Pre-trip capers

Some long service leave and a previously expressed wish by himself to “one day travel around Australia in a kombi” have resulted in us planning a 3 month “pre-grey nomad” trip around part of Australia, starting ~ end of August 2010. After months of agonising over mode of transport, we finally decided to invest in a 4WD and caravan (rather than a motor home or campervan, or even a kombi (!)), the shiny new (actually second hand) Prado and Coromal Pioneer 401 were acquired. All seemed good until drips appeared in the ceiling of the van after a particularly wet night. This was able to be remedied (we hope) by the dealer so all go again. Our plan, such as it is, is to spend 3 months travelling round half of Oz, heading down the south coast of NSW, across Vic via the Great Ocean Rd, SA, then across the Nullarbor to WA. Then beat up to the mid north coast of WA and travel down more slowly doing some windsurfing on the way. Hopefully by then we will have hooked up with Chris’s sister and partner (coming over from the UK), who plan to take advantage of the great WA winds with their kitesurfers and see a bit of the west in a rented campervan.

Being novice caravanners / campers / outdoor multiday trip people, our initial thought was to have at least one practice run over a few days to iron out bugs and work out what we still needed. Unfortunately, having decided the big 3 month trip was to start Sun 29 August, we have only managed one overnighter at Shoal Bay last week. Discovered some electrical issues and forgot to pack the cutlery but the fish n chips (with plastic forks and washed down with a bottle of red) was pretty good. Bed turned out to be quite comfy but spent half the night lying awake listening to the ever increasing howl of the wind  and wondering if the awning (not tied down) and caravan (quite small) might blow into the ocean. Culminated in Chris getting up to close the awning ~2.30am – much better sleep after that! Did give a taste of what the trip might be like though, quite looking forward to it now………

……….Further misfortune last Friday (elderly mother landing in hospital after a fall), has meant a delay to the start of the trip, hopefully mid this week?? Will keep you posted!