Farewelling Elmer the Gold ...

Our "8 Weeks of Awesome" trip was done in our 2015 Spacevan, towed by our Mahindra Scorpio.  One of the main reasons we were able to travel as far and as long as we did, was because of substantially reduced fuel consumption.  

The Scorpio's fuel economy was amazing, particularly when compared to Elmer's thirsty habits! We spent $1953.20 on diesel to travel 11,651 kilometres, mostly towing the Spacevan.  Just 17c a kilometre.

In contrast, our 2020 "Big Loop" trip of 5000ish kilometres was made in Elmer, staying in budget accommodation along the way.  Petrol cost for that trip - without towing - was $1,954.40 (or 39c per kilometre).

Fuel consumption and cost increased when Elmer was towing.  I've calculated petrol cost on his last trip out to Carnavon Gorge, when towing the 2006 Spacevan, as 55c per kilometre.  That's a hefty portion of our holiday budget.

Elmer the Gold was officially retired in November, when we returned home. It seemed fitting that after all his inland travel with us, his new owner planned a beachy retirement for the Fudd Truck - carrying tourists on Fraser Island! How good is that?! 

We've kept his regalia and it may be that it gets displayed in the garden, with my collection of road train signs!

Sun safety ...

I've had a few skin cancer excisions and as much as I wasn't keen to have the latest on the day prior to my birthday - that was the best timing, to allow for post-op follow-ups etc, so we could depart as planned.

I've always burned easily. Sun safety when very young was a thick, white  zinc "butterfly"across my nose and cheeks. 

There weren't sunshirts, only ordinary t-shirts over swimmers. I hated the sun cos I'd regularly be so very burned. Sunscreen wasn't a thing till I was a bit older (and asked for some when I became aware of its existence). 

As an adult, I don't like how sunscreen leeches into my eyes - and generally prefer to cover up. 

Around 10 years ago I started wearing men's long-sleeved 100% cotton shirts (from the opshop) for extra coverage when in hotter areas. I used to wear them over a singlet top, until I discovered it was cooler to forego the under layer and button the shirt.

On past trips I've worn them as-is but I tailored some for better fit - thanks YouTube - before leaving home. 

My shortened shirts worked well - and I found a few extra in various opshops along the way. 

I saw lots of sunburned people while we away, particularly at Uluru and then Magnetic Island.  I only had light sunburn a couple of times.  

I had two reddish bands on my legs after our Uluru base walk - the only bits of me not covered!

Laundry bags ...

I intended to make these laundry bags for our first spacevan but life interrupted.  All are made with remnants of outdoor furnishing fabric.  

They worked well for our 8-week trip.  The two with handles were pretty easy to carry to the laundry and worked to hold the wet clothes also.

The larger bag wasn't part of my original plan but it used the leftover fabric - and might work for bigger items, like bedding.

I made a hanging peg bag, to save bending at the line - though don't have pics of it in use. 

I use stainless steel pegs at home but bought HEGS pegs for the Spacevan - cos they have extra hooks, for increased holding capacity. 

They grip strongly and I've been quite happy with them. The fact they hold extra items is great, given line space is often at a premium in van parks.

The peg bag, spare pegs, washing powder, soaking powder and a couple of laundry soaps are stored in a former lawn bowls bag.  

(You can see the lawndry bag in the bottom collage, to the left of Bandit).

Washing up ...

The pull-out kitchen has a small sink. It's a bit of a fiddle to use, so we generally cart our dishes to the camp kitchen (if there is one).

The big collapsible tub is something we picked up at Aldi.  It works well as a transit bucket - and has been used as a wash-up basin.

I think we inherited the dish drainer.  It might be donated!

Cooking with (and without) gas ...

We had a few unpowered nights, where the camper's gas stove was used for cooking.  It worked better than I had remembered, though conditions were fairly still on each occasion.

I bought a smaller thermal cooker a year ago and took it this trip.  It had some use, mostly as a rice cooker.  

(There are lots of thermal cooking posts on the Camp Cooking page).

Soon after buying this camper, we set up the exterior with a mini bench and magnetic laundry shelf.  Both were appreciated.

While on power, I generally used an electric frypan for cheffing - which had been my main cooking appliance, during our 18-month limbo stint between VIC and QLD.

The shakedown ...

An 8-week road-trip was our longest ever - and the first long adventure in our "new" Spacevan.  

We had two nights in Chinchilla in January, then four nights at Stanthorpe in February (when we were part way through installing the drawer units).

How did all our upgrades work?  We were very impressed with the 12-volt system - and flicking a switch for inside lights.  So flash!

The drawers were great!  Plenty of room for various food in one bottom drawer - with kettle, toaster, thermal cooker and similar bits in the other.

We shared one top drawer for our clothes, divided into clear-top canvas bags - and the other top drawer held some overflow.

You can see tables, chair etc on the bed for transit, with an Engel and other stuff wedged between the drawer units.  All that was a bit painful to shift on set-up / pack-up and a better system will be sorted before our next big adventure.

The infamous Pepsi Max stash was kept in an original storage cupboard.  Yep, that method needs some fine-tuning, also!  

Running repairs ...

Nick did a few repairs on the road.

The corner pieces of the rear metal bow had both creased - and one had a split in the metal.  Nick cut two short pieces of water hose and used those to shield the corner pieces.  Both corners were then bound with duct tape to further protect the canvas.  

The rear legs had become increasingly difficult to wind up, so were replaced when we got back on the coast.  BCF Cairns had two legs on special and Nick replaced them during our stay.

We took advantage of the sale to replace our caravan step, which had a problem leg.  The new step has a 300kg rating, whereas the previous one was 180kg.  We aren't planning to get fatter, just liked the extra strength!

Eight Weeks of Awesome!

We arrived home on 23 October - 56 days and 11,651km since leaving on 29 August. Eight weeks of awesome - what a trip! 

What's the going rate for awesome adventuring?  I kept detailed records of our spending and have just calculated a bit under a dollar a kilometre!

The main costs were accommodation, fuel and groceries.  While the overall cost of accommodation averaged $44.50 night, the weekly averages varied depending on where we chose to stay.  There was some free camping along the way but mainly we used paid sites.  Uluru was dearer, even though I used a discount rate when booking.  We splurged on the Coober Pedy underground apartment but that was a planned expense. 

It's worth noting that the Mahindra's fuel consumption was only a third of what Elmer would have used when towing, so that was a huge saving - and a key factor in our being able to travel such large distances, on our biggest ever road-trip! The fuel cost per kilometre was just $0.17.  

Just to emphasise the fuel savings - had we taken Elmer rather than the Mahindra, we would have spent around $6,400.00 on fuel rather than $1,980.00.  That's a massive difference!

There was a little dining out (mostly when Mr Dog was elsewhere, cos he's not really a cafe/pub hound) and some takeaway but we generally cheffed for ourselves, so buying groceries was a bigger spend - and grocery prices were higher in some areas, also.

Bandit's pet-minding and short stay accommodation cost a little under $670.00 - $330.00 at Uluru for day minding, about $150.00 for two nights at the Townsville pet resort and $190.00 for three nights at Hervey Bay.  

Hervey Bay ...

Our Hervey Bay focus was visiting Di and some friends.  We organised a caravan park, plus a weekend mini holiday for Bandit (to allow dog-free exploring).  

There had been some talk of a quick Fraser Island daytrip but it would have been quite a rushed visit - so is back on the wishlist for another time.  

We had a pleasant wander around Maryborough and particularly liked seeing the flash Cistern Chapel, where volunteers conduct loo tours - and will evict visitors if someone wants to use the facilities!

A ‘Divine Dunnies’ volunteer committee raised funds, got the Fraser Coast Regional Council onside and generated support from local businesses, to unveil a masterstroke of public art.

On arrival at Urangan Pier (one of the longest in Australia), we noticed a tern among the rocks, being watched over by another bird.  It was being washed over by waves, so something was amiss.  Nick climbed down the rocks, rescued the tern and we took it to the vet for treatment.

We returned to the pier about 20 minutes later and strolled all the way out to the end.  There were large crabs swimming up to the water's surface, which were neat!

The Botanic Gardens were lovely and we returned to see the Orchid House.  Gorgeous!

Orchid House was built in 2000 and has vastly grown into an attraction for all ages. Today the orchid collection has about 5,500 orchids.

There were beach walks, and we chose areas where Bandit could go.  Arkarra Lagoons was new to us and somewhere else we could take Mr Dog.  

We were at close quarters in the caravan park but hadn't spent much time on site, cos we were too busy exploring.  It was a very pleasant final week.

Armstrong Beach to Calliope River ...

We breakfasted closer to the beach, in tropical style - and were a bit sorry we couldn't stay longer at Armstrong Beach. 

It was our last week of holidays though - and we had a firm deadline for Nick's return to work. We plannned to stay longer at Hervey Bay (four hours from home), as the finale of our trip.

It was 7.5 hours to Hervey Bay from Armstrong Beach and neither of us wanted to spend all day driving.  We chose a free camp at Calliope River to break the drive.

Located just off the Bruce Highway 26 kms west of Gladstone and 100 kms south of Rockhampton, Calliope River Rest Area is a free camping area in the Gladstone Region of Queensland. It is a low maintenance facility on the banks of the Calliope River.

It was a popular place, with lots of campers on either side of the river.  

We chose a spot a bit further away from the water - just in case any crocodiles liked the look of us (or Mr Dog)!

There were people fishing in the river, not bothered by the crocodile warnings.

Townsville to Armstrong Beach ...

We chose our van park in Townsville for convenience.  Having an ensuite site was great and we liked seeing the curlew family each day (though were sad when one chick didn't make it). 

It was nice to move on and continue our travels. Our next park was selected on the basis of it's distance from Townsville - and because it was less busy than Mackay.  

Armstrong Beach Caravan Park is a very quiet, small park situated right on the Pacific Ocean. It's in a peaceful coastal setting away from the hustle and bustle of the city. 

It was such a great choice, just beside the beach. We went for a long walk. So many little crabs and their millions of tiny sand balls! 

Sand Bubbler Crabs are small crabs, around 1cm across the carapace. The balls are formed as a result of how they feed, filtering sand through their mouthparts.

As it was the last day of our 7th week, we had a lovely cheese platter celebration. 

We opened a jar of date chutney, carted all the way from Coward Springs!

Townsville ...

We had five nights in Townsville, which gave us plenty of time for a good look around - and book the car for service. 

There was a lot of dog-free nature appreciation after Magnetic Island, when Bandit was still at his pet resort. 

We had a look at Alligator Creek, in a National Park out of town. (It was a place we'd viewed online quite a few years back - when Nick was applying for other Queensland jobs, pre-Victoria). 

Funny to see the scrub turkey so keen on breaching someone's picnic provisions! 

Magpie Geese and Red-tailed black cockatoos were afternoon highlights, spotted when driving in Town Common Conservation Park.

Townsville has three, dog-friendly, Botanic Gardens so we visited those with Mr Dog.  Anderson Gardens was our first choice. It was originally planted as an arboretum. 

It was marvellous! Such magnificent trees - just huge!

We spent time at the heritage-listed Queens Gardens, with more huge trees - and then finished the afternoon wandering through the 17-hectacres of Palmetum. 

After Castle Hill, Mount Stuart is Townsville’s most prominent landmark - 10km from the CBD. Most of the area is a Military Training Area and Nick said it seemed familiar from his earlier years.

We mooched around the local opshops, visited markets and generally relaxed.

Magnetic Island ...

We were up early to drop Bandit to his pet resort for a weekend stay, then headed to the Magnetic Island ferry carpark.  

The island gained it's name because in 1770 Cpt James Cook believed the island’s granite boulders possessed a magnetic force that interfered with the compass on his ship the “Endeavour”.

There was a bit of a GPS mix-up getting to the right carpark (not due to any magnetic forces!) but once sorted, we were soon on our way to the island, where we were warmly welcomed by our lovely friend, Peter.  

Peter was the best tour guide! We drove around the island, heard local stories, then did a beautiful 4km bushwalk, with stunning views along the way.  And yes, we saw a koala!

The Forts Walk is the island’s most popular walking experience, showcasing many highlights of Magnetic Island National Park—koalas, stunning views and World War II relics all set in the island’s dry tropical landscape.

We talked and talked, it was awesome to catch up so thoroughly!

Once back on the mainland, we walked all around Castle Hill Lookout, admiring the stunning 360 degree views. 

Just metres short of a mountain, Castle Hill is the giant pink granite monolith in the centre of Townsville.

After such lovely adventuring, we rounded the day off with excellent dinner and creme brulee.

Cairns to Townsville ...

We didn't see cane trucks on the road but saw plenty of cane activity as we drove along.  There was lots of lush countryside. And so many bananas!

We had a later picnic lunch at Vincent 'Bushy' Parker Park, near Rollingstone. It was a lovely spot, with quite a few people enjoying the free camping.

Vincent “Bushy” Parker was a local lad who became a spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain; was later captured by the Germans.  He attained renown for his role in British escape attempts from Colditz Prison. 

Bushy had trained to be a professional magician at one stage and those skills aided his lock-picking efforts - enabling him to raid the prison store-room where Red Cross parcels were held.  They yielded materials he used to build a glider, as a means of escape!

We chose a van park on the Northern side of Townsville, closer to the boarding kennel where Bandit would be staying over the weekend.

Highlight of our stay were the bush stone-curlew family, that greeted us on arrival and often sat behind our site. Lovely!

Cairns ...

We stayed two nights in Cairns and really enjoyed our day of exploring - tagging it for a return visit at some later stage (to take in some dog-free attractions).

We took Mr Dog for a wander beside the beach - and were amazed by all the metallic starlings!

Metallic starlings migrate from Papua New Guinea to breed.  They can be found in the Cairns area from August to March. They nest in noisy colonies and there can be 100 nests in one tree.

We took turns to wander in the Cairns Botanic Gardens. I visited the Art Centre, to admire the converted tanks.

The Tanks Arts Centre was once a diesel and crude oil tank store, built by the Royal Australian Navy in 1944.  It's purpose was to fuel naval ships via an extensive pipeline to Trinity Wharf, eight kilometres away.

The Watkins Munro Martin Conservatory was an absolute delight!  So many marvellous displays!

Erin has tassel ferns growing at home, so I took photos to show her some of the huge specimens in the conservatory.

Just amazing!

Mount Surprise-ing news!

Mount Surprise was our last inland night.  We dined al fresco and I tried for star pics ...

We woke to excellent news.  Nick checked his emails.  He had entered three songs in the Australian Songwriting Competition - and each of those had been short-listed!

It was a great start to the morning - and our 7th week of holidays!  Our plan for the remaining time was to make our way Southward via the coast roads.

There was so much green!  It was quite stunning after so many weeks of being away from the coast.  Traffic was another shock - hah!

We had a small site in a busy caravan park at Cairns.  Our communication and patience were tested - cos manoeuvring into the tight space was tricky.

  

Mr Dog was so very pleased to have real grass underfoot! He had a dip in the little creek that ran through the caravan park - and had lots of fun in the nearby off-leash dog park afterward with 10-15 new friends. 

He was a super happy, albeit worn-out, hound at the end of the day!

Normanton to Mount Surprise ...

We travelled the Gulf Development Road from Normanton.  Croydon was our first rest stop, for a loo break and a look around the town.

The visitor centre is located in the historic precinct and there was a small museum, gardens and other displays to see - all free entry.

During the gold rush, the local streets were lit by kerosene lamps. Four originals were forged in Croydon and replicas of those are on the streets around the heritage precinct area.

We'd parked in front of the visitor centre.  When we retuned to the car, there was another Spacevan behind us - and a Landcruiser, similar to Elmer the Gold!

Cumberland Chimney rest are was our late lunch stop, about 125km east of Croydon. It was a peaceful place and we lingered for a while over our picnic, watching the birds and the cows.

Only the chimney from the Battery and the man-made lagoon remain from this once thriving mining town. 

We stayed at Mt Surprise, on a shady site in an older park - and dined under the stars.

Aye, Karumba!

What a day! We were not long on the road when we spotted a wedge-tailed eagle - and then a pair of brolga.  I asked Nick to turn around, so I could try for better photos of the brolgas as they were quite close to the road.

Hah!  Five minutes further along we saw at least 200 brolgas, gathered along a long stretch of water beside the road.  It was amazing! 

They were saurus cranes, pelicans, a black-necked stork ... so many birds!

There is a very interesting article about brolgas and saurus cranes, here.

Once in Karumba we took turns to view the Barramundi Discovery Centre and then enjoyed an impromptu lunch at the Sunset Tavern, looking out to the Gulf of Carpentaria.  

We sat in lovely shade with Mr Dog, watching birds flying and others on the mudflats. Magic! 

There were more birds after lunch, on the way back to Normanton - lots of Radjah Shelducks, a Bustard pair and all the brolgas again ... 

In December 1860, some of the Burke & Wills expedition remained at the Dig Tree while the main party headed North - almost to the Gulf of Carpentaria. 

We'd visited the Dig Tree back in 2014, (near Innaminka, 1580km South of Karumba), so made a slight detour to see the Burke and Wills Camp 119 - their most northern camp, established on 11 February 1861. 

It was so very hot walking at the site - so we had a swim back at our camp!