First of all, I just want to say a big thank you to all of our readers who helpfully pointed out that the post that was emailed out yesterday seemed to have been repeated. I could make a dozen excuses as to why, such as the beer goggles making me see double or it being an easy way to double my word count, but the truth of the matter is, I don’t actually know what I did wrong. In all likely hood, if it hadn’t have been brought to my attention, I probably wouldn’t have even realized my error. It does at least prove that there is at least a few people reading my blogs right the way through, which is encouraging.

We had a pretty easy jaunt today, even making up about 15 minutes of our lost time, by knuckling down to our chores with a gusto this morning, then heading out the gates of the van park by 9:45AM. I will endeavor to continue updating our estimated time of arrival back in Melbourne as we go. As it stands at the moment, we’re due in by 7:05PM on the 11^th of October.

The plan for today was to make a quick non-stop run up the highway to Sydney. Three days in a row on the road is wearing a bit thin for all of us, and we are looking forward to a bit of a rest in Sydney. Bethany especially doesn’t do so well being continually cooped up. She likes to be able to get out for a bit of a run when the whim takes her fancy. Originally, we hadn’t planned to have more than 2 days in a row on the black top, but scheduling a check up for ‘The Beast’ in Sydney saw us a little strapped for time, to arrive before the weekend.

Mind you, I nearly turned tale for home today, considering what may well go down as the high light of my trip was achieved. We were cruising along happily, bopping along to our ever present soundtrack of country tunes, when the UHF two way radio sprung to life with a shout out of: “Have you got a copy there in the Dodge Ram?”

I hadn’t been paying any attention, and nearly didn’t hear it, but I grabbed the mic and ended up having a yarn to another couple about how much they admired ‘The Beast’. As you can imagine, being the introvert that I am, I was chuffed.

In fact, the ear to ear grin barely leaves my face when I’m piloting ‘The Beast’ down the open road. I don’t think that I will ever get tired of the fact that not only can I stick to the legal speed limit (and without realizing it, slightly over on occasion), but even up hill, I can plant the foot and enjoy a spot of previously unheard of overtaking action. It really is moments like that, with the engine thumping and the needle bouncing off the red line on the tacho, that I say hell to the fact that I ought to be towing a fuel tanker full of diesel rather than a caravan.

Ear to ear grin.

Foot down and head of the pack!

On the subject of fuel economy, I read a story just last night in a caravan magazine about a guy who was raving about the economy he was getting from his piddly little 4 cylinder Nissan Navara, pulling a van a touch smaller than ours. The fuel economy he was extolling was the same sort of numbers that we are experiencing, so I won’t be doing any more complaining for the time being.

Heading through the outskirts of Sydney to our chosen parking spot for the next couple of days, the ear to ear grin managed to transform into a bit of a grimace as we negotiated narrow multi-lane roads and fought worse than Melbourne drivers for road position in our 7 ½ tonne, 14 ½ metre long behemoth. Bring on the outback!

We checked in at the park by about 3:15PM, only to find that our $25.00 a night budget for accommodation is in danger of going the way of our fuel budget. $47.00 a night to park on a piece of grass! We could have got a motel room for only a couple of dollars more. Bec is planning to get her monies worth by running the air conditioner flat out all night.

At least being towards the back of the park, it was a little quieter, and we had a large open grass plot to reverse the van onto. What should’ve been a simple matter of swinging the steering wheel this way, then that to back the van happily into position turned into a ¾ of an hour shouting match over the very public UHF radio air waves, between Bec and I. We usually do pretty well with the reversing, but it does tend to take us a few days to get into the routine. We obviously need a touch more practice, but we eventually had the van in place and all the accouterments set up for the evening.

It was also disappointing that we are at the very back end of the park, because we are quite some distance from the amenities block. Not so bad because we can shower in the van, but ablutions of a deuce nature (which we forbid from the onboard latrine) could be an issue. Thankfully, on taking a walk around, we found a very well equipped camp kitchen, and a welcome couple of toilets, all within only a matter of meters from the van. Much happier upon that find we were.

All set up, we relaxed for a while, watching on TV the devastation being experienced in Texas after the phenomenal explosion at a fertilizer factory, where a so far indeterminate number of lives have been lost. Bad form channel 10 and McDonalds, cutting to an add advertising their new ‘Smoky Texan’ burger!

After a bit of a rest, we headed out to do the daily grocery shopping, to get ourselves set up for tonight’s dinner. The car spaces around here sure weren’t made for a vehicle the size of ‘The Beast’, with one area even ruled out on account of our weight. We managed though, almost mowing down a small sapling in the process. I’m sure it’ll grow back!

Back at the van, it was my turn to tune into my culinary side and prepare this evenings feast of grilled pork and 5 veg. Dinner done, and dishes away, it was time to relax for the night.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.