Home safe and sound

I know I said last post a few posts back but sure I can't shut up!

And just to confirm, we're back home since yesterday and straight back to school and work today. It's pretty strange being back in a way but also good catching up with everyone, having a washing machine, bed, shower, toilet, lights, couch, chickens (they still run to me!!) and lots of fresh food. We're missing big open spaces and sky, the sound of silence (when it's so quiet your ears start buzzing cos your brain can't handle the nothingness), shooting stars, no masks and great scenery. It's very nice tho to have a certain bed to sleep in every night, not sharing a 2m*2m sleeping space, no red dust except what we've brought back on everything in the ute, a big fridge that we don't have to move but wearing masks sucks and the constant threat of lockdown is nauseating so go and get vaccinated aussies so we can all escape overseas again ... and just get back to normal life.

Oh we checked and rotated our tires a couple of days ago and they are pretty worn, one of them has a massive gouge like someone took an axe to it so its a goner but fingers crossed the others run a little longer. We are very lucky to not have had punctures or blow outs. Glad we forked out on new, expensive threads. 

Right honestly that's it :) off to sort 6000 photos!

Winners & Losers & Gear Details

 Ok ok I know I said the last post was the final post but just thought we'd put down a list of stuff that worked for us and that didn't for future reference and I know everyone reading this will want to go live in a tent for 3 months in close confines with their family!!

Our Gear/Setup

Ford Ranger ute with canopy and roof rack running Falken Wild Peake AT light truck tyres. Canopy fitted with drawers, shelves, fridge slide and cage around it.  Roof rack held 2 * 4.5kg gas bottles, 2 * 20 litre diesel jerry cans and 4 pool noodles (essential and we should have brought these from the start) and a shovel attached using fist clamp-its. Large drawer under the ute that wasn't dust proof held stools, gazebo poles, axe, spare tent poles, tyre changing tools & guy ropes. 2 toolboxes under the canopy. The one for rubbish was brilliant thou not dust or water proof it was good enough for the job. The other one was for hiking shoes and runners, was very cheap, the welds broke (its held together using a spare tie down strap), and I think it actually sucked dust in as the seals were that bad. Need to upgrade this! Spare tyre under the canopy. Also held second spare tyre in the inside of the canopy. 70 litre water bladder behind the back seat of the ute was fantastic. 

Inside the canopy we carried 4 camping chairs (need to get ones with better back support), folding table, 2 * 20 litre jerry cans for water, stove stand, stove, tent bag, large duffel bag containing all sleeping gear sat on the fridge slide behind the fridge, 2 buckets for washing clothes and feet, 5 litre water esky (easy tapped water for everyday use & to know how much we had taken from bladder), 40 litre esky (really handy for veg, lunch stuff, fruit, bread), utensils box, washing up dish and container, spare 10 lt water container for non potable water, box with snorkels & spare bits n pieces, box with tools (more is good!) such as drill, spanners, cable ties (essential!!), air compressor, spare stuff etc shelving with cameras, binoculars, books, maps, food. Drawers with food, lots of tins and 1kg sealed containers to hold flour, oats, etc. Fridge is a dometic gas fridge that also runs on 240V. Battery system was brilliant and performed really well (120Amp AGM battery with 400Watt Invertor and DC to DC charging system. We also carried guy ropes and poles to set up a washing line, mini tent for the fridge to protect from sun and rain, gazebo (Coleman Deluxe) was brilliant & essential on longer stops like Pender Bay.

Sleeping gear was heavy duty sleeping bags, sleeping liners (silk or old sheets stitched together for the kids), lightweight air mattresses (only one puncture on 2nd last night!), lightweight pillows and it all packed down to fit in a duffel bag. Each of us had a duffel bag and brought everything from swimmers to thermals and warm jackets and hats and we used everything!! The tent is a Blackwolf tuff dome plus that has been superseded by the Tuff series. It performed very well but we had reinforced all the poles (aluminum) as we know they were prone to shattering. We slept without the fly for about half the trip which was amazing for watching the night sky and waking up for glorious sunrises. We did break a zip but luckily it was a mesh section that had a double optional wall so now we use that instead and cut out the mesh. Less airflow but it works. 

We also brought 2 IPads, 2 eReaders, laptop, usb storage, extension lead, cameras, binoculars (defo worth spending a bit more on). Borrowbox was essential for the kids reading and worked fantastically as we usually got internet within 2 weeks. Wikicamps was good and bad - a lot of whingers out there, but often we could use it to avoid places. We each had a head torch (with either rechargeable batteries or usb chargeable). The kids have Petzl Tikka with Core batteries and were really good. I had a Biolite 300 which is fanastic except need to keep an eye on the battery charge as it runs full bikky then stops suddenly. Dunk has an older Black Diamond which was ok,

We wouldn't change much with this setup aside from moving to an electic fridge with solar panels so we didn't have to lift the fridge out every setup (can't run gas in the canopy). Gas was always difficult as was expensive and hard to find refills out of the main centres. We paid between $10 & $45 for refills which is just stupid plus also had to constantly monitor how much gas we had. Pool noodles were brilliant for snorkelling and swimming in deeper gorges. We should have brought some Dunlop volleys (cheap canvas runner with good soles) as flip flops failed constantly and our runners got destroyed in spikes and Pilbara red dust. It would have been awesome to have some inflatable water craft like a kayak or even standup paddle board but we didn't have room! 

Recovery gear we had but didn't use (wahoo!) includes tyre puncture repair kit, 2nd spare tyre, snatch strap and tow points ($400 but better to have and not use then need and not have!!), recovery tracks (stored in a chicken food bag at the back of the canopy and not a roof ornament) and shovel (primary use for dunny use!). Also have a UHF radio (very handy for knowing about on coming road trains and listening to traffic controller jokes at road works, less useful for listening to muppets use the 40 channel for personal chats), sat phone, and handheld UHF personal radios (for the kids to wander off and be contactable).

Cable ties, spare ropes & tie downs (for the unexpected roof rack failure) and duct/fabric tape plus a good first aid kit with snake bandages (which we actually used on someone in Darwin!!). We had tyre pressure monitors on the tyres which worked really well despite being cheapest ones on the market. Really good for peace of mind on corrugations as it was impossible to tell whether we had a puncture or not. We ran the tyres at about front 40, rear 44 on bitumen and then front 30 and rear 30 on the dirt.

Roof rack mounts held on with rivets are a guaranteed fail on non bitumen roads. Rhino Rack take note and maybe be more transparent about this.

Food

Winners included drop scones, banana oat pancakes (often without banana), french toast, DIY muesli (oats, nuts, cocoa powder, cinnamon, pumpkin & sunflower seeds & whatever was in the shop on the day), yoghurt, cheese (feta was great), milk & milk powder, pizza pockets (very simple dough recipe cooked for 2 mins each side on the plate), pasta with beans & sundried tomatos saved many a lunch, olives, beans (good meat substitute, not so good for green house gas emissions), those spice tailor dahl and curry packets were fast, tasty and brilliant, bacon, tuna, salami, sundried anything, olives, nuts, scrogin aka trailmix (nuts, dried fruit like dates & raisins, seeds, secret winning ingredient choc chips), frozen leftovers, frozen peas, frozen bread, tinned fruit, garlic, dried herbs and spices, stock cubes, risotto, pearl couscous, tinned tomatos, black pudding, chorizo, onions, mayonnaise, carrots, oranges, apples, crackers (ryvita and saos winners, ritz & salada losers), vegimite, honey, golden syrup, sugar, flour, oats, bhuja snacks, coffee beans (grinder & aeropress with cold water worked fantastically on hot days). Stuff we ate cos we had to included white bread & wraps (both improved with toasting but more fibre in paper I'm sure), muesli bars (jeez they are bland!). We missed having  fresh fruit & veg, good quality bread and baking. Did find a good fruit cake in IGAs towards the end. Also had emergency whiskey (store in wine bottle holder), beer in cans (don't store next to any rivets or leakage occurs on rough roads), flasks (rarely used as too hot)

And last notes ...

Less is more. We brought enough shorts/tshirts for 5 days, a couple of jackets each, undies for a week, should have brought more hiking socks, should have brought more spare flips flops or volleys, thermals, trackies for night, should have brought summer PJs but we improvised. 

We didn't met a lot of people with as basic or minimal a setup as us but we reckon we ate, drank, saw and enjoyed our trip every bit as much as those with the mega setups. We saw plenty stressed out caravanners queuing for fuel, waiting for mechanical repairs and restricted by where they could go by towing constraints. Mind you plenty went places no caravan should go so maybe that explains all the people with broken axles, destroyed tyres and insides of caravans. Mostly the weather was very amenable to being outside all the time (isn't that what camping is) but we did experience some very hot and then some pretty cold, windy weather as well and survived it all fine! Slow down for oncoming traffic of dirt roads or pull over for faster traffic behind you. We met many folks (usually those towing trailers for some reason - maybe trailers are invincible?) that left us chewing rocks, clouds of dust and chipped windscreens as they couldn't be arsed slowing down and maybe unaware of how much debris they throw up behind them. People pull over and check out for each other on unsealed remote roads which is pretty cool. We ran most efficiently when we stayed under 2000 RPMs, every bit over that nailed our fuel efficiency.

And some facts ...

• we covered just under 21000kms
• out of 100 nights, stayed 13 nights in cabin or house so 87 nights in a tent which included 47 tent setups/teardowns (hmm that's a lot!) and out of that 23 national parks or bush campsites. We tried to avoid caravan parks as really not great in a tent but they are a necessary evil in towns!
  
• We visited/stayed at 28 national parks or reserves
  
• our budget was eaten up as follows 
• 28% fuel
• 23% food
• 20% camping fees and passes (a lot of this was in Kakadu, Uluru, Mornington and Charnley and the occasional extorionate caravan park)
  
• 9% eating out (mmm chicken parmys!)
  
• 1.8% gas  - we need solar!!
  
• everything else was small fry including beer consumption!
  

Pretty much home - final post of this road trip

 After a couple of huge days driving we arrived in Maleny on Wednesday evening to spend the last 5 nights of our trip hanging out at Dunk's folks house. It's quite luxurious having a bed, flushing toilet, showers, indoor facilities, not having to set up the tent and a washing machine. We already smell so much better. Pretty strange going back to wearing masks even tho we did get a brief taste of this in a couple of places in SA. Bracing for a lockdown in Brisbane. Will be some shock from travelling freely and with huge space and isolation to a very different small space and lockdown at home but fingers crossed we avoid that. 

Right I better explain how we ended up staying at Maleny, and how we went from Noccundra (which is almost 1200km from Brisbane) 3 nights ago to 150km from home last night!! The previous post updated you on Noccundra and then we drove the 130km to Thargomindah and made the decision to met up with Dunk's family in Mitchell, which was a 600km drive via Cunnamulla and Charleville.  A huge day driving especially as we didn't leave Thargomindah until 11.30. Stopped briefly at Cunnamulla for a very quick lunch of pies and chocolate milk. Lovely drive and we did reconsider our decision as we passed the entrances to Currawinya, but really we didn't have the energy to do it justice and the weather threat was just too great especially as the skies were very threatening. Saw heaps of emus on the road to Charleville and there's a really nice looking camping spot at Wyandra if anyone is ever going that way. Charleville looked so much better and greener than the last few times we have been there in the last 3 years. It was green even! From there straight onto Mitchell which we reached at sundown with ominous drops of water, heavy skies, rumbling thunder and lightning. We did briefly stop at a little bridge before Morven to go back and take a tortoise off the middle of the road and save the poor little bugger from the road trains. He literally missed a squashing by 40 seconds. Hopefully he went under the bridge next time. Was great catching up with Dunk's family until a big storm came in and a deluge followed. The shovel was out digging trenches around some of the tents and it's the only storm we have ever been in with that tent, where the water splashed up under the fly so much. Still everyone managed to keep bedding  and clothes dry. Next day was a very wet packup in between showers. Headed off around 9 with showers all the way to Chinchilla. There is a great little park there so stopped for lunch then took the scenic non highway route to Maleny via Yarraman and skirting around the north of the Bunya mountains. Arrived in around 5.30 after a very long day in the car, the kids were so good but I think we need to stay out of the car for awhile now (it also stinks to high hell so noone wants to be in for long!).

Today we took a trip over to Marycairn Cross reserve which is a rainforest area overlooking the Glasshouse mountains. Always a special place, it was amazing to be back in such a damp, humid, dark, green, full of life place. Saw pademelons (small wallaby type marsupial) all over the place, gigantic fig trees, a noisy pitta (a very colourful, reclusive bird), catbirds, whipbirds, robins, fantails, etc but no snakes. The plan for the next few days is more chilling out, coffees, maybe a trip to the beach and more rainforest around here, eating fresh veg and fruit straight from the garden (if ever proof was needed that absence makes the heart fonder then the kids delight at fresh fruit and veg is it!!) and hiding out from the big storms passing thru. We had some small hail today so have now put the ute in the shed cos we really don't want hail dings and there is a gigantic hail warning out (BOM actually issued this warning for a vast part of SE QLD this afternoon).

So that's pretty much it for this road trip. We've covered nearly 21000kms (or will have by the time we get home). This week alone was an epic distance where we drove 460km from Grindell's hut in Vulkathunha-Gammons NP in SA to Innamincka on unsealed roads, then Monday was a meer 300km to Noccundra in QLD, Tuesday 750km to Mitchell, then Wednesday 600km to Maleny (so over 2000km in 4 days). We left the West Coast (at Carnarvon) on Wednesday 8 Sept and 5000kms, 20 days later on Tues 21st Sept reached Grindell's hut campground, about 4000km of that on unsealed roads including the Great Central Highway, Oodnadatta and Strezlecki Tracks with visits to Kennedy Ranges, Mt Augustus, Lake Ballard, Uluru-Katajuta, Painted desert and northern Flinders Ranges plus passing thru the Strzelecki, Great Victoria and Gibson deserts just to name a few. Other highlights prior to that have been Ningaloo Reef and Cape Range, Karijini, Milstream Chicester, Cape Leveque and Pender Bay, Mornington and Charnely on the Gibb River Road, Purnululu, Keep River, Kakadu, Darwin, Limmen, Lorella Springs and Lawn Hill. We've passed thru 4 states  (QLD, NT, WA and SA) dodging before, between and after Covid lockdowns and border restrictions. We only spent 9 days in SA but it's a real standout for us, 46 days in WA which was just an incredible adventure of gorges, spinifex, beaches, swimming and packed campgrounds, 24 days in the NT which was a food delight and mini holiday with Bonnie & Dan in Darwin plus wilderness and massive scenery on a scale that has to be seen to believed and then first and last a wrap with QLD with the amazing Lawn Hill and then just epic outback pub and scenery to bring us home to comfort, great food and peace at Maleny. We will have been away from home 100 nights, 89 of those in the trusty tent and ONLY one night of rain with a brief storm at Uluru which barely wet the tent. The tent is still usable, we didn't break any poles despite carrying a full spare set thou we have had zip problems to work around and on the second last night got a puncture from a bullhead which has holed the tent and one of the sleeping mats. No car troubles aside from the poxy roof rack AND no punctures yet which is pretty incredible considering we expected many and carried 2 spare tyres. Saying that the car is well overdue a service and we did change the air filter half ways thru plus it stinks and is filthy inside and out. Might take me a week to clean it I think! 

We've had an incredible adventure together as a family, explored the most beautiful, wild and amazing places, managed to eat well, avoid illness and any serious injury (spinifex and bullhead spikes aside!), done huge drives, read lots of books, played heaps of card games, been too hot (kakadu!), too cold (hancock gorge), hungry (every 2 hours), smelly, sweaty, gone without showers and washing machines for too many days to admit, hiked all over the place, and by the time we finished are a super efficient team at setting up and down our camping space, able to get the kids to help decide routes and destinations and be much more capable little people. We've learnt lots about rocks, flowers, birds, trees, etc, seen incredible skies and shooting stars, took a ridiculous number of photos, fill in border passes and navigate back roads wherever we went.

Would we change anything? we chatted about this on the long way home and aside from a couple of awful campsites, the roof rack, more drop scones (these are so versatile from stew mop to remote birthday cinnamon, sugar treat) and better hiking socks we decided that we were very happy and content with what we did, what we experienced, our gear (or lackof since folks in a tent are probably only about 5% of the travellers on the road), where we explored and also what we didn't do. We discovered that often for us, the experience of wild, remote and isolated was often much better then the bigger bucket list, packed places.

It's strange to finish as time has flown by but we're also ready to finish as it's hard work being on the road all the time, constantly looking for a place to stay, where to find water, food, good campsites, juggle costs, etc. We feel very privileged and lucky to have been able to do this trip together especially with the current border issues and restrictions and it's something we'll treasure for a long time. 

That's it for now. We're already half planning trips back to Lorella Springs, Darwin and Litchfield, Flinders Ranges, Currawinya, and more!! Thanks for reading along!