Hi All,

As promised, our 70 day trip and what we did and did not.

We finally got away at 12.45pm. First stop the weigh station to get the total weights of our rig. We wanted to be ahead of the afternoon traffic heading west to Forbes to visit our son who is a school teacher there.  We camped down by the lake, as he is with two other teachers in the same house. We ate out and spent Saturday morning fixing the shower door, as been on its maiden voyage we found out very quick that the shower door needed an extra 20-25mm added to the bottom of the door to stop it spraying back into the van proper. All fixed via the big green shed, we were on our way to Narromine for night two, free camp opporsite the local cop shop and $10 roast lamb dinners.

Day three was a long haul to Broken hill. We were hit by a big weather front east of Willcannia, our fuel figures went out the window. After settling in in the Broken Hill CV park our drama's began. 10pm lambie wants a cuppa Sooooo being on a powered site we would use our new electric kettle for the very first time. power on, BANG goes the 240ac

Tried to reset the earth leakage switch. Power pole out side OK . Must have blowen the circuit breaker. Our comes the 2lt wistling kettle.

Next morning I tested the electric kettle on top of the power pole A1. Tried the electric toasterA1. Talked to BH Caravans 3 week wait. Ring my Customer service manager in VIC Mr Peter Manning who say we can get repaired to a maxium $200 with out pre approval from JAYCO NOT.

After getting  the electrician who does the CV parks work to come out to the van in between jobs, checkes out the van in full. All power points inside test fine. So he runs the power into the van proper and tests the power IN socket 70 -80volts tops, POOR polelitry. He removes the in in point on the outside of the van, held in by four screws. Out she comes with only one wire affixed the other two stayed behind. So we needed to stay the extra night, so Lambie go's to the hair dressers.

Day Four we crank up the ponies and say at Kimba Sports ground SA. One of the best overnight stops with gold coin donation plus your own shower qube for two for an extra dollar for all the hot water for a twosome. Plus Fill our water tanks 300lts total for the next week plus out on the Nullabore.

We stopped at Flowers Bay to do some homework  and had great happy hours around the camp fire in the CVpark.

Next stop was 10km east of Boarder Village (after stopping to see the whales at the Head of the Bight) out on the escartment, overlooking the sothern ocean. We spent a few nights there,checking out the beaches after tracking down and across the dunes. Man what the seas carry around the world to our shores is unbeleavable. we recovered a bottle from London dated 1820 and a bottle from Holland. heaps of commercial fishing buoys cray traps and the list goes on and on.Lots of fun till you have to walk back to the top with all our new found wealth.

Next stop was Kembala near Kalgoorlie for another free camp and into Kalgoorlie to refuel refill the water tanks and food for our treak North.

We stopped on our way to Menzies to take on a full load of old railway sleepers that I in cut into 900mm lengths for our firewood basket on the extended draw bar. Best WA hardwood for our camp oven roasts. Our little 18V Roybi chain saw works a treat on them.

Next stop Linster in the CV park $20 powered with lovely hot showers and a break from cooking down in the Miners mess hall. If you like your food, this is a must stopover.

Linster is not the same after BHP billition moved out. The food is still the same,( Run by Spotless Servisers) as there are three other mining companies their. $20PP for all you can eat in the onesty box. 

To be Continued...................................

Jim

Nice story Jim looks like your haveing a good trip, after reading your report Iam getting excited about our trip in a couple of weeks time, it's a good life on the road no wonder there's so many into it..

 I particularly liked the the information about your electrical problem that's an area that's easy to check out if we have a similar problem.

Gday...

Thanks for the update Jim - always good to read about others journeys.

I must say that it does reinforce the decision I took eight years ago to be a full-time traveller, with no timelines, and no base-camp that I have to return to.

Your trip would have taken me the best part of a year to complete rather than staring at a long, black road at 100kph for hours on end.

I do understand that it is not everyone's 'cup of tea' to just take time and make the journey and not the destination the feature.

For me, it is definitely much better to not have to fit travelling this wide, great, varied, stupendous land into a squished itinerary and timetable.

But - good to see, for you, it was enjoyable and you got to visit some great spots and experience some great things.

Cheers - John

Great update. I too love reading of others' travels.

Sounds like the electrical problem was bad (Loose?) terminations that went bang.  Poor workmanship.  Always wriggle 240 terminations vigorously after tightening .. try hard to pull then out then re-tighten is my rule.

Thanks Jim for the Journal.

Always great to read the exploits of those already 'out there' while waiting for retirement :)

Hi Het Jim.

Glad you love WA, and are having a great time.

Our Railway Sleepers in the West are the best, hardest and burn longest.

However; they are treated with all sorts of chemicals to deter termites.

So a heads up, "Do Not" breath any of the smoke. It will give you quite a big headache.

Regards.

Hetho.

Good read Jim, thanks for that. Interested to know how much the old railway sleepers changed your weight?