Saturday, March 24, 2012

East Gippsland, Victoria 18–24 March 2012

After stocking up on supplies (beer, wine, etc) at the supermarket in Wonthaggi. We headed off towards Foster in search of a dump point.

 

Dump Points

Now for those who don’t know,  in a RV there are a number of different types of tanks that you may have. We have a 200litre fresh water tank (with an extra filter and separate tap as an extra check for drinking – but I drink it without the filter, so far so good), a 200litre galley water tank that takes the water from the kitchen sink and the washing machine, a 200litre Grey Water tank which takes the water from the bathroom sink and the shower, and a 200litre Black Water tank which holds toilet stuff. Galley and Grey water is pretty much ok to discharge on the ground, but preferably not around other campers, etc. The Black Water must be discharged only into Dump Points provided by local councils, they can be few and far between, so you have to plan where and when you need to empty. We are finding we can get just over two weeks usage before we have to empty the Black Water tank. When we left Wonthaggi I thought we were getting close to being full as the last empty out was done at Mount Gambier nearly 2 weeks ago. The Dump Point that was listed Foster was not there so we continued on. We found an excellent location for free camping just outside of Toora and we stayed there for 3 nights 18 –20 March. On the last morning of our stay here, we topped the tank (I won’t go into detail, I think it is better that it happened to me not to Lise – Cass and Nali may remember the toilet incident on the houseboat when we did the Disasters Afloat trip, it wasn’t as bad as that though). Anyway, I carefully nursed the rig towards the next Dump Point 50km away – we made it ok and emptied in a gale at Port Albert.

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Dump Point – I am becoming an expert in all things poo.

Franklin River Reserve 18-20 March

This is a fantastic free camp, we loved it, very peaceful, great weather, nice people (meeting new people at free camps is fun), drinks with everyone around the fire each night.

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Agnes Falls, near Toora – in Winter it is a complete gush.

Eating the kilometres in the rain – 21 March

The wind was behind us and we made the most of it by driving a fair bit from Toora to the other side of Lakes Entrance, 218km. That’s a big drive for us. It was a pretty bad night and we stopped at a Burned Bridge Reserve – fairly ordinary, but it was ok and free. We had to keep an eye on Cooper because the Rangers had laid baits for foxes in the area.

Thurra River Campground – 22-24 March

11km east of Cann River near the border of Vic/NSW. Good spot, nice camp fires each night, a few squalls and some sun. Right next to a rain forest with a walking trail, we are doing the trail about 3 times a day with Cooper. We ran the generator (3KVA, $300 from ebay and still going fine) for an hour and and half to charge the batteries, do the washing in the built in front loader washing machine, etc.

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Rain Forest at Thurra River campground.

Into New South Wales – Eden 24 March

As we wanted to watch the first AFL match of the season, Swans v Giants and it was being broadcast on a TV channel we did not have at Thurra, we made a hasty decision on Saturday afternoon to pack up and move on to Eden. It was only 100km and was a very scenic drive. We parked our rig behind the Great Southern Hotel in Eden. Had a very nice dinner at the hotel restaurant, I had 3 bream and veggies, Lise had Thai red curry. We watched the match at the fishermen's club – Swans won of course. Good to see a new young team join the AFL and it should set up a great local rivalry with two teams in Sydney now.

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Eden, New South Wales

Friday, March 16, 2012

Ballarat

Being a Robin, I love anything for free – so for there seems to be plenty of places where we can camp for no charge. Camps 6 guide has thousands and thousands of locations listed right throughout Australia where you can camp for free or at very low cost. We found such a place just outside Ballarat, a small gold mining town called Smythesdale. From there we went in to Ballarat to go to:

  • Louey Soong’s take away Chinese for famous dim sims and spring rolls (a Brunton tradition when they travelled from Adelaide to Wonthaggi)
  • Eureka Stockade where the gold diggers braced against the government taxes – and many lives where lost.
  • Craigs Royal Hotel  - a trip down memory lane for Lise

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Eureka Stockade

 

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Craigs Royal Hotel

 

Whooooosh, was that Melbourne?

We drove direct from Smythsdale to Wonthaggi. 8 tons of Chev truck and 5th wheel trailer lumbering along the freeways and down the Melbourne toll tunnels at high speed. We came in from the West on the M8 straight through the guts of Melbourne and left via the M1 heading East. Didn’t even stop to see Chloe naked again! (Young and Jackson’s hotel)

Wonthaggi

Had a great couple of days in Wonthaggi. Home to Lise’s Pop and Grandma and where her Dad Ken grew up. A fantastic underground tour of the coal mines, Lise met a bloke who knew her Dad from school. This bloke remembered how they used to ride their bikes around town three abreast, Ken who was blind as a result of a high school chemistry lab explosion, rode in the middle of the three so that the other two gave directional guidance Smile

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Outback dunny – Wonthaggi

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Limestone Coast South Australia

(Barramundi Farming and coastal towns)

One night in Kingston Caravan park – waste of money really when there was free camping available just down the road at the jetty. So that’s where we stayed the next night. Kingston is a bit over-rated as a holiday destination, nowhere near as good as Robe or Beachport.

We left Kingston early to get to Robe, looked around the marina and town – lot’s of historic old buildings (well old for Australia anyway – after being to Europe quite a few times it sinks in how young settled Australia is).

Went to the RoBarra Barramundi grow out farm and got a royal tour (they don’t normally allow visitors). 50+ massive tanks filled with Barra’s ranging from about 4 inches up to 10kg and more. One of the biggest issues for industries is getting sufficient water which requires expensive licences and controls from the govt. Well RoBarra got around that by putting in a drill going down 1km (much deeper than a standard bore) where they reached artisan water which apparently goes under a number of continents. It comes up from down there under it’s own pressure, so no pumping is needed, and is about 30C when it gets to the surface. This temperature is ideal for the growing of Barramundi fish. A very interesting visit.

We found a great camping location at Southend overlooking a natural bay with a small town (no pub – that’s small). Got the KLR650 out and had a great ride a for about 10km along the long beach. nice.

Most nights we do BBQ’s which is fine and easy, and of course BBQ’s must be cooked whilst drinking beer Smile

The weekend of 3/4 Mar was spent camping at the Mount Gambier show grounds – good to be connected to 240v and water plugged in. Lise and I had a night out at an Indian restaurant, a treat for us – Cooper had to wait in the truck outside. 

4 Mar at the showgrounds they had a harness racing meeting on. lot’s of drinking, betting, etc going on. But as we were camped right behind the stables we spent the evening being wafted with manure smells and lots of flies.

Also got to empty our black and grey tanks at the showgrounds.

 

South West Victoria 5 – 13 March

Great free camping at Dartmoor just over the Victorian border, 85km from Mount Gambier. On the junction of two rivers, creeks really, had our first camp fire. Stayed three nights. There was a fresh spring water outlet that continuously flows, we emptied our water tanks and refilled with spring water.

Next stop was Wannon Falls for more nights of free camping, another great spot. A guy pulls up in a 1969 GTS Monaro (327ci with TH350, for those who want to know). 2012-03-08 17.36.03

We chatted and had a few beers. We met his wife later as they both wanted to know more about our rig (we are getting used to people coming up and chatting about our trailer and set up – everyone is impressed). Andy and Cindy invited us over for drinks and pool which was only about 500m from the camp site. We had a great night, Andy has his garage set up as a proper man cave, lot’s of motoring memorabilia, vinyl records and play, bar, pool table – we all had fuzzy heads the next day. 2012-03-09 20.21.39

Hot Rod Show – Cavendish, Victoria

Andy told us about a small hot rod show which was being held at a nearby town, Cavendish, on the 10-11 March. So of course we went along. about 50 or so cars, most old school hot rods, 1930-1940’s, some earlier some a bit later. Some real nice ones. Saturday night they had a band playing from the back of a truck and a massive camp fire.

One young bloke stumbled and fell into the fire about 4am, we got burnt fairly badly, his mate (who was also as drunk as a lord) got very agitated when it appeared the ambulance call centre operator was not real sure of the location of the oval where we where, so even though he was nearly paralytic he decided to jump in his pristine HT Premier Wagon and high tail it into town to guide the ambulance in. But alas, he lost control of his car, skidded in front of the police station and went straight into a road sign and light post. Wrecked his car, he hit his head on the windscreen (smashed the screen). The cops were pretty good about it and only charged him with driving without a seat belt, even though he had drank enough for ten men. The guy who got burnt is ok, doesn’t need skin grafts – very lucky.

The hot rod fraternity are very nice people, we didn’t meet anyone that we did not like.

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After everyone left on the Monday (it was a long weekend) we stayed an extra night and had the whole camp ground to ourselves.

Cooper is loving the camping life and meeting lot’s of people, at the hot rod show Cooper was the star with everyone.

Lake Bolac

Arrived on the 13 March, camping right on the water front. Feel the serenity.

Lake Bolac

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Finally On The Road

On 21 Feb we finally moved out of the house completely and into our trailer full time. For the first seven days we stayed close by at Mount Barker as we waited for the bank to resolve some contract settlement issues. We wanted to be handy just in case they required additional documents, signatures etc.

Mount Barker was very hot for most of the week, reaching 40 Celsius during the day and cooling only slightly in the evenings.  Lucky we were connected to 240v so the aircon in the trailer got a good old workout. We were on an oval so Cooper was in doggy heaven –  random ball games at anytime of the day.

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We left Mount Barker on the morning of the 28th Feb and headed South East down the coast of South Australia. All went well for that short 200km drive.

Gemini downs is a working cattle and sheep farm of around 5000 acres on the Coorong.  We pulled in there, had a chat to the manager and decided to stay the night. The weather had turned quite a bit and was getting cool and as windy as a four year old on baked beans.

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In the morning, I got up around 7am and took the Kawasaki for a ride around the paddocks (or paddicks as some pronouce it – go figure). After a while I came across a rather strange site, there was this bloke driving a new Rolls Royce convertible (which I found out later was valued at $1.2m) around the farm. He was dressed to the nines with black shirt, tie, yellow vest, hat and dripping with gold chains etc, taking pictures of farm buildings, woolsheds etc.

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We got chatting, me on a trail bike, not shaved, shorts, crocs, hash windcheater, and it turns out he was looking to buy the farm to add to his portfolio. His name is Lance Vater a bit of a business guy around South Australia. He owns quite a few companies including a massive aquaculture operation, RoBarra, breeding and growing Barramundi fish which are sold live to restaurants around the world.

Anyway, he wants the farm to use for student education, he has tapped into a deal where he can have 300 high school students for 37 weeks of the year from Eastern states private schools. Each student would spend a week with his operations, the time would be spread over the barramundi breeding centre in Adelaide, and the sheep and cattle farm at Gemini downs. I told him that if he bought the farm I wouldn’t mind 100 acres, he didn’t commit to that, but he said that if the sale went ahead he would need someone to manage the place for him as he summed me up and down. Anyway we exchanged details, I’ve sent him my CV and he knows I am available –who knows.

After Gemini Downs on the Coorong we drove on to Kingston S.E, a sleepy little town on the coast (but it does have 2, yes 2, pubs). So we are staying 2 nights, 1 night in the caravan park, 1 night free camping next to the jetty – I tried fishing for about 20 minutes in the 60kmh breeze, but gave up and went to the fish and chip shop instead.

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The Tow Vehicle

2006 Chevrolet Silverado 1500HD, Crewcab.

6L V8 Pet2012-01-04 10.17.32rol which also runs on LPG direct vapour injection, 160 litre LPG tank mounted inside the rear tub.

4 speed heavy duty automatic transmission with towing mode.

The 1500HD has similar suspension and chasis and suspension to the 2500HD and is able to traditionally tow 4,700 kilos.

When we had decided that we wanted to get the 5th wheel trailer we searched for a suitable tow vehicle. I found this online being sold by a private seller in Sydney. He had imported this vehicle from the states and had it converted from left to right hand drive which was done by an engineering company in Sydney. These vehicles are not sold as RHD in Australia.

When we got the Chev in May 2011 it had 90,000km on it, now it has just over 100,000km.

Once you get used to the size, it is very easy to drive. The biggest problem is parking it as it is over 6m long and very wide.

Including the 5th wheel towing hitch:

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And full tanks, the Chev weighs around 3,500kg. A heavy tow vehicle is needed to tow the 4,495kg (all up weight) of the trailer.

I am running Yokohama AT/S Geolander tyres and have upgraded the rear suspension with Firestone Ride Rite airbags.

Some people think that the Chev and the trailer were purchased as a set because they match each other and the graphics are the same. But they were purchased completely separate, the Chev from Sydney and the trailer from Newcastle, NSW. The graphics match only because the guys from the trailer company who fitted the towing hitch to the truck, suggested they put matching decals on the truck. Looks a bit red neck for my liking, but maybe I am a bit of an Australian red neck :)

hmmmmmm, should I grow a mullet?

Monday, January 2, 2012

Off to Victor Harbour

Collected the trailer from storage in Mount Barker and we met up with Jo, Paul and Liam just outside of Willunga. Easy drive into Victor. Booked into the park and set up, Angie and Leon also joined us and were in the process of putting the roof on their outback camper.

It was hot! hovering in the high 30’s and low 40’s (celsius).

Victor Harbour is the place most South Australians go to for short holidays, sometimes it is the only place they go to for holidays. A nice town of about 12,000 population with Granite Island just offshore which is accessed by a long jetty. There is a colony of Fairy Penguins on Granite Island which are protected.

As children we spent many holidays at Victor with Mum and Dad, so there are lot’s of memories of here. One strong memory I have is what happened when I was 15 years old behind the cabins at the very park we are staying at now with the Policeman’s daughter……………, but that’s another story.

Went to Golwa and Middleton beach for short while in the afternoon, just to find the Surf Rescue boat and a policeman on shore investigating a reported shark sighting, most swimmers where getting out of the water, but the surfers were having too much fun to let a shark bother them. picked up supplies from the supermarket (and bottle shop) then back to the park.

Us boys had a great game of cricket at the park whilst the girls watched – fun.

After a communal bbq we all sat about chatting into the evening.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

About Our New Home

Here are the details of trailer. Don't worry, we didn't pay anything like the listed price, I am a Robin after all :)

http://www.newcastlervs.com.au/drifter%20sports29.htm