The Road Trip begins

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15/11/08 = Picked up Chubby

Up, showered, fed, packed and off early to pick up van. Got free lift into city again, then train to Bowen Hills. Did 10minute walk with bags (forgot how awful they were to carry) and then arived at shop. Different guy today, but really nice. Went through all important stuff with us (which we both nodded to and said yes lots) then paid money. Had to leave a $2000 bond on credit card for insurance incase any accidents (please no accidents) and then pay balance of van too. Poor cards didn't know what hit them! Had a nosey around van then. Is called a 'chubby van' - hence nickname. Big picture of Rabbit punch on side. Small kitchen (ha!) at back = basically a sink. No fridge, but what they call an 'eski' = a cool box - have to buy ice fo it every day to keep food cold. Sell ice in all shops and petrol stations here though, so really easy. All pots, pans, cutlery and stuff in there+ a table and chairs for outside. Middle bit = a table&chairs/double bed and front is driving seats.

Decided I should drive first since map reading is not my forte. Rubbish place to start driving though, backs out straight onto a main road = dual carriage way. Was really nervous, but ended up being really easy to drive and not too hard to judge - although is definately a little bigger than my old car! Start of journey was a nightmare though. Brisbane city like a labyrinthe. Could not find way out and ended up driving in circles round city for an hour before even found a sign for highway we needed to get on. Hate driving in cities anyway, but in a van never driven = harsh. So glad when we got out and onto motorway heading for Ipswich. Did a long drive and at Toowoomba, got out and did a supermarket shop. Bought all the basic rations of tinned foods, pasta, rice, cereals, bread - no alcohol though because bottle shop was closed. Re-stocked petrol, swapped drivers and headed for Dalby. On the way, roads turned into proper Australian roads = long, straight, dessrt at either side, limited plant life, never ending. Really long distance between all towns too, so stopped at all stations to re-fill petrol when saw them.

Made it to a town called Dalby just in time (before dark) and checked into an unpowered site at a caravan park for $17. Just getting settled when an old English guy (living in Australia) brought us across a bottle of cheap champagne to say 'Welcome to Australia'. Nice guy, but can never be too careful, so checked all seal and made sure had not been opened and re-sealed - see Mum, I am sensible! Went to watch England, New Zealand rugby match after that, in a bar on corner of road. Barely got to watch it - Australian people really friendly and kept coming over to chat to us. Really liked our accent, but all their imitations sounded scouser. Got told some awful stories about running over kangaroos and having to make sure they were dead, and checking that if they had any babies, we killed them too. Awful and knew for a fact that there was no way I would be beating a baby kangaroo to death with a shovel! Would be an adoption me thinks!

Escaped from bar after match and went back to van. Some unknown animal ran into our van and scarpered off, but none of us dare look out of window to see what it was. Went to sleep with one eye open then and sweating - wish we had aircon, or at least a fan!

Miles = A measley 3.6 (it's all this rubbish driving)
Steps = 8566
Calories = 235


16/11/08 = Day 2 in the campervan

Woke up really early in van with a definate greenhouse effect - so hot! Tried to nap for a while, but in end got up and got ready for a big day's driving. Got showered in gross, insect infested showers and then had banana sandwich for breakfast - haven't done that since primary school (I mean my primary school). Really nice though. Set off with Deb driving and made our way to the first town = Chinchilla. Re-stocked petrol here and bought a spare 'Jerry' can of petrol too - driving through the real outback today! Stopped in the next town called Roma and ate food (could only face museli - way too hot to cook), then swapped drivers and headed on for Mitchell and Morven, both of which stopped in for more petrol. Had to drive through massive herd of cows and horses here - wierd. Also saw lots of dead kangaroos at side of road and big crows eating them 😞 Saw tumbleweed too though - brilliant! Rained little into journey - really heavy rain and had to drive really slow. Saw fork lightning right in front of us aswell - cool. Arrived in Augathella early evening; had to stop because not really safe to drive in dark with all animals around. Pulled into a campsite that was basically a field with toilets and paid $12 when could have just stayed in petrol station car park for free - never mind. Tried cooking soup on gas burner for dinner. Disaster. Started raining really heavy again, so had to shield soup and when did settle down in van to eat, realised it was condensed soup and was eating it double strength - awful! Gave it up as a bad job. Got a shower instead and headed to bed. Saw 3 kangaroos hopping right by van before bed - brilliant!

*No more calorie counting because no steps! Too depressing to even look at phone!


17/11/08 = Augathella to Winton

Good nights sleep then up early. Attempted scrambled eggs on burner, but turned out to be disaster number 2. Took ages and ended up eating them slimy and on bread- wouldn't recommend it! Set off for Tambo then, where filled petrol and continued on to Blackall. Passed though huge herd of cows number 2 - still cool to see. Carried on to Barcaldine (re-filled petrol again - costing loads). Looking more and more like outback now. Trees slowly disappearing and desert definately looking bigger. Stopped for lunch, but could only face museli again; just way too hot.

Swapped drivers then and went through Lonngreach (more petrol) and to final destination = Winton. Not a nice drive. 100's of km's between towns, tired from being in van all day and MP3 ran out of battery so no music. Really tiring, but managed to make it. Tried looking for Bladensburg National Park, where could hopefully stay for free. Mistake. Had to drive over unselaed road = dirt tracks, only built for 4 by 4's. Chubby shook all over and got an awgul taster of what it must be like to have Parkinsons. Lost contol of van a few times as rocks and pebbles skidded under tyres and afetr 15mins driving, we still couldn't find the main place to camp. Ended up turning around and doing the same awful journey back! Only good thing about it was that got to see some live kangaroos (as opposed to roadkill), like being on a jeep safari.

Not really anywhere else to stay, so ended up pulling into petrol station carpark and staying there over night. First thing did was got changed and went for a run. Felt so rubbish after all drive and knew run would make me feel better. Still shocking running pace, but managed to not stop this time - so disappointing to be this poor! Nice to see town though and managed to get back before dark. Showered in petrol station then (yes did feel stupid) and sat down with a drink in cafe area for a while. Got really cold with air con though so headed back to van for sleep. Little did we know...would have given anything to be under the aircon later that night!


18/11/08 = Sweatiest I have ever been in life, including all exercise ever done!

Worst night's sleep ever, ever, ever! Boiling hot in van and I mean boiling. Sweat pouring out of every possible place on body, hair stuck to head and pyjamas wet through. Truly awful. Deb climbed into drivers seat to try and get cooler, I just tried to pretend I was lying on a beach somewhere. Don't even know if I slept, but felt awful when woke up! Got showered in petrol station again and treated self to breakfast there. Then went to local shop to re-stock some food. Worryingly, cards got declined!?! Worked at ATM though, so not quite as bad.

Started long journey to Mount Isa then. Distances between towns seem to be getting even longer and scenery more and more remote. Swapped drivers at Mckinley (had some lunch) and then swapped again at Cloncurry - too big a drive to spilt into 2. Nice at Mount Isa, but had to stay in a campsite again because no free campsites to stay in. Pulled in next to a really nice Belgian couple. They had had some awful luck with van: broken down twice, tyre burst, engine overheated, battery ran out and died and got broken into and completely robbed in Cairns - suddenly a sweaty night didn't seem so bad!

Went to pool then to make most of facilities. Chatted to some australian people who were travelling round; 2 brothers that didn't have permanent jobs, just travelled around country doing casual work. Seems quite popular here. Also never been out of country, just keep travelling Australia = also quite common here. Suppose it's so different to us because is such a big country can take a holiday in it and feel like you are somewhere completely different - so much to see.

Did some swimming at pool as an attempt at exercise for day - rubbish being cooped up in van all day; stepometer gone into hybernation. Better success on stove later on though, and managed to cook an o.k. pasta dish for T. After that, trammed around town in search of internet (been a long time since used it), but searched in vain. Managed to call home and friends though, which was really nice. Sauntered back and went for early night in bed. Stupid idea. So, so, so hot again! Early bedtimes just not possible! Tried for an hour to sleep, but just ended up opening van door for a little bit of breeze. Daren't leave it open after everything people have said about dangers of robbery in outback. Did the only thing I could think of then. Wet end of my beach towel and used it as a cold compress/blanket. Know it can't be healthy to sleep in wet things, but I was way more wet with sweat than I was with towel anyway! It actually did the trick. Closed van doors and within half an hour, was asleep. God bless the cold compress!

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Photos

The Chubster
Here she is in her full shining glory - our vehicle and home for the next 40 days!

Unsealed road
Don't do it in a campervan!