Back on the Road Again - the Van is Sold

We left Christchurch on a wet chilly morning and arrived in Brisbane to a beautiful sunny warm day four hours later, what bliss! The weather certainly seems to alter our moods. We both seemed to be coughing a bit from the dry air conditioning on the plane I think, but we were worried in case anyone thought we had the swine flu as they seem to be very concerned with it at the airport. When we walked in though immigration they were monitoring everyones temperature on a special infra red machine.
We caught the shuttle bus up to Mooloolaba to spend our first night as we weren't getting the van out of storage til Wednesday. We decided to stay a night at the Beach Resort on the Esplanade where we have stayed before, and as it was $200 for a night our budget is blown before we even start this trip. Anyway it was a lovely apartment, the very one we had stayed in before. We had a beautiful fish meal at the surf club and felt as if we had never been away. Next day we caught the bus to Eumundi for a total cost (for seniors) of $8.20 .
When we opened the van we found it was in perfect condition, no bugs and no leaks which were our main concerns. We did have a flat battery but a quick tow at the storage place saw us quickly on the road again towards Noosa. We camped up there and spent the rest of the day sorting out and stocking upon supplies etc. The camp was lovely spacious with palm tress all around and lovely warm weather. Also spent the next day in Noosa and it was drizzling but not cold. We are enjoying being back on the road again and are heading to Hervey Bay. The next two days saw us back at Gympy and our old freedom camping again. We met another NZ couple in their bus on their 2nd trip to OZ going in the opposite direction to us.
We spent the weekend at Hervey Bay where we were to meet up with someones family interested in buying our van. We haven't managed to see them yet as they may be still away. We are in two minds whether we want to sell it now so will see what happens when these folks have seen it. If they want it we will let it go, if they don't we might hang on to it and store it up again when we finish this trip. This decision changes daily or even hourly! especially by 'her indoors'
Hervey Bay is a huge bay and is not as popular as Sunshine or Surfers with all the high rise buildings but it is a very popular retirement location as the weather is so mild. It was certainly a lovely day when we were there. This bay is also an area where the whales come to spend the winter so this is a popular tourist attraction. They don't arrive til about August though.
Monday was pouring with rain and we drove over to Coulston Lakes to visit our friends Alex and Norma who also visited us in NZ earlier this year. Alex cooked us a great meal last night and Allen has gone out to help him fix up some fencing on the farm today. Its nice and warm and I am on cooking duty tonight. I will only be using two pots instead of the pile he used last night, thats what living in a van does for you.
There have been a few mozzies about and I have been bit a couple of times. I can't seem to escape the darned things. Tonight is a super $50 million lotto draw for which we have paid $12.50 for a ticket. This is the 3rd lottery ticket we have bought since we have been here only a week ago .Does this sound like desperation or not? Anyway whatever the outcome our gambling days are over.

We have been back here in Oz for2 weeks now and it seems like we have never been away. We have been heading up the coast towards Townsville and its been so lovely and warm. After leaving Alex's place were were heading towards Bunderburg when our missing people from Hervey Bay contacted us re the van sale, so we agreed to double back and show them as we were not far away in Childers.
The end result is the the van has been sold - to another NZ couple who are coming to do a similar trip to ours. Its a small world as it turns out that he works at the same place as son Michael in Invercargil. They want us to deliver it to Hervey Bay by 1st August so at least we can get some more traveling in. We have mixed feelings about letting it go as we have really enjoyed being back in it again. We were not sure how long it would take to sell and had decided to keep it if it didn't sell so were not too worried either way what happened. We have had several inquiries about it and strangely more from NZ than here.
We visited our new daughter in laws Aunt in Bundy as the locals call it and camped two nights on her 25 acre property where there is a lot of bush and the mozzies really attacked us when we first arrived. Her friend Don who has his own motor home will help us with all the relevant paperwork to sell the van when we get back down there as it has to pass certain safety certificates before it can be sold.
We were intending to go up to Cairns but now will only go as far as Townsville before heading inland and south again.
I hate to admit that we did buy another lotto ticket as it was not won last week and was now up to $100million prize money. It was won by 2 people last night so that is it no more buying for us.
There seems to be quite a lot of campers on the road, more in caravans than motor homes but it is the school holidays

5 Months at Home in NZ

After spending five months back on NZ it is time for us to get back on the road in the van again. The weather is getting colder and we are looking forward to some of the Queensland sun again.We enjoyed out time back in NZ including catching up with friends and family again, especially our 6 grandchildren. Our yachtie friends were also back in NZ for 2 months before they headed back to their home from home in Langkawi where they have based themselves for a while.
We found that we settled into our retired lifestyle with hardly a thought back to the busy working life that we had before we went away. On reflection it was a good move to make a complete break like we did last year. Since coming home we have began to think we are now on holiday in NZ as life here seems to have taken on a bit of a similar patten to when we were away in Australia. We have been away several times to Queenstown, Taupo, Greymouth, Westport and Hanmer Springs. We have also had several lots of visitors including 2 lots from OZ in their camper vans.
Allen settled back into doing one or two days a week as a volunteer driving the trams or working in the sheds at Ferrymead and I generally chilled out doing as much or as little as I pleased including meeting up with friends etc who are not working and catching up on movies I had missed. I am surprised how quickly the days seemed to fly by. As the days got colder we started thinking about Australia again so finally booked to go back again on 16th June for 3 months. The objective being, selling the van over there and later on buying a van here in NZ and doing a similar sort of trip, perhaps in 2010. Too soon to make plans for that yet.

Homeward Bound 2008

We left Melbourne on 27th December ready for our 1600km trek back to Brisbane to park our van and fly home for a few months. Friend Wendy and her Mum Molly fed us on a good old Aussie all day breakfast and loaded us up with the Christmas food leftovers of ham, turkey, mince pies and Christmas cake (delicious). We had also spent an enjoyable Christmas with her and her family where we had been treated to a roast turkey and all the trimmings dinner, even if it was over 30 degrees.
Our first stop was a visit to Allen's xSNZ work mate Neil, who has recently moved over to Melbourne with his wife. They seem to have settled in very well and we enjoyed sitting in their air conditioned flat as it was a very hot day. After we hit the road again we drove along the Hume Highway to the NSW boarder and camped at a scenic spot along the Murray River once again. There were quite a lot of campers here with various boats out on the river enjoying the early evening cooler weather.
Next morning we hit the road early as it was Sunday and we thought there would be less traffic for us to hold up. We headed into Ned Kelly country once again, Jeralderie Bank being one of his holdup places. We also ran into more locusts here and they look horrible as they splatter on the windscreen. Next we headed to the old gold mining town of Forbes then on to Parkes which is famous for the 'Dish' and the movie of the same name. This was an interesting place to visit where we also took an interactive flight to the moon. From there to Dubbo where it was very hot and I decided my life would still be complete if I did not visit the zoo although it was on my list of things to do.
Tuesday 30th December and we decided to put a few kms (480) in today and 1300 since Melbourne, so as to get to Casino for New Years Eve. We swam in the hot pools at Moree where it was 39 degrees in the pools and out! Tonight we camped along side a young couple with 3 children who had been living in a camping trailer for 8 months while they traveled about. The kids all seemed so happy and content.
We arrived in Casino at the retirees camping village at 3pm so in plenty of time for the New Year bash tonight. This was in the form of a concert put on by the people who live mainly permanently in the village. Everyone seemed very friendly and a good time was had by all . The weather has been very hot for days so its great to be able to laze about here in the pool for a few days. I am reminded of the movie Cocoon where all the old people are jumping in the pool to regain their lost youth. I doubt if I have seen anyone under he age of 60 here, but these Golden Oldies seem to have a great lifestyle and we met people who live here in permanent housing and those who have been camping here for 4 months or so. We decided to squeeze in one more day here before we hit the road again only to be hit by a severe electrical storm in the middle of the night. We had left our awning out and it was rattling around so we jumped out of bed to put it down before any real damage was done. This was in our semi naked state so was not a 'good look' . Next day we found others who were not so fortunate and had suffered ripped canvas or bent frames.
Back on the road again for a final swim at Surfers before heading to Brisbane and friend Eileen's for a couple of nights before we fly home. Allen took the van to Eumundi and sorted out the storage whilst Eileen and I followed in the car. We spent some time at the Eumundi market but it was too hot to be bothered. We drove back to Brisbane and spent one more night before Eileen dropped us at the airport for our trip back to NZ.
It was a very interesting and enlightening trip and a great start for a life of retirement. Eight months cooped up in van might not be everyones idea of bliss, but reality it is not like that at all.You met so many different people and see so many places that everyday is something new to look forward to. We are looking forward to going home for a while but are also looking forward to coming back when the weather gets colder in NZ. Watch this space!

Mitsubishi Canter 1988 - Our home!

We are selling our motorhome after having travelled 20,000 k's around Australia. Details are:

1988 Mitsubishi Canter Regn 158KBP (Queensland)
Car license to drive it.
3.3 litre diesel 4 cylinder engine
5-speed manual gearbox
Light truck tyres with dual wheels at back, all in good condition.
High clearance from ground.
24 volt electrical system for vehicle, 12 volt and 240 volt electrics for the motorhome part. Separate batteries for each viz. 2 in series and 2 in parallel.
Solar panel on the roof to recharge the house batteries
90 litre fuel tank, 90 litre fresh water tank, 90 litre grey water tank plus black water tank.
12 volt water pump, gas hot water, shower and full flush toilet and vanity sink.
Kitchen has stainless steel sink, gas oven with 4 burner hob, rangehood extractor fan, 240v microwave, 3-way fridge freezer (gas, 12v and 240v)
Interior and exterior 12v and 240v lighting.
Heaps of storage space.
Roll out awning plus full annex.
Security fly screens on all windows and 4-seasons air vent in roof.
Air-con in cab only but 12v fans in house.
Sony CD MP3 sound system throughout.
TV with DVD player in back and outside antenna.

What are the advantages of a 'cabover' to a converted bus? We have had both and prefer to have our double bed out of the way and made up so you don't have to be taking down a table and seats every night. In our bus, our bed was right at the back but that took up good space inside and added another metre and a half to the length. In our camper the bed is above the cab and so is out of the way. There is a surprising amount of space up there and it's cosy and not at all claustrobic. There is good headroom and it's easy to climb up and down although as we get older (beyond our sixties) we may have to relook at that. So you have a lot of clear space in the motorhome itself and you always have your table accessable. In fact, we each have our own space which is a good thing. My wife likes to read in bed and louge around in the morning while I like to sit at the table. We can both see the tele from those positions as it swings around. Great!

Hows the engine? Previous owners, family with two boys, drove round the eastern side of Australia in 2007 clocking up 17,000 km's without any problems. we did likewise in 2008 doing 20,000 km's. Both trips took the vehicle down to Tasmania and up through Northern Territory. Mitsi has been well serviced. Fuel consumption is about 500km's to a 90 litre tankfull of diesel.

Cooling system? previous owners had a new radiator fitted. We had a minor problem with water heater hoses and had them replaced at Alice Springs. It has a thermal sensor in case the motor gets hot but it never went off during our travels, even on very hot days.

Care and maintenance? We have looked after our home and so did the previous owners. It has been regularly serviced. We travelled at 80 to 90 kph and never took the motor above 2500 rpm. On big hills - we went up and down the main divide a number of times and thats 1400 meters high, and just took it steady. Mitsi is able to get up and over almost any gradient.

Whats the drive like? With 3 seats in front, the high ride and good sized windscreen, the view is great. There are an additional 3 seats in the back with safety belts. It has good access through from front to back. You can park in supermarket carparks no problem. In cities and towns you can park in standard carparks but just watch the roof above the cab for clearance. On the road its drive, stop for a morning cuppa, back on the road again, stop for lunch and at the end of he day just drive into the camping area and park and thats it.

What about the beds? Our bed was above the cab and it was easy to access. It's a good size double about queen size but longer. There is a single bed on the right hand side towards the back which is also a good seat for day use. The table folds down to become another bed but it is a bit short for an adult but OK for kids. We had our two grandkids travelling with us for a week and it worked OK.

The annex is stored under the bed on the rhs. It doesn't take long top put up but because we were doing a lot of travelling, we didn't use it. Be great if you were wanting to settle at one place for a week. We used the roll down awning a lot.

Toilet and shower are located on the rhs behind the driver. A flushing toilet is good and the tank gives you more days than a cassette toilet. There are plenty of dump points about and it's not difficult to set up the hose to empty the black water tank.

Freedom camping is the way to get about. We have a Australia Camps 4 book which gave us the locations of all freedom camp sites such as, roadside rest areas (most have toilets which are well serviced), show grounds, etc. Camps 5 is now available. There are over 800 listings in NSW alone. We didn't feel threatened but stayed in Caravan Parks on Fri/Sat when hoons may be about the towns. We met a lot of great people on the road and they often told us of good places to see and stay. We never booked ahead, just went where we felt like going.

What else comes with it? The pillows and bedding, crockery and cutlery, kitchenware, couple of gas bottles (9kg and 4kg). There is a couple of outside chairs and a good table, an outdoor gas cooktop for your BBQ's, fishing line and yabbi net, extra containers for diesel and water if you go outback.

Why are we selling? We have had a great trip aroud Australia. Didn't get to WA because Australia is such a big country when you are travelling around and there is so much to see. We want to sell in Australia and buy a motor home in New Zealand to do some more travelling about.

So if you are wanting to travel around Australia as we did, it's all set up for you. Just call at the supermarket to stock up, fuel up and away you go. Now is the best time, before the heat and the flies. You'll never regret it.

Australia - The Movie!

Well, we have heard so much about the movie, we decided we had better see it for ourselves before we departed these shores. Much ado about nothing? well not exactly, but certainly a lot of hype. We had already heard good and bad reviews so went with an open mind.

The name gives one the impression that we are about to see a great film about Australia and whilst it is obviously an Aussie movie it has been seriously mis-titled and would have been better named 'The Dover' and marketed as a good Aussie yarn. There is a certain resemblance to the great Robert Redford movie of the 70's Out of Africa and in the same vein is a stunning portrayal of the Outback scenery. Woman stays at the ranch to keep it going against all odds (a good versus evil syndrome with the big big rancher who wants to take over the property) while the man goes off to do his thing.

Its a pity that the producers added a documentary note to the start and end of the film as it adds nothing the the movie and possibly detracts from the actual wrongdoing that was done by the Governments regarding the Lost Generations' which are certainly due more of a mention than this film actually covers. Mind you, that could have been one of the conditions in order to qualify for government funding.

Some of the opening scenes seem to be little better than cardbord cutouts and later on re-enactments of the bombing of Darwin during the 2nd world war leave something to be desired and should have been kept more to historical fact than fiction. My God! if the Japanese had ever gotten to bomb London it would have been all over in a week.

The star of the show was not Nicole Kidman or Hugh Jackman. It was the little Aborigine boy - the 'half caste' who was rejected by whites and blacks alike.

As a night out it was an pleasant and entertaining film but an epic it was not.