April 28, Day 4

Finally got away on Saturday 25^th April. Decided that we had been trying to beat a non-existent clock and stressing for nothing, so we slowed down and took our time getting organised. Geoff made a few things to make life easier – a bench that hooks under our table so there isn't so much stuff on the table getting in the way and a ladder to get up on the roof rack. We also had to pick up some bits and pieces – a fold down bike rack so we could access the back without taking the bikes off all the time, a cargo net and tarp for the roof rack, and pvc pipe attached to the roof rack to hold fishing rods and spare poles.

As we didn't get away until early afternoon, we only drove as far as Kilkivan and stopped at the free road side camp "Fat Hen Creek" overnight. Nice spot, not too noisy.

We left there early the next morning and drove to Glebe Weir just north of Taroom. Being Sunday, all of the towns we drove through were really quiet, nothing open.  Glebe Weir is a pretty spot, great if you like to water ski and don't mind crows at the crack of dawn as well as mice during the night, if you haven't locked away the food. Don't get me wrong, it is a really pretty spot, we stayed two nights. The sites are powered and $5 per night, with an honesty box. There must have been a lot of rain here recently, the water is very murky but it didn't stop Geoff and Erin going for a dip after setting up camp. Too cold for me.

Geoff thinks we have way too much gear and is already looking for ways to lighten the load.  I managed to offload quite a bit after our Easter weekend away but as far as I can see, there is little more that we can discard. We will note what doesn't get used between here and Townsville and decide then what goes and what stays.

Geoff is also looking at ways the camper can be modified to make things easier. Not the trailer itself, more to do with extending the canvas and getting a bigger tonneau cover. We'll assess that when we get to Townsville also. I agree with the tonneau cover but my priority is a new mattress, that one is way too soft.

 

April 15 2009

Well, D day has come and gone and we are still at home.  The camper is looking immaculate, if Geoff does say so himself and I agree. We tried really hard to be ready to go by Easter but I had to resign myself to the fact that it just wasn't going to happen. Murphy has stuck his nose in and delayed us again.  I managed to finish up at both my jobs and get most of the house packed up during what has to be the wettest April we've had in yonks, complete with leaking roof (6 at last count, buckets everywhere).  I also thought that this way might be better, we can go and try the camper and gear out over a long weekend, catch up with our friends, enjoy, relax and come back, refreshed, to continue packing and cleaning.

At least we got to try out the camper at Easter and iron out some of the wrinkles in our plans.  It became clear before leaving home that we had way too much stuff and that would have to be addressed.  We packed enough gear for the weekend and jammed everything in. The trailer was almost full and there was no way we were going to fit Erin's school work in, luckily it was school holidays and we didn't have to worry about that just yet. We also haven't put the roof rack on yet so that will resolve a few issues as well.

We spent four nights at Brooyar State Forest near Gympie with four other families. Most of the families were meeting each other for the first time so I was hoping they'd all get along well, and they did.  We couldn't have asked for better weather, while it was bucketing down at home, the weather was great, not too hot, not raining.  Highly recommend camping at Glastonbury Camp Ground, even fully booked over Easter there was no crowding like some places we've been to.  There are no showers but plenty of sunny open places to heat up the solar shower as well as the creek to wade in.  We had two big goannas come in check everything out, luckily we had a bin with a lid but they managed to find our fry pan that wasn't washed from the night before and next-door's bin bag was shredded.

Erin had her own tent next to ours and had some of the other girls bunking in with her for a slumber party. I think next time we'll move her tent further away with all the talking they do.

We came away with a few ideas to make things better and easier on us.  The first idea out the window is the clothes tubs, Geoff likes them but I have found that it might be better to have one big tub with clothes that don't get used often, eg winter clothes and work clothes and that tub stays in the back of the trailer drawer unless needed and use canvas bags for our everyday clothes that can be squished into places to save space.  That way, we don't have to lift out all of our clothes every time we set up, and if we are staying with friends/family, we can just grab our bags, less awkward, less hassle. You don't know these things until you try them out, do you?

Our last night at Brooyar/Glastonbury was beautiful, sitting around the camp fire, watching the stars, enjoying the peace and quiet. At 2am the heavens opened.  By 9am we were packed up and soaked to the skin, luckily we had a set of clothes in the car to change into and one of our friends had left his tent up for us to get changed, he had also just brewed a pot of coffee. Life's hard, isn't it?

The rain stuck around long enough for us to enjoy our coffee and then let up long enough for us to help him pack up and we were on our way. Home.

Later on we learnt that Gympie had 109mm rain, we had about 160mm at home for that 24 hours.

As yet we don't have a new ETD, the beauty of not being on a schedule is we can take our time and go when we're ready, not because the calendar tells us it's time.

On a final note for this entry, I would like to say a huge thankyou to those families that joined us for Easter, I would go camping again with you all anytime, anywhere. You are all welcome to join us along the road for another campout if you get the time or inclination.

March 29 2009

As for our preparations, things on that side seem to be going well also.

I've now finished work and am putting the finishing touches on the Camper and the Landcruiser. The side bin for the Camper is back from the Powdercoaters and looks good. I've put the side bin back on with the help of my mate Andrew over the road and it's all riveted back in place, the spare wheel carrier that was a bit mangled in the accident, has been repaired using a combination of some of the original and some new pieces. This will be sent off to the Powdercoaters as well, then it will just need to be bolted back on when it's done. Hopefully both the Camper and the Landcruiser will be finished early next week and I can start on the job of packing and tidying things up here.

As soon as I'm finished with the Camper it's then in Shell's hands so she can organise and pack it the way she thinks best. Some of the drawers in the Landcruiser will also fall into her domain, as they will be used for some food storage as well as school books etc. In saying that, some of the recovery gear will go there as well, depending on space and ease of access.

So it looks like things are starting to come together slowly, so all going well we should be ready come D-day,   should...be...ready.

March 12 2009

Hello again, well everything seems to be back on track again, sort of anyway, I'm back at work doing a full week's work and saving as much as possible. It's funny, I originally applied for a position as a casual on-call welder, and as it turns out it's now fulltime but still casual which is good because I only need work up to the 27th March. After that it's getting the house and property ship shape and packing up what's left in the house.

As far as our departure date goes, Shell came up with a really good idea. Instead of leaving at the beginning of April, why not hang around until Easter and instead of having a going away party, we go camping over Easter with our friends and their families. That way it's like a 4 day going away party, at the end of which everyone else returns home and we just keep going.

We have already booked the Easter weekend at a State Forest, just west of Gympie from there we have some ideas which will be decided on as we get closer to our new departure date. The other advantages of leaving a little bit later is that it puts that little bit extra coin into the coffers.

Now departure day or D-day as we're starting to call it is the 9th of April, and this time it is firm and will not be changed, pending major disaster, of course. Don't want to tempt fate.

February 16 2009

Hi guys, well we're a couple of months closer to our departure date, but a little further away it seems at times.

I know a lot of you will be sick of hearing about this Global Financial crisis that's affecting us all in one way or another at the moment, and quite frankly so am I, mainly because I don't like being a pessimist, but, as far as it's affect on us goes, I'm currently out of work and our income has been severely reduced. Looking on the bright side, Shell is still working, 2 jobs, seven days a week, God bless her, and the price of Diesel is down quite a bit from what it was a few months ago, I suppose every cloud has a silver lining, I also get more time to get everything done, but we've had to alter our plans slightly.

Instead of leaving at the beginning of March we've decided to wait until after the Open Garden of Shell's, that I was telling you about last month, is finished, then head off, hopefully. So things have been delayed slightly, which is probably just as well given that we were going to head north first up.

Because of the cyclones up in North Queensland it looks like the roads might be a tad damp for a little while. I spoke to my parents in Townsville a couple of nights ago, and Mum said that they had had 430mm in the first 3 or 4 days of February, that's a hell of a lot of rain, and I'm sure everyone has seen how far up the rain goes and how far west it has affected.

I sincerely hope any of you travelling around aren't too badly affected by the wet or the floods.

The cargo drawers are finished and looking pretty good if I do say so myself. The barrier is almost finished, just have to fit it. The side bins have been rebuilt for the camper, they just need to be riveted back together, powder coated and reattached to the trailer.

We've even had a garage sale and about 1/3 of the house is packed up.

Erin's schooling has begun with a few hitches – it's taking a lot longer than expected to do a day's work, to the point that we are still playing catch up on Saturday and Sunday. Shell has worked out a day by day planner with what has to be done by what time, so hopefully Erin has learned her lesson and we won't have to work weekends anymore to catch up. The laptop we bought last September to do her schooling on, died and took three weeks to be replaced, I didn't realise just how much school work requires the computer. Shell did correspondence when she was a teenager while her and her family travelled, so she knows how the system works, which is a Godsend, because quite frankly I'd be lost.

January 2009

Well another month on and a bit more preparation done, so far things are moving slowly much to Shell's disgust as Erin and I tend to lose our enthusiasm for packing pretty quickly after starting. However, we have so far packed up some of the household things, packed away clothes we don't think we'll need on the trip, have arranged to have a garage sale shortly to get rid of any items we have come across that we haven't used in the last few years or so. We are limiting ourselves to one large plastic container each, so whatever we can't fit in that, doesn't go. Shell has made a comment from time to time that I'm a bit behind the eight ball here as my clothes are bigger than hers or Erin's so therefore I can fit less in, might have to see about a solution to that.

As for preparations of the mechanical nature to the landcruiser and the camper these are progressing albeit at a frustrating slow pace as the drawers I have been making for the back of the landcruiser have only just been finished, this taking longer than I expected. Fridge slide is in the process of being finished and the dual battery system is installed and wiring to the rear cargo compartment also completed along with an Anderson plug for the camper.

The damaged locker sections on the side of the camper were taken off in December and a workmate repaired or made up new pieces as required from sheet metal, this was done at a ridiculously low price which I thank him for. Now these new sections require powder coating to match the rest of the camper and then they will have to be put back on as soon as their done.

I've bought a new AT35 tow hitch to replace the one that was broken in the accident, and will slowly replace or repair the remaining broken or bent parts. On paper it sounds a lot to do but there are quite a few small jobs.

As things stand at the moment it's like this, although I'm sick of hearing about the economic downturn that's happening everywhere it's had it's effect on us too, as I'm currently out of work, and with things to be done in preparation for when we do eventually leave, so at the moment money is going out but there is not enough coming in.

However we are being guardedly optimistic and still planning to leave in March although at present it may be late instead of early March.

As for what we hope to achieve, nothing earth shattering, just see as much as possible of this country that we tend take for granted, but given a choice wouldn't live anywhere else. And maybe by the time we finish this trip give Erin that same sense of pride and wonder in this country that we've had all this time. Yeah, might be a little soppy I know, but that's how I feel and I'm not sure but I think that's how Shell feels as well.

Australia has such differing environments and varying types of people that it begs to be experienced. So that's what we're going to do.

December 2008

As usual the amount and type of gear that I originally considered required and our finances, or lack thereof, was at odds. So therefore the list, or wish list as Shell was apt to call it, looked like it had to take a few hits, and as I am willing to admit (albeit reluctantly) I will eventually come to the same conclusion, that is given enough time. Here is an example of how things have changed and come back to reality so far.

Wish List	Actual List
Electric winch	Big Haul hand winch
Sat phone	No Sat phone
Epirb or Accusat	Epirb or Accusat
Engel or Evakool 12v fridge/freezer 60Lt	Outback Travelmate 12v fridge/freezer 70Lt
Store bought rear cargo drawers	Home made rear cargo drawers
Milford cargo barrier	Home made cargo barrier
Laptop	Laptop
GPS	GPS
Recovery Gear	Recovery Gear
Puncture repair kit	Puncture repair kit
Air compressor	Air compressor
New Driving lights	Stick with existing ones
First aid kit	Put our own together
Dual battery system	Dual battery system (self installed)
Five new tyres	Use existing till worn out

 

So as you can see things have changed quite a bit since the initial planning stages, some things were kept as they are deemed necessary, others are dropped altogether as these are deemed as luxuries and with some, cheaper alternatives are found or constructed in the effort to keep expenditure down. As you can see we considered the Sat phone as unnecessary if we have an Epirb or Accusat. The same goes for the 12volt fridge/freezers, by changing brands to one just as good as the dearer brands this will save between $300 and $600 dollars on its own. Mind you I will admit much to Shell's frustration I took a lot of convincing as far as the winch and 12 volt fridge/freezers went, but much to her credit she did get through to me in the end.  As for the cargo drawers and cargo barrier, if I build my own it will hopefully save approx $2000 as compared to the ready made store bought ones, with the added bonus of being designed to suit our needs. And as luck would have it Shell managed to find a cargo barrier for a Mitsubishi express van in the Trading Post for $30, as these vans are wide, I figured that I might be able to "adjust" it to fit, anything was worth a try if it save me a bit of cash as well as a bit of labour. As things turned out, width wise it was perfect and I would only need to adjust it's height to fit it over the drawers.

However even with making all these adjustments, it's still going to be tight to start with until we get things sorted out, but at least it will be enjoyable.

I have 2 weeks off over Christmas and this will be the time that the cargo drawers and cargo barrier get made and the dual battery system installed. Also any work that I can do as far as repairs to the camper and general maintenance, such as new wheel bearings etc, this will hopefully get done then too.

As for where we'll be going first up, our "plan" goes something like this, as an initial shake down trip it has been decided that from here we'll go south or south west and eventually stop at Girraween NP until around the 20^th of March when we'll return to the sunshine coast for Shell's grandmother's birthday and an open garden that one of Shell's ex-TAFE teachers and employer is holding on the same weekend, we'll also use this as an opportunity to drop off any gear we've found we don't need and pick up anything we've found we do.