A lap of QLD - Plans and preparations

The time has come to head north for the Canberra winter again. It doesn't seem like almost 6 months ago we returned from our last caravan trip to QLD. We expect this trip travelling further into the outback with friends Greg & Wendy, and Kev & Jo from Howard in QLD, will be a lot more adventurous.  

Our preparations haven't been ideal though - last week Tyson, the 11 year old family Staffy became unwell. After a few visits to the vet he started to show signs of recovering, but deteriorated quickly overnight on Thursday. Another trip to the vet on Friday, and following x'rays, he was diagnosed with having very bad arthritis which was affecting his spinal cord and causing him immense pain. With only days or weeks left to live, he was put to rest.  His sudden and unexpected loss deeply affected the whole family. 

Tomorrow we depart to meet our friends across the QLD border near Goondiwindi on the weekend. It’s particularly hard leaving home this time, but we are also excited to be heading off with friends, and experienced caravan travellers to discover new and interesting parts of our country.

We're hoping a few new accessories added to the ute and van since our last trip will also provide a bit more comfort and peace of mind travelling remotely, and allow us to experience more off-grid camping.  The aim is to travel as far west to Birdsville, north to Lawn Hill and Karumba in the QLD gulf, across the Savannah Way towards the Atherton Tablelands, up to the tip of Cape York and return (either via Longreach or the coast). With ongoing heavy rainfalls, I expect our plans will change. 


A recent 4-day trip to Wagga was a great opportunity to test everything and reacquaint ourselves with caravanning. 

 
1st Leg - Home to Lawn Hill


2nd Leg - Lawn Hill to Bamaga and back to Atherton 


3rd Leg - Atherton to Home

The covers about to come off again after 5 months since returning from our last trip - where did the time go?


Taking the van into Fyshwick for a service, an opportunity to become familiar with new towing mirrors and ARB Ascent Canopy. A 140lt Long Range Fuel Tank was also fitted the following week.

With plans to travel further outback on more unsealed roads, I also fitted a Stone Stomper stone guard to protect the front of the van and rear canopy window. 


RIP our beautiful boy

Comments

  1. ChrisApril 25, 2022 at 6:26 PM

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 25, 2022 at 6:54 PM

    That sounds very exciting Rob, and my condolences to you and family for the passing of a great companion ,Tyson. Wishing you and Noeleene and the boys well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 25, 2022 at 7:44 PM

    Looks very adventurous. Enjoy & safe travels.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 27, 2022 at 9:07 PM

    I love your trip so far I hope you get to relax for a day or so

    ReplyDelete
  5. RobApril 30, 2022 at 11:56 AM

    Safe travels Bob and Noeleene, looking forward to keeping up with your adventures. So sorry about Tyson.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 58: Wed 22 Jun - Port Douglas to Cooktown

Image
Day 58: Wed 22 Jun - Port Douglas to Cooktown Towed 265km (5,124 towed this trip) 20 – 26°. Partly cloudy all day with light winds in Port Douglas, winds becoming stronger and gusty in Cooktown. The forecast is for winds gusting to 60km/h for the rest of the week in Cooktown, apparently not unusual at this time of year. We drove away from the Big 4 in Port Douglas just before 8:00am, and had a good run back up Mt Molloy onto the Mulligan Highway north to Cooktown. There was very little traffic and road conditions were fantastic  all the way - some of the best this trip. There were a couple of steep but short climbs along the way, but no problem - I'm very happy with the towing, handling and fuel economy of the Wildtrak. Even with about 10km of steep climbing today, pulling almost 3 tonne, we averaged less than 16lt/100km for the trip. We also had a very strong side wind which pushed us around a bit for the last 50km. After 155km, our first stop was for coffee at the Palmer Riv...
Read more

Day 36: Tue 31 May - Gladstone to Yeppoon

Image
Day 36: Tue 31 May - Gladstone to Yeppoon 151km Towed [Total driven this trip 3,626km - 3,300km towed]   15 – 27°. We woke to an overcast and mild morning, and a lovely pink sky. We packed up, said our goodbyes, and got away from Gladstone a little after 8:30am, and it was a good feeling to be back on the road again. It was only a short 151km drive to Yeppoon which we did without stopping. The wind which picked up slightly around mid morning had eased by the time we arrived in Yeppoon shortly after 11am. Our stay for the next 5 nights is at the Blue Dolphin Caravan Park - it's quite small, a bit dated, but very clean, and the caretakers are lovely. It suits us due it its central location and easy access to everything we need while in Yeppoon. The large concrete slab is a bonus too. After setting up, we locked the van and headed down to the beach for lunch - burgers overlooking the beach and stunning blue water. Next on the agenda was a visit to Capricorn Gardens Aged Care Facility ...
Read more

Day 61: Sat 25 Jun - Cooktown

Image
Day 61: Sat 25 Jun - Cooktown 21 – 27°. An overcast morning, clearing to a mostly sunny day. Winds still annoying at 26km/h, gusting to 41km/h (but it felt much stronger at times). Another huge day starting with a challenging  2 hr  morning walk to the top of Mount Cook with Greg, then we all went for a 32km drive out of town to the iconic Lions Den Hotel, stopping at the Black Mountains on the way. On our return we stopped for a walk at Keatings Lagoon, a wetland  5 km out of Cooktown  just off the Mulligan Highway. We got back to the van at about midday, had some lunch and a snooze, then I set off on a bike ride to a few more local sites around Cooktown and along the foreshore. When i returned, I carried out a few checks on the van in preparation for our departure to   Mareeba tomorrow morning ( We'll be pleased to see the back of these strong gusting winds) . We topped of another great day with lovely dinner at the RSL.  Views over Cooktown and Ende...
Read more