new water tanks

Here are the new stainless steel water tanks. They look pretty good i think. Because the old plastic ones were shaped a little and more rounded we actually fit a lot more water in these ones so that's an added bonus. We had the two of them made for under $950.

We're in the process of getting our wireless broadband sorted out. Telstra Next G obvioulsy as no one has has coverage in the centre. And we need to change one of our mobiles over to Telstra too. We'll keep the other with Optus to increase our chances of getting a signal from someone everywhere we are.

Tim has set up some great tracks along the top of the truck and a winch so he can get the boat up on top by himself. Not easy, but do-able. He also came home the other day with a couple of steel rods to use as legs... looks pretty clever! I'll get a photo of that next time he's playing with it.

I keep remembering at odd times of the day that we never heard back from the caravan insurance people in Perth that i liked the sound of.... must get that organised! We have basic cover at the moment but i want something more suited to people LIVING in their caravan.

another toy for the boys

We bought a boat. Not the great value one that we looked at on the weekend. Missed out on that by half a day! LOL! But a similar one for a bit less with a few less extras. It's not a proper car-topper so Tim is setting things up for it to carry above the truck on the roll bars he had made. We'll have to add a service to the motor to our list of things to do.

I still need to get mattresses organised. The innerspring from Jayco and the one for Made to Measure are essentially the same price. MtM would be a nicer bed but i'm trying to make sure they will fold ok in the expanda.

Looks like we have work lined up a the tourist season at Litchfield Cafe in Litchfiend National Park so that should be a great place to be based for a few months or more. yay! Although we know there is a lot of work around and people can just turn up to a town/area and find something we wanted to have something more reliable so i joined WorkAbout Australia so we can keep an eye on what is out there.

take it to the experts

Dad took their van (second hand 2000 Regent) to Cruiser Caravans to have a check-over. After they bought it Dad discovered some water damage and leaks in it and a few other issues that really had him concerned. Actually, for a while he was really kicking himself thinking he had just bought one big problem... but the guys a Cruiser went right through it.

Looks like the leak was in the lights so they were replaced, new seals, they treated the damaged timber etc etc, the sink tap had a leak so that was replaced... a few other bits and tidy-ups. It cost $1100 including parts but for the peace of mind that it is all done properly i think that's great value.

Tim and i are getting some quotes for our annexe. The Kakadu awning walls look good but the really snazzy setup is quite pricey. The Awning Man does a nice annexe with a beer garden!! :) and it's not a bad price. Essentially for the same price as the basic Kakadu setup we would get the full beer garden extension through The Awning Man. Under Cover Canvas in Ballina is nice and close by and their website looks good too... I think it will end up around $2,500 which, although expensive, will be worth it for us seeing as we will be living in the van for so long and it will double our living area. The extra beer garden shade area too will be great.

I'm getting the Lemair washing machine from The Good Guys for $350. I could have bought it direct from the Sydney factory for around $300 but the factory is not near where we will be so it's not worth the extra travel.

more little modifications

Today Tim and some mates lifted the suspension on the van (actually i think the mates did most the actual work and Tim fetched tools). It's now super high!!! Looks odd but will be helpful in getting us into some slightly more off-road type locations. We are going to need a step (or two) to get into the van now though.

What else... he had some roll bars made for the back of the truck which we can use to make a canopy for the front half of the tray (for our washing machine and lounge to go!). He also connected up the gas lines on the bottles so that both are connected at the same time. We got a hose with a metal braid through it so there's less chance of stone damage.

We had a look at a Quintrex boat. It's probably a good bargain but it's more than i had imagined we'd be spending on a tinnie. So we have a few other priorities first and if the boat is still there in a few weeks we'll see what happens.

We had Garage Sale II at mum and dad's house. Sold some more bits and pieces. Now pretty much everything else that is left will be given away or thrown away.

I've ordered a few bits online for me and the kids. A summer weight sleeping bag for Darcy. A Lunette cup for me. A bed liner in case of night or nap time accidents! A matching pee pee pad car seat cover that is not really for either of them in particular but might be handy for Darcy for TTing in the future. Some OneWet NooneeWilga pants for Darcy.

I'm getting some quotes on annexe walls. I like the look of the Kakadu All Seasons ones but we'll have to see how the pricing comes out. They would give us some nice extra living areas. You can't see the photos online but even in addition to the actual annexe you can lift the window covers on the long side and on both short ends up and use tent poles to erect the canvas to form another awning area.

And i'm chasing up a little washing machine. I think we'll get the Lemair (like most other caravanners!) and i can get one from The Good Guys for $350 but apparently you can buy them direct from Lemair in Sydney..?? You used to be able to anyway so i'm waiting til Monday to check on that.

Contacts for our house are supposed to be exchanged soon and it will be going though with a super quick 28day settlement! wow! So the next few days will be spent getting rid of the piles of storage stuff and rubbish in the garage and working out the best way to store stuff in the van.

more van maintenance and add-ons

Tim replaced all the water lines yesterday. They were disgusting!!!! We had intended to get some of the sanitising tablets to clean up the water tanks but they were full of sludge. So we are getting a price to get some stainless steel ones made instead and replacing them. Much nicer. I don't think the previous owners ever cleaned them??

Have not heard back from Made To Measure Mattresses... will have to call them. Or maybe head into the local Clark Rubber and see if they have latex overlays.

We lost the sink plug yesterday and it took us half and hour to find it... must buy spares!

Tim got a great deal on two batteries. We got the better AGM (absorbant glass mat) batteries instead of the gell cells. 100amp hour ones i think. Tim got them for $320 through a mate! YAY! Massive discount. So with fully charged batteries we should be ok to run the microwave, lights and important stuff for a few days without power. We'll get solar put on once we get up north and can head in to an actual shop-front that specialises in solar.

And we bought a Weber Q200 baby bbq. The van does not have an oven (just a cooktop, grill, and microwave) so this should set us up for lots of meal options.

additions and repairs

we bought a 12volt LCD tv for the van yesterday from Bing Lee for just under $600. It's a 22inch high definition flatscreen sort of one with a built in DVD that also takes your SD cards for photos etc. We chose the biggest screen available for the space we had on the wall! LOL! Looks good.

Tim spent the day repairing the flyscreens on the windows. Bugger of a job but it's coming along well.

The latex mattresses from the Bedding Co in town are near on $1,300 each! wow. They feel lovely to lay on but we are going to see if we can find something for a better price. I've sent an email to Made To Measure Mattresses and i'll see what they can do.

I really need to get some replacement parts for the back clips of the drawers. Tim found a DIY caravan repair shop online with lots of bits which will come in handy but i can't see the drawer clips.... off to the Jayco dealer in town i guess.

out of the house

We moved out of home a couple of days ago in preparation for selling the house. We are staying in a big work shed (it's sort of like a mate's work shed) but we have showers and toilets and can use the power etc so it's all great. And there is room for Jordy to play- although there is no grass :(

But the open house went really well. We've had a few offers already so now we just have to wait and see if we can get what we are asking and how soon we can settle.
Here is an 'after' shot of the house all nice and clean. (cleaner than it has ever before been!!! LOL!)
We have sooooooo much to do to the van to get ready. Now that we have the house as sorted as we can for the time being we can now focus on getting our rig set up.

And here is Darcy trying to escape from the van already. Little Adventure Boy can reach the handle and open it so we have to keep the door locked even when we are in the van!

We bought a nice little 22inch flat screen yesterday so i can now catch up on the news- i have not had time to see what is happening in the world for a couple of weeks. And we went and had a look at latex bed mattresses this afternoon. The foam mattresses we have in the van are ok for a long weekend but no way we could put up with them for longer than that. Next we have to get the annexe sorted.