17. I'm so sick of this shit.

 Bat shit, to be precise.

I'm parked under a peach tree, unfortunately there's nowhere else to park on this property. Also unfortunately, every bat in Australia absolutely adores pooping out litres of sticky liquid guano in the tree above my van. So every day I have to pressure wash the entire thing and rub it down with a microfibre cloth. It sets like superglue, it's unbelievably tenacious.

They also measure 7 feet long on average. It's been doing my head in. So while it's not much of an update visually, I'm so excited to have this tarp arrive in the post.

It's so long it hangs over all sides so the bats can't ruin my paint any more, and provides shade for the whole roof area. Air can still move under it, so I can leave my vents open all the time, which helps a lot in the heat of summer.

Eventually I intend to install a custom made roof rack with awnings, but that's a long way off. So in the meantime this will help a lot...

...and will save my paint from all of this sticky gluey mess.

Today is also a celebration for me because I have finally finished in the front cab.

I bought big furry seat covers, a dash mat, the right shape of carpet for the floor, brand new fuses for everything (plus a bunch of spares), a carbon monoxide monitor, a battery powered tyre inflator for the glove compartment (it works great!)...

...a fresh steering wheel cover, bluetooth receiver, monitor mount, and an iPad with all my music on it for songs and maps.

(And a little red Buddha for the dash to mitigate road rage).

It's so nice that the cab is now clean, cosy, and fully functional. I'm not planning on driving Lorca anywhere ever if I can help it, but at least now when I do, the layers of her past won't be dragged along with us. I love a fresh start.

See you next time!