2010 TRIP, NT, WA and The Gulf.

 

This was the big trip after getting the van and the 4WD. Headed west at the beginning of June 2010. I had never towed anything before, let alone this 2750 kg van. We had only got the car back from TJM a few days before after getting new heavy duty springs and shockies, bulbar with spotties, snorkel, 12,000 lb winch, tinted windows, extended diff breathers, UHF radio, and I’m sure there was more. Nice little price tag that was.

 

                               Fay having some fun on the first day.
 

 

                       Don't forget to fillup before you go anywhere.
 

                     ............yes, they call this The Plenty Highway.

 

So, westward ho, via, Boulia and The Plenty Hwy to Alice then The Mereenie Loop to The Rock and on to The Great Central Road to Cervantes on The Indian Ocean. Yeh, we did stop along the way and do all the touristy things, leisurely trip like.

Rainbow Valley, 85 kms south of Alice.

 

 

......and this time in colour. It's a fantastic place to camp for the night.

 

 

A lonely road.

 

 

And The Pinnacles at Cervantes. 

 

 

 From here it was up the coast to Exmouth, calling in at all ports. Then to The Pilbara to check out Karijini NP and Marble Bar. Didn’t think much of Port Hedland but Eighty Mile Beach was great even though it wasn’t a free camp. Every day I walked over the sand dunes and caught my four Threadfin Salmon, fantastic place. Broome, Cape Leveque, and the bitumen to The Bungles. Piccaninny Gorge is amazing for photography, but we only spent a few days there. Back down to the turnoff for Tunnel Creek, Windjana Gorge and on to The Gibb for the slog to El Questro……over rated. Next was Wyndham, Kununurra and out to Lake Argyle Tourist Village. We had been told by heaps of travellers to visit this place, and boy, its great…………..has an infinity pool and the view over Lake Argyle and the ranges is to die for.

 

Lake Ballard, really worth the visit.

 

 

The huge open skys of Exmouth.

 

 

I think the one thing that really impressed me about WA was the colour and clarity of the water.

 

 

Just north of James Price Point.

 

 

Cape Leveque....look at those colours.

 

 

........and this...

 

 

Cable Beach in Broome and this is the cleanest the car would be until we get home.

 

 

 

 

A free camp for the night.

 

 

 

 

Piccaninny Gorge in The Bungles.

 

 

Another free camp along the track.

 

 

This is the infinity pool at Lake Argyle Tourist Village about 65 kms south of Kununurra, cool hey.

 

 

                              Another celebration at Lichfield NP.

 

Rested up at Humpty Doo with family for a week and caught up with the grandkids. Back through The Gulf to Kurumba and on to Cairns to spend more time with family, and then a short cruise into Rocky.

 

Guess what we bumped into going through The Gulf.

 

 

And she was a beauty............lasted three hours and we never stopped.

 

 

Even tried a rescue job, but no way, he was hard and fast.



 

All up, we were away for six months, $8500 in diesel and did 28,000 kms. Not bad for first time nomads. One flat tyre, apart from that the trip went smoothly. The van and car is a perfect match. What a trip.

Chris.

 

 

About Us

Allow me to introduce ourselves......this is my wife Fay, and I'm Chris. I have been retired for eight years after being a Traindriver in Queensland Rail for 30 years. Fay is a Teacher Aide at the local State School and has been there for 30 years, soon to retire as well. We live in Rockhampton.

 

We both love travel and have had many trips overseas, and now our adventures are closer to home, not that we will totally abandon overseas trips.

 

Children, yes, living in Munich, Darwin, Cairns and Melbourne. So as you can see we have quite a few places to visit over quite large distances. Grandchildren in some of these places as well. So, let the adventure begin........

 

 

A celebratory drink at The Indian Ocean after crossing this vast country from east to west.

 

 

Chris.

 

Our Rig

In 2010 we decided to purchase a caravan and travel the length and breadth of this massive land of ours. What van should we choose, definitely secondhand but in good condition....cost, $45k to $50k, that would be heaps.

 

Friends of ours, Des and Bernie ( Bernadette ) had been doing the hard yards, googling and searching for the best van. This was over a period of about 18 months. They finally made a decision on a new van and the wait was three months and a cost of $63k. We couldn't believe it, " you're mad waiting that long, we're going to Brissy and pick up a second handy for $45k".

 

Six months after they received their pride and joy, and it is a beautiful van, we were off to Brisbane to see what we could get. Des and Bernie had done alot of research, so we knew what to look out for plus I had been doing some research of my own. We were looking for something that would be able to do a bit of off road stuff........not too much.

 

Burpengary was our first stop..........nah.......too long of a wait, and not quite what we wanted. By this time we were thinking of a new van. Right, check out these Kedron vans. Really nice, but the sales lady said that our Prado could not handle the weight. Well we are definitely not buying a new fourby. By this time we were thinking that the idea of getting a van was not going to come to fruition. Last ditch attempt.......there's some mob on the Sunny Coast making vans, we'll go and have a look.

 

Bushtracker at Kunda Park. Rocked up, no appointment and asked what the go was. Told them we had a Prado and they said "no worries, we've got just what you want". Did the factory tour and we were sold. Yep, we'll have one of those thanks. Not so easy. We spent most of the day choosing the layout and colours of the leather seats, curtains and flooring. Remember what we said about Des and Bernie....waiting time and cost. Our waiting time, five months, and cost.............I'm not telling. Des and Bernie couldn't believe us, they laughed and laughed, so did we. Worth the wait............my bloody oath it was.

 

The story gets even better. The next five months consisted of buying gear for the van, you know the stuff, genny, Weber, linen, cups and plates and all that. Several thousand dollars later it was "D" day. Spent the whole day at Bushtracker getting tuition on the van, how it works, what to do, what not to do, thank god Fay videoed the whole lot. After spending two days loading the van we headed south of the border and caught up with Des and Bernie for a week to run the van in before we headed back to Bushtracker to get the 1000 km service. The van went fine..............the Prado...........well...not so good, not so powerful. On the hills we were loosing alot, running out of gears. Cut to the chase...........in four weeks we were heading off for six months to the west via the Plenty and Great Central Hwys. We needed a new car.........200 series TTD.

I can still hear Des and Bernie laughing.

 

So, there you have it, this is how we got into caravaning............and we love it.

Chris.

 

 

 

This  Prado really was a nice 4 x 4 , I was sorry to see it go.

 

       And this is the final result, 100% off road and fully equipped to go anywhere.

 

.............................and in the rough.

 

Ah............do you want me to tell you about the shed we had to build to store the van in.....................nah, tell ya later, a whole new story.