On the Road Again

On the Road Again

On the Road Again

PORT LINCOLN NEW CARAVAN ODYSSEY MARCH 2014

Day 3

Sunday 9th March 2014

Pt Neill

Slept in till 8am, wow. opened the blind looked out across Spencer Gulf 34 07.748s 136 20.877e simply put a magnificent view a real must see.  A shower ye, breakfast and a walk, Teddy was in doggy heaven with all the different smells, keeping him out of the water was a task as he is a Labrador who loves the beach.

Nelshaby Rest Area

Setting off our first point of call was at Cowel 33 41’04.00s  136 55’24.87e to catch up with friends as they wanted to see the new van, one of the greatest times in life is catching up with good friends, especially when you live hundreds of kl apart.

The van towe’s like a dream, once it is rolling you barely know it is there, with the mandatory doggy stops and refueling we pulled into Nelshaby 34 07’748s 138 06’648’e, this is a 48 hr RV rest area left off the highway between Pt Germein and Pt Pirie.  This a is a nice spot in the making, there is a small grassed area already taken, however, the rest is not bad although a few too many ¾ jacks particularly for Teddy.

Keep the shiny side up

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again

On the Road Again

PORT LINCOLN NEW CARAVAN ODYSSEY MARCH 2014

Day 2  

                                                 

Our new On The Move Traxx Caravan

Friday 7th March 2014

What a bad nights sleep,34 26.960s 138 21.040e Dublin Rest area, although not right on the road it was close enough to hear the trucks, however, it does not pay to be lazy and not completely level the van prior retiring for the night, Sheryle was fine but I felt I was continually falling out of bed.  We both woke a bit after 5am and decided it was close enough time to get up and moving as we had a long drive ahead, about 600kl, and that is mammoth to us.

As we had Teddy we had a number of stops en-route, I may say they were not all just for him we also needed breaks.  Arriving a bit after 2pm, I had planned on arriving about then, first was to consign our old caravan then to learn all about our new Forever Caravan.  While we were being shown how the new bits and pieces work Sheryle saw a couple eying off OUR new van and saying to herself, “take off this one is ours” she looked again, low and behold it was friends of our who now live in Peterborough, Sheryle sees them occasionally at work but I have not seen them for ages, they were staying at the caravan park catching up with friends of theirs, wow, what a treat it was, it is great to catch up with good friends in  the most unexpected places.

Now our Forever  van is 8.02 metres long, independent suspension, solar powered, separate shower and toilet and comes with all the bells and whistles, check out the web site www.onthemovecaravans.com.au you too can buy one from Pt Lincoln Caravans  www.portlincolncaravans.com.au  or you might wish to buy our old van, we do need the money!

Our first night in our new Forever van was on a dirt rd just out of Pt Neill overlooking the sea, Teddy thought it was a good move as he could walk around, the smells were just tantalizing to him. Only 50kl on the clock and we had already been on dusty corrugated roads and using a bit of a long bow were camping in the bush.  The wind was a pain, blowing between the front window cover, someone had not tightened the screw on the cover arm, up in the dark a few turns and all was good.

Keep the shiny side up

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again

On the Road Again

PORT LINCOLN NEW CARAVAN ODESEY MARCH 2014

Day 1  

                                                 

Thursday 6^th March 2014

After both Sheryle and I having had a full day at work we headed off with our brown Labrador Teddy and our caravan in tow stopping the night at Dublin, north of Adelaide about 70kl from home in preparation for a quick trip to Pt Lincoln to pick up our new Off Road Caravan, an On The Move Traxx series, yes that is the brand.

On the Road Again

Barmera Loveday 4x4 ODESSEY August 2012

Day 7    

                                                 

Sunday 2nd September 2 012

Oscar W

Marion

A Lovely relaxing day on the river sitting and chatting with my beautiful wife when we heard the sound of yet another paddle steamer, it was the Oscar W from Goolwa in South Australia which is where this mighty river reaches the sea (Google Oscar W and Goolwa for more information).  Yesterday the Marion in her glory now today the Oscar W, this vessel was used to pull barges full of flour and butter up the Murray Darling system as far up as Bourke NSW and return with bales of wool, this would then be off loaded at Goolwa and either transferred to ships at Victor Harbour or taken to the Port of Adelaide by bullock train for shipping from there. In those early days the Murray Darling river boat system was the only means of transport for produce in either direction as roads had not been built and the river was quicker than bullock train to Sydney Town, therefore see in operation these very old vessels still running the river I find exciting.

Me out of control

Slaving again over hot coals cooking hamburgers to go between a fresh loaf of bread out of our Dreampot was lunch, yum, then it was time to get wet in the canoe, being as brave as I am I tethered canoe to the bank with many lengths of rope as the river is flowing so fast, and boy did I need it as I had zero control without the rope I would by now be in Goolwa.

Our next door camping neighbours popped in for a chat and coffee, they are new to caravanning and asked if we wouldn’t mind giving them some tips, we chattered caravanning and camping whilst having an enjoyable time together before tea time came rolling in.

Keep the shiny side up

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again

Barmera Loveday 4x4 ODESSEY August 2012

Day 6

                                                     

Saturday 1st September 2012 

Very little to report today been flat out doing nothing, although the paddle steamer Marion came past   this morning, the Marion is one of the oldest original (restored) steam boiler side paddle steamers still running. 

Over the years Sheryle and I have been watching this majestic old boat raise from the dry dock in the main street of Mannum where it had been left to rot.  An energetic group came together to save this truly what is now a majestic vessel, they have had every battle that a group of this kind does have with authorities and finance, yet, bravo to them all well done, now to actually see it on a 10 day voyage from Mannum to Mildura and return in full running kit was exciting to say the least.

The weekend at Lovedays brings with it the 4x4 clan, 4x4 clubs and small groups converge on the adventure park to test or learn their 4x4 driving skills, the park caters to all from rank beginner to experienced and then the extreme competition players, we must come back to see them in action.  We did drive to a few of the further out camp sites here at Lovedays, almost a 4x4 driving test just to get to them, we do believe we have the best site, thanks again Tony for picking out this site for us.

Keep the shiny side up

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again

Barmera Loveday 4x4 ODESSEY August 2012

Day 5     

                                                 

Friday 31st August 2012

Sheryle cooking toast on the camp fire

Sorry tried to send yesterday’s blog, bad weather conditions would not allow me to connect with my server.

Paddlewheeler on the Murray River

A great day today starting off with a walk then sitting next to a nice warm fire at last! Whilst washing the dishes we heard this unusual noise like a dull drone, looking out of the door a paddlewheeller was passing on the river, this time we have photos, ye,.  The need of gas, milk & eggs caused us to make a trip into Barmera, a very clean inviting little town on the banks of Lake Bonny with the friendliest people you could meet, for a moment I thought we were back in Perth.

On return we stopped at the Loveday Tavern to pay for our wood and had a chat with the owner Tony on how and why he started this 4x4 adventure and camping park (Google: lovedays 4x4 adventure  park to get the full story) for the background history of this great camping/recreation location it is very interesting and we will be back.

The roots to this tree children can play in

As the Murray River is running too fast for us to paddle our canoe, we walked about 2kl down the track to check out a creek Tony said may be suitable, unfortunately it needs a bit more water, the way the river is going it won’t be long though as currently the authorities are letting 40k mega litres of water into the river system daily and very shortly this will increase to 45k mega litres, it is fantastic to see the flood plains covered in water.  Whilst walking we have been picking up rubbish left by previous campers most we can burn, bottles and cans we will recycle the rest will go into the bin, however, LADIES please take care of your own white tails, burn, bury, dispose as you wish, just do not leave them on the ground for the rest of the world to see where you have marked your spot…. This environment is too pristine to muck up by laziness.

Keep the shiny side up

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again

Barmera Loveday 4x4 ODESSEY August 2012

Day 4

                                                     

Thursday 30^th August 2012

Flowering pigface

OK, OK, I know I skipped a day, too much sun and fun.  Yesterday was taken up with a little engineering, thanks Ron for the tip, it worked gang busters and I used my Dremil for the 1^st time and works well.  While I was engineering Sheryle was playing with her Dreampot, yes Dreampot, I am her dreamboat and I don’t mind if she plays with me either, the 1^st meals to come out were delicious, previously she tried on osso bucco which was great yesterday was a sugarless gluten free fruit loaf, actually very nice cold with butter or as a pudding, today similar only in a loaf tin rather than round tins and minor changes to the recipe, yum, corned silverside for tea should be OK too I’ll let you know. (well after our evening Dreampot meal, totally thumbs up, corned silverside with boiled potato, carrots, broccoli with a cob of sweet corn followed by Dreampot gluten sugar free creamed rice with yesterdays left over fruit loaf hmm yummilish)

River Red Gums

Walking was the main tasking today while taking photos of the scenery and tracking the route on my phone, works well.  Due to Misty’s health and age we can’t go too far or too fast, it’s funny at night due to her age she becomes easily disorientated coupled with her failing hearing and eyesight, at times she cannot hear when called, a light attached to her collar is the name of the game, like her dad oldtimers is setting in and the arthritis is taking over.

On the weather front became overcast with an insignificant amount of rain yesterday afternoon which was fine, however, the wind would not allow us to have a fire this has carried through today, the only real downside is to move inside a little earlier than we would like but that’s OK.

Keep the shiny side up

John & Sheryle