kijana
Free Member
We've been back nearly 3 weeks now, & at last some bodily functions are starting to overcome the cold, at least enough for a post 
.
We left Blighty for Oz last October, and flew out to KL for a few days, then on to Perth. We stayed at my brother's, and visited his girlfriend's hobby farm, where she keeps her horses and a few cattle as a pastime. We began to realize that not all countries are alike when she told us her 'farmlet' is over 100 acres!
We flew on to see our son & his partner in Sydney. They left UK in 2004 to go travelling after uni, and after seeing SE Asia, & working 9 months in NZ, they flew to Sydney en route to South America. They never made it to SA - been in Sydney ever since.
We had researched the secondhand market for motorhomes in Oz from UK long before we departed, & got our son to go & buy one for us from our shortlist, so the van was all ready for us when we arrived.
Motorhomes are eye-wateringly expensive in Oz, both to buy and to hire. We bought a 2004 Ford Transit panel van, this being the smallest van we could find which included a shower & toilet. It was in very good condition, but had covered 160,000 km - not unusual for 2/h vans in Oz, since they're nearly all ex hire vehicles, and Australia is a BIG country. Our van also had a good size solar panel, and a big awning - both extras fitted by the last owner. And both desirable, since we planned to wildcamp most of the time. Van cost about £28k.
When buying, the van needs a 'rego' i.e. it is registered in the new name. This necessitates a brief MOT type inspection, tax, and compulsory 3rd party insurance - an excellent attempt to minimize uninsured vehicles on the road. Rego fee was about $140 (£77) in NSW, but different states have different procedures & costs. We also insured ours fully comp, but wish we hadn't, as this cost another £700, which presumably didn't even include 3rd party risk - potentially vastly more risk than metalwork damage.
After a few days in Sydney we drove over the iconic Harbour Bridge to start our adventures - what fun!
We'd decided to drive north inland, and return along the coast. We also wanted to be out of Queensland by early December, since our research warned us of The Wet starting at that time, with consequent risk of isolation due to floods. So we headed north on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, and soon got used to intervals of several minutes between oncoming cars/ giant American-type trucks.
Scenery was nearly all dried gum trees and brown grassy fields, with few animals. Roads are straight for miles on end, with very little traffic between towns. Didn't see any wildlife, only roadkill kangaroos. It was pretty hot, in the low 30's, but the cab aircon was working well. Drove until late afternoon to get well out in the bush, before our first stop.
Since beginning fulltiming in Dec 2006, we've wildcamped whenever possible, and planned to do the same in Oz. I'd googled camping guides in Sydney and found an excellent one - 'Camps Australia wide, 5th edition' (aka Camps 5 - the bible). This is a superb publication, highly recommended. It comprises 2 sections: comprehensive road maps for each state, and campspot lists for each state. The road maps are marked with the location of each campspot, which is listed in the 2nd section, giving details of location, facilities, phone signal if any, and so on. The publication lists over 3500 sites, most of which are free. They almost all provide toilets, most have water, and many have free gas barbequeues (to discourage campfires with the attendant risk of bushfire). Some of these sites are absolutely stunning, with wonderful views, superb facilities, friendly wildlife - the sort of place you'd pay top dollar for anywhere else - only they're free! In many ways this typifies the laissez faire attitude so typical of Australians. If you want to camp in the bush, why not: no worries, mate, and we'll give you water & a dunny too. By the end of our 4 months in Oz, I don't suppose we'd stayed in a paying campsite more than a dozen times. and on those occasions it was nearly always to get electricity to run the aircon overnight when it got excessively hot (38+). And we never once felt in the least threatened or at risk from losers or toerags. People just aren't like that in Australia, at least outside of cities.
We stopped at a site from the said tome, and soon got chatting with some of the hundreds of 'Grey Nomads' to be found on the road. They told us of a good campspot in a National Park just over the border in Queensland, where we subsequently stayed, and met our first kangaroos. Loads of them - really close! And kookaburras, who never fail to make us laugh with their maniacal cackles. And giant lizards. And all manner of melodious birds. And amazing rock formations, and miles & miles of empty bush, and the pungent smell of eucalyptos from the thousands of varieties of gum trees. And the background drone of cicadas. And no sound of cars, or people, or aeroplanes, because there aren't any.
We stuck with the inland route for a few days, but decided it was just too samey, so turned east and carried on up the coast road, even glimpsing the Pacific occasionally. As we neared the north of Queensland, the scenery became much greener out of cattle country. We passed through vast tracts of sugar cane, and later banana plantations, before eventually arriving at the Daintree rainforest. It was 38Cin a heatwave
oh: and seriously sticky.
* * * * * * * * * * *
At this point, writer collapses with fatigue, & is dragged insensate from his keyboard. Maybe more later. . .
.We left Blighty for Oz last October, and flew out to KL for a few days, then on to Perth. We stayed at my brother's, and visited his girlfriend's hobby farm, where she keeps her horses and a few cattle as a pastime. We began to realize that not all countries are alike when she told us her 'farmlet' is over 100 acres!
We flew on to see our son & his partner in Sydney. They left UK in 2004 to go travelling after uni, and after seeing SE Asia, & working 9 months in NZ, they flew to Sydney en route to South America. They never made it to SA - been in Sydney ever since.
We had researched the secondhand market for motorhomes in Oz from UK long before we departed, & got our son to go & buy one for us from our shortlist, so the van was all ready for us when we arrived.
Motorhomes are eye-wateringly expensive in Oz, both to buy and to hire. We bought a 2004 Ford Transit panel van, this being the smallest van we could find which included a shower & toilet. It was in very good condition, but had covered 160,000 km - not unusual for 2/h vans in Oz, since they're nearly all ex hire vehicles, and Australia is a BIG country. Our van also had a good size solar panel, and a big awning - both extras fitted by the last owner. And both desirable, since we planned to wildcamp most of the time. Van cost about £28k.
When buying, the van needs a 'rego' i.e. it is registered in the new name. This necessitates a brief MOT type inspection, tax, and compulsory 3rd party insurance - an excellent attempt to minimize uninsured vehicles on the road. Rego fee was about $140 (£77) in NSW, but different states have different procedures & costs. We also insured ours fully comp, but wish we hadn't, as this cost another £700, which presumably didn't even include 3rd party risk - potentially vastly more risk than metalwork damage.
After a few days in Sydney we drove over the iconic Harbour Bridge to start our adventures - what fun!
We'd decided to drive north inland, and return along the coast. We also wanted to be out of Queensland by early December, since our research warned us of The Wet starting at that time, with consequent risk of isolation due to floods. So we headed north on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, and soon got used to intervals of several minutes between oncoming cars/ giant American-type trucks.
Scenery was nearly all dried gum trees and brown grassy fields, with few animals. Roads are straight for miles on end, with very little traffic between towns. Didn't see any wildlife, only roadkill kangaroos. It was pretty hot, in the low 30's, but the cab aircon was working well. Drove until late afternoon to get well out in the bush, before our first stop.
Since beginning fulltiming in Dec 2006, we've wildcamped whenever possible, and planned to do the same in Oz. I'd googled camping guides in Sydney and found an excellent one - 'Camps Australia wide, 5th edition' (aka Camps 5 - the bible). This is a superb publication, highly recommended. It comprises 2 sections: comprehensive road maps for each state, and campspot lists for each state. The road maps are marked with the location of each campspot, which is listed in the 2nd section, giving details of location, facilities, phone signal if any, and so on. The publication lists over 3500 sites, most of which are free. They almost all provide toilets, most have water, and many have free gas barbequeues (to discourage campfires with the attendant risk of bushfire). Some of these sites are absolutely stunning, with wonderful views, superb facilities, friendly wildlife - the sort of place you'd pay top dollar for anywhere else - only they're free! In many ways this typifies the laissez faire attitude so typical of Australians. If you want to camp in the bush, why not: no worries, mate, and we'll give you water & a dunny too. By the end of our 4 months in Oz, I don't suppose we'd stayed in a paying campsite more than a dozen times. and on those occasions it was nearly always to get electricity to run the aircon overnight when it got excessively hot (38+). And we never once felt in the least threatened or at risk from losers or toerags. People just aren't like that in Australia, at least outside of cities.
We stopped at a site from the said tome, and soon got chatting with some of the hundreds of 'Grey Nomads' to be found on the road. They told us of a good campspot in a National Park just over the border in Queensland, where we subsequently stayed, and met our first kangaroos. Loads of them - really close! And kookaburras, who never fail to make us laugh with their maniacal cackles. And giant lizards. And all manner of melodious birds. And amazing rock formations, and miles & miles of empty bush, and the pungent smell of eucalyptos from the thousands of varieties of gum trees. And the background drone of cicadas. And no sound of cars, or people, or aeroplanes, because there aren't any.
We stuck with the inland route for a few days, but decided it was just too samey, so turned east and carried on up the coast road, even glimpsing the Pacific occasionally. As we neared the north of Queensland, the scenery became much greener out of cattle country. We passed through vast tracts of sugar cane, and later banana plantations, before eventually arriving at the Daintree rainforest. It was 38Cin a heatwave
oh: and seriously sticky.* * * * * * * * * * *
At this point, writer collapses with fatigue, & is dragged insensate from his keyboard. Maybe more later. . .
