Day 77

18 April 2013

Joel's mum has put a request in for a blog about how we live each day in the van and where we camp etc, rather than just showing you all the great places we visit! Now I thought this would just bore everyone but apparently it's interesting so here goes...like sands through an hourglass, so are the days of our caravan lives..

Currently we are bush camping so the only facilities here are pit toilets (my personal fav) and bore water (which you can't drink). This site is right next to the beach just over a big dune so the camp sites are sandy and a bit of low bush around. Not real private you can pretty much hear and see everything everyone is doing but we have been to worse. This is a shot of the campground...

And this is how we normally set up... Our van has a rear door (unlike most that have a side door) so we try and pick spots where there is bush behind us and not people! We park the ute next to the van so we can roll out the awning between the ute and van to sit under if we want to.

There is also an awning on the back of the van but its time consuming to put up and it's purple (which Joel doesn't like) so unless its raining and we need the shelter for the bbq etc we don't set it up.

A typical morning starts with tea and coffee (like most people)! Obviously when we are bush we have no electricity so it's gas all the way here (fridge runs on gas when bush). Boil our kettle on the stove in the van for tea and dishes etc.

With no electricity we still need to charge electrical items like phones and iPads so this is where cigarette sockets that Joel has installed in the van come in handy.

These were connected to the dual battery on the car, we just plugged the car into the van via an Anderson plug. Now we have solar panels and a third battery so the cig plugs run directly off that now. Joel installed the new battery under the seat at the table and a volt meter to make sure we do not run the battery too low. It's also good to know what things really chew the power etc and you can see what volts the solar panel is creating.

Now you might be asking yourself (probably not but just run with it) how do you charge stuff that doesn't have a 12v charger? The answer.... An inverter which you can plug 240v chargers into and it converts to 12v.

This is also why we purchased a new tv...it is a normal tv but came with 12 v adapter so can be run on either. Saves power because we don't have to have the inverter running as well. Oh and it has a DVD player so Joel can now watch his 4wd DVDs!

We still have a little table where we sit to eat....yummy!

I still have to do dishes, washing and clean the van! So nothing changed there. At the moment we just don't have much room when we pack up, we put everything into the van on the floor which makes it difficult to stop anywhere for lunch cuz you can't get into van without pulling it all out. So once we pull up to camp we pull everything out from the floor as it is the stuff that sits at the rear door, eg table, bbq, etc. and whola we are set up. Oh there are 4 clips on the outside of the van that have to be undone and then the roof pops up... And now we are done.

On the flip side, we explored Jurien Bay today which is a pretty little town, did some fishing, tried to catch a blue swimmer crab with a rod, and managed to catch the sunset!

Anything else you want to know....just ask!

Carly & Joel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 76

17 April 2013

Decided to head off this morning in a northerly direction and that's about all we know.

We don't know what we are doing, so undecided about working and money sucks when you aren't working. School holidays is going to stuff us right up with busyness of places and finding good locations to camp.

Anyway good news on our way to "somewhere" north we ran into the pinnacles. Which we had forgotten about but glad there was some signage to remind us. As we had bought a national park pass back in Esperance it was free to see the pinnacles (normally $11) so winning, have definitely made our money back on that pass. Once here you can either drive around the pinnacles or you can do a walk to the pinnacles. As we had the van on we were not allowed to drive through so walk it was. It's a 1.2km track and it is only about 200m and you are at the pinnacles and you can keep walking or just soak in the surrounds. This is a cool place but really hot! About 10 degrees hotter I reckon and just surrounded by these pinnacles everywhere. All different shapes and sizes, ones with holes, one that resemble things and then just orange coloured sand everywhere under your feet.

Back on the road we found a camp site for $15 a night so headed in there. Now there were two access roads and we had to pick one, we drove past the ones with the signs everywhere (in hind sight probably not the best idea) and headed to what looked like a shorter route. Big mistake, the road was corrugated and then all of a sudden we were on a tiny sand road with branches and sticks hanging out everywhere onto the road which proceeded to scratch the shit out of the dmax as we headed through. Problem was once we were in there we only had the option to go forward not backward! The caravan also received some new pin striping today and we got about half way down this road and found a small turn around so went back, we decided we were better off going back then going into more stuff we didn't know! As you may understand by the time all this happened we were not in the best of moods and were ready to kill each other. Remember people who caravan together stay together! haha Drove back to correct entry and settled into our spot for the night.

We were a little late to watch the sunset! : ( always tomorrow... I missed it cuz I was too busy watching Edward on DVD on our new tv! Haha

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 42

14 March 2013

Last night we finally had a decent sleep, besides some drunk girls screaming their tits off, pretty good.

 

Packed up and headed on our new destination.....South Australia!

 

We drove from Warrnambool to Port Fairy, Portland, stopped in at Nelson (last town before border) and then crossed the border into South Australia! We are now settled for a couple of nights at Port MacDonnell. On the way into this town is a couple of little seaside towns which are actually like rural properties but right on the ocean! I mean cows eating hay with a backdrop of the ocean.... Guess I was wrong about seaspray....this is the real area where country meets coast!

 

Other thing I have noticed about SA is the sand is really white and like a powder consistency, very fine! So diverse to Vic that is quite course and a real terracotta colour.

 

There is not a lot to do here, few walks and fairy penguins which I am very interested in hunting down (hunting is probably not the right word!) Caretaker here informed us that whiting is getting caught on the beach at the moment with someone bringing in a 60cm one! That's huge! Whiting on steroids!

 

We have been a little lazy today and have watched TV for most of the arvo, I feel this is fair considering the last time we were able to watch it was almost week ago!

 

Have been throwing around ideas about where we are heading, we are interested in going to Coober Pedy but it is in the middle of nowhere really so if we did maybe we would cut straight up the middle first?! We need help, suggestions! Also working, where is the best place for us to go to source it?! We still think Perth at this stage but maybe you know someone or know something we don't know, help us out....contact us.

 

Carly & Joel

 

 

 

 

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Day 33

5 March 2013

Well this morning started off with drops of water falling on our heads! Every time one of us moved it made the drops of water that had built up from the early morning dew on the canvas to fall onto our faces! Haha good times! Note to self, Bedflys should be put up at all times.

This morning also started with indecision on where to go next. We either go above Melbourne and around to the Great Ocean Road or we cheat?! We did a lot of research and decided to cheat! And cut straight across from Sorrento on the ferry to Queenscliff and straight onto the GOR! Will cost us the same sort of money in fuel to go above Melbourne and this way we get a cool boat ride! So next destination is planned for somewhere near Sorrento so that we are ready to hop on barge in a couple of days.

Found a couple of campsites at Rosebud and Joel's brother had told us this is a good spot for flathead and since we are killing the flathead fishing at the moment, that was our new destination!

Heading out we went through Seaspray which is such a great little tiny town. This is really where the country meets the coast! Little beach shaks right on the water, one caravan park and one small shop, that in one trip to this shop, you can.....pick up your mail, get some bait and tackle, pick up your groceries, get lunch and buy a 6 pack of rum and cokes. Best shop ever! However all we wanted was breakfast and they had nothing....so off to the next shop. Another point on Seaspray, if you are looking to invest money in property, look here! In 15 years I reckon it will be a tourist Mecca! Two secs out from the beach it turns into big country properties, sheep, cows etc it is just quite weird really! There is also these trees on the way out of Seaspray that are like big oak trees on either side of the road that have grown together to form a tunnel over the road. Very unique!

We stopped in at Rosedale bakery on our travels and picked up breakfast, nice bakery and there are some life size wooden carvings of motorbikes which are pretty cool and one of Ned Kelly out the front. We then followed the GPS along the highways to get to Rosebud. The highways here are very similar to QLD, just felt like we were heading down to Brisbane. The biggest thing I have noticed in VIC is that they are big on the tired driving bandwagon. Every few kms is a sign saying Wake Up! Or The only cure for fatigue is sleep, or Powernap Now or my personal favourite...Open your eyes.... My only question is, if your eyes are closed would you see the sign?

Make it to Rosebud, pay for 2 nights for $25 a night and head to our camp site. Set up and look out at our view and surroundings and decide what's the rush....lets stay 7 nights!

So we are here for 7 nights and it is going to be a very relaxing, fishing, walks along the beach, swims in the bay type week! Can't wait! We had a bit of a stroll along the beach tonight and need I say more!...

Goodnight

Carly & Joel

Ps. I have set up a new mobile site for the blog so if you view it on your phone etc now it will be a bit easier to navigate and you will be able to comment on posts. If you use an iPad to view the blog use the mobile site as well as it will allow you to comment also. Any other annoying issues let me know. Haven't had much feedback on the Facebook issue.....??!

 

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Day 32

4 March 2013

Packed up Mallacoota camp this morning and hit the road again. We were considering staying more nights in Mallacoota to clean them out of flathead but decided we had enough for now. Hehe

Our journey took us through Cann River, Orbost and Lakes Entrance. This was a very nice seaside town and also very touristy, for a Monday there was people everywhere, places to stay here are quite expensive too so kept driving. Bairnsdale, Sale and down to Ninety Mile Beach. WikiCamps has led us to a few free camp spots on this beautiful beach so we headed down to Golden Beach. All along the esplanade here is campsites numbered from 1-20. Some are quite boggy and small, some not real level but we found 19 was pretty good for us and set up here just for the night.

Easy setup as we kept the ute hitched up so took us no time at all. Joel did a bit of chainsaw work on some dead trees and helped clear the bush up a bit. Nice of him! And we may have used that wood to start a fire which we cooked our steak and vegies in the camp oven on. Oh and our scones for dessert!

And that's us done for the day!

Carly & Joel

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Day 30

2 March 2013

This morning we woke up to blue sky and somewhat warm sunshine. No complaints here!

Market day today, Mallacoota has markets from 9 to 1 just behind the main street. Easy walk from the holiday park so we walked over to check them out. There was about 12 stalls selling a range of products from fruit and vegies to jewellery and arts and crafts. While we didn't buy anything they are worth just looking at in case there is anything you might like. We then headed down the Main Street and stopped at Lucy's cafe for breakfast. Scrambled eggs, coffee and a muffin, not bad, nothing to rave about though. Then to the bait shop to sort out a bit of new tackle for our rods in the hope that we may be able to catch something today!

New lines rigged up and we head out again. It was much calmer today than yesterday which meant we were drifting at a good speed to pick up some flatties....and we did! We got four all up, but 3 keepers. They have to be between 30-50cm to take them.

I did also manage to catch quite a few shells! Not sure what is inside of these but they clamp shut on the hook and you can't get the hook out! Annoying cuz they are heavy enough to make you think you have a fish as well!

This took us pretty much all afternoon so we headed in to fillet and eat them! They have a really well set up scaling and filleting section just up from the boat ramp. We headed there and ran into a nice man who showed us the best way to fillet flathead which was very nice of him! While you are filleting the fish there is so many seagulls flying around ya head, and pelicans just standing all around the tables waiting for something!

It is a bit unnerving having a mob of pelicans stalking you! We gave them some easy food (fish carcasses) and we were on our way. Joel had them on the frying pan in the weber before you could say "fry the flathead!" And eaten pretty much just as fast, pan fried in garlic butter fresh flathead....mmmm

Joel then washed his dirty car to try and make it look half respectable!

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 29

1 March 2013

First of the month! Which means we have been travelling for one whole month!

Woke up to mainly blue sky's but still freezing, one out of two ain't bad. Decided to do some early morning fishing....since this is a place for fishing! Put the boat in and headed out to try and get some yabbies (or nippers as they are called in Victoria) going to pump nippers just does not have the same ring to it! Anyway one nipper later we gave up and decided to just try the plastics. In Victoria you have to wear your life jacket all the time in the boat unless you are anchored, which does not go down real well with a qlder haha but here we are sporting the fashionable cheapest life jacket you can buy! (Can not say too much about Victorians as there are some Victorian readers! Hehe)

I'm still not sure about plastics, I am a bait girl and I just think its alot easier to know when the fish is actually biting, I have a bit of trouble with the squidgees....think I have a fish so reel in to find nothing, don't think I have fish and there is a flathead on the end of it! I saw the flathead and got a wee bit excited so started reeling like a crazy person up to the boat and the flatty shook its big head and got loose! We saw it and everything! Disappointing! And this would be the only fish we saw all morning.

Headed in to go for a bit of a drive and scenic look. Joel was searching for 4wd drive tracks and there are a few around here, however I would not call them 4wd tracks, more like roads similar to the Sunshine Coast after lots of rain, just potholes everywhere. So Joel got pretty bored of that so he found his own 4wd track.....

And got the car very muddy and dirty! Which was his aim!

Came back to camp and I went for a bit of a run around the park and Joel wanted lollies from the shop so I did that on the way. Realized I must of looked like a dickhead running with 2 bags of lollies! People were probably thinking I was running with them cuz I couldn't wait to get home and eat them! Haha ok I had a couple when I got home! : S.

Bit of TV, chicken pasta bake in the Weber (of course) for dinner and off to bed ready to go out and try fishing again tomorrow.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 28

28 February 2013

Last night we had torrential rain. The camper is soaked and we are ready to get out of here! We waited till 8am in the hope that the rain would subside however we were not that lucky! Putting on our just dried raincoats, we headed outside to start packing up and get soaked again!

Packed up and back on the road heading towards Mallacoota, just over the Victorian border. The trip was about 4 hours and it did not stop raining the whole time we were travelling! There was not one break in the rain it was so constant.

Made it to Mallacoota and it was surprise surprise, wet and rainy too! We yet again donned our raincoats and set up in the rain! We decided to do a full setup with full annexe so if it did rain the whole time we were here at least we could sit in the annexe rather than being contained to the camper.

Set up and what happens....rain stops! Typical! Had some lunch, did some washing (the new age way), checked out the water and did a bit of shopping at the local shops. Mallacoota is right on the water and is known for its fishing...and that is very noticeable when every caravan here also has a boat attached to it somewhere! So tomorrow we are hoping for a fine day and good fishing! Will let you know if we get either!

Apologies for late blogs, we ran out of power in this shit weather so we are now on a powered site at Mallacoota which is a luxury! Another luxury that we have missed is a hot powerful running shower! (The Coleman 30 sec showers we have been having just aren't cutting it!) I jumped in the shower here, pretty much after we had set up, and it took all my strength to get out! (I really only did, for fear of the lady outside of the shower timing me and yelling at me for using too much water) haha. It was pure heaven and I am already looking forward to the next one! Oh the little things that seem so big right now!

Raining again tonight! Over being wet!!

Carly & Joel

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Day 27

27 February 2013

Today we woke to rain, rain and more rain. We were planning to walk to the summit of Mount Kosciusko today so we decided to take a drive to Thredbo first and see what the weather was like there. From our campsite it is about 15 mins to Thredbo.

At Thredbo it was raining even heavier and we were really not prepared with the right gear to walk in this weather. Joel had no rainproof jacket and we were going to get soaked. We went for a bit more of a drive past Thredbo to see what else was around. There are a lot of different walks that can be done along this road however none of them are pleasant in the rain.

We decided that there would be no point in coming here if we didn't attempt Mount Kosciusko! Back to Thredbo we had a look in a few shops hoping to pick up a cheap jacket, of course they were all about $500! We then went to the sports centre to buy our tickets to the chair lift to start our summit walk. They had a few jackets on sale and there was a full waterproof, wind proof, breathable snow jacket on sale for $80! So Joel got this and we were then ready for our walk.

Something to eat in the cafe before we go up on the chair lift. World's biggest Anzac biscuit $4, and sausage roll for $6.50. Now onto the chair lift, the pass is $32 each for an all day pass on the chair lift. The chair lift was pretty cool, you can imagine when it is snowing how much cooler it would be but there was still some good views and it was an experience (for people that haven't been on a chairlift before). This was made even more of an experience as it was pouring rain and we were both just hiding in our rain jackets hoping we would be at the top soon! Made it to the top and we were soaked! Still pouring rain, wind is getting stronger we push on to our first destination the Mount Kosciusko Lookout which is 2km from the chair lift.

I would love to say we just loved the views and it was an amazing walk....the truth is we could barely look up as the rain was pounding our faces and if we did look up all you could see was all the fog overtaking the view anyway! There is a steel boardwalk all the way to the lookout and it is an easy walk. We made it to the lookout and looked out and saw ....FOG! At this point we decided there was no point in pressing on to the summit as it was another 4.5 km plus getting back and we wouldn't be able to see anyway and we were already wet and freezing! This was so disappointing!! I really wanted to do it and just seemed like an epic fail but we decided we would like to come back in ski season so we will get another chance to climb. (Some comfort).

My big Anzac biscuit (ok half of it, I was hungry!)

 

We headed back to the restaurant at the top of the chair lift to try and find some warmth. I found warmth in a hot chocolate...mmmm and Joel found warmth in a $8.50 Kosciusko beer (which he was not very keen on)!

Back down the chairlift and the fog lifted and rain cleared for our ride down so we could enjoy it a little more. At the bottom we are wet, cold, disappointed and ready to get into some dry clothes so headed back to camp for a quiet night.

Carly & Joel

 

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