Hi All,

Not sure I am posting in the right section, just joined your site and am busy looking around and love it thus far.

My other half and I have bought ourselves a camper van and head off when we can, straight up the middle of this amazing country, to Darwin and beyond. Love every minute of it.

Our next trip is planned for June 1010 and it seems to be taking forever.

Well I hope to meet many of you on our travels and here also on the forum

Welcome Firefly.  You've come to the right place, plenty of advice, plenty of friendship and tons of fun.  Enjoy.   We should be up the top end in around June next year too so might see you along the way somewhere.

Ma

Howdy Linda and welcome to the forum, anyplace that you feel happy to post is the right place how did you come up with the handle "firefly" is it because your bum glows and you hang around in bushes

Stuck with it a long time ago so its been kind to me on forums Dave.

Thanks Ma, the Top End is magic for sure.

well I guess a glowing bum would be very usefull, except in the carpark on smoochy nights talking about bums, does anyone know what a "mustang" is

Is this a trick question?

no, it's a straight forward question, been around the traps for years

Then no I have no idea mate, what is it?

Think its called a car, it got a wheel at almost every cnr, a coupla seats, and it goes ,Vroom,Vroom

or a wild horse .like a brumby....I think Dave

no, it's a piece of "debris" that is prone to sticking to a sheep's bum, they cant reach it to "bight" it off, they cant drag their bum on the ground to dislodge it and the ****y is not about to pull it off so it "MUSTANG" "DAG" by any other name, so the next time you get called a "DAG" then you know what it means "WHAT".............. my neighbors little girl told me that and well I thought it was funny and so did she

I got a dog that runs around with "dags" hanging, far too interested in the moving things in the grass to stop, Think you got too much time on ya hands mate, try sitting on em lol lol didnt know what that meant till a few months ago,, \ LAUGHED OUT LOUD AT YOUR DEFINATION

last week of school holidays, I got little R.J. with me whom didnt want to stay in bed any longer and we are sorting out the proceeds from our weekend downs syndrome money raising drive and distributing them amongst the various establishments, a case of having two dollars and needing ten all women on board (in the kitchen and at the table), so I am relegated to our "office" with a couple of kids (ole unca Dave is reduced to a babysitter) we raised $4,300 on the weekend (matched dollar for dollar by government) for the down syndrome fellers so it looks like they will get a few things the parents need in their homes, wheel chairs, lifters, handrails, ramps, a few trips out, a little bit of respite maybe, bloody well done to "our girls" I say. not an enormous ammount but it all helps the state government ( old Mikey boy) took 32 million out of the disability budget and gave it to the tram authority so people in adelaide could grizzle about those and not use them, thanks Mike, you bloody arrogant metro orientated silver tailed mongrel although the hand rails and the ramps we build out in the shed and we install them ourselves so that saves a couple of quid for them, soon as we mention it's for our "special" kids then we get materials thrown at us, I got the machinery and we have the know how and the technology everybody, except political parties, chips in to help our disabled so I have a wee bit of time on my hands, which the kids love but I am not so sure of, "help me" comes to mind?????????????? no, I love them all, hugs everywhere I turn

Oh Gaaaaaaaaaawd, what a luvly thing to say too a young fella, Know a young fella,(42) about 30% downs who can use better language than that, Paul was a kiwi and was in the neavy wieght lifting team for the olympics (disabled sort) a coupla years ago , Now that kid could say a mouthful, no matter what his mum would say, when he got excited he was a hard fella to shut up, of course no inference is meant here He could pick me up in a bear hug and squeeze me like you wouldnt believe My daughter still drives em around town, and as far as your state Government is concerned OLD MAN, maybe one day you will need those trams dont blame me never lived there, nice scenery but dont stop too long

I didnt mean you Mike, I meant our ilustrious leader metrocentric Mike bloody rann downs syndrome, as with all our "special" kids, are great, we had a couple of them on the stalls, they actually outsold the rest of the crew, various degrees of downs gives various degrees of "disability" funding, as with everything else, falls far short so we help where we can while we have the funds, then we fund raise again we differ from "agencies" we ask for no details, we dont "pry" into their lives we just "help" and get out until we are needed again, we are a grass roots private mob, we get to know "things" through word of mouth us having a cerebral palsy son opens all sorts of doors as we "understand" I wouldnt live in Adelaide if you paid me, nor would i ride the damn trams, major cities like state governments are a waste of time money and resources, most jobs are there only to service the city, I go to have a gawk now and then, much the same as going to the zoo and then get out as quickly as possible, absolutely hate the sprawling waste of good farming land and the gobbling up of all our resources

You're not burning that candle at both ends again, are you Dave? Please take it easy. You can't solve all the problems of the world no matter how hard you work. You can't right every wrong no matter how hard you try. Give yourself a break. But I give you credit for trying, and much respect for your endeavours. Just be kind to yourself and your family too. Cheers Chris

Welcome to Nomads girl! May you and your "other half" enjoy planning your travels, and have safe and happy travels whenever you take to the road. Do it often, you won't be sorry. Cheers Chris

no Chris, I chucked the "double ended" candle away, cant do it any more, I'm taking a "leave of absence" my long service actually, I was going to go for a holiday with it, thinking about quitting altogether, quack reckons I'm still not good, had a heart attack at the same time as the breakdown apparently, but oh well things happen, who needs a holiday anyway i took the leave because of what happened and with Jules and of course little "R.J." coming in to the world, I'm manning the phones and looking after Rhiannon so my workload is very light (only 23 hour days instead of 32) and as for looking after little "R.J." she is no chore, she is just pure joy, just like her mum was (who is doing exceptionally well by the way) no sign of boyfreind, but a very nice young feller has been asking about her apparently so we will see, he's got to past "muster" with me first, might invite him round to meet "the folks" on the weekend, see if he meets "the familys" approval the fundraiser on the weekend was all the womens doing, I didnt do a thing just lift and haul a bit of gear here and there and transport the pasties and pies/sausage rolls, coffee machine, the ernie, fridge, scones OH a whole heap of "stuff" down to the area where me and a couple of mates erected some stalls and tables and chairs, the woman did all the cooking then we just "sold" stuff, the down syndrome kiddies (some are in there 40's but still kids to me, I've known them all their lives) outsold us, they are terrific kids, we sat around and talked with the "customers" drank coffee with them (which I was charged for) we took fifty chairs and twenty five tables with us but needed 100, we just generally had a very good weekend, more like a big social gathering where the guests pay for the stuff they scoff, we are lucky here in Pirie, it's like a very large "small" town, everybody knows everybody and wants to help we had a mob of big bad "bikies" pull in, probably 30 at a guess, everybody said "here we go" one big mongrel looking feller said "what's it for" I stepped forward and said "down syndrome, mate, would you like a pasty and a cuppa", half expecting him to eat me or something, they spent $125 and donated $50, laughing and joking with all the other folks, shook my hand on the way out and said "good luck, I hope you make heaps, I got a sister with cystic fibrosis so i know what it's like", there is some good in all people, you only got to look for it doesnt matter what they look like come to think of it the same thing happened at our last fundraiser, about 20 odd bikies rode in and we were expecting strife but they turned out to be the ullysses mob (all over 50 I think,) they stayed all day and helped us out no end, a great day indeed, fantastic folks so if you can call that "working" well then I'm a "workaholic" I chucked in the extra $700 to bring the total to $5,000 which is matched by government bringing it to $10,000, so all in all a good result, we are planning our next one for next month (hopefully) for the cerebral palsy kids anyway I'll shut up, looks like I "hi-jacked' another post, note to self "gotta stop doing that"

awwww!!! shucks elle, it's not me it's the people I hang around with, I'm a grumpy old sod, ask anyone here

I'll stop worrying about you now Dave. It sounds like you've sorted your priorities out and you've defined the duties to "can" and "not today". Bikies are a misleading mob. A group used to drink at the Ovingham Hotel where I worked, and no one would abuse the pub or the staff or they had the "boys" dealing with them. Yes, they do have soft side heart if you can get the "colours" off. The Ulysses are just a bunch of beautiful old softies who love their bikes and their birds - the gender kind. I think their ambitions may exceed their capabilities among the elders of the group. Now, this young bloke taking an interest in "your" girl. Make the list, and if you get to tick all the boxes he might be in with a chance. Of course the young mum does have a say, doesn't she? Good luck with that. Cheers Chris

absolutely Jules has a say as to whether she gets to go out with him AFTER he passes muster with me and the family, we all love her far too much to risk her getting hurt again, anyone hurts her again and I will not be accountable for my actions nor those of the extended family unfortunately (and I know I will get shouted down for saying this) girls seem to pick a "certain" type of fella, once abused even verbally they will often pick a similar "person" and open themselves up to abuse again, I want to "break" that cycle I know I cant stop Jules picking who she wants and it is her god given right to do so, but I will stop the next one from hurting her, that i promise, just let him bloody well try I just wish to "have a word" with him before Jules get's really attached to him, I wont be able to hold the boys back next time

That's what "family" is all about Dave isn't it.  Protection, Love, caring and all that goes with it.  Hurt one of m family and you hurt me. So ya all better watch out for "Rambo Ma"  

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome.

And Dave, you sound like the salt of the earth to me.

I know I am going to love this site.

Hi Firefly, Welcome to the forum and love your avatar.Yes there are some great people on this site and love reading their posts. My husband and I have been helped by their suggestions, if you ever need help on a subject they will try to help. They are kind genuine people just enjoying life!!!!! Happy safe travels to all Chris and Robbie

once again it seems your post has been hi-jacked by person or persons unknown, oh all right I did it again didnt I, yep it was me and my big mouth, but it wasnt done with malice (gotta stop doing that) sorry!! I'm glad you feel "at home" here, we look forward to many more postings from you posts seem to have a mind of their own and just jump from one subject to another, sometimes "nudged" a little by some **** (mostly me) but thats what a lot of people love about this forum is it's maliability and ability to wander through lifes little "sideroads" whilst on the subject without looking in a dictionary or googling an answer or in other words DONT CHEAT does any one know just what a "TWIT" is it is an actual word and in some circles is in daily and respected use

Yes mate a pregnant fish My niece told me that when she came home from school with an assignment back in the 70s, seems to have stuck, Another piece of useless trivia,

bugga!! i would have bet you wouldnt have known that one!!

And I always thought it was a pregnant sparrow.