Meanwhile

Monday 21st January, Moriac, Vic

One of the trips that was always going to happen was the road trip around Australia. When we first arrived in Australia in October 2012, we went on a road trip in a beaten up Ford Falcon which we purchased for $3000.

We drove north for about 900Km to Broken Hill, an old silver mining town. There is a lookout where, when you climb to the top, you can see outback stretching for thousands of kilometres. It is so flat that you can see the curvature of the earth. Having been brought up in the UK, I had never seen so much empty space and it made me want to get out in it. We went back to Torquay and purchased a Nissan Patrol, with a view to exploring Australia beyond the black top.

The Nissan Patrol is a formidable four wheel drive vehicle that will go almost anywhere. Ours was an ex police search and rescue vehicle so it has all the added extras like;

• A snorkel, useful for wading rivers but more useful for being high up and so avoid taking so much dust into the engine
• A winch, useful for pulling yourself out when bogged. Simply tie it to a tree and let the winch pull you out.
• Dual batteries, useful for powering all your auxiliary stuff, like a fridge, without running down the main battery and then not being able to start the engine.
• VHF radio. Every caravanner and truck has a VHF radio. It’s what used to be called a CB. The radio is useful for listening to the truck drivers to get early warning of problems ahead, as a means of communication in an emergency, Channels 5 and 35 are montored 24×7 by the emergency services, useful for chatting to other motorists and Jules uses a handheld radio and talks to me on it when I am reversing the caravan.
• Auxiliary fuel and water tanks, useful because of the distances between refuelling and the need to carry sufficient water in case of breaking down in the middle of nowhere and waiting for help.