Aussie hello
Posted: March 3rd, 2021, 1:36 am
Hi all, my wife and I are in SE semi-suburban Australia and dreaming of roaming around the scrub and visiting grandkids with tall stories to tell about breaking Land Rover parts etc. I am 62.
We are in the process of building a demountable composite panel Biv Box to sit in the rear of our Land Rover 110.
I was born in Leigh-On-Sea/South End and exported to Australia in 1962 at 4yrs old. Parents were about 25 then. [ Last year Mum went into aged care -I discovered youtube has people making money walking through towns and attractions for hours at a time in the UK and google map cars filmed Mum's childhood streets, church, schools, shops etc in Leigh-On-Sea and South End. Mum loved those 'walks' on the screen. We also did it for Australian homes/location memories too. Please take a hint - it is a must for your family to look for this sort of memory reviver while you can! ]
my motivation story
7am after stopping for a fastfood brekky on one of the busiest interstate highways near Wodonga, I spotted a old bus converted to a motorhome, out with the big rigs in the rear carpark. Lorries as grandad called them. He was a Pickfords driver all his life and knew the UK before motorways, mobile communications and the channel tunnel.
So I walk along the driverside toward the back of the bus for a look at windows etc. At the back it has a big old detroit engine and its heavy bus. It is towing a very heavy duty car trailer, using recycled bridge girders. Thick. It looks homebuilt to carry a proper bulldozer or earthmoving plant. Heavy. And it has an asian 4x4 wagon loaded. Uh huh..
As I walk the other side near the front end the air shuuush noise happens and the entry doors open up. A interior voice says hello in a welcome way. We chat. He is in the driver seat and maybe 80 yo. He starts the engine and warms it up. He and his wife head up north every winter to the sunshine in coastal Queensland, a 3000km return journey at a minimum. He has the usual thick glasses on his thin face, he wheezes and he has a oxy bottle and a clear tube leading from it clipped into his nostrils. His arms and legs are very thin. Uh huh. I ask the obvious and he says he gets Roadside Service if he gets a flat tyre. He certainly would need a helpful neighbour at the holiday park to de-hitch and unload that trailer behind... if he survives the drive.
While I'm chatting I hear a clip clop noise continuing from behind the curtain that makes the rest of the bus private from the cab. Someone is coming up the passageway from the back of the bedroom I guess. At length the other half comes thru the curtain using her walking frame. Thats the clip clop noise mystery solved. She makes it to the driver's side and hands the driver a little cup of different pills and a he takes his meds with his cuppa, supplied on an earlier clip clop journey. She took her meds as well. I said thank you and made my exit. I drove away and said a prayer for them. OMG. Take care on the road - beware of other people who are in those other driver seats and depending on medications etc.
I did not want to be that driver, at that advanced age, trying to have a holiday... let alone be in charge of 12 tonne or more on a 3000km trek to a holiday park - no doubt set close as possible to shopping centers (with plenty of pharmacy) available etc.
getting on the road
I told my wife about 'the bus' and we decided to get out on the road a lot more, savings and retirement funds be damned. They're overtaxed anyway. It is a tax on getting old. To pay for a pension, a room and a nurse when you need it.
We can camp in a cheap and cheerful style. Drama free. We usually avoid other campers. We like big skies and empty places, empty beaches. We have camped on swags under the stars, and farm paddocks and elsewhere. But we have also used motels and hotels, we have camped on hikes under tarps/bashers and lived out of backpacks. Boats too. I like hiring things like that. I have overnighted in trucks and even Q stores when in Army Reserves. Versatility.
Here is a video we did in April 2017 -our outback 'shakedown' trip with our renovated 1990 Land Rover with a Maggiolina on top. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnFo01_xICA
Two weeks. 4070km. The Landy went very well overall. A valuable mech. lesson learnt during that trip. And a new tyre sidewall sliced by rock and more of less ruined as far as reliability is concerned. Shame. Anyway, the TD shocks were outstanding and inner helper rear coils a real improvement on handling when loaded up. We got an average of 12litres per 100km.
I thought about taking more camping gear and thought about a more comfort type camper-trailer too...
But in the end I chose to do a simple demountable: http://www.demountablecampergroup.com/v ... =15&t=1692
We are in the process of building a demountable composite panel Biv Box to sit in the rear of our Land Rover 110.
I was born in Leigh-On-Sea/South End and exported to Australia in 1962 at 4yrs old. Parents were about 25 then. [ Last year Mum went into aged care -I discovered youtube has people making money walking through towns and attractions for hours at a time in the UK and google map cars filmed Mum's childhood streets, church, schools, shops etc in Leigh-On-Sea and South End. Mum loved those 'walks' on the screen. We also did it for Australian homes/location memories too. Please take a hint - it is a must for your family to look for this sort of memory reviver while you can! ]
my motivation story
7am after stopping for a fastfood brekky on one of the busiest interstate highways near Wodonga, I spotted a old bus converted to a motorhome, out with the big rigs in the rear carpark. Lorries as grandad called them. He was a Pickfords driver all his life and knew the UK before motorways, mobile communications and the channel tunnel.
So I walk along the driverside toward the back of the bus for a look at windows etc. At the back it has a big old detroit engine and its heavy bus. It is towing a very heavy duty car trailer, using recycled bridge girders. Thick. It looks homebuilt to carry a proper bulldozer or earthmoving plant. Heavy. And it has an asian 4x4 wagon loaded. Uh huh..
As I walk the other side near the front end the air shuuush noise happens and the entry doors open up. A interior voice says hello in a welcome way. We chat. He is in the driver seat and maybe 80 yo. He starts the engine and warms it up. He and his wife head up north every winter to the sunshine in coastal Queensland, a 3000km return journey at a minimum. He has the usual thick glasses on his thin face, he wheezes and he has a oxy bottle and a clear tube leading from it clipped into his nostrils. His arms and legs are very thin. Uh huh. I ask the obvious and he says he gets Roadside Service if he gets a flat tyre. He certainly would need a helpful neighbour at the holiday park to de-hitch and unload that trailer behind... if he survives the drive.
While I'm chatting I hear a clip clop noise continuing from behind the curtain that makes the rest of the bus private from the cab. Someone is coming up the passageway from the back of the bedroom I guess. At length the other half comes thru the curtain using her walking frame. Thats the clip clop noise mystery solved. She makes it to the driver's side and hands the driver a little cup of different pills and a he takes his meds with his cuppa, supplied on an earlier clip clop journey. She took her meds as well. I said thank you and made my exit. I drove away and said a prayer for them. OMG. Take care on the road - beware of other people who are in those other driver seats and depending on medications etc.
I did not want to be that driver, at that advanced age, trying to have a holiday... let alone be in charge of 12 tonne or more on a 3000km trek to a holiday park - no doubt set close as possible to shopping centers (with plenty of pharmacy) available etc.
getting on the road
I told my wife about 'the bus' and we decided to get out on the road a lot more, savings and retirement funds be damned. They're overtaxed anyway. It is a tax on getting old. To pay for a pension, a room and a nurse when you need it.
We can camp in a cheap and cheerful style. Drama free. We usually avoid other campers. We like big skies and empty places, empty beaches. We have camped on swags under the stars, and farm paddocks and elsewhere. But we have also used motels and hotels, we have camped on hikes under tarps/bashers and lived out of backpacks. Boats too. I like hiring things like that. I have overnighted in trucks and even Q stores when in Army Reserves. Versatility.
Here is a video we did in April 2017 -our outback 'shakedown' trip with our renovated 1990 Land Rover with a Maggiolina on top. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnFo01_xICA
Two weeks. 4070km. The Landy went very well overall. A valuable mech. lesson learnt during that trip. And a new tyre sidewall sliced by rock and more of less ruined as far as reliability is concerned. Shame. Anyway, the TD shocks were outstanding and inner helper rear coils a real improvement on handling when loaded up. We got an average of 12litres per 100km.
I thought about taking more camping gear and thought about a more comfort type camper-trailer too...
But in the end I chose to do a simple demountable: http://www.demountablecampergroup.com/v ... =15&t=1692