We dub thee ... Elmer Fudd!

A riveting task?!

Our new truck was dubbed "Elmer Fudd" soon after becoming ours.  We felt he deserved some signage, although the end result was far more flash than our initial thoughts.

We can highly recommend Abstract Signs of Redhead.  The lovely Simon brought our vision to reality (and even made my "artwork" look good)!

http://www.abstractsigns.com.au/about-us.asp

Wound out

Attaching the winch cable to the winding mechanism!

Nick worked hard throughout November and December to prepare the Landcruiser for our first trip away.

First-off, he swapped our super-bright globes into the headlights just in case night-time driving was necessary.

His next mission was to connect the second battery and wire the electrics so our new Engels could plug into dedicated sockets when traveling in the rear section of the car.  (We purchased a bargain cargo barrier from eBay to ensure nothing in the back could cause injury to passengers in the event of an accident).

After downloading the manual for our winch, Nick discovered the cable was not attached (?!) so quickly fixed that oversight.  Of course, we then needed to test his good work - so winched the Landcruiser across the reserve at the back of our house, which proved entertaining for us (and bemused neighbours)!

Recovery kit

Love at first sight?!

We were very busy in November preparing for Christmas and our holiday (which involved various 4WD preparation).

I think it is fair to say that our local postman was well and truly over delivering all our bargains.  He seemed particularly unimpressed by the weight of our high-lift jack, which arrived wrapped in a garbage bag and about a hundred metres of sticky tape!

(Nick is beaming in the pic because he just unpacked his long-awaited snatch strap)!

Snake handler

You might remember the rice bag and BBQ tongs of March 2009?! Things have changed since then!

Nick attended a WIRES snake handling course in November to broaden his WIRES skill-base (and be better prepared for our adventuring expeditions).  He attended his first call-out just a week after completing the course.    
  
Nick's second call-out was funny.  The caller had helpfully barricaded a door to prevent the snake moving any further from it's hiding place under a blanket box. 

Nick slowly moved furniture and tentatively used his long-handled hook to retrieve ... a shoe (and then a second)! Hah!

Scaling new heights (November 2010)

Given the height of our new "monster truck", Nick needed to modify the height of the trailer also.

Bunnings had this very nifty aluminum ladder on sale and it was purchased to aid the packing/unpacking process.

(Nick used some wood offcuts to form a platform where he and Vaughan are standing in the pic at left).

When not in use, the ladder travels on top of the trailer in the area flanked by the two lift-up trailer doors.

Keeping our cool

Our first camping trips had been undertaken with a couple of large (freebie) eskies.  One was the remainder of a camping/boating fridge (after compressor removal) and the other a promotional bonus won by collecting many Pepsi Max lids!

(No prizes for guessing who drank all the Pepsi Max)!

We were lucky to get a great deal on a 3-way fridge in the January 2010 sales and used the fridge at left throughout the year (as well as the eskies). 

Fortunately, the same bargain price was again available in June, so we took a pair of these blue "fridges" with us to Yowah.  

They worked very well for us at that time but obviously were not going to cope with the much higher Summer temperatures of our planned Christmas trip.

The running joke is that we can have one each as coffins!

Our September move had prompted considerable and vigorous culling/ebaying.  Some of those proceeds were put toward a fridge upgrade of two 40-litre Engels. 

Nick researched the best price and we took advantage of Anaconda's 30% off sale, saving several hundred dollars - hooray!

Although a larger unit was cheaper, we believe our two offer a greater degree of flexibility. 

(They were used as freezers at Yowah because the shack had a fridge).

New Wheels!

Filling up for the first time!

Though the old girl had served us well, our July trip to Yowah had further highlighted the Commodore's limitations for our preferred camping locations. 

Nick undertook extensive 4WD research/price comparisons once we were home (after we moved house - again!).

On 18 October we drove down to Sydney to collect our "new" monster truck (aka a '96 Landcruiser with 2" lift, bull-bar, winch and roof cage)!