last fortnight has been very exciting! We've decided to hit the road in 09 and travel around Australia. WOW! What an adventure:)

The time is right....feel a real sense of God-given peace, there are no kids as yet and a number of other factors have also contributed to the decision.

Here's a few:

• J was sick earlier in the year and that time raised a few of life's BIG questions. Pointed him in a different direction in many ways.
• We had an awesome touring holiday in Tasmania and Victoria. Life on the road treated us so well that we thought we'd like to do it again...for longer. Highlights included cruising on the Great Ocean Road; chasing wombats; climbing mountains; eating cheese and sitting in front of log fires.
• It's in K's genes. Mum and Dad did a 6 year working holiday around Oz in the 70s and I was on the road with them for most of that time.
• We visited 'Leisurefest' and were introduced to the Carry Me Camper (Google it!) which is our accommodation of choice for next year. Sleeping in a tent for a year. Hmmmmm.

So the plan began to formulate. 

So far we have:

• Told our bosses we won't be around next year
  
• Put a snorkel and lift kit on the Navara
• Set up Skype
• Starting piling up stuff for our November Garage Sale...please come
• Sold J's motorbike and the Lancer
• Ordered our camper

The wheels are in motion.

We're very excited to have you join us on this adventure....keep reading our blog for future adventure updates.