Oz-Trip: Facts & Figures

FUEL
Total paid:             $8,174.84
Litres consumed:   5,282 L
Highest cost/L:      $1.999 at Nullabor township
Lowest cost/L:       $1.339 at Seymour
Average cost/L:      $1.547
L/100km average:  21.18  L/100km  (Mixture of towing & not towing)

DISTANCES
Total Distance Travelled:                        24, 931 km
Total days away:                                     151
Average kilometres travelled per day:    165km


ACCOMMODATION
Total cost:                                                        $4,240
Highest caravan park cost:                              $50/night at Cable Beach, Broome
Lowest caravan park cost:                               $24 at Ceduna

Number of different overnight locations:     57
Number of free or nearly free campsites:    15 camps @ one night each camp*
(*except for Port Hedland where we had four nights. Had a total of 18 days at free camps.)

PHOTOGRAPHY
Photos Taken by Geoff:                          7,546
Photos taken by Lorelle:                         6,640
Gigabytes of video taken by Lorelle:           80

Oz-Trip: Maintenance & Repairs

CAR
2 x 10,000km services
Front & rear brake pads replaced
Two headlight bulbs replaced
Air-conditioning fixed twice

CARAVAN
Water tank filler repaired
Hot water system overflow valve replaced
Town water pressure valve replaced
Bathroom door seal replaced
Bathroom silastic replaced
Front window seal replaced
Solar panel footing silasticed
Caravan tow plug replaced
Top door catch replaced
Door handle repaired
Table renovated
Battery replaced
Tyres replaced
Replace external 240v power outlet cover

Days 150 -151: Canberra to Gatton

DAY 150 Canberra to North Star Road Rest Area (35km south of Goondiwindi)

We got up bright and early at 5:30a - m for a 6am get-a-way.It was minus 2 degrees when we left and it stayed below zero for the first hour or so of our steady drive north.

There was quite a bit of fog in different places as the sun came up and We drove past fields of golden canola which Lorelle snapped quite a few times on her camera out the car window as we drove along.

Our first stop was Cowra just after 8am where we had a healthy brekky at Maccas. We then drove another two hours and got fuel at Dubbo. It was then another 90 minutes on that we stopped at Coonabarrabran for lunch - there were no suitable roadhouses so we went into the Chinese restaurant beside a servo and had an absolutely fabulous dinner. This was good because we now won't need much dinner.

We then just kept driving - Narrabri (topped up the fuel), Moree and now we are camped at a free rest area 30km south of Goondiwindi.  The phone signal is almost non-existent but we can send & receive SMS.

Today we did 800 kilometres. All up it was a good day - although we were on the road until 5:30pm I was not tired as we had enough breaks and it was a beautiful day in terms of weather.

DAY 151: Rest Area to Gatton

We drove the 30km into Goondiwindi and had another Maccas breakfast - fast food.....

We arrived home without incident at 11:45am.

It will be strange going to sleep in our own bed!  Maybe we'll sleep in the van for a few nights to acclimatise.....

We will add a few more blog pages in the next few weeks with facts & figures about costs and maintenance.  Watch this space.

To all those people who are reading the blog, I hope you have enjoyed it - it has been time consuming - I've actually only read one book in the 5 months we have been away.
Although time consuming, it is worth it as we will have a permanent record of our trip which we can bore people with for years to come - we are also getting the complete blog (over 250 pages) printed professionally in colour.

Very soon we will start planning our next trip which won't be as extensive as this one. Some possible areas we want to explore include:-

# Western NSW - through Bourke, Broken Hill, Coober Peedy, Lake Eyre, Alice Springs, Uluru;
# Western Qld - Quiplie, Eromanga, etc.
# Tasmania
# NSW coastline north and south of Sydney
# Around Oz again to see the things we missed this time.

Driving through thick fog outside Canberra

Fields of canola - very common in central NSW

Our last free camp for Oz-Trip

Our pile of mail which Mick has been collecting for us on the left and some of the parcels we have sent home on the right

Unpacking.........

Day 149: Canberra

We had fun yesterday afternoon - we drove over to Woolworths to pick up dessert for Brad & Simone's place - when I turned the ignition key to leave Woolies, the key came apart in my hand. I was left with the steel key section in the ignition and the rest in my hand. I had to get a pair of pliers to push and turn the key and thank goodness it started. We retreived the spare key from the caravan and when we got home last night I ordered a couple of new key shells off eBay for $10 each. (I've had to do this before - shame on Toyota for designing such crappy keys!!!)

Today we went to the Old Bus Depot Markets- bought some Tayberry Jam which we have only ever seen for sale at these markets - delicious. Also bought some Assam tea - bit like Darjeeling.  Brad and Simone then came back to the van for a cuppa.

Tonight we went out with Brad & Simone to a Vietnamese restaurant and had a nice meal.

Then it was back home to get the van ready for an early departure tomorrow morning (6am) so we can head homewards to Gatton.

Day 148: Canberra

It was very cold last night and our fan heater worked well until about 8am when it gave up the ghost. At 8:00am it was minus three degrees.

After breakfast, we headed out to explore a few of the other town centres of Canberra and also purchase a new fan heater. We visited Tuggeranong where we went through the shopping centre and purchased the new fan heater for $24 and then we drove back to the van park via the town centre of Woden which must have the tallest buildings in Canberra.

Tonight we are going to Brad & Simone's apartment to have dinner and watch the Broncos beat the Warriors..........

Days 146 & 147: Canberra

DAY 146

I got up at 7a.m. this morning so I could drop the car in so they could look at the air-con. We previously had it fixed in Kalgoorlie, but the gas leaked out. Again, this time they have regassed it and could not find a leak. They have told me that if it leaks again, which I am sure it will, then I need to get a couple of parts replaced - oh well, easier to do it in Gatton than down here.


We had lunch today with Brad and Chesty at THE LONDON, a great burger place in Canberra. It was good to see Chesty again, as we hadn't seen him since the wedding.  He now has a job in Canberra and is enjoying Canberra life.

This afternoon we did nothing and tonight we went out to Brad's for dinner.

DAY 147
This morning Lorelle had to go to the dentist - yesterday afternoon she cracked off part of her tooth while eating a lolly. After ringing quite a few dentists this morning, she found one and had an 11am appointment - the dentist smoothed it off and Lorelle has made an appointment to see her Toowoomba dentist next Wednesday - she will require a crown on the tooth.  Luckily, there is no pain with the tooth as the filling is still intact.

After the dentist, we went to the movies - the first time in five months - and saw "Horrible Bosses" - it was entertaining but probably one you would be better off waiting until it comes out on DVD.

Tonight we will be having a quiet one relaxing in the van - it is freezing cold here - currently 7 degrees at 4:30pm - the possibility of snow tonight.

Chesty & Brad

Day 145: Canberra

Today we set out to visit a few of Canberra's attractions. First we visited the National Film and Sound Archives which was good. It showed the development of audio and visual media in Australia over the decades.

Next we thought we were going to the National Portrait Gallery but we actually ended up in the High Court of Australia so we wandered around there for a while looking intelligent. We went into the main courtroom where a school group was having a tour - we were able to take a photograph in the courtroom while the kids were there.

We discovered that the full bench of the high court would be sitting at 2:15pm that day so off we went to the National Portrait Gallery to have lunch and look at the many portraits on display with the aim to sit in the Gallery of the High Court that afternoon.

The Portrait Gallery was good - like the Art Gallery but all portraits - dah....  One good thing about the portraits is that they all have a little bio beside them giving information about the person portrayed in the portrait.

It was then off to the high court again where we had to leave our camera and phone in a locker - we found it really interesting and sat there for an hour watching the proceedings.

We left because we were in a two hour parking area and did not want to get a ticket. We went down to Lake Burley Griffin and took some photos, bought some groceries, picked Brad up from work and cooked Brad dinner back at the van.

It was a busy but enjoyable day.

Lorelle at the National Film and Sound Archive

High Court

Day 144: Canberra

Sorry, not much to report toay.

This morning I spent a quick $350 buying a new gel battery for the caravan. The old one was a lead-acid and only lasted two years so I'm hoping that this new one will last a lot longer.

After putting the battery in, we went into the city and had lunch with Brad. We then picked him up after work this afternoon and had dinner at his place - Brad cooks pretty good chicken. We also said hi to Simone and her dad's new pup via Skype. She is enjoying herself in New Zealand.

Temperatures are plummeting here - tomorrow back to zero in the morning with colder weather coming later in the week!!!!


Tomorrow, we are off to have a look at a few places we have not visited in the past.

Seven more sleeps until we get home...........  

We have now notched up over 23,000km -   $8000 - $9000 worth of fuel by the time we get home.

Day 143: Jugiong to Canberra

Last night, while in the free camp at Jugiong, our caravan battery did not perform too well - it has been going downhill for a while so we got the genny out and it ran like a dream........... and then it started raining so we had to pull the awning out to keep the genny dry! Anyway that worked fine and it was good to see how the genny worked after the trouble I had with it at the Bungle Bungles due to stale fuel.

Tomorrow, Tuesday,  we will be buying a new battery.

We arrived in Canberra at about 10:45am - on the way we drove through Yass (one of those places you drive past but never go in) and found it to be a nice little country town, and then once in Canberra we drove past Brad & Simone's apartment block at Holt so we had an idea where it is. We then drove on another 6 kilometres to the Canberra Motor Village at O'Connor where we set up, had lunch, did the washing and then went over to Belconnen Shopping Centre to have a look around.

Brad arrived back in Australia at 7:30pm and now has a three hour drive back to Canberra - we'll be meeting him for lunch tomorrow - he has to work all week.

Day 142: Bendigo to Jugiong

We left Bendigo at 8:10 and drove through some small Victorian towns - Heathcote (a lot of wineries in area), went past Puckapunyal, Seymour (had breakfast for Father's Day at a small cafe), and then joined the Hume Highway which was two lanes each way all the way to the NSW border where we went through the outskirts of Albury/Wodonga and crossed the Murray for the last time this trip.

We had lunch at Holbrook where we noticed a lot of cars with skis - they drive up to Thedbo from the western side of the range. It was then on to a quick stop at Gundagai where we said hello to the dog on the tuckerbox (which was five miles out of Gundagai) and now we are at a small town, Jugiong, on the banks of the Murrumbidgee where we are free camping in the showgrounds.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Canberra but we won't see Brad until Tuesday as he arrives back in Australia tomorrow night from New Zealand where he went for the week-end.  Simone returns on Friday.

Story behind dog on the tuckerbox

Statue of dog

View from our caravan of the Murrumbidgee

Days 140 - 141: Halls Gap to Bendigo

DAY 140
We left at 8:15am this morning after having a fabulous three-course dinner last night at the Quarry Restaurant in Halls Gap.  Doug & Sue are heading south while we are heading north - we said our goodbyes and now we need to start thinking about our next caravan expedition together.

We drove through lovely green countryside - Stawell, Navarre, St Aunard and then Bendigo. Upon reaching  Bendigo, we drove directly to Beaurepaires to get the new van tyres fitted - a quick job which only took 30 minutes and then onto the Gold Nugget Caravan Park. We are staying here two nights.

This afternoon we visited the famous Bendigo Pottery works which is only a kilometre up the road from the van park. We visited here previously about 10 years ago so we weren't too interested in the history of the placve - more just seeing if there was any pottery we wanted. Lorelle bought a new pie dish and we bought a couple of other small items. I'm not an expert on pottery, but I thought their prices were a bit steep.


DAY 141
We drove into the city to the Deborah Gold Mine where the "Talking Tram Rides" leave from. We have seen a few mines so gave that a miss, but we went on the one hour tram ride around town. It was quite interesting. The thing about Bendigo which stands out to me are the number of very impressive old buildings and the tram ride showed us some of these. It is called a "Talking Tram" because it comes with a commentary.

Lorelle & the Talking Tram

There are many houses like this in Bendigo with decorative wrought iron trims.

Day 139: Hall's Gap

Well, we had a different day today - slept in, had a late breakfast, did a load of washing then went off to play Adventure Golf, which is another name for mini-golf, however it was 18 holes and was on a the best min-golf (18 holes) course I have ever experienced. Brad & Joy, when you visit here, have a go.   We again used our National Seniours Card to get a concession (NB Jeff J - you will be able to get one in 5 years time!).

It was then off to the National Parks Info Centre to have a look around before going home (van).

Tonight we are going out for dinner and tomorrow we part company with Doug & Sue after 5 months of travelling together. They are off to Port Fairy to start the Great Ocean Road while we go to Bendigo to get new van tyres and then onto Canberra to see Brad & Simone.

Lorelle in the bushes at mini-golf

Geoff showing how not to do it....

Day 138: Hall's Gap

Today we went for a drive to:-

# Ararat (no, we could not find the ark),
# Moyston (some of you older types may remember Moyston Claret),
# Great Western (it's actually a town and the home of Seppelt's Victorian operations and where the 'champagne' comes from),
# Stawell (those athletes amongst you will have heard of the 'Stawell Gift', the professional footrace which occurs there every year).

It was a pleasant drive in rich countryside (oh to be a sheep). Speaking of sheep, we found Ararat an interesting and pretty town. It was a town founded in the Victorian gold rush times and one of the few towns where the Chinese actually staked their own claims as against fossicking through the mullock heaps.
There is a Chinese Museum in the town and we found it an interesting visit - before we left we purchased a set of Chinese (made in China) tea cups with lids.
Anyway, 'sheep' - I was born in the year of the sheep and Lorelle was the year of the monkey.
Back to the trip - Moyston used to be known to us through the Moyston Claret wine, but it is also apparently the town where AFL began.  Being Rugby League fans, we didn't stop......

Next was Ararat which i have already mentioned.

On to the small town of Great Western - we dropped into the Seppelts Winery where I bought a bottle of port and we had lunch.

Next it was on to Stawell which I have also mentioned. We had afternoon tea here and annoyed the ducks and swans at the local park.

All up an enjoyable day.

Chinese Museum

Stawell

Hall's Gap

Days 136 - 137: Mount Gambier to Hall's Gap (Grampians)

DAY 136
Twenty minutes out of Mount Gambier we crossed the border into Victoria - we took photographs but it was not as exciting as when we had entered NT, WA or SA.  We drove for three hours to get from Mt Gambier to the small town of Hall's Gap. We stopped at Hamilton on the way for morning tea and to visit the Information Centre to find out about Hall's Gap.  Hamilton is a big sheep area and is graced by the giant wool bales in the town - we didn't stop to tour the town but it looks like an interesting area, but we are out of time!

The road from Dunkeld in the south to Hall's Gap in the north was only reopend last week-end - it has been closed due to severe road damage in the January floods of this year and people wanting to get to the Grampians have had to enter from ther north.  It is a small "village" but quite picturesque.  The van park (a Big 4) is nice but deserted (like most we have been to) except for a big array of animal life - kangaroos, emu, deer, birds, etc.  You have to watch where you walk due to the occasional 'piles'.

Tonight, the temperature is expected to get down to 1 degree - Brad, you would feel at home!!!


DAY 137
Last night it was cold (not in our van) - got down to at least zero - when we got up just after 8 it was still 3 degrees outside.

We left at 9:45am and went for a loop drive from Hall's Gap up into the mountains - we climbed over 850 metres and it was very cold up there - saw McKenzie Waterfall from a few different lookouts and also some great views over the valleys.

When we got home at 4pm I decided to feed an emu wandering through the van park some left-over cake - he was 20 metres from me when I threw the cake - well he came running towards us faster than Usain Bolt!!  I ducked into the van and left Lorelle outside to fight it off - lucky it was friendly!  Lorelle ran into the toilet - no more feeding emus......

They let us in!

Tea break on the Halls creek cricket pitch! I counted 40....

Mackenzie Falls

Halls Creek & Lake Bellfield from the Boroka Lookout

Our van park from Boroka Lookout - only four vans in park. Ours is on the left.

Boroka Lookout

Day 135: Mount Gambier

We slept in until after 9am this morning and then after breakfast we drove to Bunnings to pick up a few items I really didn't need, but hey, who needs an excuse to visit Bunnings?

We then drove 25 kilometres south to Port MacDonnell on the coast. It has a sign saying that it is the rock lobster capital of South Australia but we didn't get to taste any. It is a sleepy little village with quite a few houses but not much in the way of shops. I would say it comes alive during holidays - there are niced beaches both calm and also for surfing. There is also an excellent protected bay for boats.

Just a couple of kilometres west of the town is the most southerly point in South Australia. We drove out and took a few photos on the way of the various bays. It was blowing an absolute gale!

We drove back into the town and had pizza for lunch overlooking the bay. On the way home, just out of Port MacDonnell we turned left, drove for two kilometres and ended up at Dingle Cottage which was the holiday home of 19 century poet Adam Lindsay Gordon - he is a famous figure in the Mount Gambier area.  It cost $7.50 each for us to be given a guided tour of the cottage which was a mistake because the tour guide was obviously a mad, keen ALG fan, knew everything about him and had me thinking about how we could get out of what took 90 minutes - we were expecting 5 minutes and a few photos!!  I now know a lot more about ALG than I ever wanted or expected to know.........

Tomorrow we head for Hall's Gap in the Grampians where we will probably stay for a few days before heading to Canberra to see Brad & Simone.

PS - If you are sick of photos of bays and beaches, I think that today was our last coast visit until we get home!!!