Thursday, January 30, 2014

And the journey begins

Well we have the map and now the for the next bit. The trailers. Our trailers are now ready to be picked up but rather than being the end of the story - its the beginning. We now have to fit them out with the kitchen etc.
Some loose specs on the trailers:

  • 6.4 off road construction with high sides and tradie top
  • Eye to eye springs 
  • 75x50 extended draw bar
  • 60lt under floor water tank
  • Ladder bars for tents and kayaks
  • 2x jerry can holders and 2 x gas bottle mounts
  • AL-KO off road coupling
 
 


Watch this space for our progress

Monday, January 27, 2014

And it just got hotter

Well we have the van back and we are off again for a quick trip to Tamworth, to see the Grand kids but also to check out the over two types of music – country and western. And from the outset one word describes our week, well two actually BLOODY HOT.
The day we left it got to 43 deg and when we stopped at Narranderra we decided that the night in our unconditioned van was not I our best interests so we booked a cabin. The outcome was not much different and set the tone for the rest of the trip. It did cool down – the day we left to come home.
At Tamworth we stayed at a “Farm Stay” which had 4 vans plus us all older couples and it was great. I would be brilliant if the weather had been a bit cooler. Doug and Irene, our hosts, were fantastic and couldn’t do enough for us, which made our stay that much better.
We managed to catch a couple of shows featuring Brad MacLean and also the “Four Funny Buggers”. The streets of Tamworth are full of marquees, buskers and entertainment all of which mix to create a caliderscope of noise, music, dance and entertainment. I’m no great fan of country and western but the diversity we came across proved entertaining and the volume of people – amazing. The other thing was the street performers continued, irrespective of the heat.
We are on the road
Tamworth Spirit Toyota overrated


Guy third from bottom was great
Camp Tamworth
Camp Tamworth

The Pumpkin Seeds at full noise
Where is my stool who stole the stool???



Slim immortalized
We didn’t get to see much of Tamworth hinterlands and attractions but we will go back. We managed a trip out to Nundle, about 50kms east of Tamworth and it was an interesting place. We walked around the old business, the mine, woollen mills and stores and found a few “bargains”. The free tour of the working woollen mills and the restored machine was very good and interesting. This is worth a visit and if you wanted to stay the little caravan park looked well kept.
Our trip home was almost a repeat of the trip up except we had rain for some of the way which made things a little more pleasant – for a while. The Hay plains (Jerilderie to Narranderra then down to Finely we ran into head winds which were squally and made life a bit tough in the fuel stakes.
Well the van seems to be ok after its repair. We have a few small issues to be fixed and an elusive dead mouse just added to the adventure.
I actual know what this is and used one
The Mine is now a resturant
Another one the same as before




Chaffey Dam between Tamworth and Nundle
Sunset over Narranderra




See you on the road somewhere