Can you believe we have been on the road for 6 months and driven almost 20,000 kilometres and stayed at 56 different caravan parks/station stays/free camps. Needless to say Philip is very much the expert at backing onto a caravan site :-)
We have learnt so much about our fifth wheel caravan in that time and love it as much as the first day we set eyes on it. We have certainly had our fair share of mishaps and Philip knows our electrical system inside out. Mind you that didn't stop him from scratching his head this morning when the 12v system suddenly stopped working. Turns out that he had inadvertently bumped a switch that leads to the battery when he was mucking around with some fuses a couple of days ago so it wasn't a biggie.
The biggest hurdle I have had to work around is the clothes situation. When we head away the middle of next year I will be doing things a whole lot differently and packing less clothes (way less) and ensuring I can layer clothes. I bought a cheap puffer vest when we were in Busselton and I have flogged that thing to death so I will make sure I have a good quality puffer vest when we head away next year. And you do get sick to death of the same clothes. Don't be afraid to offload at Vinies and look for cheap replacements in K-Mart!
A gas heating system is one of the things we will install when we return to Cairns. We would have free camped a lot more if it wasn't for the heating (or lack of it) during these long winter months and even though we carry a generator that runs our reverse cycle heating, the use of it is frowned on at most free camps. To use a generator you need to be camped somewhere by yourself and that is almost impossible with the number of vans on the road.
We have talked about whether there is anything that we brought with us that we haven't used and the answer, thankfully, is no. Some things have only been used once or twice but they are items in Philips toolbox that you wouldn't want to travel without. One thing that you really must carry is a roll of good quality duck tape and a roll of soft wire. You would be surprised at how often it is used.
Space inside the van is always at a premium and I look closely at every little nook and cranny to see if I can store something. There is rather a large empty space behind my pullout pantry shelves. It is hard to get to so you need to store something there that is rarely used. Perfect for blankets during the warmer months and at the moment it is holding a large bag of bread flour.
Speaking of bread flour, I would never travel without a bread maker. It has been a godsend to have fresh bread. But surprisingly we don't eat a lot of bread. I make a loaf every 4/5 days. The other thing I could not live without is my mini food processor/blender stick/whisk. I suppose all this comes from my love of cooking new dishes that has not waned while we have been travelling. We rarely eat out and when we do it is because we are out having a day of touring.
Chores inside and out of the van we have down to a very fine art. We do a load of washing every day (providing we are not free camping) and the shower and basin are wiped down after every use. I clean the toilet whenever Philip empties the cassette (yes it is his job!) and it never gets smelly. We vacuum out every day with out rechargeable stick vacuum and I steam the floors once a week. We live by the rule "a place for everything, and everything in its place". Nothing gets left on the kitchen bench except the small rubbish bin, a bowl of fruit and the electric kettle. Bedding and towels get washed once a week come hell or high water. I love the smell of fresh linen.
The outside of the van gets a hand wash when it needs it but I have to admit that it has been way too cold of late to even think about it. The two of us can whip around the outside of the van with a bucket and chux in less than an hour.
Travelling by ourselves has its good and bad points, but mostly good. We get to decide where and when we will stay each night without having to consult anyone else and I think that most of our friends would not be able to travel as slow as us! We try very hard to not travel the same road twice and that can mean travelling hundreds of kilometres out of our way but time is on our side. Sometimes this is us .....
And finally, you have to really LIKE each other. That sounds obvious I know but we are together 24/7 and if you can't communicate with each other it would be a very long hard trip. Mind you some days you really don't like each other much 😂😂. Travelling with companions would give you both a little more time out from each other.
So today we travelled 300kms from Kulin to Mount Barker. This is the longest driving day we have put in for quite some time but we still managed to check into the caravan park by midday. We bypassed Katanning on the advice of our friend Jane, and also on her advice we are staying at Mount Barker that is a charming place with lots of wineries nearby. We thought we might go to one tomorrow for a wine tasting, that is walking distance from the CV Park.
I made us a quick scrambled eggs (with sausages, tomato and onion) on toast for lunch and then we were back in the car and heading to Albany to pick up a replacement TV. Albany is 50kms from Mount Barker so it didn't take us very long and we were back home again by 3.30.
We are at Mount Barker for two nights and then we head to Porongurup National Park (around 30kms from Mount Barker) for six nights that will take us through to the end of the Western Australian school holidays. We are in for some cold weather over the next ten days with showers again on some of the days. No packing away the winter woolies just yet...
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