March 2014

March 2014

Jayco Heritage ... Our New Home

We absolutely love our new home and we are very fortunate to have a customised version of the Jayco 30th Anniversary Heritage model.  Our Jayco is 21 foot in length and is a full size caravan which is great as I can easily stand up inside. Most Jayco caravans have an additional lounge opposite the club lounge where as with ours, the original owners had the floor plan customised when it was built.  Instead of the extra lounge, our cupboard and bench top has been extended with a full size fridge and full size pantry cupboard which gives us great storage and extra space.  

The van also has a full ensuite which includes a toilet and shower, a queen size bed with storage under the bed, "L" shaped lounge area and digital TV.

Looking through the door, the gas stove is on the left as is the sink in a large bench top which continues around where the TV and Nespresso machine are.  A full size fridge with a small freezer below the microwave. There is a stereo installed in the cupboard above the TV along with a couple of the LED down lights.  In this picture, you can see the dining table and the "L" shaped couch to the right and the reverse cycle air conditioner on the roof.  The window is at the foot of the bed and these rooms can be sectioned off if needed by a concertina door.

This is looking down the van towards the full ensuite through the bedroom and these rooms can be sectioned off too if needed by a concertina door.  There is a roof hatch above the bed which can be opened to see out of as well as a night shade too.  There is heaps of storage in the van and the bed lifts up on gas struts for additional storage too.

This is the view from the bedroom back into the kitchen area.

The previous owners had taken meticulous care of the van both inside and out and had even updated the most of the internal and external lights to LED.

We really love our new home, it is very comfortable and a lot easier to tow than I imagined.

Adelaide, SA

We left Adelaide on the Sunday of the Clipsal 500 races and as we were loaded up with all of our belongings and in our new van, we bypassed the city and headed for the freeway on route to Bordertown.

The journey up the freeway from the toll gate was slow and at points I was lucky to maintain 40km/h up the steepest sections but the Jayco van was easier to tow than the old Millard.

Deb and I were really pleased with how Blade and young Griswold were getting on, even travelling long hours in the car didn't seem to phase either of them.  Gris had even taken a likening for cuddles with Deb at times as we drive along!

Our route took us past a couple of "Big Australian" icons being "Scotty" on Nottage Terrace in Prospect and another being the "Big Olives" at Tailem Bend which we have now added to our Big Australian icons list.  "Scotty" has been an Adelaide landmark for decades, however I'm not sure of the significance of the Big Olives at Tailem Bend, I think it is more a marketing gimmick for the olive business that is there.

  

Bordertown, SA

When we arrived at Bordertown, we were keen to unpack our excess luggage  and get that into our storage shed and set up our new home.  We spent quite sometime putting up the annexe but the extra room it provided made all the effort worth while.  The extra room doubles our living area and with an external power point, we were able to spend a lot of time in the annexe which also has windows and doors sewn in.

Here we are all set up in Bordertown.

I had removed the 2x deep cycle batteries and the battery charger from the Millard and had them installed into the Jayco by an Auto Electrician.  The van already had been wired for free camping with 1x battery (black one) and an Inverter which draws the power from the batteries and converts it to 240v to allow appliances such as lap tops and phones to be recharged.  These batteries along with our 2x 90 litre water tanks for fresh water will enable us to 'free camp' (be away from power) for sometime, perhaps even days if we decide to do so.

When we were in Bordertown, we had the opportunity to catch up with Glenn who was the Oak Valley truck driver that took Deb up to Oak Valley back in October 2013. Glenn was working with a road maintenance team from Victoria over in eastern SA repairing some of our roads and was in Bordertown at the same time as us and we caught up at the motel where he was staying for dinner.  It was great to see Glenn again and reflect on our experiences at Oak Valley and it was Glenn that gave me a few lessons on heavy vehicle training and fork lift driving when I was in Oak Valley.

In the week or so we spent in Bordertown, we went for a drive with Jas, Brad and Cruze down to Kingston, Robe and Beachport.  We had been to Kingston before but it had been many years since I had been down to Robe and I had never been into the town of Beachport.

We had lunch down at the beach at Robe and then went and drove onto Long Beach at Robe which stretches for miles and you can drive along most of it. 

We toured around Robe and aw the sights such as the old gaol ruins and the  famous obelisk which were both erected in the 1800's and then we continued our drive down to Beachport.  Beachport has a jetty so we we threw our lines in and it was freezing cold ... perhaps even too cold for the fish as we didn't catch anything in the short time we braved the weather.  It was a great day and as we drove back to Bordertown that evening.

Deb and I were amazed with how much Cruze had grown over the last few months so as it will be some time before we see him again, I thought I would post this recent picture of him in our Blog ...

Robe, SA

Deb and I were keen to return to Robe in the van so when it was time to leave Bordertown, we headed off back down there and we stayed in the Bushland Holiday Park in Robe.

The Bushland Holiday Park was beautiful ... and lush green grass and trees (a far cry from the outback of recent months).

The park was very quiet so we were able to pick this great site which was faced the bush within the park.  The park remained relatively quiet for our stay which was really nice and a peaceful place, unlike the other caravan parks in Robe which seem to be busy places with vans packed in tightly.

Just outside the park was Bream Lake, a local fishing spot so Deb and I tried our luck for one afternoon without success.

We also went fishing off the Robe jetty ... and again the fish weren't biting.

Jas, Brad and Cruze came down to Robe over a weekend and stayed in an apartment and we tried our luck at the Cape Jaffa Marina which is half way between Kingston and Robe.  It was another cold, wet and windy day, but at least this time we caught some fish including Tommy Ruffs and what we think were small Silver Trevally.

I was last in Cape Jaffa in around 2004 and it only had a few shacks and a small caravan park which was being managed by an old mate, Lindsay Gilchrist who I had worked with at Ctel in around 2000/2001. Lindsay now manages the Cape Jaffa Marina and unfortunately was not in town when we were.

On another day, we journeyed back down to Beachport and tried our luck at the Salmon Pool which is a deep sea pool where salmon are known to be but as they are a long way out from shore, we had to cast out as far as we could.  The steep angle of the sand into the water made it interesting to get as far down the sand before the waves got you.  A few locals were there too and they had waders on and were casting from waist deep water.  Unfortunately, we didn't catch any salmon but it was fun trying ... especially to not get wet in the process unlike Deb that stumbled and got caught by an incoming wave!

The locals said that the conditions have to be exactly right to catch them and today the conditions were not.

As our plans are to head east to Ballarat and then over to Bendigo and from there to head north, we decided to stay at Port MacDonnell which is a seaside town approximately 30kms south of Mt Gambier.

Port MacDonnell, SA

Our drive from Robe took us right through the centre of Millicent and again through the centre of Mt Gambier, up and around the Blue Lake (which is so amazingly Blue!) and down to the coast to Port MacDonnell.

Port MacDonnell is only a few kms from Cape Northumberland, South Australia's most southern land point and only 30kms from the SA/VIC border.

It is a small town known to be the home of the "Southern Rock Lobster" and we stayed at the Foreshore Tourist park which is only a few metres off the beach.

Access to the park was a bit daunting as the path to the sites is one way which means you cannot drive around it and the sites were not deep enough nor was there much room to reverse the car about when getting the van into the site.  After many attempts we finally got in and set up ... all to the sounds of the ocean waves breaking on the shore just behind the trees in front of us ... Awesome!

We took the dogs for a walk along the beach and Gris was not too sure what the sea was all about but if Blade could run in there ... he was going to try ... until he got wet from the wash of a wave and then he wasn't so sure! 

I had my 47th Birthday here in Port MacDonnell and unfortunately, it was cold, wet and windy so Deb and I stayed in the van and watched movies all day.

Once again we had most of the park to ourselves most of the time which is very nice as we enjoy the peace and quiet.

We drove over to Cape Northumberland and took these amazing pictures of the limestone coast that has been continuously battered by the sea and we followed a road which lead us down to a nearby beach.  Cape Northumberland is South Australia's most southern land point and it has a lighthouse / weather station way back from the coast from where the original lighthouse and keepers residence was ... right on the cliff top! You can see why there were so many shipwrecks along this coast, the reefs and rocks would make any successful rescue near impossible.

As Mt Gambier is only 30kms away, we drove up there to have a look at the Blue Lake and the other lakes in the craters and had dinner at an old pub in the town.

As Port MacDonnell is known as the "Southern Rock Lobster" capital, we went to the local cray monger and bought ourselves lunch ... only $25 each too!!!

After a relaxing week in Port MacDonnell it was time to back up and move on to Ballarat to see Deb's friend Nicki and her family.

Our route to Ballarat took us back into the heart of Mt Gambier and then east towards Hamilton.  We found a beautiful rest area at Casterton on the Glenelg River for lunch.  We drove past the "Big Wool Bales" in Hamilton which was not as impressive as we had thought so we didn't stop but we will add to our Big Australian Icon list anyway.  The Big Wool Bales was built in recognition of the extensive wool industry in the Hamilton area.

I was impressed in just how big an area the Grampians cover as I had not seen them from the south before, only from the highway when travelling to Melbourne.

Lake Bolac, VIC

We decided to stay over night at the Lake Bolac caravan park on the lake instead of pushing through to Ballarat. The park was opposite the lake and it would have to easily be the worst caravan park we had stayed at to date ... it was really bad.  The park was small, full of run down facilities like their cabins that blocked any view of the lake, the van sites were squeezed in between large trees and were on a steep angle, the amenities were disgusting and to top it all off, when night time fell, millions of midgees came out.  All of us including the dogs were forced to seek refuge in the van and it was impossible to go outside ... at all!  Morning could not come quick enough and then we made the short drive to Ballarat.

Ballarat, VIC

Our base in Ballarat was the Big 4 Windmills Caravan Park which was only minutes away from Nicki's place but unfortunately, they do not allow dogs so Blade and Gris had a holiday too staying at Nicki's with her and her kids.  Nicki's place has a large and secure back yard with a big pergola and the dogs had the freedom to run around off their leads for a change.

www.ballaratwindmill.com.au

The park was very nice although expensive compared to what we have paid to date but the facilities including the huge heated indoor pool and spa area made it worthwhile ... so we extended our stay and ended up staying 6 nights.  The park also has a playground and jumping pillow so Nicki's kids were able to use them too.  We had a BBQ in the camp kitchen one night and met Nicki's parents who too are seasoned travellers and it was great to hear Mike's stories and advice too on his many years of experience on the road.

The weather was surprisingly warm and sunny in a place well known to be typically cold and wet which made our time in Ballarat all the better and as the park was not busy, it was a nice to have a swim and enjoy a park with good facilities without the crowds.

One afternoon we went over to the North Ballarat Football Club, now one of the most successful VFL clubs and home of some of the AFL's most famous players including Tony Lockett, Michael Malthouse, Dale Lewis and marathon runner Steve Moneghetti.

Before we left Ballarat, we went out onto the highway to Melbourne to see the "Big Miner" that is a tribute to all the gold mining heritage of Ballarat and added him to our Big Australian Icons list.

Ballarat is a beautiful place and a lot bigger than I had thought it was and Deb and I drove around having a look at many of the places Deb remembers from many years ago when she lived and worked here such as the Ballarat Base Hospital.

So far, our list of sited "Big" Australian icons is now 12 ...

• the Big Blade at Snowtown SA
• the Big Merino at Goulburn NSW
• the Big Ned Kelly at Glenrowan VIC
• the Big Lobster at Kingston SA
• the Big Pelican at Loxton SA
• the Big Orange at Renmark SA
• the Big Galah at Kimba SA
• the Big Oyster at Ceduna NSW
• the Big Scotsman (Scotty's Corner) in Adelaide SA
• the Big Olives at Tailem Bend SA
• the Big Wool Bales at Hamilton VIC
• the Big Miner at Ballarat VIC

As we have stayed at quite a few caravan parks so far, we thought it would be good to start to review and rank them.

We decided on our criteria over 8 key areas and then we rate each criteria out of 5 and this then provides us with their own "5 Caravan" (star) rating.

In March, we stayed and rated the following Caravan Parks ...

Bordertown

Robe

Port MacDonnell

Lake Bolac

Ballarat

In March, we journeyed ... 2,554 kilometres,

Cheapest fuel was in Ballarat, VIC where it was $1.479 / litre

Dearest fuel was in Bordertown,SA where it was $1.589 / litre

Cheapest we have ever paid for fuel was in Darlington, (Metro) SA ($1.395/ltr)

Dearest we have ever paid for fuel was in Oak Valley, (Outback) SA ($1.800/ltr)

Average price so far is $1.565 / litre

So far, we have been on the road for 264 days and travelled 19,469 kilometres and our BIG ADVENTURE continues as we are headed for Bendigo ...

February 2014

February 2014

Ceduna, SA

I had been working in the Maralinga Tjarutja office in Ceduna as the Business Manager now for a couple of weeks and was enjoying the multiple challenges of understanding the complexities of Aboriginal Affairs, the multitude of both Federal and State Government agencies that provide the funding as well as trying to install some business disciplines around processes, procedures and policies. 

The role encompassed the "Maralinga Tjarutja" business that essentially manages the land (over 120,000 square kilometres) and the various services that are provided such as staff, infrastructure and funding for primarily the community at Oak Valley as well as the Maralinga (former nuclear test) site.

I was reporting directly to the General Manager and I was learning lots and it was comforting knowing that I did have multiple skills across many areas which were transferable into this diverse business.  Basically, the entire operation is unique in Australia as it was created by an act of Parliament and not from typical "Native Title" or "Traditional Land Owner Rights" which apparently is the case with all other aboriginal communities in Australia.  The act of Parliament was a result of the Royal Commission into the Maralinga Nuclear testing and the subsequent clean up operations and compensation granted to the traditional owners.

From what I was told, the aboriginals that live in funded communities have a saying ... "White Man is like a Toyota, when we drive them into the ground, the Government just send us another one".  

Unfortunately, this seems to be very consistent and typical with what little I saw of their attitudes and their 'culture', which is a shame as everyone (White Fellas) I had met seemed to have the best intentions and wanted to help in some way and to make a difference.  Deb and I put it down to that they (the mob) simply 'exist' day to day and do not seem to plan nor care about 'tomorrow'.  This was highlighted to me when we had the girls from ASIC (Australian Securities & Investments Commission) in Sydney come all the way out to Oak Valley to do a 'Money Matters' education forum for the community in December speaking about Credit, Superannuation, Home Loans etc.  The mob were more interested in getting the free card wallets and pens from them and then they just wandered off leaving the two ASIC girls bemused with the entire experience.

In early February, it was decided that the Management Team would charter a deep sea fishing vessel and go snapper fishing off Ceduna.  So early one morning, the five of us boarded the chartered boat at the boat ramp and set off out of the sheltered waters of the islands and bays around Ceduna and into the Great Australian Bight.

Here we are preparing to board the chartered boat.  All we needed to bring was food and grog for the day as all rods and gear was provided by Perry, the skipper and owner of Ceduna Fishing Charters.

The boat was a high speed twin hulled game boat and I was not sure if I would get sea sick or not and I didn't ... perhaps the alcohol helped!?

Once we were away, the skipper requested that we lock up all our phones in the cabin as he didn't want us to be able to track via GPS our fishing locations during the day.  He told us that he has seen previous customers out in the exact locations where he goes weeks later with others and he was protecting his business by doing this ... so we agreed, which unfortunately limited our abilities to take too many pictures when we started catching snapper ...

It was a great day out and we caught about a dozen snapper, many whiting and other fish which we used as bait during the day.  Those snapper really fight when they get hooked and it was a work out bringing them up from the sea floor some 80+ metres down, but at least we all caught a couple ... even me!

Due to an unfortunate series of events up in Oak Valley, Deb decided that it was no longer safe to continue to work up in Oak Valley and as she was due for leave to attend a training course in Tasmania, we decided to both go and have a break away from the outback life for a while.

So we boarded a REX (Regional Express) flight from Ceduna to Adelaide, then a Virgin flight from Adelaide to Melbourne and then a connecting flight from Melbourne to Launceston.

Lake Leake, Tasmania

Our destination was the Lake Leake Chalet in Tasmania.  It was an awesome place, very much like an old style English pub and Dale was the Inn Keeper.  We all but had the place to ourselves for most of the week we were there except for an overseas couple that stayed one night and a few of the regulars at night from the shacks that border the lake.  Dale was a great host, very friendly and made us feel very welcome and it was a very long way from the heat, dirt and troubles associated with Oak Valley.

www.lakeleakeinn.com.au

Even though Lake Leake is renowned for trout fishing, we only walked the 100 metres down to the lake once ... having a pub all to ourselves was simply too good as we ate and drank well and the accommodation was very clean and comfortable too.

We hired a car from Launceston airport and drove it around to see only a few places such as Bicheno, Coles Bay, Ross and Oatlands and then one our way back to the airport on our last day, we discovered Evandale ... a quaint little township that like so many other places in Tasmania, are beautiful very picturesque.

Deb had been to Tasmania before and for me, it was my first overseas holiday although I still count Kangaroo Island as an overseas destination!

Bicheno, Tasmania

Deb was keen to revisit Bicheno on the east coast and I'm so glad we did as Bicheno was very nice township and the picture below is of Bicheno Bay.

We had our lunch watching the blow hole in action and unlike the blow hole in Kiama south of Wollongong, this blow hole was in fine form ...

We were able to get quite close to the blow hole and Deb noticed that crabs were clinging to the rocks feeding from the water running back to sea so she tried to catch one.  In the picture above, she is waiting for the crabs to come out from hiding as the water runs off the rock.

We journeyed down to Swansea and further down the coast to Coles Bay and to the Freycinet Peninsula where we booked ourselves into the Wineglass Bay tour in a few days time.

We stopped off at a popular "Marine Farm" at Coles Bay where we purchased some oysters and ate them in style back at the Chalet that night.  The lobster and other seafood was extremely expensive but the overseas tourists didn't seem to mind paying these prices!

On the drive back to Lake Leake, there is a lookout over the "Great Oyster Lakes" and Deb shot this awesome panoramic shot from here.  You can see the Freycinet Peninsula (the mountains in the background) and you get a real sense of the landscape from this point.

Wineglass Bay, Tasmania

www.wineglassbaytours.com.au

Wineglass Bay is a bay that is on the Tasman Sea and to get there, you either take the boat tour as we did or hike the tracks through the mountainous National Park.  The boat tour took over 4 hours with lunch at Wineglass Bay and we were fortunate enough to be able to get a good spot on the boat on one side at the front which although windy, it was an awesome vantage point.

The Freycinet Peninsula and National Park is almost 100% granite and the rock formations were spectacular and the boat skipper was skilled enough to pilot the jet boat right up to the shear cliffs to see some of the unique formations such as natural arches.

This is Wineglass Bay where we had lunch.  The skipper ran a quiz over lunch for all us to consider how they got to name the bay "Wineglass Bay" and there were many suggestions, but the real reason was back in the 1800's whalers used this bay to drag in their kills and the water turned a claret colour from all the blood and because of this and the shape of the bay, it was called "Wineglass Bay".

Without a doubt, the best part of the entire tour was seeing the pod of dolphins race us and they were so close, we could nearly touch them ... I managed to take dozens of photos as I set my camera to automatic sports mode which takes multiple rapid shots ... even though I managed to take many shots of the hand rails of the boat, thankfully there were some great shots and here are a few before my batteries died ...

Ross, Tasmania

Ross is an historic town in central Tasmania as it has the oldest bridge in Australia built by convicts in 1836 and even after so many years, it looks magnificent and it is still used today.

Oatlands, Tasmania

We decided to head down to the Salamanca Markets in Hobart on the Saturday and as we were driving down the highway, Deb made an impromptu detour off the highway and into the rural back roads ... just to see what was around!

As we drove through the countryside, we came across this old shingle log cabin / cottage at Fonthill and even Dale (the Inn Keeper) had never even heard of Fonthill when we told him of our adventures!

We eventually found our way to Oatlands which also has convict history and many of the town buildings date back to this period.  An interesting site was this windmill which looked more from the Netherlands than from Australia.

Unfortunately, on one day it was so cold and wet at Lake Leake that we were forced to stay inside, relax in the guest room and drink some wine whilst we watched and listened to the rain ... 

The week was soon over (far too soon!) and we headed back to the airport and boarded our flight to Melbourne, then another to Adelaide.

Adelaide, Bordertown and back to Ceduna

We stayed in Adelaide for a few days with my parents and then we headed out to Bordertown for a few more days.

We decided not to return to Oak Valley and to the Maralinga Office in Ceduna as it was not turning out as we had hoped and planned for so we both resigned from our positions to resume living on the road.

Deb and I had been looking at caravans for quite sometime as it was the lifestyle we wanted and the old Millard van was a good starting point, but it was time to upgrade and we found the perfect van for a good price in Adelaide ... so we bought it!

So a couple of days later, we flew back to Ceduna, drove a Maralinga community 4x4 vehicle back up to Oak Valley and collected the remainder of our belongings ... including Blade ... and returned to Ceduna the next day ... a lazy 1,000+ kms round trip with 70% of it on dirt! 

On the drive back to Ceduna, Deb spotted a herd of wild camels a few hundred metres away, so we stopped and had a good look as we had left our cameras back in the van!  At least we got to see some, in all this time we had heard of them being around out here and yet neither of us had seen any.

When we got back to Ceduna, Deb and I collected young Griswold from Kat's husband Paul who had been babysitting him for us whilst we were away and then we packed up everything we had into the Land Cruiser and the old Millard caravan and headed back to Adelaide.

Here is young Gris who had already grown so much in the short time we were away.

Kat was the another nurse working with Deb up at Oak Valley and Kat and her husband Paul live in Ceduna.  Both Deb and Kat left Oak Valley together due to their safety being compromised and Kat had decided that she would return to Oak Valley after she had some time off as well.  So when we returned to Oak Valley for the last time we said our goodbyes to her up there. It was a real shame to know that Deb and Kat would have made an awesome team and made a seriously positive change to the health standards in Oak Valley if they both stayed, but it was not to be.

So the next day, we hauled ourselves all the way from Ceduna to Crystal Brook with both the Land Cruiser and the van chocked full of with all our gear. The long drive on the first day made the relatively short drive to the Highway One Tourist Park at Bolivar on the next day a lot easier as this would be our base for a few days while we swapped vans.

We had arranged to collect our new van from the owners on a Monday and when I got to the bank to get the Bank Cheque ... it was closed!  Having worked for BankSA for nearly 20 years you would have thought I would remember that they close the branch at 4pm!!! Well, that will teach me not to wear a watch!!! So I had to arrange to collect the van the next day, which I did.

Luckily for us, we were able to get two adjoining sites at the caravan park and here is a picture of our fleet! ...

We spent an entire day transferring all our stuff from the old Millard van into our new Jayco Heritage caravan as well as some of the gear we had in the Land Cruiser and it was fun setting up our new home.

The next day, I took the Millard van down to CamperAgent, one of Adelaide's leading caravan retailers and sold it for cash ... even though I did not get anywhere near what I had paid for it let alone recover any of the costs associated with the significant amount of work we had done to it when it was in Wollongong, it was still a fair deal and I was happy with that. The old Millard had done a good job, it was our first van and we learnt a lot and we now knew what we needed and wanted in our 'mobile home'.  It was incredibly tough going during those hot windy days and nights in Ceduna in a van without air conditioning, but it was part of the experience and our journey.  The Millard was solid and reliable but the time had come to move on as things were starting to be needing replacing and it we had simply outgrown it.

We spent a few extra days at Bolivar (Highway 1 Tourist Park) getting to know our new van and it gave Blade and Gris time to get to know each other as well.

It was also fabulous to spend an afternoon with my parents under the shade of our very large awning as was spending a few hours with Matt who I don't get to see much of these days ... he is getting older and more independent all the time and he even drove out by himself to see us.  I miss him dearly and I am very proud of my boy!

So February 2014 finished rather differently than it had started, but the best thing out our lifestyle is that we can make changes as we want to.

Time for the Big Adventure to resume and now we will be doing it in absolute luxury in our Jayco Heritage caravan ...

In February 2014, (the Land Cruiser) travelled ... 1,392 kilometres,

Cheapest fuel was in Port Wakefield, SA where it was $1.539 / litre

Dearest fuel was in Kimba, SA where it was $1.639 / litre

To finish off the chapters of our Big Adventure with our old 1981 Millard van in tow, here are some more stats (because you know I love them)!

The Land Cruiser has averaged 5.3 Kilometres Per Litre of fuel,
The Land Cruiser averages 18.9 Litres of fuel Per 100 Kilometres

The Average cost of fuel so far is $1.567 / Litre
The Highest cost was in Oak Valley, Remote SA @ $1.800 / Litre
The Lowest cost was in Darlington, SA @ $1.359 / Litre

So far, we have travelled 16,915 kilometres and our Big Adventure resumes ...