Around OZ by Road

Once again, its been a long time since my last update – 2 and a bit years in fact!!! A fair amount has happened.

Mary and I returned home from our lovely holiday in NZ and I drove up to Mackay with our pet Cavoodle, Gigi for company. Well, she just slept the whole way apart from when I slowed down in the towns when she popped her head up to bark at anything that moved outside!

I collected the caravan and, having prearranged it, had it serviced and a number of changes made.

Mary flew in from Toowoomba and we started our “shakedown trip” home – a 1000km (almost) trip south back home. We took it slowly and had 3 lovely overnight stays in caravan parks along the way. This included some sightseeing in Mackay and along the way. We made it home with zero issues or dramas and the VW Touareg towed the 2600kg van easily.

Since then, we have had a number of short, weekender type trips as well as a few week long trips around and about.

One good trip was a short Holiday to Coolum Beach (just north of Brisbane). Our site was literally just over the dune from the beach!! We also had both our (Ozzie resident) daughters and their families stay with us – one in a tent on our site and the other in a cabin. It was too the beach early and late in the day and the rest of the day was more or less spent in the air-conditioned caravan. Man, it was hot.

Another great trip was inland to the Tara Festival. This was a first for us – both the festival which was super good but also caravanning “off grid” for the first time. I had recently installed a 100Ah Lithium (LIFePO4) battery with a portable 250w portable solar panel. It was winter so we had electric blankets powered by the battery through a 2000w inverter, so we were toasty warm when we went to bed. I had ordered a diesel heater that I was going to install but it didn’t arrive in time as our trip was really a last minute decision.

Since then My 16yo VW Touareg has been involuntarily retired and I have a new (to us) 2021 VW Amarok with a canopy.

Coming up in May will be another 6 day trip to the Beach