Free Camping.

After completing our stay near Melbourne we have moved north, and found a delightful camping spot just out of Bendigo. It means that we have been off the electricity grid, and the learning curve for Free Camping has been re-invigorated.

One factor that we have been struggling with is the lack of power for recharging things like the laptop, the modem, my iPhone, etc. The cloudy weather has not helped, although it is surprising just how much recharging of the caravan battery can be achieved with just a short burst of sunshine.

Battery Problems.

Things were not helped when we discovered on the first night at the free campsite that the battery was not powering even the lights, and especially not the water pump. A night spent reading by candlelight was our re-introduction to life off the grid. That was solved when I bought a new battery. Since then we have saved enough money from not paying caravan park fees to pay for the new battery.

Recharging Appliances.

The modern Grey Nomad lifestyle almost requires that there will be a range of appliances that will have batteries that need recharging. The laptop that I am using to write this post, has been idle for a few days while we worked out the best way to organise ways to recharge it. I almost ran the battery right down on the iPhone, which is not a smart thing to do.

New Friends and Old.

The atmosphere at this free camping site is a lot more friendly than that in caravan parks, as everyone tends to spend some time sharing experiences and plans with each other. It is a time to pick up  few more hints and discover new places to visit and stay at.

You meet some interesting new people, such as Pat and Dave with their 3 dogs, who were waiting to move on after the sad experience of have to part with a fourth dog whose age and illness meant that she could not complete this trip.

And then just when it looked like we were going to have the site to ourselves tonight, who should arrive but a couple that we knew several years ago when we were working as volunteers on a community playground construction project. Australia is a big country, and it is surprising to be able to reconnect with people such a long way from home base.

 

 

 

 And Looking Back

 

One House Sit draws to a close and another opens up.

There is still nearly a week to go on our current House Sitting assignment, which means just a few more days to do some of the things that we were looking forward to on the Bellarine Peninsula and at Geelong. It is also time to go through the experiences we have had as a result of this house sit.

The video slideshow below has just a few of those places visited and revisited. I have sequenced them as if they were part of the Great Ocean Road trip from Apollo Bay to Portarlington, with a short trip back to Maits Rest to wander among the tall trees.

 

Planning for the Next Move

From Portarlington we are hoping to move closer to Melbourne for a few days to visit the Zoo, Aquarium and other attractions. Then it will on to Kelly Country, across the Murray, up one of the inland highways to maybe Queensland. After that it will be back south to Sydney as we have organized a House Sit for later in the year.

Time To Prepare:

For the next move.

Now that the first House (Pet) Sitting operation has ended, it’s time for preparing for the next assignment. That is about 4 weeks away, so we are spending a week trying to tie a few loose ends before venturing further afield.

And while we are, the weather has turned cold (in the mornings in particular) so it’s rug up time and trying to keep warm, especially at night.

Morning mist at Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills. The mornings are so cold that the warm bed is the place to be until the sun starts to have some influence.

With the frost on the oval and hill near the caravan park it’s a sure indication that we are in for a sunny day. And that’s been the case for the last couple of days, although we have been busy running around to appointments and meeting potential buyers for the car we are trying to sell.

Tomorrow promises to be more of the same, so when we hopefully head off on the next stage of our Grey Nomad Journey the weather stays kind to us.

 

 

House Sitting

The first little expedition is over.

It involved a trip to some previously visited places and gave us a chance to catch up with things we didn’t do while we lived there. It was also an opportunity to become familiar with the mobile aspects of living the Grey Nomad life. We have started to develop routines for setting up and preparing to hit the road. We had a taste of free camping, which has highlighted some extra accessories that will be needed.

 In the next few weeks we plan to take a break from being on the road. This is to help with the finances, with Caravan Park Fees and fuel prices when travelling starting to burn a hole in the pocket.

We registered with a couple of House Sitting agencies through their websites and left a profile on one of them. From that we have been contacted by 2 different house owners who are taking short holidays and need someone to look after their homes and pets while they are away.

We start the first of these in the Adelaide Hills in a few days and then travel to Victoria for a house sit near Geelong.

This experience is one that we are looking forward to as it will give the bank balance a bit of a boost, and also provides us with a chance to explore new regions while based there without having to find the cost of park fees. This is another way to get to see the places that we intend to visit, and it appears that there are plenty of opportunities for house sitting. The biggest obstacle for us will be finding places that have room for the caravan while we are sitting.

We will add the experiences here on this site.

 

What happened to Day 4?

 

Relaxation day. Time for a break and to prepare for the next part of the trip. Refuel the car, roll up the awning and pack up most things ready for the morning.

Day 5:

 

Everything was packed and we hit the road after a casual start in time for lunch at the first stop Cowell, 100kms down the Lincoln Highway. It’s a road travelled many times before, but not with a  caravan behind.

We paused at a couple of spots on the way to check out the Parking Bays and a Free Camping spot. A little stroll down the main street was uneventful, and we also had a wander into the Caravan Park to check it out. Looks like one to come back to later if we are in the area.

On to Arno Bay

The free coffee promised at the Drive and Revive van appeared tempting, but sadly it was not manned, and the coffee had to wait until later. More on that soon.

The Arno Bay foreshore looked enticing so I drove in to take a look. Unfortunately there are 2 ways in and only one way out. I chose to go in through 2 way section, and found I could not exit by going forwards. That means reversing. Not something that I have experienced a lot. With a little guidance from a fellow  caravanner, the 3 point turn was safely negotiated.

When driving in to check out the Arno Bay Caravan Park, I found that once again I could not go forward unless I actually drove in to the park. Once again, a 3 point turn. That previous experience was definitely invaluable. The journey continued past Port Neill and into Tumby Bay.

 

Coffee at Tumby Bay

But first a stop at that very important location that all fully self contained RVs need. The Dump Point. In just this short little excursion we have found that there are dumpoints in all sorts of locations.

The Tumby Bay one is in the Motorhome park on the road into the town from the north. It is very prominent in the  park, having its rightful position, the centre of the park! I have been going to post about dump points, but that for sometime in the future.

After completing that essential task, it was time for a coffee, but where to park. Would you believe, right in the main street. It was a Sunday in the middle of a long weekend, so the the street was not crowded and there was plenty of room to park in fromof the school. A  short stroll to to the foreshore, and there right in front of us was a cafe. The coffee was great, the seat inside in the sunshine was warm and the view over the sea spectacular. If you are ever in Tumby Bay at coffee time, make sure you drop in.

On to Port Lincoln

Would there be any vacancies? It’s a long weekend. There inter-association football was being held at the local oval.

The friendly and helpful staff indicated that there was a drive through site. That’s decided it. 7 days at Port Lincoln in the Port Lincoln Tourist Park at Kirton Point!

 

 

2 Interesting Problems.

 

Yesterday while preparing to make the very first move with our caravan these 2 elements caused some problems. Sorry, no pictures for this post, because I was so busy trying to work out what to do that I clean forgot about the camera. They would have provided some great images to look back on!

Wind:

The fine weather forecast for yesterday meant that the annexe canvas was going to be dry after a couple of days with a few showers. An ideal opportunity to dismantle it and store it away.

Well, that was the plan. Yes, the sun was shining and the annexe walls dried out nicely. Part of the walls had been removed and then a strong North wind started to appear. Decision made: get the annexe down soon and roll up the awning before the wind gets too strong.

All was going to plan until I removed the peg keeping one leg of the awning on the ground. Right at that moment a gust of wind took one end of the awning up onto the top of the caravan. That leg, which also serves as the arm connected to the caravan, when it flipped up, pulled out the bolts and screws holding it to the caravan wall.

We were left with the awning half over the caravan and half in the right place. thankfully there appears to be no damage to the awning material and the fittings apart from the bolts that were pulled out. It has been rolled back into place and seems to be sitting well in the rolled up position.

Water:

I’m not sure why I disconnected the water yesterday, but when I did, I discovered that the hose connecting the park’s tap to my caravan had a mass of white powdery stuff come out of the end when I turned on the tap. Strange, I thought.

But that it seems, was not the problem that stopped water from coming from the taps when I reconnected it. There was just a trickle getting through, and than that stopped completely. So I removed the hose again from the caravan and looked inside the fitting. It was black and slimy. There is a simple filter that is meant to catch any particles that might be in the water. And this was covered by the slimy matter.

After clearing the gunk from the filter and replacing the hose, still no success. Remove the hose again and check the filter. Yes, blocked again.

So I ran water through the hose and collected it in a bucket. Several more bits of the black/green slimy matter were collected. After running water from the tap, without using the hose, I discovered that none of the gunk came from the tap.

Conclusion: The expensive white hose that is meant to make sure that the water does not get the rubber taste of ordinary garden hose AND is supposed to stop the formation of algae, was not very effective at that. The black/green slimy stuff was algae.

The growth of the algae and the white powder (probably calcium deposits) had been building up over the 5 months that the caravan was connected. I had noticed that the water appeared to running slowly, but because that slow down had been gradual it had not attracted my attention.

I also have to wonder why it took until the last day at the park to discover that the water supply to caravans is not town water, but from an underground source. This bore water obviously has some mineral content, probably calcium from the limestone in which the underground water is stored. That also explains why water left on the sink left white marks when it dried.  Another new experience and something to look out for at future caravan parks.

In the next few days I should also check the anode in the hot water service to see what effect the bore water has had on that.

We made the move.

Despite these little problems, we did manage to pack up everything and make the first move with our caravan earlier today. Not a big move, but it was a significant step and helped with a couple of things that need to be done for smooth travelling. More about that later.

The Journey Begins Soon

The time is fast approaching when we will be hitting the road, even if just for a short trip.

The tow vehicle has now been chosen, and there are just a few things to be done to it and the caravan before we will be able to pack up the annexe, hook up the caravan and head out for a stay at a different park.

Today, a trip to the Caravan and Camping Outdoor Adventures Show has stirred up the wanderlust. We were able to pick up a couple of things that will help to make food storage and preparation more effective. There was also a chance to compare some accessories that are either essential, such as the brake control system that will have to fitted to the Landcruiser and some solar panels for use when free camping.

The Caravan Show also provided an opportunity to pick up some maps, brochures and booklets from various regions to help with planning where to go first, what to see and do whilst there and where to stay.

 

Read The Manual

There are so many new things to use for the first time when beginning the Grey Nomad Adventure.

Included in that are several pieces of equipment that I have not met in during many years of living in a brick and mortar house. Thankfully for most of these there are manuals that provide enough information to get started.

Here is a list of a few little learning experiences that surfaced in the first few days.

• Operating a 3 way refrigerator. It is relatively easy while set up in a Caravan Park with a 240V power supply. It is just a matter of setting the thermostat to the best level after making sure that the AC power option is selected. That took a little time to adjust to, and I have found that outside temperature conditions may mean adjusting the thermostat more often than a typical household refrigerator.
• The Cooker has gas and electrical hotplates. On day 3 we discovered that the burners will not operate if the glass cover has not been lifted right back. That makes sense, as we have heard of another caravanner having the glass cover shatter when left down and heated.
• The TV and Sound system are linked. There are 6 speakers (in 3 pairs) and 2 switches to control which speakers are on or off. the manual did not help there, so it’s a matter of trial and error to get the right speakers working.
• The annexe. Again, no manual, but I did get comprehensive instructions during handover. It all looks good, but on the second night we did get heavy rain and some water got inside from the edge seam of the awning. It appears that I needed to rotate the awning just a few more degrees.
• Emptying the toilet cassette. Here is where I needed to refer to the manual, but unfortunately I did not find the manual easy to follow. With a little investigating how the system seemed to work, backed up by referring to the parts of the manual I could understand, I eventually worked it out. All of that happened while we had some visitors on day 2, and I took great delight in making sure that they saw what I had to do, despite the mock looks of disgust from some of the visitors.
• Day 4 or 5 was hot. We were cooking, the air conditioner was on and we used some hot water, so the water heater kicked in. Unfortunately that overloaded the circuit and the circuit breaker shut off power to the caravan.
• It was hot, there was no power, lunch was half cooked. Simple matter of finding the circuit breaker.
• I looked in all cupboards (or thought I did), but no sign of the circuit breaker. Maybe it was  not just our caravan.
• A couple of  quick checks told me it must be just our power. I still could not locate the circuit breaker.
• In desperation, a quick trip to the office, and an offer to send one of the caretaker to check the power supply. No problem with that, and he did not know where the circuit breaker might be.
• The caretaker offered to ask the owner of a similar caravan if he could suggest where to look. He came back with the answer. One small cupboard had the circuit breaker inside. The only cupboard I had not checked. So small that I did not realise it was there.
• A simple flick of the switch and power restored!

I am sure there will be many more little experiences like these over the next few weeks and months as features of the caravan are used for the first time. It is good to know that help is usually at hand and fellow caravan owners are willing to share their knowledge.

More about that in a coming post.

Back Home for Grey Nomad Times

This blog has returned to its original home, and a lot of changes have been made in the time it has been away.

As suggested by the title of this post, the major change has been moving in to the recently purchased caravan that will serve as our home for the next few months or years.

The house we owned at Laura sold without any hitches, and after a short period of renting a unit, we moved into our caravan just before Christmas, 2011.

We decided on a floor stock caravan that was as close as possible to the ideal layout for our purposes.

The choice of caravan was made on a day when we set out to look for a tow vehicle, and on the way we stopped to look at some second-hand caravans, before planning to check out some 4WD vehicles.

None of the second-hand vans were suitable so we took the fatal decision to look at the new ones. One, in particular, seemed to be just right after sitting around in it for a couple of hours, opening all of the cupboards and storage areas. The price was just within the budget, and being floor stock it was available immediately. This overcame the wait that is necessary for a completely new build, especially over the holiday period where manufacturers close down for a few weeks.

We still do not have that tow vehicle!

Handover.

After the usual 3 or days to organize finances, and for the caravan yard to detail it, the caravan was ready for handover. That is an intense orientation and introduction to all of the little details about how everything works. I meant to take detailed notes, but found that was not going to be as easy as expected, so it was a quick session of being shown where everything is and how all of the features work. These instructions were quite explicit, and I thought, pretty easy to follow. In any case there was a huge folder of manuals supplied to help with anything that I might have missed.

Well, that’s the theory. More on that later!

Setting Up For The First Time

Since we do not yet have a tow vehicle (one day I will get used to calling it a Tug!) we arranged for the caravan to be towed to our first port of call, the Lakeside Caravan Park at McLaren Vale.

Once on site, it was then a matter of unloading our faithful little Toyota Corolla and setting up with the first things to put in the caravan.

Then the task of erecting the annexe for the first time. That all went quite smoothly, and the extra covered area that the annexe provides is really appreciated at this stage while we base ourselves at Lakeside and become accustomed to the new lifestyle before heading out on the road in a few months.

Day one went relatively smoothly, with the caravan on site and the annexe set up. Things were looking good, and the weather was kind.

Day 2 was looking to be interesting with the family coming to visit and check out the caravan and the park.

 

Could you live full time in a caravan or motorhome?

Are you a weekend caravan fan, travelling in your caravan or motorhome over the summer breaks or off and on throughout the year? But the bug has bit and now you are eager to check out living on the road full time?

• Are you worried whether or not you will make the right decision by living in your caravan all day, every day?
• What about finance and the costs of living?
• Are there Lifestyle changes that are challenging?
• And what about the long term commitment?

Here are three tips to help guide you into living life on the road in your motorhome or caravan on a full time basis. This could be an overwhelming change but it doesn’t have to be that. Your caravan or other mobile home cab be as just as luxurious as your regular home, and maybe it could be even more top of the line. These tips should help you when thinking about going on the road full time.

These hints are here to help you. Think about these three tips so that you can live in your RV full time.

1. It is important that you think positively about your caravan or motorhome and all the hreat things that are on offer while living on the road. There are ways that you can upgrade so that you are living in the relative lap of luxury. Your gourmet kitchen or luxury bathroom en-suite will make you feel right at home. Add satellite TV and/or wifi to keep up with what’s happening in the world. The possibilities for a great life style are obvious and do not forget how much you will save on electricity and other utilities.

2. Do you have a home that is paid off, and you are worried about losing the investment you have made in that? Some would suggest that you go ahead and immediately sell your traditional home, but that’s a big step. If that makes you too nervous, think about renting out you home. In any case seek professional help with that decision. You don’t want to start you days on the road worrying about whether or not you are doing the right thing.

3. Be patient. It will take time for you and your travelling partner or family members to adjust fully to life on the road full time. The lifestyle change can feel sudden, but with time, you and your partner will get used to it. Remember you can  rent your traditional home for six moths and travel for that amount of time if jumping right in is worrying. Give yourself a chance before you sell the home and move out onto the road full time. Living life on the road can be an enjoyable experience. Take your time and get used to it.

Another good tip for you to do is talk to fellow on-roaders who have transferred their lifestyle and now their life there full time. Look online at blogs or speak with friends or family. Get their advice and see what they suggest. This will help you make the right decision.

Another option for checking if a motorhome is the way to go would be to hire one for a trial run.

Do not to be afraid. Ask around and see what others advise you or recommend. Think of your new home on wheels as a safe, sound RVing experience that holds the luxuries of home and gives you the benefit of living a life of freedom on the road.