DAY FIFTY-FOUR: Easter Sunday

DAY FIFTY-FOUR: Easter Sunday

Today we moved onto Thora, when we arrived it was raining and miserable. Today was a test to see how we would cope in the campervan in bad weather, turns out it’s easy but only if you don’t move. Before we started the trip I invested in a one thousand watt inverter so we could charger the laptop on the go, it has been great for us so we could watch films. We watched a film and ate two Easter bunny egg’s my auntie bought us. During in the film another jucy van arrived and two spaceship campervans, I was quite smug watching my movie because everyone else around looked bored with nothing to do. The evening meal was creative we had fried mash with cheese and onion and kangaroo burgers. I felt cruel eating the burgers all I could picture was Skippy.

DAY FIFTY-THREE: Experience the solar shower

DAY FIFTY-THREE: Experience the solar shower

After a good night’s sleep Vicki thought it would be a good time to try the solar shower, it has been on the roof since we got here, Vicki went first, I was poking out of the sunroof leaning on it so there would be a better water pressure. I turned the tap for her and; nothing, a tiny trickle of tepid water dribbles out. It was hopeless but it’s the best we’re going to get until we go to a paid hostel.

            It cleaned the sweat and grime off us so it did what it was meant to do just not very well. The rest of the day was a lot like yesterday, we chilled, played card games and watched films on the laptop. As the sun began to set and darkness descended we were treated to a breath taking spectacle of the stars. It was beautiful I’ve never seen so many stars.

DAY FIFTY-TWO: Lazing in the sun

DAY FIFTY-TWO: Lazing in the sun

After our Mexican I was still a bit hungry so I decided to make pancakes. It shouldn’t have been a difficult process, all I had to do was add water to a pre made mixture. But it resulted in disaster, I followed the instructions to the letter but it came out all thick and lumpy. It was a mess, worst of all they weren’t even tasty, even with sugar and strawberries.

            This morning in my infinite wisdom I thought it would be a good idea to dilute the pancake batter with milk and water. All this did was make a mess, for some reason it wouldn’t cook, we tried it several times using olive oil, butter even changing the pan, nothing worked. By time we gave up it was lunch time so Vicki made scrambled eggs. These were much better than my pancakes.

            We didn’t do much for the rest of the day, it was nice sitting under a tree next to the van watching the wild birds fly over.

DAY FIFTY-ONE: Somewhere in a forest

DAY FIFTY-ONE: Somewhere in a forest

Last night would be our last comfy night for a long time. It was luxury, showers, running water all pretty basic things but things we won’t encounter on a regular basis any more.

            Nether the less we were both excited about the trip and couldn’t wait to get back on the road. Soon enough we were off to Coopernook, we chose to stop there because it was another free camp site.

            Along the way we drove through Newcastle and Raymond Terrace where we stayed with my uncle for a few days. Today’s drive never seemed to end. Even 6the last few kilometres dragged. Eventually we arrived at Coopernook. It was a tiny village with a few houses and a Motel. To get to the campsite we had to drive about 3KM along dirt roads which rattled the van as though we were in an earthquake. We found the camp site at last. It was essentially a field with not a lot else either way it is very nice and peaceful. As we rolled up onto the site everyone stared at us in our green and purple camper.
            The evening was nice we made Mexican food and drank a few beers

DAY FIFTY: Road trip begins

DAY FIFTY: Road trip begins

After an evening of luxury, I had no idea why we left in the first place. Unfortunately we have to leave again tomorrow. At least it’s for the road trip. Today we went to the shop to stock up on eggs, bread and most importantly beer. The last few days had something missing and that was ice cold beer.

            A few weeks ago we ordered a few extra bits of kit to try and make the trip a little comfier one of the things was a solar shower. Of all the things I've seen Vicki buy, I've never seen her as happy as she was to see the solar shower. The rest of the day was spent washing clothes and tidying the camper van.

DAY FORTY-NINE: 1650KM later...

DAY FORTY-NINE: 1650KM later...

Well we survived the night. We didn't hang around there is over 600KM to cover today. We drove along the M31 all the way. We switched in between, I have never been so relieved to arrive at a destination, it was a long drive in baking heat. Over the past few days we had covered over 1650KM .

            When we arrived back at Wollongong Vicki went straight into the shower, as soon as she was out I went straight in, it felt so good to be clean.

DAY FORTY-EIGHT: First sleep

DAY FORTY-EIGHT: First sleep

Last night was a good introduction to sleeping in the van. I am about 5cm too tall so my feet are wedged against the sink. Fortunately Vicki is only small so I squashed her into one corner so I could take the middle of the bed which has the fridge so I could put my feet on that. It was nice sliding back the sun roof visor so we could see the moon and stars.

            I had quite a restless sleep whereas Vic slept like a log. This isn't fair so at about 7.30  I woke her up, it was a bit mean but I felt justified since I had hardly slept. I felt bad so I made her a cup of tea. I had redeemed myself.

            We packed up and moved on. We continued to drive along Great Ocean Road to Lorne where we had lunch of a chip butty. We continued our drive of over 450KM north to Everton where there was another free camp site. This wasn't like yesterday’s camp site which was good enough to charge, this looked more like a scene from the 'Deliverance' It wasn't too bad, it was a flat patch of land next to a river and it had a toilet. How much more do we really need?