We had bought the majority of our equipment, had completed most modifications and we were itching to test our camper out somewhere.
Joel wanted to mix his love of motorbikes with the first trial run of our camper so we invited a few friends and decided to head to manar park. Manar park is a 4wd, motorbike and camping tourist park in the middle of nowhere really (somewhere near Proston). Joel also picked this spot because to get to the park you have to go on unsealed and corrugated roads, perfect for testing his new off road chassis.
The trip out to manar was long but the camper held up well and Joel was surprised that nothing went wrong with the camper! (nothing like a bit of confidence)
Set up took approx 1 hour, I know this because I sat and watched Joel and his mate put it up while I sat back with a glass of wine. In my defense Joel's mate works in a caravan repair shop and knows everything about them and how they go up so I thought I would just leave them to it.
We decided not to setup the annexe as it would be slightly unsociable to sit in the annexe for three days. That will have to be tried on our next trial run. After the setup of the camper the tide pretty much turned to be all about motorbikes for the rest of the weekend!
We made a great dinner for everyone using our camp fire cooking skills. We cooked a pork roast with crunchy crunchy crackling and veggies. And I could even make gravy on my stove in the camper...now you can't do that in a tent! We even remembered the apple sauce, so it was a great meal and I think everyone enjoyed it! Now I just need to learn some desserts that work in a camp oven.... (guess I will have plenty of time to trial recipes soon!)
I would have to say that the greatest thing about the camper on this trip was the fact that it was the middle of winter and inside the camper at bed time you wouldn't have even known. I was really surprised at how warm it was compared to a tent, I guess being off the ground makes a big difference. So when it got too cold at the campfire I actually had somewhere to retreat to!
Overall
Trip was great, Good little trial without too many problems. From this trip we learnt that we needed a UHF in the car to make sure that when the other cars we are traveling with are calling us grey nomads, we are able to retaliate! We learnt that we need to create a proper list to make sure we don't forget anything, eg. Chopping board, sharp knife, peeler. We also learnt that we needed to pack the kitchen items better into the cupboards and build some sort of separators in the cupboards so we don't end up with stuff everywhere! We learnt that if there is no sun the solar panel is useless and have decided that from December on there will be great sunny weather for 12 months. We learnt that Joel shouldn't drink xxxx cans as it gives him a headache in the morning and a restless nights sleep too. We learnt we need a step to get into the camper because in the early morning or late at night it is a long way down. I claim we also need a portaloo to avoid late night dashes to the public toilets.
"Go Out - Make A Difference"
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Posted with Blogsy
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Defining Moments
There are a few defining moments that made this trip feel real, like it was really happening and we were really going to do it..... You can talk about doing something for so long but never actually do anything towards making it happen, 2012 is the year that everything we do is towards making this trip a reality....
4WD
When we decided to take this trip we had a Toyota echo and a beat up old Suzuki Sierra, neither of which were going to get us far in our road trip! The first defining moment would have to be the purchase of our 2010 Isuzu Dmax Dual Cab Ute. We purchased the Dmax in May 2012 and while it was pretty stock standard, we knew this would be a great car to take us on our trip, after a few modifications.
Boat
We had a Quintrex 430 escape boat which we had bought new and only owned for a couple of years. We had had some great times in this boat and putting it for sale was another huge defining moment. Unfortunately we couldn't have both a campervan and an awesome boat. So we put the boat for sale and it was sold within the week! We sold it to a lovely country couple from high fields and they will hopefully be looking after our little boat and creating great memories too. The money from the sale of our boat was to be the money to fund the purchase of all our required equipment. First being a home to tow around Australia with us. We didn't want a caravan and we didn't want a fold out camper trailer.....
Campervan
Of course as soon as we sold the boat and had the money burning a hole in our pocket we had to find a camper. In all honesty Joel must of spent about two months prior to this researching every campervan available on every eBay, gumtree, camper site you can think of so he knew what was out there and knew what he wanted! I on the other hand wouldn't have known what I was even looking at! Joel found the one he wanted and we bought it, it required some work but for the price we were willing to restore what was needed and go from there. I want to apologize to the family of kids we bought the camper off who balled their eyes out when we picked the camper up and took it away from them. Sorry but we are looking after it and it is getting set for a great adventure. This was a huge defining moment, when you see this in your yard every time you look out the window there is no going back!
Work
Most people would probably just give 4 weeks notice or 2 weeks depending on the length of time they had worked at a job. I have worked for my employer for 4 years and four weeks would have been all the notice I needed to give.... However I decided to tell them in July. Let me explain why...
Firstly we have a review every year around July and it's a good opportunity to sit down and talk, secondly I really like my bosses, they have been good to me and while I have returned the favor in working for them for four years, I guess I told them now more as a friend than an employee. I wanted them to have the best chance of finding someone to replace me. And thirdly, it was probably a more selfish reason in that I didn't want to carry the knowledge around anymore, I just wanted them to know so I could breathe easy and not worry about what was going to happen when I told them. Telling them would have to be the single biggest defining moment for me, it all became real and I felt like I could think about the trip without feeling guilty for thinking about it! My bosses were great about it really, considering and I will do everything I can to help them while I'm away if they need it! Joel was lucky enough that a year ago he was going to leave his work and they asked him to stay for another 12 months while they train someone so they were already aware that they would be losing him at the end of this year. So he's been thinking about this trip guilt free for the last 6 months!
4WD
When we decided to take this trip we had a Toyota echo and a beat up old Suzuki Sierra, neither of which were going to get us far in our road trip! The first defining moment would have to be the purchase of our 2010 Isuzu Dmax Dual Cab Ute. We purchased the Dmax in May 2012 and while it was pretty stock standard, we knew this would be a great car to take us on our trip, after a few modifications.
Boat
We had a Quintrex 430 escape boat which we had bought new and only owned for a couple of years. We had had some great times in this boat and putting it for sale was another huge defining moment. Unfortunately we couldn't have both a campervan and an awesome boat. So we put the boat for sale and it was sold within the week! We sold it to a lovely country couple from high fields and they will hopefully be looking after our little boat and creating great memories too. The money from the sale of our boat was to be the money to fund the purchase of all our required equipment. First being a home to tow around Australia with us. We didn't want a caravan and we didn't want a fold out camper trailer.....
Campervan
Of course as soon as we sold the boat and had the money burning a hole in our pocket we had to find a camper. In all honesty Joel must of spent about two months prior to this researching every campervan available on every eBay, gumtree, camper site you can think of so he knew what was out there and knew what he wanted! I on the other hand wouldn't have known what I was even looking at! Joel found the one he wanted and we bought it, it required some work but for the price we were willing to restore what was needed and go from there. I want to apologize to the family of kids we bought the camper off who balled their eyes out when we picked the camper up and took it away from them. Sorry but we are looking after it and it is getting set for a great adventure. This was a huge defining moment, when you see this in your yard every time you look out the window there is no going back!
Work
Most people would probably just give 4 weeks notice or 2 weeks depending on the length of time they had worked at a job. I have worked for my employer for 4 years and four weeks would have been all the notice I needed to give.... However I decided to tell them in July. Let me explain why...
Firstly we have a review every year around July and it's a good opportunity to sit down and talk, secondly I really like my bosses, they have been good to me and while I have returned the favor in working for them for four years, I guess I told them now more as a friend than an employee. I wanted them to have the best chance of finding someone to replace me. And thirdly, it was probably a more selfish reason in that I didn't want to carry the knowledge around anymore, I just wanted them to know so I could breathe easy and not worry about what was going to happen when I told them. Telling them would have to be the single biggest defining moment for me, it all became real and I felt like I could think about the trip without feeling guilty for thinking about it! My bosses were great about it really, considering and I will do everything I can to help them while I'm away if they need it! Joel was lucky enough that a year ago he was going to leave his work and they asked him to stay for another 12 months while they train someone so they were already aware that they would be losing him at the end of this year. So he's been thinking about this trip guilt free for the last 6 months!
Go-Mad
Welcome to our first post and thanks for following us on our GO-MAD adventure!
We are a 26 year old couple from the Sunshine Coast and we have decided to go on a work and play holiday around Australia. We can't let the grey nomads have all the fun and we don't want to wait until we ARE grey nomads. So we are calling ourselves the GO-MADZ.
I like the word GO-MAD for a few reasons:
1. It is not a nomad (which lets face it is the name given to anyone with a caravan in tow)
2. I actually think we may have gone mad in quitting our jobs, packing up our life and leaving behind friends and family!
3. I googled Gomad and it came up with "Go Out - Make A Difference" so decided what a great slogan for an awesome adventure.
Our plan is to finish up work on the coast in December 2012 and head off on our trip after Christmas. At this stage the posts will be pretty slow and as we get closer to the end of the year they will increase and be pretty constant on our trip. We wanted to have a blog to keep in touch with family and friends while away and also hopefully to give others great places to visit, great stories, great memories for us to look back on and no doubt a huge list of what not to do!
Through this blog you will find Posts about the planning stages of our trip, our trial trips, all the mistakes we have made and the good the bad and the ugly of our trip around oz.
"Go Out - Make A Difference"
We are a 26 year old couple from the Sunshine Coast and we have decided to go on a work and play holiday around Australia. We can't let the grey nomads have all the fun and we don't want to wait until we ARE grey nomads. So we are calling ourselves the GO-MADZ.
I like the word GO-MAD for a few reasons:
1. It is not a nomad (which lets face it is the name given to anyone with a caravan in tow)
2. I actually think we may have gone mad in quitting our jobs, packing up our life and leaving behind friends and family!
3. I googled Gomad and it came up with "Go Out - Make A Difference" so decided what a great slogan for an awesome adventure.
Our plan is to finish up work on the coast in December 2012 and head off on our trip after Christmas. At this stage the posts will be pretty slow and as we get closer to the end of the year they will increase and be pretty constant on our trip. We wanted to have a blog to keep in touch with family and friends while away and also hopefully to give others great places to visit, great stories, great memories for us to look back on and no doubt a huge list of what not to do!
Through this blog you will find Posts about the planning stages of our trip, our trial trips, all the mistakes we have made and the good the bad and the ugly of our trip around oz.
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