LIZZIES INSOMNIA: April 2008

A COLD MORNING

Visited northern NSW a couple of weeks ago and travelled on roads had never experienced before and never will dragging my huge trailer that is for sure. Googled to where I needed to visit. I have a huge warmblood mare which had been ajisted at my property and was stranded here due to Equine Influenza. I had arranged for a transport to collect her early in April but the transport company did not turn up and I had taken time from work to meet them. On a Sunday afternoon I was staring at the mare eating my hay a bale a meal, not quite, and thought I will take her myself. After all I do have a computer and can apply for the permits online and find the location of the owner from Google earth..ha ha For some mysterious reason the owner of the horse does not have her mobile or computer working.

Asked a friend, would you like to come for a little drive with me tonight......Yes I will have you back in time for work Tuesday morning at 8 o'clock no worries. My mother who is a little cranky at times "I want to come too, after all I only sit at home and may as well be sitting in the car" then my niece who was called in to work at the hospital asked would I look after her twelve year old daughter......Well baby sitting on the road I would. Eventually set off late Monday morning as I did not have ink in my printer and could not go without the appropriate paperwork and had to wait until a shop opened and do not live in a town so had to go fetch.....Off I went with Google instrucions in my hot little hand. Crossed the border with no mishaps and arrived at Tenterfield and by the map down to Casino. That was an experience 35 ks of winding road that would break a snakes back and up hill and down dale across the beautiful Clarence River...too late and in too much of a hurry to take photographs...upwards and on, Casino and Grafton just on dark and across a narrow bridge and on to the Pacific Highway heading for Coffs Harbour, dark now and the road trains were in convoys.

Past Coffs Harbour and had to find a dirt road off the Pacific Highway that headed towards the beach. Found the road, thank you google, and then took a wrong turn into a forest where I could not turn about...was the old highway overgrown with trees and bushes and knew I was on the wrong road when came across a tree on the road. Backed out in the middle of the night for a long way and can still smell my clutch. Took an hour and a half to extricate myself from that pickle. Eventually found the destination unloaded the horse and gave my pony who was a companion for the big bugger a little walk to stretch her legs. She took one look at the gloom and beetling undergrowth and promptly dragged me back on to the float where her bale of hay lurked. Turned around and hightailed it out of there. If a fire became out of hand I have misgivings how these people who lived in the undergrowth would fare. I purchased a map and looked at the distance from home and threw the map into the back seat never to be looked at again and dare not show my passengers. Off we went after a maccas at Coffs at quarter to 10....our highway maccas stay open all night and they had the terimity to be closing. Drove and drove and had a few rest sleeps heavy rain and arrived back home at 6 am so my friend did make it to work and I had scheduled to load hay at 9 am....Unfortunately I was in all these pretty spots in the dark...