Category: Caravanning Hints

Caravanning Hints3 Comments

Packing a Caravan

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When Packing a caravan, the heaviest items should always travel down low and preferably over the wheels. This explains why our wine cellar is located underneath one of the cafe seats and the other cafe seat holds the espresso machine. Pots and pans are on the opposite side below the stove and sink. Food – As well as overhead cupboards we have a small slide out pantry under the sink for the heavy food items, bottles and cans, but being foodies, I’m yet to find one of these that actually works well. My way around this is to use the … Continue reading Packing a Caravan

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Hairdressing

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One of my biggest concerns upon retirement was hairdressing. After having spent a lifetime of donating the majority of my salary to my local hairdresser so that I could look decently coifed for business I realised that I needed to reduce the cost. With the help of friends I found a hairdresser who would trim my hair at a much more reasonable price. Another friend offered to teach me how to colour my hair.  The cost of this lesson was a long lunch and a bottle of champagne before we started! While the boys embarked on a second bottle, we … Continue reading Hairdressing

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A Chilling Issue

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We’re sitting on the dry banks of the Campaspe River at Ayson’s Reserve outside Elmore in Victoria. It’s summer and it’s hot, damned hot. Even the cockies have stopped their screeching. We loll about under our mates’ awning drinking cold beer and pondering this camping life. “How cold is the beer?” Any true blue Aussie would ask. Well the boys are playing with the remote thermometer and so far have checked our van fridge, Richie’s van fridge and Brian’s Techni Ice fridge. Richie’s Waeco will be next. I’m sure that by tonight we’ll have scientific proof as to which fridge is … Continue reading A Chilling Issue

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Trip Planning

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Half the fun of a long trip is in the planning and especially on a wet Boxing Day at home. We use a combination of sources once we’ve decided on a destination or direction. I keep an ongoing spreadsheet of places that sound interesting that we’ve heard or read about. I also mark them as Favourites in WikiCamps so that they stand out on the screen and are easily searchable once we’re on the road. Then with the aid of maps, WikiCamps, the internet and the latest Camps Australia Wide we build the route that we’d like to take. We … Continue reading Trip Planning

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Mental Telepathy

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The quarantine officer at the SA border was so helpful. He even gave us a quarantine guide booklet listing the do’s and don’ts for each state. After much discussion and cooking of the vegetables that shouldn’t cross the border, we reach the WA border quarantine point. I think we must have read the booklet in reverse because we had all of our fruit and vegetables confiscated except for one measley carrot (the one that somehow missed last night’s stir fry) and an unopened bag of lettuce leaves. Poor Woody is frantically unlocking hatches and Eskies for inspection while choking on … Continue reading Mental Telepathy

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One Advantage of Owning a Caravan That the Salesman Won’t Tell You About

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We’re home again after a three week trip and I decide to bake some biscuits for a picnic that we will be going on. It’s an easy recipe and I soon toss them in the oven to bake for 15 minutes. Will I have a quick shower? No I might get distracted, how about catching up with the newspaper on the couch? Great idea I tell myself and settle in. After 12 minutes I peer through the oven door and little seems to have happened. They certainly aren’t brown and cracked on top like the recipe says. Oh, well just … Continue reading One Advantage of Owning a Caravan That the Salesman Won’t Tell You About

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Free Camping

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Free Camping Explained Free camping is a misused expression. Free refers to freedom, not free of charge. Usually it is a camp ground in the bush and often beside a river or beach. That being said, small towns often provide a short stay area for caravanners who are passing through. These towns have seen the potential for stopping the tourists when they are on their way to somewhere else. Also under the banner of free camp I should mention roadside overnight rest areas. Cost wise, free camps maybe free of charge or a gold coin donation to a local body … Continue reading Free Camping

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Why Do Some People Always Complain?

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So often people complain about the cost of fuel or caravan parks in remote areas without sparing a thought for the difficulty in providing the things that we take for granted on the East coast. We recently stayed at remote Nullarbor Road house 295km from Ceduna and 905km from Norseman. The water there is artesian that must be pumped from seventy metres below and then desalinated. They use 11,000 litres per day. Then there’s the electricity. It comes from three diesel generators out in the paddock and kindly located far enough away that you and I don’t have our precious … Continue reading Why Do Some People Always Complain?

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12 Volt Water Pump

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A cheap 12 volt shower quickly converts to a water pump for filling your onboard tanks. Just disconnect the shower head, drop the filter end in the bucket of water and plug the unit into a power source. There is an on off switch on the power cord. Our van only has a 12 volt plug on the opposite side to the tanks. We find that the easiest way is to back the car up to the van’s water intake and use the 12 volt plug located in the back of the car.    Quick and easy to fill and … Continue reading 12 Volt Water Pump

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Hobbies on the Road

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There’s much more to being on the road than just travelling and sightseeing. Of all the hobbies that are available to grey nomads fishing and craft are probably the most popular. But there’s bird watching, shell collecting, kayaking, photography, painting, visiting country markets, even cookery. Yes cookery. As most vans have all of the appliances that one can expect at home so why not? One can produce gourmet meals from the Weber Baby Q. I’ve baked bread whilst camped at the beach and a friend of mine always carries an ice cream maker just in case she finds an abundance … Continue reading Hobbies on the Road