Well Folks
We've booked our flight - leaving London Heathrow on 27 August, arriving Sydney on the morning of 28th.   We'll be heading for my Aunt's place in Mount Colah for a couple of days and then on to Newcastle to see if we can find a suitable motorhome there - I understand it's a good place to start.   I just hope that it doesn't take too long to find the right one at the right price.

We'll then head for Darwin and Kakadu, hoping to arrive well before 'The Wet' so that we have enough time to do the area justice.   Then we'll take off westwards at a more leisurely pace.

A little while ago we bought a TomTom Sat Nav and will be downloading maps of Oz before we leave - they seem to be cheaper over here.

Everything seems to be falling into place at last and we're really looking forward to our year on Aussie soil.

Lesley

Lesley, have you been to Mount Colah before???? I know that there are a couple of places in Gosford & Wyong that sell motorhomes but not sure about Newcastle....
Enjoy your stay.....

Hi Lesley, great to hear you are about to escape, how much looking have you done for a motorhome, have you tried the c.m.c.a. website under members market, try the trading post ( a newspaper dedicated to sales) geelong winnebego have a couple of good ones, queensland rv's are usually pretty good as well, have a look in the paper when you arrive in sydney, you never know it may be waiting for you, let us know how you are getting on and about your travels, oh and watch out for drop bears, this is the season for them. Lesley on a more serious note, how long have you allowed to get Darwin, are you taking the direct route (3,900kms) or the more scenic route of following the coast up to cairns, taking a look at the daintree rainforest at the same time (5,100kms) I know the distance from little blues log book having travelled both routes, please allow enough time for either journey, Australia is a bloody big country and we have enough deaths on our roads without importing some more, care and plenty of rest please and keep us up to date or I will get Basil to nag you about something or other

-- Edited by dave06 at 13:28, 2008-07-24

Great to hear you'll be joining us soon.  In addition to looking for your rig in all the places that have already been suggested, I would also recommend that you consider placing a 'motorhome wanted' in the Saturday Newcastle paper and specify the price you would like to pay.  Although it seems like a long shot, it's how we found our rig.
Once you get to the west coast, stop in at Cape Range National Park near Exmouth.  Snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef was one of our best experiences.  You don't need to take a boat, and the camping is in the national park so it's very affordable.

Silver Fox wrote:

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Great to hear you'll be joining us soon.  In addition to looking for your rig in all the places that have already been suggested, I would also recommend that you consider placing a 'motorhome wanted' in the Saturday Newcastle paper and specify the price you would like to pay.  Although it seems like a long shot, it's how we found our rig.
Once you get to the west coast, stop in at Cape Range National Park near Exmouth.  Snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef was one of our best experiences.  You don't need to take a boat, and the camping is in the national park so it's very affordable.

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Ha Haaaaaaa you have been sprung Silver Fox.... I thought you had drowned at Cheviot Beach Obviously the "Chinese Submarine" theory was on the money.....

G'day lesley, have ya given any more thought to the idear of nettworking back home to sell the M/home forward to recoupe initial costs?WOW,ya gonna be here at last,saw an elderly lady traveling around in a new toyota type coaster last week selling her handmade knitted apparel.Did ya read the article on the bloke that sells his artwork as he travles around oz.It's on the main page of the Nomads site? Regards Glenn.

Hey Guys - thanks for some great replies. Yes Baz - We've visited my aunt several times Wassa drop bear, Dave? Can't watch out for 'em if we doesn't know what they is, can we. We're going to Darwin via Lightning Ridge and Cloncurry - we'll be 'doing' the east coast up to Cairns towards the latter part of our trip. And we'll be taking it steady, don't you worry. I have been doing a lot of searching for motorhomes and it looks as if the Toyota Coaster, Nissan Civilian or Mazda thingumybob are going to be a) suitable and b) affordable. One thing I have noticed is that most of them have the fixed permanent bed. I feel that this is rather a waste of space during the day, and would like to have the two bench seats with the removeable table in between - much more useful. Does anyone happen to know if the fixed bed can be exchanged for the bench seats etc? Thanks Foxie - the add in the paper is a good idea, and yes Ningaloo Reef is on our itinerary. don't you worry I've actually put a Google map on our website with our route roughed out. Hi Truckie - yes, I've been in touch with Elaine at Australian Motorhomes, and she's keeping a look out for something suitable for us. Yes, I did read the item about the artist on the Grey Nomads site, Glenn - very interesting, we'll have to see if people are interested in the crafts that we do. I've been trying to find out more information about other UK Grey Nomads, but apart from Alan and Jenny who are already on their way round, I haven't found anyone else. I'll keep looking though. Thanks again everyone for taking the trouble to reply Regards Lesley

Hi Lesley, the permanent bed in the rear of the vehicle is (I think ) a great idea nothing worse than driving all day and then having to set up the bed, gets very annoying after the first 2 nights, but only my preference, most of them have lifters so that you can store stuff underneath, the drop bears are very dangerous they are like a big polar bear that sleep in the trees, the only trouble is when they turn over (or drunk) or get frightened by something they are likely to fall out and if you are under one, well it could be catastrophic, lot of pommies been killed or badly injured by these things seen a german a few weeks ago, he had a tooth embedded in his forehead from one that fell out of a gum tree, anyway just watch for them and you should be right,  perhaps!!!!!!! drop bears, crocodiles, tiger snakes, red back spiders, wolf spiders, sydney funnell web, man eating sleepy lizards, great white sharks, midgies, sand flies, blow flies, march flies, mosquitoes the size of jumbo jets, are you sure you wish to come to the great southern land

Don't worry Dave, we've both lived there, back in the 60s, so we have a pretty good idea of the wildlife delights on offer dahn-under. Still don't wanna have a fixed bed - will probably just use the two benches as single beds when the weather is hot.

Bugga, a pommy that knows what to expect, wheres the fun in that     ya lived here before and ya coming back again, geez your a sucker for punishment, as for beds, yep whatever floats your boat, its just that we leave our bed made up after the first night and then strip it when we get home or once a week whichever comes first, did you have a look at the cmca members market, there is two there that would be suitable, and just a quick question, how come you remember the sixties????

Sorry to disappoint, Dave. We've actually visited a few times in recent years, and would move back like a shot it your Gov'mint would let us live there permanently. I've had a look at the CMCA site and sent off a couple of emails to the likely ones - thanks for the headsup, I hadn't checked it out for a while. The way they are set out doesn't make it easy to scan through them, specially if you're looking for a specific price range. It would be a good idea if they had some sort of search facility. I was a £10 migrant in 1965 and Jeff managed to get signed off the ship he was working on. He worked on the Barrier Reef and then in Surfers. I worked for the ABC and then at Sydney Uni. We actually met on the ship coming back to the UK in 1969 - got married the following year. So you might say that the 60s were pretty significant.

ah hah worked for the a.b.c., thats why they wont let you back in, how did you survive on a dollar a day, as for the search facility on the cmca website I will put that forward at our next chapter meeting, I think it all depends on who is hosting our website (all too technical for me) whether we can make changes or not, anyway I'll put it forward. all you buggers have got stories, god if only I could sit down around the fire with a beer and listen to each and every one of you, the stories you have  good luck with the chase

Shucks, Bazza. I thought I'd gotten away with it! 
HH.