The trek begins

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We suddenly found ourselves free of a commitment and made the impulsive decision to head off to the central Queensland coalfields to visit Tristan and Zoe. But wait… we better do some repairs on the caravan first. So off to Adventura we went with a list. Of course they would be able to complete this in two weeks! No pressure, not for us anyway.



And deliver they did. Sporting a brand new stone guard with super strength catches we felt confident our wind deflector would be able to be used to help us save on fuel costs.



House sitters were contacted and they eagerly accepted. Packing and shopping was done. The relaxed organisation became for frantic when we received a call to say that the caravan would be available in two hours – half a day earlier than expected.



The next thing we knew we had the caravan hitched up to our fully packed 4WD and were heading out of the city. Leaving hours earlier than expected we decided that we could make it to Burra for the first night. We even passed our first vehicle on the way. Admittedly it was a big slow tractor and Joan was too mesmerised to take the obligatory passing photo.



The Burra caravan park is an old friend so getting in and setting up was easy. Next we unloaded the 4WD and packed the caravan fridge, freezer and cupboards with the items we had brought. All packed away and with the bed made we were ready for a nice cold drink. But wait, nothing in the fridge was cold yet, so Greg walked off to the local pub to purchase some cold ciders. Hmm, that hit the spot.



We have a tradition of a special meal for our first night on the road. What could be better than a big luscious steak and a 1999 bubbly red we received as a going away prez from Greg’s Mum? We started to watch the Crows football match but turned off as it became too painful to watch. You can tell that we are not dedicated footy fans.

A respectable departure hour saw us on the road, headed for Broken Hill. Having not booked in to the Broken Hill caravan park we found ourselves squeezing the caravan into a spot that was barely long enough. Turns out it was the weekend for the local show and people had come from miles around. Still we managed – the rear was a whole 30cm from the nearest cabin!

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Comments

[Angela Reimann]

Passing like the wind
Wow, 2 overtaking on the first day! Very impressed.