July 2014

At 12:00 noon we arrived at Kirrily's place in Windsor and she drove us to a nice eating place on Chapel Street. After lunch Kirrily drove us to Northcote to visit David's sister Louise. Kirrily has a very nice new car - a Mercedes 250A Sports.

We spent a couple of hours chatting with Louise and also met John, Louise's case manager from Osborn Sloan and Associates who was visiting Louise. Louise is looking forward to visiting Hobart again in November to see her daughter Zoe's 2nd baby which is due in mid September.

No photos today.

Apart from a little rock and roll at 2:00 am in the morning off Port Phillip Heads we had an uneventful crossing. We were called to the truck deck at 6:30 am and soon after we were on our way. We arrived at the Ashley Gardens Caravan Park at Braybrook at about 7:00 am and had breakfast while we waited for the reception office to open at 8:00 am. We checked in and were allocated drive through site 50 for 4 nights. We did a fairly basic set-up and did not bother with the awning or the mats.

Ashley Gardens Caravan Park

Our van on Site 50 - basic set-up

We ordered a taxi to take us into Melbourne for lunch at the Atlantic Restaurant in the Crown Complex on Southbank with Kirrily and her friend Ian who is a former work colleague. We had an excellent seafood meal accompanied by a very nice Pinot Gris.

After lunch we headed back to the caravan park for a quiet early night to catch up on sleep after a fairly sleepless night on the ferry on Sunday night

After loading the Navara with the last of the food and clothes we left home at about 12:30 pm and drove to the Barilla Caravan Park at Cambridge where we store our caravan. After hitching up we were on our way by 1:15 pm to Devonport to catch the Spirit of Tasmania. Just before Campbelltown we encountered the first of the rain. We stopped at Zeps Café for a coffee before moving on with the rain becoming more persistent.

As we approached the Deloraine turn-off the fuel warning light came on (15 litres left), so we did a detour into Deloraine to refuel. We eventually arrived at the ferry terminal at 5:20 pm and checked in, before lining up for the security check. The security check was a little more thorough than usual - particularly as regards gas bottles. It is a little known fact (that was not reported in the media) that a couple of months ago a gas bottle exploded on one of the vehicle decks and about 6 cars were damaged.

Lined up and waiting to be loaded on the Spirit

At about 6:30 pm we were directed onto Garage deck 3 - the main truck deck. We were one of the last caravans to be loaded and the Spirit was on its way by 7:15 pm - 15 minutes early.

Our rig loaded on the truck deck

We had the Caravan serviced at Kings Caravans in March, and the Navara was serviced at DJ Nissan in May, having a 130,000 kms service. The Cooper tyres were rotated and balanced at the Cooper dealer to maintain the 80,000 kms warranty. The tyres have now done 20,000 kms but still look like new. The Goodyear Marathon trailer tyres on the caravan have now done 70,000 kms but have one more trip left before they need replacing. However Goodyear Marathon special trailer tyres are not sold in Australia - who knows why - so will probably go for TOYO light truck tyres next time.

This year we are booked on the Spirit of Tasmania to travel from Devonport to Melbourne on Saturday 28 June, returning home on 22 September 2014. We plan a few days in Melbourne followed by a week in Sydney before we head to the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast for about six weeks, then heading west through Lightning Ridge, Bourke, Cobar and Wilcannia in inland NSW on the way to Broken Hill, then home via Mildura, Hay and Echuca.

Detailed itinerary is as follows:

28 June - 1 night - Devonport to Melbourne on ferry
29 June - 4 days - Ashley Gardens, Melbourne
3 July - 1 night - Rutherglen
4 July - 1 night - Moss Vale
5 July - 8 days - Lane Cove, Sydney
13 July - 2 days - Taree
15 July - 1 night - Yamba
16 July - 2 weeks - Tallebudgera Creek, Gold Coast
30 July - 2 weeks - Dicky Beach, Sunshine Coast
13 Aug - 2 weeks - Southport, Gold Coast
27 Aug - 2 days - Warwick
29 Aug - 1 night - Goondoowindi
30 Aug - 2 days - St George
1 Sep - 2 Days - Lightning Ridge
3 Sep - 2 days - Bourke
5 Sep - 1 night - Cobar
6 Sep - 2 days - Wilcannia
8 Sep - 4 days - Broken Hill
12 Sep - 2 days - Mildura
14 Sep - 1 night - Hay
15 Sep - 2 days -Echuca
17 Sep - 5 days - Ashley Gardens, Melbourne
22 Sep - 1 night - Melbourne to Devonport on ferry

Bookings have been made as far as Southport, and the itinerary is flexible after that, until Melbourne where bookings have been made because of Melbourne Show week.