Winter 2022

Taree

A week away in the middle of winter to Coopernook, near Taree.

Further sorting out a few things, learning a few things.

So pleased the van appears to be water-tight... Taree had its wettest day ever with more than 300mm of rain falling in a day! Was interesting to wander down to the city and see it in flood.

Easter 2022

We travelled down the Hume towards the Victorian High Country for a week or 10 days. Learnt a few more things about the van and had a great time away, free camping with our Labrador. After a really wet few months, beautiful sunshine, warm days and mild nights. Gorgeous. 

Jugiong 

Huge free camp on the Murrumbidgee, just off the Hume. 

Jugiong is one of those small towns that was bypassed years ago when the dual carriage to Melbourne was built. Some of these towns wither and die, others thrive. Jugiong has a couple of cafes and a pub and is a busy stopover, especially on the weekends.

The camping area is enormous and fronts the Murrumbidgee River where you can enjoy a swim on a hot day. 

Tarrawingee 

This locality, near Milawa (of Brown Brothers fame), has free camping by the Ovens River. Only room for half a dozen people, but a great spot.

 

Gundagai

A great free camp 5 minutes' stroll from town.

We now get why these local councils provide free places for people like us to stay - we wander in to town, buy a coffee or morning tea, do a local shop... the council owns the local caravan park so you're not disadvantaging a local business.

Winner winner.

More planning and tweaks

So we continued to make a few small modifications.

• We removed a couple of slide-out boxes - unnecessary weight.

• Bought a longer LPG hose for the Baby Weber

• Made a clothes line

• Mounted a TV point on the outside and created water-tight path through the side for cables so we don't have to leave a window open

• Towel hanging for when travelling with damp towels

• Purchased privacy side and end walls and awning extensions

• Removed the top bunk as we will never use it. Created a small shelf where we can dump things on the go instead

• Tea towel hanger for kitchen (I know, but the little things add up!)

• Further sorted out plate and glasses storage

• Plumbed external kitchen grey water to grey water tank

• Secured awning (for when travelling) with more than plastic clips

• Made a mount so our firebox can travel flat packed on the rear spare tyre

• Installed an always-on hard-wired reversing camera to rear of van.

Easter is approaching - keen to get out amongst it.

Maiden off-grid

Off grid for the first time

We learnt a few things on our three days in Moss Vale, so we came home for two nights and made a couple of changes before heading out again, this time heading out for an off-grid shakedown. 

Macquarie Woods Reserve 

First stop was to Macquarie Woods Reserve, a forest between Bathurst and Orange. About a dozen people staying in an area the size of a large suburb, quite a few of them obviously permanents. (A lawnmower is often a giveaway, as is the potting shed and external laundry under a tin roof). We had beautiful sunshine and the inverter and fridge worked well as a result. 

  

Young 

After taking on some water at Orange Showgrounds and having a look around Orange where one of our daughters used to live, we continued on to Young where we stayed at the show grounds for $5 per night. Neither of us had ever been to Young so it was a great chance to eat some cherries and plums and do a bit of exploring. The weather here was a little windy and for the first time we experienced a problem with the gas blowing out for the hot water system. We fashioned a solution to protect the vent from the wind on the side of the caravan but it will be a priority before we head out for any longer in the coming months. 

Wagga Wagga 

We then stopped at a free camp on the outskirts of Wagga Wagga, about a 10 minute walk from the town. There'd been a lot of rain in the preceding days so we picked a spot that was a little up from the creek. Walking into town, the Murrumbidgee was certainly flowing at a good pace. We had a tremendous storm while we were here, although we missed a worse storm that swept through the previous day which took roofs off houses, brought down huge established trees and branches and lifted vans off the ground. We learnt a valuable lesson here… if a storm is coming, and the weather bureau is predicting gale force winds, just take the precaution of rolling in the awning a little. Having a 20 m² sail hoisted is unnecessary. Another lesson learnt, and next time we won't get wet taking it down in the middle of the storm (but at least we had a hot shower to enjoy after.) One of our neighbours was really helpful and speaking to him a couple of times proved useful. 

Tumut 

Our final stop, and without doubt the prettiest stopover, was beside the Tumut River just out of Tumut at Jones Bridge. The water level fluctuated quite a bit, determined by how much water was being released from glowering dam. The water must be released from the bottom, because it was absolutely freezing (unlike the dam itself. We drove to the dam for a swim one day and it was lovely and warm.) 

We drove home via Talbingo - over the mountains and through Kosciusko National Park to Jindabyne and Cooma, stopover in Canberra with good friends, then home. No problems towing, and Redarc brakes did what they were supposed to do. Super excited, can't wait to get away again!