2013 Australia Diary
preparing for our Round Oz journey
Our M/H arrived from England at the Port of Brisbane in October of 2012. After all of the importation and compliance requirements were completed, we finally had it approved and registered with Qld Transport so we are able to use it for our Australian adventure.
In the UK and Europe, we had decided not to add extras to the M/H because of difficulties with registration, insurance, warranties and compatibility with Australian standards. Now that we are to use it in Australia we have added some additional comforts such as; a Yamaha 125cc scooter for commuting; a good sized 240v generator for "wild" camping; a satellite TV system; solar battery charging.
Before our long trip, to familiarise ourselves with the operation of the new facilities we decided on two short journeys.
A most enjoyable week or so at the annual Tamworth Country Music festival. What a contrast though of the extremes of weather conditions; on the way there from Brisbane, parts of Australia were very hot dry and windy, causing major damaging bushfires. Arriving in Tamworth (NSW), we were greeted with a 40C maximum temperature on our first day. Some of our sunset sky pictures showed very red, caused to some degree by the fires near Coonabarabran, western boundary entrance to Warrumbungle National Park. After the festival and on the way home, almost cyclonic conditions with strong winds and driving rains that eventually drenched almost 4000km of the east coast of Australia causing serious flood damage. Although we were held up for a while at Cunningham's Gap because of fallen trees, we were somewhat fortunate that we arrived home a day earlier than planned because the next day, our route along the New England and Cunningham highways was closed due to floodwaters and landslide.
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In addition to the new toys, we had also been contemplating whether we should tow the boat on our "round oz" trip, but weren't sure about the towing and launching and retrieving on boat ramps. Would we get enough opportunity and benefit towing it about 15000 km, or would it be too much of a nuisance with a 17 metre total length instead of the 9 metre motorhome.
After the floods, we had to wait for Lake Somerset to be re-opened for boating. We then took a trip to the lake for a few (very enjoyable) days camping and experimenting with Red Claw "fishing".
There would be extra fuel costs of course, but we think there could easily be 50 places where the sights are more interesting from the water than from the street.
Some of the first examples we'll see :-
Fairbairn Dam near Emerald, created Queensland's second largest lake (three times the size of Sydney Harbour).
The Thomson River near Longreach.
Lake Moondarra, near Mt Isa - the Leichardt River Dam. This is the closest recreational water used by the Mt Isa population where they are almost 1,000km from the east coast and 600km from the Gulf.
Karumba
on the Norman River, has the distinction of being the only town along the
southern Gulf of
Carpentaria.
And, that's just in the first few weeks.
After a couple of months travelling through the N.T., Katherine Gorge, and Darwin's Adelaide River, then Daly River we'll be in the far north west of W.A. - and then we might need the boat to understand how the Dampier group of islands got their names.