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Archive for category Caravanning

Day 3 – Adelaide (Hahndorf, McLaren Vale, Glenelg)

Jul 11

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning, Geocaching | Comments off


Our first non-travelling day today.  Also my first day of non-work, which was also SMS and call free … bet that won’t last!

The plan was to go and have a look at Hahndorf and then do a few wineries around McLaren Vale before heading back to the van, and we pretty well kept to that idea although we nearly got sidetracked a few times.

A geocache in the morning saw the kids amazed by their first micro geocache, a berocca container embedded in the side of the steps leading down to the beach.  It took a bit of finding, but was found on the morning walk.

Before the day got away from us, we headed up into the Adelaide Hills to Hahndorf, past Grumpy’s brewery while thinking of Al.  If I’d known it was a brewery at the time then we may not have gotten any further … but alas we cruised in to Hahndorf.  Blake had been really looking forward to it but was a little surprised by it in the end. He’s interested in his German heritage, but was bemused to find that that boils down to a love of sausage and beer. I’m sure he’ll come to embrace the beer at some stage. 🙂

P1000301

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Day 2 – Adelaide

Jul 10

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | 2 Comments

After a blustery night we awoke at 6:30 and packed up in the rain to get outta Mount Gambier at 8:30.  A quick refuel saw us heading towards Naracoorte.  Hmmm … not Robe … we were supposed to head to Robe.

Another day of hugging the coast with the wind and the rain wasn’t really appealing.  Meanwhile the brochure for the Naracoorte Caves was looking mighty good.  An almost inside activity in this weather seemed like a godsend.  So off we went…

Given that our fuel economy while driving manually and trying to stay around 100km/h was a little scary, I wanted to try out cruising at 80km/h as a comparo.  So … here we are plodding along at 80km/h when a fella in a land cruiser ute pulls alongside and makes some odd gestures at me.  I figure we’ve left the antenna up or a bed folded out or something stupid … we did get going in a hurry after all.  I pulled over not knowing quite what to expect … as does the cruiser driver …

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Day 1 – Mount Gambier

Jul 9

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | 7 Comments

We’ve started!

Willie Nelson is the traditional way to start a trip in this family.  Something about being good luck.

Little sleep was had, despite a good start. Kel & I were both up at 5am fussing around. Kids got up around 6:30 and we got stuck into the final packing and locking up the house.

We actually got away right on 8am which was pretty good really. First day is always going to be the hardest.

First stop was Torquay to grab Blake’s geocoin. Kel snagged the opportunity to snatch the first photo of the rig all rearing to go. Its quite surreal and hasn’t sunk in yet that we are actually doing this. I suspect the Mount Gambier evening may sharpen up my senses somewhat. It was dropping below 9 at sunset and I shudder (damn straight I’ll be shuddering) to think of what the minimum will be.

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Well, the time has come!

Jul 8

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | Comments off

No more sleeps to save us from the future.  The wait is over.

Tomorrow we ride!  Our trusty steed (the Prado) will drag our faithful chariot (the Expanda) off across the wide brown land in search of the best beaches, campsites, coldest beers and fiestiest Barramundi.

Tonight we had a round table (well square, but that’s enough nit-picking) discussion about the future.  There’s just so much happening while we’re gone……

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10 Days

Jun 29

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | Comments off

10 days left.  That’s nuts!

I don’t feel like we’re anywhere near ready.  But we probably will do what we always do … run around like headless chooks at the last minute.

Speaking of last minute … if you’re planning on following this blog as it unfolds, so to speak … then be sure and register in the login box to the right.

If you’re logged into the blog then there will be extra features available, especially while we’re travelling.  You’ll know you’re logged in as there will be an extra toolbar with your name in it up the top of each page.  The blog will periodically log you out after a few days, so you’ll need to re-log in occasionally.

So, what do ya get if ya register?  For starters, under the SPOT menu you’ll have access to the live tracker showing the last few days so you can see where we are anytime.  You’ll also be able to leave comments about each days post.  There will likely be registered users only postings from time to time too … depending on what we get up to!  There’s also a live map  showing all the places we’ve stayed.  Plenty of reasons to register!

Hmmm … well just so how are the preparations coming along you ask?  For that, you’ll need to read on….

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Less than a month to go now

Jun 10

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | Comments off

29 Sleeps! That’s less than a month away.
The kids are starting to feel the pressure now to get their ‘stuff’ organised. Their nervousness is making Kellie & I edgy as well.
There seems so much left to sort out and NO TIME left to get it done.
It’s worse for Blake as for the last week he’s at school camp. He arrives home from camp and the next morning we go … he’s definately gotta have his stuff together soon.

The car interior is in pieces whilst I run the last of the cables.
The 50A accessory bus has been run front to back and just needs to be hooked up to the 2nd battery. That cable supplies power to the Engel fridge that keeps the beers cold, so the importance of wiring it up to withstand the test of time cannot be overstated.
It also is the quick charge lead for the van battery as well. Most of that has been done, just the physical mounting of the connectors is left to do really. I’ve tickled the alternator to increase its voltage and current output, but since it’s unstressed I can’t really say if it’ll help much. The plan is that it’ll top up the 200AH of auxiliary batteries in the time it takes to drive between campsites … We’ll see!

The video lead for the van camera has been run as well, but getting it up past the side airbags and to the rear view mirror where the screen for it is is scaring me.
That is all a job for this weekend.

The 2nd battery has been sourced from the battery place in Frankston for $320. Its an insulated AGM battery of 100AH that should survive the under bonnet environment without melting I hope. It took a bit of finding as the normal batteries for the size hole I have were all closer to 80AH and the wrong chemistry. The wiring for that is a bit scary too. All 140A stuff and joined at places I’m having trouble mounting properly. Lord knows I don’t want to short out batteries with heavy gauge cables! Finalizing all that is a job for tomorrow too.
Forgot whether I mentioned that the snorkel has been fitted and a battery monitoring system for the van too. I have yet to find a decent spot for the inverter … it hasn’t got much work to do, it’s just to power the TV and small accessories when we’re off the grid. It does get hot though, so it can’t just be left loose.

That will have the car DONE! It’s taking on the appearance of a proper 4wd now. Bull bar is in place, CB Antennas, Roof Box and Roof shelf too. Got the Maxtrax up there along with a fuel can and some recovery gear. Took delivery of a high volume air compressor, air jack, tire pressure monitoring system and CB sticker this week. I’m oficially not buying anything else … except maybe a ……

We’ve got to do a full dress rehearsal and make sure everything fits. I’ve got no idea where some of the larger items are going to be housed for 4 months …

On the home front the freezer emptying is now in full swing with Kel struggling to only provide meals with whats in the fridge and pantry. Apart from perishables, she hasn’t shopped in quite awhile. There’s been some strange meals recently … and I fear that that there is stranger yet to come…

Kids entertainment is the next overwhelming job on the list. So many DVD’s to go thru and cull. 2 PC’s to have software loaded and sorted. A full backup of the home server is coming with us on the trip, just in case I need ‘something’ while we’re away too.

On the blog, nothing seems to have changed … yet there has been much back-end stuff to tinker with. The satellite tracker is now active for those folk that have registered as is the family and friends section … just in case we have something to share thats a little more private. Also I wrote a facebook app to track any comments made about the blog and echo them back here. A trip log to showcase the destinations and photos … lots of things yet to be enabled.

So … get ready! The countdown is on! This trip promises to be the result of the love child of Russell Coight and Mr. Bean … anything could happen … and probably will!

Inverloch 13-15/5

May 15

Posted by Anthony in Caravanning, Geocaching, Nomads | Comments off

This is our last little trip away before the big one. The last time we’ll catch up with the Nomads before the Xmas Rally too.

We’d been saying to the kids for a while now that they should get a friend to come along on some of the rallies.  Blake has had a few friends come along, but this was Hannah’s first time to have a friend over and she brought along Abby.  Blake also wanted to bring his friend Blake along too, so we took 4 kids with us … to rainy, cold Inverloch.

And what a rainy, cold Inverloch it was!  We arrived in the dark and had the usual setup of the van to do and also a tent.  This was to be the boys quarters for the weekend … both their first nights in a tent.  They picked a great night for it! We managed to snap a tent pole even with 4 of us trying to hold the tent still. Thats how windy and pleasant it was. Typically I didn’t have my tool kit with me, so had to borrow some gaffer tape from uncle Max and that was enough to hold the pole together. Fingers crossed!

The Big 4 at Inverloch has a huge camp kitchen and we occupied that until 11pm.  It was very cozy in there and it was a great place to watch Geelong snatch victory from Collingwood in the last minutes.

The boys were keen to go sleep in the tent since it was a bit of a novelty.  The winds were ferocious and the rain was verging on hail a lot of the time.  I checked on them a few times during the night and they hadn’t floated away.  They were fairly well protected from the wind though.  They had a wind break on 2 sides and the en suite and van on the other.  Ideal spot for them.  They reckon that they had a better nights sleep than the rest of us … but I don’t know how.  The van was a-rocking all night and anything loose outside was banging and crashing until dawn.  Not much sleep for anybody.

Needless to say, we were all early risers … apart from Hannah.  A quick breakfast had the kids desperate for a swim in the pool.  The pool area was fantastic and they had it all to themselves.

Saturday saw us wondering what to do, so I suggested that we check out some of the local geocaches.  We logged a DNF on one and Blake found another one with ease.  A great little walk from the campsite up to a lookout and return.

View from the lookout

They thought it was cold

The view heading back to camp

Flowers next to the van

A short walk

 

We got back to camp just in time to head out to lunch at the Esplanade Hotel.  All the boxes were ticked.  Well priced meals that were really yummy.  A good spot and plenty to keep the kids occupied.  Kellie scored a Tandoori chicken pizza while I had a Sweet Chilli Chicken Wrap.  The kids had Parma’s and Nuggets.  Abby’s first Parma and she loved it.  I dunno where she put it, but she almost finished the lot!

The weather wasn’t really flash, so we spent the afternoon back in the camp kitchen discussing the upcoming travels.  It seems like most of the Nomads have some serious trips planned and it will be Xmas before we’re all once again sitting down for a chat.

Note the kids in the background all playing together nicely ... or is that plotting mischief?

Evil little girls!

Saturday nights dinner saw Kellie give me specific instructions to cook 12 sausages only.  Of course that meant that I put about 30 on the barbie.  Abby was keen to do tong duty and cooked all the snags to perfection.  They ended up being Sunday lunch as well!  We all said our goodbyes and retired fairly early.  The kids had occupied themselves with movies and iPods and were fairly well tuckered out.  The girls had befriended Fred’s granddaughter and were watching Gulliver’s travels in the van after dinner.  Once that was finished we were all soon quickly in bed and asleep.  A much quieter night weather wise on Saturday and we all slept well.

The scenic route home got us back by 1pm with no fuss.  The kids were SILENT and watching DVD’s or playing iPods all the way, both ways.  Parents today have simply got it too easy.  Thanks to the GPS in the back they can even answer the question “Are we there, yet?” without having to say the words.

Lake Waranga

Apr 28

Posted by Anthony in Caravanning, Nomads | Comments off

Well … it was going to be Bonnie Doon for Easter.  The caravan park up there managed to ‘lose’ our booking.  Probably because they figured they could make more money by having regular guests, instead of discounted Nomads.

Ahh well … when the drought returns and they need the business I don’t reckon we’ll be paying them a visit then either!

Lake Waranga Caravan Park.
Waranga Beach Road
Waranga Shores.  A couple of minutes North of Rushworth.

[gmap photo=”true” photo_icon=”thumbnail” file=”__UPLOAD__/2011/04/Track110421.gpx”]

23 of us made the trip away for Easter. I found this park to be a pleasant surprise. I confess to having low expectations, for no particular reason.
Being Easter by the lake I expected to be greeted at sunrise each morning by the sound of V8 boats on the water. Not so! The boat ramp was a short trip from the park and the water around the park is too shallow for boats to be in too close.
A caravan park at Easter is supposed to be full of yobs up until 5am singing karaoke … there wasn’t much of that either … unless the Nomads were the yobs.
The days were sunny, the nights were cold, as were the beers. The park owner thought it would be a great idea to have a few cockies screech at all hours and also a rooster to wake us up each morning. I’m struggling to find anything else to pick on…

Thursday 3pm saw me sneak out of work early only to be stuck in the crush of traffic. Only the bit between the Eastern and the Ring Road gave us any grief. Turning from Bulleen Road into Manningham Road was complete gridlock until Rosanna Road. That 1km section took 40 minutes. Everywhere else was smooth sailing.

This being the first real stretch of the Prado’s legs with the van on the back I was pretty happy with it.  It’s similar to the Rexton with a dead spot between 80 & 100, but its easier to manage and punch through it to get to the 100.  I did find myself fiddling with the gears continuously to assist the engine though.  Having a direct gearbox instead of a rubberband means that you can react to what the engine is doing much better.  I prefer it anyway … although the Rexton does seem to do it just as easy without all the faffing about.  The Rex seems to be happy in 5th and quickly drop to 4th if needed whereas the Prado has to be manually put in 4th (and the manual says leave it in 4th all the time) every time there’s a slight hill.  I’ll leave the gearbox alone for the trip to Inverloch as I would for the Rex and see how it goes.

On the Friday we didn’t do much of anything. The serenity was only broken by the continuous ringing of Rob’s phone by Danielle checking up on him. I swear he only got 1 beer in on Friday.

Saturday we went in to Shepparton for a bit of a squizz after visiting the market in the morning. I wanted to grab some stuff from Bunnings and we had a great lunch at the RSL. $9 mains and they were great. Hardly anybody there either.

Sunday saw me ripping apart the car and fitting a CB and some wiring for a dual battery setup and an Anderson plug. That took much longer than expected as there’s just not much room to hide anything in the Prado.

Monday we just hung around the park mostly. The kids borrowed a kayak from Di and had a paddle. Their technique meant that the slight breeze was determining their direction and they were quickly over it. Hannah took the excuse for a swim though. I went and found a geocache and stumbled across a fire observation tower that could be climbed.

Being close to sunset and having a magnificent view from up there (since there’s no other hills around) I went back and grabbed Sue, Kellie & Hannah and took them back to the lookout. We missed the sunset by about a minute.

Blake, Hannah, Kellie & Sam were keen to make the journey again for sunrise, Tuesday … although only Sam & Blake made it out of bed! We got up there with plenty of time before the sunrise … Blake’s first. Great view, but man it’s cold up there.

An uneventful trip home. Stopped at an SES driver reviver as I had a hankering for coffee. Another short stop for lunch. No traffic hassles at all, even though we were expecting the worst. Seemed like everybody got stuck around the Westgate/Bolte and that smoothed everything out everywhere else.

New car!

Apr 6

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011 | Comments off

Well, I took delivery of a shiny new Prado on Friday 1/4.   All’s been good so far.

The MaxTrax and CB have also arrived.

I was lucky enough to be able to get the new model MaxTrax in black, for a bit of a stealth look, instead of ‘steal me orange’. They should be a lot less conspicuous up on the roof racks now. What are MaxTrax? Well, hopefully they’ll get us out of any bother we find ourselves in.  Most 4wding we’ll be doing on this trip looks like sand driving and MaxTrax make it much easier to get unstuck.

I’ve been busily trying to find someone that’ll do the work on the Prado, but they all seem a bit scared or want to charge an arm and a leg.  Looks like I’ll be doing a bit of the electrical work myself.  What could possibly go wrong?

The brake controller is the only real hassle.  Normally this would be mounted low down on the left hand side of the dash, near the drivers left knee.  The problem is that the car has a knee airbag and the brake controllers ideal location is right across where the airbag would pop out.  I don’t fancy an airbag propelled brake controller to add to my woes … so I’ll need to find another spot for it.  It *may* fit on the right hand side.  I just need to blutac it there and see if its going to interfere with something else … like getting in and out.

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Less days to go than days we’re away

Mar 22

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011 | Comments off

Geez it feels like its getting close now, even though its still 4 months away …

The countdown has taken on a more urgent and somewhat sinister tone.  Not that I’m not looking forward to the trip, quite the opposite, but I’d like to get a few more pre-tasks checked off the list sooner rather than later.

I am panicing a bit at all the things that still need doing and yet every weekend still seems to get chewed up with other tasks and events.

In reality, a lot of things are already done.  The trip agenda is as planned as its going to be.  The van really doesn’t need a lot done to it to be ready.  Not many more items need to be purchased.  If we needed to we could go tomorrow.  Except …

The big news though is that the tow vehicle has changed.  A bit of a spur of the moment decision has seen all my preparation for the current vehicle wasted and I need to start again with a blank canvas.

The blank canvas has already been coloured in pretty well though.  We’re starting with a Prado Kakadu Diesel.  Bullbar, Towbar, Dual batteries, Snorkel, High current wiring loom, Roof racks, etc all need to be found, purchased and fitted in the time remaining … and I’ve not placed the order for it yet.  That should all happen tomorrow though and the dealer has one in stock in Kellies preferred choice of colour.  Delivery is hoped to be April 1st.

The Rexton celebrated the news that it was not going to be going on the big trip by overheating … it wasn’t really overheating, just the gauges said it was.  And folks reckon cars don’t have emotions, feelings and personalities … I beg to differ!  We’ll all feel a bit more security in doing the trip in a less exotic vehicle though.  I’ve woken up a few nights from dreams where we’d been stranded and our holiday ruined due to not being able to get a part for the Rexton. 

Hopefully my dreams return to blissful Coral Bay sunsets, sipping something from Margaret River, while watching the kids play on the beach and marvelling at the location.  The most frequent recurring dream I have though is one of hitching up on day 1 and driving past work that last time (for awhile), up and over the Westgate and looking back over the city … it’s a bit emotional .. and it’ll be bloody surreal (and unreal)  when it happens ‘for real’, with a rod and reel stowed in the van and REEEEAAAALLY quiet kids in the back of the car … in just 109 days.  Doesn’t seem quite real yet … I’d best go to bed and dream some more.

Kellie has us both back on ‘the crazy diet’ for another 3 weeks stint.  We should be both very close to our goal weights by then.  I’ll be the lightest I’ve been since discovering beer …