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 62

3 April 2013

Woke up from a very restful sleep, I even had a dream which I haven't had in ages so must of been sleep. I did however dream that I robbed Target with Heath from Home & Away! Haha it didn't work out so I just went back to work (at target) haha. This is what happens when you can't watch h&a all the time, you start to make shit up! Haha

This morning was fishing time. With everyone telling us we can't leave until we have fished, we took there advice and were out there early! Seems it paid off, this area is known for black bream and black bream we did get! Would have caught about 10 undersized (25cm is legal) but among them were some whoppers! 30cm fat fillety freshness was the biggest bream. We then scored a King George Whiting 40cm, it was a goer and other fisherman were trying to steal it from us, apparently pretty hard to catch here?!

Now I say we in all of this, however I didn't fish as yesterday I managed to snap my rod in half....now this would be a cool story....except I didn't snap it while I was fishing! It's a long story and I don't want to go into it however I am down a rod which means I watched Joel fish all day! BCF here I come!

Filleted the fish up while chatting to some locals. We keep seeing some of the same couples over and over again in every place we stop, bit funny, may as well just travel with them!

We have made some fish cakes for dinner from our catch today for something different.

We needed bread crumbs for the fish cakes, didn't have any bought ones so was going to crumb bread but we don't have power and inverter wouldn't run my magic bullet so Joel came up with another way......

We ditched happy hour today for a nice hot bush shower! Nothing like it when you stink of fish! We have the hot water system down to a bit of a fine art now, heating the bucket of water first then running it through the shower head. This guarantees there are no screams when the Coleman cuts out and shoots freezing water from the shower head!

Big happy birthday to my good friend Sez! Hope you had a great day yummy mummy!

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 31

3 March 2013

Sunday morning woke up to a beautiful sunny hot day! Yay! So after breakfast we decided it was time to chase the flathead again!

Joel had played around with a few soft plastic and cut tails off ones and superglued them to the other just to see whether they would have any effect... They looked ridiculous of course but the proof is in the pudding I guess...

There are moorings here for your boats along the waters edge and they cost $4 a day to park your boat in them. We made a discovery that there was old mooring points right up the end towards the rock point and beach end. We asked the lady at reception if you have to pay for these and she said she didn't even know they were there and we should have just parked boat there and not asked! Haha so that's what we did. So it was a lot easier this morning to go fishing as we just carried our gear to the boat, jumped in and off we went.

We started well, flathead straight up! And this continued pretty much all morning! We ended up getting 8 keepers ranging from 35-40cm, 1 dropped at the boat, 1 undersize and 1 that Joel cut the gills and went to wash it over the side of the boat and it slipped from his hands and swam away!!! Oops!

Almost bagged out and we were getting hungry so back to camp for lunch!

Joel loves looking at everyone else's set up and saying how great, good, awesome of a set up they have. I told him the smorning he keeps reminding me of Kath & Kim when they see anything and say "that's nice, that's different, that's unusual!" Joel does this with pretty much every van setup he sees "that's a good setup, ooh that ones a good set up, ooh very nice!" Haha it makes me laugh and is a bit of a running joke at the moment!

Anyway totally off track....had some lunch and decided to see if we could get some more flatties this arvo! Unfortunately it was super windy which we felt hindered our fishing and we only came home with one! Overall though 18 fillets later, gives us (or Joel) a few free meals so can't complain!

Last night at Mallacoota tonight, tomorrow heading to somewhere near Lakes Entrance.

I am also thinking about setting up a Facebook page for the blog....seems that it is a little bit annoying to come to the website all the time to read the blogs and the email subscription doesn't seem all that reliable....what does everyone think about this? Should I do it? If you think it's a good idea please let us know cuz even though I am not a huge fan of Facebook it is where everyone goes for the daily news of everyone's life.....

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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Day 21

21 February 2013

There was a bit of doof doof music played last night which us oldies were not very impressed about but it only lasted about 5 mins so we assumed that some cranky old person told them to turn it down! Turns out this is only a tiny bit of the story! They actually reeked havoc stealing people's stuff and cops came out late night and escorted them out! There is always one idiot!! Or in this case 4!

We woke up and headed for a run along the beach, which I prewarned Joel that if he came, he was not allowed to whinge! The sand was hard so easier to run on but it was not great weather and Joel did whinge about his knee, his groin muscle and how he didn't realise how far it was! I don't think he will be coming for a run anymore! Good start to the morning though and we came back to camp and decided to test out the shower tent and hot shower.

I went first which really wasn't the smartest idea as we hadn't really tested it before this, which means ultimately I was the test dummy! I jumped in, beautiful and warm, soaped up, shampooed my hair.......freezing cold water is pumping out of the shower head....."JOEL? WTF?" .......gas ran out, so I am standing naked in a freezing cold shower tent with soap everywhere and shampooed hair waiting for Joel to sort the gas out. Eventually got it back to warm water again, rinsed off and quickly got out of there for fear of the water turning on me again! Thanks test dummy, shower should be perfect now.....Joel gets in.... Warm shower .....then..... "CARLY? WTF?" Cold again, conclusion something wrong with coleman hot water on demand, should be called hot water when it feels like giving it! (Doesn't have the same ring to it I guess!)

It works, but you have to keep switching it on and off to get it working again. So big pain in the ass! And nowhere near a BCF store to take it back so we are just working with it at the moment. At this stage would not recommend this product to people!

We had a big fishing session just in front of our campsite today, on low tide you can walk right out to the middle of the water and fish, so we pumped some yabbies and headed out there. I caught a couple of little whiting and one keeper! Finally a fish! But we didn't get any other keepers so decided to let the caught one go and wait for enough for a feed another day. Also I again forgot to take a picture before we put it back so I have no proof of this fish, which is becoming a habit! Getting a bit slack with photos all around actually, will work on improving this.

Had a good chat this arvo to a couple from the Sunshine Coast that go away for 3 months each year and have given us some good tips like - if you find a nice spot, pull up, sit down have a chat for a bit and see if other people turn up or the noise level, people around you etc, if you don't like it can just jump back in the car and find another spot. At the moment we just pull up and start setting up, once we have done this it is a pain to pack up so we have no real choice but to stay, so good tip! They also went through free and safe places to camp and cheap and marked them all in our camp 6 book for us. Very helpful!!

Another fire tonight, rissoles for dinner and Joel has attempted scones in the camp oven. The result being......

Yes they were as good as they looked! Nobody needs to know that on the way from the camp oven to the kitchen bench they may have landed in the dirt! Haha still good.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 20

20 February 2013

We had a peaceful nights sleep here! This is officially Joel's fav camp site in nsw.

We headed into the town of Moruya to have a sticky beak and pick up a few supplies. There is everything you would need in Moruya and probably more. IGA, Woolworths, Tackle World, hardware shops, petrol, food, cafes, pubs etc.

We got some groceries, picked up some pilchards from the brewing, camping & fishing store, signed a petition to keep Moruya Heads Campground (where we are staying) the same and not let council change it, they want to modernize it which pretty much means they want to charge people more! Filled the gas bottle up at Mitre 10 and picked up some kindling on the side of the road on the way back for our fire. There is a guy here right up closer to the airport (there are signs) that sells firewood by the bucket or wheelbarrow. We got a bucket for $10 and headed back to our site for a lamb roast camp oven dinner.

The caretaker comes each night to collect fees, it is only $15 a night or $88 a week (cheaper for pensioners). We have decided to stay here a week.

While the campfire was cooking us up some coals we decided to try our luck salmon fishing off the rock wall. People were pulling in salmon as we were walking up so we were hopeful that this could be the day. However we did not catch any salmon, actually pretty much after we got there no one was catching anything! Haha.

Everyone else thought it was good time to fish also!

 

Back to the coals and started the roast lamb and vegies. Well again we managed to cook this perfectly and while it was late by the time we ate, it was delicious.



Carly & Joel

 

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