A new laptop for Ruth

We got up early and drove right away into the small city of Sale (pop 15,000). We found a big, nearly empty parking lot by the marina and set up there. It was a nice sunny morning, so we put out the solar panel and let the battery catch some rays while we did some internet work.

Such a nice morning that we even had the door wide open!

I looked up a couple of computer stores. For a city of this size, they have a pretty good variety of shops!

Parked up in Sale, catching some rays!

Besides shopping for a new computer for Ruth, we also needed to do a major grocery shop. And, we are due for laundry and showers! Sale seemed like a pretty good place to get all of this accomplished. 

We figured we could easily enough park overnight right where we were. No signs saying that you can't. But, we figured if we could get a decent price at the showgrounds we would stay there for the night and use the showers and laundry at the same time.

So we drove over there. Spoke to a couple of ladies camped there who said that the manager was out, but they "thought" it was $15 a night for no services. We decided to go get some groceries, and return later.

We went and did a major stock up at the local Aldi store. How Ruth manages to fit everything in the fridge and cupboards amazes me, but she always gets it to work. Sometimes, I think she amazes herself!

We spotted a computer store across the road, and went to do some shopping there. They didn't have a lot in stock, so we went to see what other shops had.

We ended up at an appliance store that also had an electronics section. They had a nice 14" HP laptop with 256 GB SSD storage 8GB RAM and an AMD 6 processor. For $799 AUD ($738 CAD, $560 USD), taxes included.

And, the $72 AUD in taxes that we paid should be refundable when we exit the country. I'll have to look into the details of that.

So, not a bad deal. Not fantastic, but not bad. It's a bit more money than we would normally spend, but hopefully she will get quite a few years out of it.

I forgot to tell you about the chocolate chip cookies Ruth made the other night.

We love having a proper oven in the camper!

We went back to the showgrounds and found the lady who runs the place. I saw the sign on the door that said $25 a night with power, and $18 a night for "cars, tents, vans" or something to that effect. I figured okay, $18 a bit pricey for a parking spot, but we'll use the showers and laundry and get stuff done. 

But, she said we had to pay $25 whether we wanted power or not because we are neither a car, a tent, or a van. 

I said "but I only want to pay $18, and we are not going to hook up to power", to which she says "well, you'll have to go somewhere that you can do that".

Not a very friendly woman, and with that type of attitude, I decided I wasn't going to give them any money at all. I found out later that this particular showgrounds is privately owned, whereas many are municipally owned.

We had a late lunch and made our way back to the same spot we had originally been at. We stopped in at the visitors center and spoke to the helpful ladies there. Sale is a really nice town... we like it here. But they don't offer any official free camping. However, they do tell you about some of the different free camping available nearby. Some, with free showers as well!

But they did not endorse the idea of staying where we are. I think it's an unofficial policy though because we spoke to other people who said "oh, campers stay there all the time. In summer, the place is nearly full.

So we decided to stay put and we'll move on to one of the surrounding towns tomorrow to get showers and laundry done.

Not a bad day... and the forecast is for more decent weather.

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