brakel.com.au » 2007

October
29
2007

Robinvale to Mildura

We stayed in Robinvale till after lunch, then drove to Mildura.
We found a caravan park (Apex River Beach Holiday Park) along the Murray River not far out of town, the price was reasonable so we decided to book in for a week. The park is basic but we have power, water and use of the amenities. For the kids there is a Jumping pillow, a balloon type mound similar to a very large trampoline. At the rivers edge there is a large sandy beach area. The park seems to be quiet with only about 1/10 of the sites occupied.
We will update you all on our experience in Mildura later in the week.

Damian RV-Life, Stays add a comment 38 views

October
28
2007

Echuca to Robinvale

While in Echuca we saw a few paddle wheel boats on the river, we had intended to take some photos the next day, but as we stayed out of town we didn’t bother going back the next day as we assumed we would see more along the way. Well we are now a fair way along the Murray and haven’t seen any more as yet, may be we’ll see some at Mildura later in the week.

In comparison to earlier post we haven’t travelled far, we left Echuca and stayed in a nice little Murray River side town called Cohuna, I am not sure of the population but going by the shopping I would guess at around 1000 people or less. We stayed next to the local park with a play ground and skate park for the kids to play.

The next day we headed for Swan Hill were we stayed for a couple nights. Other than a visit to the park for some play time on the swings, a few trips to the shops, a look at the river, big Cod and Tree we just kicked back and relaxed.

The weather has been nice and warm at around 32 Deg C, until this morning when we woke up to strong gusty winds and an over cast day. After a slow lazy Sunday morning we hit the road again. We pulled up for lunch at Robinvale and have decided to stay here till the morning. There is not a lot to mention about Robinvale, its just a small town on the highway that happened to be where we were at lunch time. We are heading for Mildura which is still an hour up the road, they have a big Jazz festival on this weekend but we will decide when we get there to wether or not we will hang around for it.

Damian RV-Life, Stays add a comment 31 views

October
28
2007

Site update

I spent a bit of time today fixing a few bugs with the site, mainly minor code fixes which may not be noticeable for most but one fix worth a mention is the Contact form, thanks Shayne for letting us know there was a problem with it, it should now be fixed.
Checking our log it appears we have lost 13 messages sent from the Contact form, I apologize to those who had experienced problems and if you revisit we would love to hear from you.

Damian
I have also changed a lot of code in the MAP page, some people were not getting a pop up when clicking a marker, this should now be fixed.

Damian Site update add a comment 33 views

October
24
2007

Kilcunda to Echuca

A few more days, a few more hundred K’s
We left Kilcunda and headed over to Phillip Island, it was raining and cold so we didn’t get out and about much. We mainly stayed in the bus looking at the scenery, we had a look at the grand prix track and stopped at the chocolate factory for some goodies. We wanted to see the penguins but the feeding was not till late, due to the weather we decided to give it a miss. Parking was also no existant for larger veichles.

From Phillip Island we head in to Melbourne with a stop to pick up some new LED lamps, some of the lamps had failed and being only a few weeks old we stopped at the manufaturers warehouse to have them replaced. Then we went for a drive though Melbourne on the way to Kangaroo Flat nere Bendigo, where we had organised for the awning to be supplied and fitted. The high light being the trams

About 10km south of Kangaroo Flat we found a nice rest stop and decided to pull in for the night.

The next day we drove into Kangaroo Flat, «—click here to read more—»

Damian RV-Life, Stays add a comment 49 views

October
21
2007

Baromi to Kilcunda

After checking out the town centre of Baromi, with a population of 1200 it didn’t take long , we moved on south. Our next stop was for some fuel then a short distance later we found a great reserve at Kilcunda. We pulled in for some lunch but decided to stay for the day and head off again in the morning.

After lunch we went for a walk down the beach and along the rocks, the boys enjoyed looking for shells, there wasn’t a lot of marine life in the rock pools, mainly snails and a few anemone. Jake spent most of his time picking snails of the rock and flicking them into the water, that was until he worked out he could walk in the pools of water which was much more exciting.

Back up from the beach the boys had a play on the swings while Damian got the bikes out ready for a bike ride.

Bikes tyre pumped up, Jake’s seat adjusted, and we’re ready to go.

At Kilcunda Foreshore there is a bike trail that runs along the cliff line of the ocean, it is reasonably flat riding with bridges over the high gaps. We road for a few Ks only.

Tomorrow we intend to spend the day checking out Philip Island…..

Damian RV-Life, Stays add a comment 32 views

October
20
2007

Bega to Baromi

Its been a few days since our last update, we are now well into Victoria and are aiming for Bendigo on Wednesday Morning. The awning install at Bega didn’t happen due to uncertainty with the installer there, so we decided to move on and phone ahead to organise a different supplier, so off to Bendigo we go.

We did stay in Bega for a couple nights, checked out the Bega Cheese factory, lazed around, caught up on some washing and shopping.
We found a nice flat quiet bit of land down near the river and jockey club.

Jayson was keen to get out for a bit of skateboarding while we did our chores

The next day we went for a look at the Bega Cheese Factory before checking out the local shopping centre

The following day we packed up and headed for Eden, our first stop was at the whale museum, but it was a little disappointing. The Museum part of the building was smaller than our shed, you could see every thing from the door so we didn’t bother going in and saved our $20 and bought the boys treats instead

After a stroll up the main drag we drove down the steep hill into Eden South where we pulled up for lunch and a look at the boats at the wharf.

After lunch we head back out onto the Pacific Hwy with a quick stop at the border for a photo

From Bega well into Vic is mainly forest country, fairly hilly and a pretty ordinary road to push a heavy vehicle through. But the other option was to head through Jindabyne which I would assume is more hilly and windy. We had intended to stop at Lakes Entrance for the night, but as we drove into town there were signs telling us that camping on council land was not permitted, the carvan parks were too small so we drove on through. Shame because it looked like a nice town, quite large and very touristy. We travelled for some distance before pulling in to a rest area not far short of Sale. We had the area to ourselves and stayed till late morning while the kids rode thier bikes and played.

Everyone was belted in ready to go, I did my usual check around the bus to make sure every thing was secure and ready to drive off, when I saw an Echidna come out of the bushes and start digging for ants. I went and got the camera and the others. It was not at all bothered by our presence

Our next stop was a little towm called Baromi, we stopped there for a late lunch but decided we would stay the night. The park was great for the kids with a skate park for Jayson to ride his board and a huge area of play equipment for Jake to climb on.

You can see more photos of this part of our journey under Photos / Australia – Our Lap / Bega to Baromi or clicking this Link

Damian RV-Life, Stays add a comment 14 views

October
17
2007

Wyong to Bega

We left Wyong freeway service centre and headed for Wetherill Park, my ass was getting very sore from the hard drivers seat and my lower back was paining, so a quick phone call to ISRI, who manufacture seats for heavy veichles, can fit us in staight away, so off we go.

The install was a simple swap out, the old seat was the same brand which meant the mounting didn’t require any mods. The new seat is an “Air Ride” seat, the seat floats on an air bag which eliminates any jaring from the road. Having spoke to a few truckies at some of our stops, they all recommended an Air ride seat. Once the seat was installed we drove around to HiTorque mechanicals to have it conected to the bus air system. HiTorque was only a couple blocks away. Getting in and out of HiTorque was crazy, trucks coming and going and packed in like sardines. After shuffling around with other trucks a few times we get in to the work shop, get the job done and back out on our way.

Driving in Sydney keeps you on your toes, some lanes only provide just enough width and corners just wide enough to make it around with out clipping the curb, poles, signs, etc… and with cars sneeking in to any gap they can find you need to stay constantly alert, but its not near as dawnting as I had predicted.

Just as I thought we were on our way out of the traffic, we hit bumper to bumper traffic on the Campbeltown freeway (M5).

After a slow crawl past the Campbeltown turn off, we get back up to speed.

We stay another night in a Freeway Service Centre truck stop, fuel up and top up our water tank. The next morning we headed for Bega with a stop at Cooma for lunch.

It was quite cool in Cooma, the sun shine was nice but the brease was icey. Back on the road we cut across the Great Dividing Range to Bega, on the way we stopped at a look out

Then down the steep windy road into Bega.
Hopefully while here in Bega, we will not only check out the cheese factory, but get Majestic Motorhomes to fit an awning on the side, so we can sit out in the shade when we get into warmer weather.

Damian RV-Life, Stays add a comment 20 views

October
16
2007

Macksville to Wyong

The last few days have be going well, we haven’t done anything real exciting, just been taking it easy.

We stayed in Macksville till late morning, had a walk around the CBD, then played in the park and watched some waterskiing on the river. Back on the road, we decided to detour out to South West Rocks were we stayed for the night.

The next morning we hit the road again, a few quick stops until we decided to pull up for the night. We pulled of the freeway into the Freeway Service Centre, south of Newcastle on the Sydney freeway. Plenty of trucks here to keep Jake entertained.