,I'm always impressed with folk like Jules who can provide comprehensive details on Free Camps and Caravan Parks sometimes in the most obscure places and apparently off the top of her head.......e.g. 'that's over the bridge to the right past the Roadhouse and provision for perhaps 10 vans, and there are two showers and toilets for gold coin donation..all quite clean etc etc etc..lovely Ranger.......but if its full you can go another 14kms and on the right is XXXXXX and only $10 representing excellent value etc etc...and quite friendly Managers..etc..how do you do it??.....Encyclopedic memory or something more substantial?....
Q: Do you keep a travelling Journal of every place you stop with complete details and your own ratings so you can determine whether its worth staying/stopping again on return journeys?....Do you make notations on say Camps 7.....or something similar....or are you really up with things and record to your computer or similar?....
I ask this because I always start out with the best of intentions of keeping a written journal...but....life or the magic of the moment, seems to get in the way of making my written recordings, and then I convince myself I wont forget 'this place' if I commit to memory...of course a week later the only memory I have is if the place was so disgusting that I can't forget it even if I want to.....!...I have been known to go for a few months and end up with maybe one miserable entry....
What do others do to build up and maintain their dossier of knowledge Australia wide?.......Hoo Roo
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My Avatar photo: How my youngest granddaughter Brydie 8 sees her Pa through the lens of her 'Barbie' Camera......
'Without Going You Get No Where'....written across the rear of my Jayco Caravan.
Wife has a bloody big Filofax, journals every day when we pull up including every mile, dollar spent by me & every stop we make. A good reference when we get home, it's her "down time" relaxation.
Entries filed when we get home & new blank pages fitted for the next trip.
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The government cannot give anything to anybody that the Government does not first take from somebody else.
Larry, I keep a daily journal on my poota but more like a diary. I do make comments on places visited or stayed, maybe not as detailed as some do but enough.
I have found though, what I like, someone else might not and the other way around. I have gone to somewhere recommended but didn't like it. I have also gone somewhere and agreed 100%, nice place and would go back. I usually try not to recommend anything but say my thoughts on a place.
I also do regular "updates" on my travels and put them up in "general" here on the forum telling those interested what I have or have not been upto. As I am currently at Greens Lake, Central VIC I am not doing them as a fellow Forumite is here and doing weekly updates so I see no need to do a similar report although they are both different styles.
Where ever you go or stay enjoy and keep safe.
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Live Life On Your Terms
DOUGChief One Feather (Losing feathers with age)
TUG.......2014 Holden LT Colorado Twin Cab Ute with Canopy
DEN....... 2014 "Chief" Arrow CV (with some changes)
I have a web page so the family can keep track of us and what we are doing. Afraid at times it may be short on detail of camps but it was my intention to cover them more.
I think wiki camps and camps A/W make us a bit lazy
The human mind is indeed a strange, intriguing and baffling thing.
I guess I am a bit like Jules appears to be. If someone mentions a town, or shows me a map, and I have camped there, or near there, I can recall most of the detail of when I was there.
I actually get a "mental picture" of the place and can "see" myself getting there and being there. It does not seem to matter if I was there 10 years ago or 10 days ago.
I do keep a diary of my day but it doesn't include anything about a particular camp, other than that I stayed there.
However, I still have trouble remembering where I left my glasses, that spanner I was just using or why I just went to the fridge.
Cheers - John
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2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
I have a blog on Wordpress called Cluttscaper. I have used mainly for overseas but will be using it for our WA trip in May. I can type up on or off line on my iPad and I use the info later at home when doing photo books.
Q: Do you keep a travelling Journal of every place you stop with complete details and your own ratings so you can determine whether its worth staying/stopping again on return journeys?.Do you make notations on say Camps 7.....or something similar....or are you really up with things and record to your computer or similar?.
It's no good just making notations on your copy of CAW. If you have seen anything that has changed, e-mail them to Phill.I'm surprised that people are keen to advise new camps to members of newsgroups but don't forward them to CAW. CAW is as much our publication as it is Phill's
-- Edited by PeterD on Saturday 24th of January 2015 09:26:52 AM
-- Edited by PeterD on Saturday 24th of January 2015 09:27:27 AM
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Nope, I had all intentions, but got distracted. As you (I) do.
I do, however, make a note of great parks/campsites/lay-aways/truckstops, and the ones to be avoided. That is in a notebook sitting near my seat for when we hit the road. I also write down attractions we loved/hated/missed-but-want-to-see.
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The Mobile Madhouse: me (Rosie), him (Troy), a kelpie, a kelpie-dingo, a husky & a rainbow lorikeet.
Hey R.L. I think that lost memory thing has something to do with walking through doors.
I have a similar problem after I have entered a room, "what did I come in here for?
Much the same as putting things away safely, never to be seen again.
With respect to the initial post, I have a retentive memory for things of personal interest and seem to be able to recall a lot of items important to me.
However, if the issue is not in my "important file" I seem to conveniently forget it.
As well as memories, we have documented and filmed most of the camps, fishing spots and favourite places we have been to and make that information available to friends who may be just starting out.
That also includes some of the horror stories about getting bogged or worse.
Wife has a bloody big Filofax, journals every day when we pull up including every mile, dollar spent by me & every stop we make. A good reference when we get home, it's her "down time" relaxation. Entries filed when we get home & new blank pages fitted for the next trip.
Similar here, not quite as complex though, Heather maintains a diary with relevant information, including fuel consumption, camp site coordinates etc along with comments.
Like Jules and Rocky Lizard, I have a fairly good memory for places, prices and such like details. But when it comes to faces, not so good.
I keep a monthly blog, but use my photos as my diary. When I download them they go into a dated folder, which I rename, i.e.
2015-15-24 Wet day on Bribie,
2015-15-23 Geocaching on Bribie
then when I am doing by blog, I just check each folder for photos, which jog my memory for my blog. I also take photos of signs with prices, times, information etc, which assists me greatly.
As for dollars, mileage etc, I keep all my shopping dockets, till I have entered them into an excel spreadsheet, groceries, medical, fuel prices & $s, odo readings, etc and everything. I have records back to the day we left home 3 1/2 years ago.
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Pay it forward - what goes around comes around
DUNMOWIN is no longer on the road and still DUNMOWIN!
I keep a short journal which notes where we stayed each night and what we spend, but I don't keep notes on the particular camp sites. Generally I can remember the details of those places we have stayed, the journal has been useful for remembering what time of year we were there.
I do in my Camps book put notes down when we see a campsite that looks particularly appealing, or particularly bad, but we haven't stayed there. I find that's useful when we travel that way again.
Great ideas, many thanks..I held a quorum with myself....and....delegation was approved, appointing my wife to the Offices of Social Secretary and Bookkeeper.....I retained the Offices of Entertainments Officer and Forward Scout/Trip Planner.........Hoo Roo
-- Edited by Goldfinger on Saturday 24th of January 2015 07:07:24 PM
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My Avatar photo: How my youngest granddaughter Brydie 8 sees her Pa through the lens of her 'Barbie' Camera......
'Without Going You Get No Where'....written across the rear of my Jayco Caravan.
Of course it all depends on the time you visited a camp. Stayed in one camp in July and I thought it was quite nice. Went to the same place in May the following year and hated it. Hot & Dry and flys were so bad I didn't want to get out of the van. So someone might write nice things about a camp, but it may not be someone else's experience.
When we are travelling I keep a daily diary and that includes camp details. Fuel details are entered in a separate notebook. These, with photos, form the basis for my travel blogs of recent times. The diary notes from 1993 trip, through to 2007, are being put into Word and PDF format, with pre-digital photos scanned to illustrate. I have printed these and keep them in folders. They are fun to read back through, for us, and some of our travelling friends enjoy the read, too.
Have triied to a couple of times but failed, intend to when I hit the road again for several months in late March, see how it goes this time! This time I intend to simply do all the notes as I go and put them into something readable once a week!
annie
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Connor - Whippet
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Annie - after my 2nd cup of coffee I'm almost human! Together we are pawsaroundoz!
Lots of ideas for thought here. We usually do keep a brief diary of costs and where we have been. When at home or away we keep a spreadsheet of expenses - even if it's just to show we're over budget.
Hubby also likes to keep a record of fuel consumption when pulling the caravan.
