Ian and Sue

We will be heading across the Savannah Way as we head back home to WA probably around early July, unless of course we change direction after Longreach and head back toward the coast. We are planning on doing the alternative Savannah Way which will take us through Booraloola and then when we finally make WA may well take the Gibb River Road. Ian would like to go out to Wolf Creek crater so we will have to do a little bit of a deviation as we go down the GRR and then come back onto it. Dates could change for us as we are having fun in Queensland at the moment and don't really want to rush back home. Tomorrow we head toward Emerald. Sounds like we might cross tracks along the way, we will keep an eye out for you.

Russ, Russ, Russ where have you been! The simplest answer is to say type geocaching into Utube as geocaching.com has a video there all about this addictive hobby. We have been geocaching now for over 10 years and have made some wonderful friends through this hobby, in fact the reason for us travelling from Karratha to Albury was to attend the 2nd Mega Event where we had over 800 teams turn up. The cache at Cossack belongs to us along with most other caches around Karratha. It is actually at the lookout which looks over to Jarman Island and has been there since 2003 if I remember correctly, many eastern state and local geocachers find it very regularly especially at this time of the year. Our Team name is Ian&Sue - Team Pathfinder if you want to look us up on geocaching.com . We have a great cache out at Gregories Gorge - when we get back to Karratha that is where I plan on taking the Keddy for a week long trip, might have to take a saw to make sure a couple of the branches don't get in the way but can't see a major drama in getting out there. Cheers Sue

It has been a year since we headed home to Karratha via those dirt roads the stations keep them pretty good from Mt Augustus to the old Barradale site, the road from Mt Augustus through to the servo on the NWCH down at Wooramel is notourious for chewing out and puncturing tyres so travel slower so that you can avoid the boulders on the track. We didn't have a big wet this year in the Pilbara and Gascoyne so there shouldn't have been much damage to them unlike last year.

Hi Glen & Deb Oh bother! What a shame we missed you guys - I was on a mission to resupply my Nespresso machine and had headed into Brisbane, only to be told by the guys next door that I could have bought them just down the road in Chermside. Thanks for the tips on where to eat, at the moment Ian isn't much into eating, he has the dreaded lurgy! I think with all the stress of the past three weeks his immune system must be down as he never usually gets bugs, I have my fingers crossed that this warmer weather and a bit of rest will see him good for next weekend. If not he will be in quarantine See you all soon Sue.

Hi all, We arrived at Lawnton showgrounds yesterday and will stay for the next couple of days. The lovelly lady caretaker told us when we arrived that they are going to have to close off incomings on this coming weekend (may 29th) as they have a very large group of vanners coming in. Anyone wanting to stopover here at that time might be well advised to phone ahead and check availability. cheers Sue

We have just arrived in Armidale this afternoon having come up along the Thunderbolt way, road is rough in places but otherwise no problems our LC200 towed the Keddy like she wasn't even there.

Hi Laurie and Helen, We always travel with our two boys, Mickie (15 years) and Rusty (11 years). We are currently in NSW having travelled from northern WA to Albury for a geocaching event which was on over Easter, we haven't made major plans for the few months we will be staying in the east and are playing everything by ear with our older boy. Mickie was diagnosed with a heart mumor in January, common for senior dogs, the heart tablets and fluid tablets he now takes daily are definately giving him quality of life. He is quiet deaf and has been for a couple of years now and he is going slightly senile, having said all of that he doesn't have arthritis or aches and pains and still gets frisky at meal times. He loves travelling in the caravan and had we thought he would be upset we wouldn't have taken this long trip. This time across we are having to make extra toilet stops for him and I guess you could say that we pretty much treat him as you would treat an older person, yes that might stop us leaving him for more than a couple of hours at a time but hey if that is what it takes to enjoy what might be one of his last trips then so be it. We are still having a great time. If you do head north through Geraldton on your trip please look us up as we will be home in June or July and would happily give you a place to park up for a while and a baby-sitter for your kiddy. Sue

The roof top airconditioner is not as noisy as the system we had in our previous poptop but when everything goes quite at night yes it is noisy. We are pretty used to the background noise of an airconditioner as we have one running for nine months of the year where we live but still my husband can't stand to have a caravan one running in the night as it is too noisy for him. I am deaf in one ear so just lie on the right side and don't hear a thing! Much prefer to sleep with the windows open rather than in the airconditioning though. Sorry probably not much help, more an observation. We are going to have a new airconditioner installed on our van, a lowline one so that we can fit the shed door - hoping that the newest models run quieter

Should be easy for us to spot you two! LOL. We will be in Albury for the Oz Mega event (geocaching) for Easter and then we head off to who knows where - trying to work out where might not be flooded. We will see when we get there and work it all out as we go along - the main thing is that Ian will have finally pulled himself free of the three month contract that has turned into 10, LOL. They still want him back - I am hoping he enjoys himself so much he forgets to go

Hi Guys The development road isn't a problem, we might even see you up there as we are coming over East in another few weeks.

We towed our previous caravan a Coromal Pioneer Corvair (17.8 ft) all the way to Seisisa with Jeep in July 2010 - the track was as rough as in places, we took it carefully and got there and back without a single screw loose. We did take precautions like placing spare towels over the dishware and stuffing the odd pillow into the pots cupboard, just to stop everything jumping around. We also travelled very slowly over the worst of the corrugations and we knew we were on them in the Jeep!! Once back home a good detail and unless you were told you wouldn't have even guessed where we had been on our 10 month trip around Oz - in fact the people that bought our van thought it had been stored in the shed and rarely used until we told them otherwise. You have a Kedron, built to go there in the first place Drive to conditions and you can't go wrong. Enjoy the trip - wish we were going again too! Sue

When we weren't using our caravan we would leave it hooked up to the 240v in the garage, every so often we would flick the switch to bring the batteries back up to charge. - that particular caravan didn't have a water heater so we didn't have to think about that part of your question. Cheers Sue

Remind me never to park next to your van

Just a thought - have your tried looking through the Toyota forums, you might find someone with an issue similar there perhaps. We had a long range tank fitted to our Jeep Wrangler and it went all over the place off road and never had a problem - it was a long wheelbase model (4 door) and really twisted when going over the rocks off road. I would have thought that the company had a duty to repair or replace if the product proved not to be suitable to the vehicle even if it is out of warranty.

We used to have a Jeep although not that model, sold it because its maximum towing capacity was only 2.5 ton. It towed our "old" van all around Oz and didn't put a foot wrong BUT... having had problems with every Jeep dealer we had visited in WA we thought it was time it went. We now have a LC200 turbo diesel to tow our Kedron ATV 18.6ft and are sure we will not look back. You can't beat Toyota reliability and there is nearly always a Toyota cealership around the place were as Jeep are harder to find should something happen. Don't get me wrong we DID love our Jeep - off road you couldn't fault it - but a real compromise for towing. Cheers Sue Karratha WA

We had shiney laminate in our home and didn't have problems with scratching, I am very careful with where and how I place things BUT it did show every little fingerprint and spot of dust. Cheers Sue

Agreed! Love the forum and look forward to seeing who has written what when I get up in the morning. It is keeping me sane whilst we are living back up here in the Pilbara! I stay at our unit all day whilst Ian works, all our possessions including our lovely Keddy our down in our home in Geraldton. A 3 month assignment is now going into 8 and Ian has just been asked to stay another year. Ekk.. Only 8 weeks until we take a six week break, grab the van and head over east to the Geocaching Oz Mega! Hoorray. Looking forward to seeing lots of the forumites coming through Karratha this tourist season and maybe catching up for a coffee or fwo, I have a cappacino machine!

I haven't heard of that particular make but will pass a comment regarding covers. We lived for many years in the North West of WA - anything left outside was subjected to extreme hot weather and when the wind blew quite often we would ended up being sandblasted. We bought a very expensive (over $300) cover for our boat which was supposed to handle this, that and the other plus be UV stabilized I think they call it. Turned out to be a complete waste of money, the wind caused it to rub through and it didn't even have to have a sharp edge for that to happen, also the wind caused sand to blow up under it and then when the covered moved it acted like sandpaper. This was a cover that fitted well and was well tied on too not something loose and flappy. We thought it was a one off dud cover so silly us bought another of a different brand and the same thing happened all over again. More recently we have thought of covering the Kedron we have just purchased as it is a few inches taller than the shed door but have decided we wouldnt stand a chance on it staying in one piece for long as it would surely rub on the solar panels. We then thought that since the van has already spent the past three years living in Karratha and looks like new that as long as we keep it pollished it will be fine. OK - the plastic hatches have had to be replaced as they had yellowed but that was still cheaper than a cover. Hopefully someone will answer who has bought and used a cover that has worked well and prove us totally wrong, we will probably be the first ones to go and buy one! As for the hail stones, ekkk... we fortunately don't have that problem up here but would have to wonder whether a cover could possibly protect for that kind of pounding. Cheers Sue

Is that petrol or diesel Jaygee? Our diesel does 10 to 12 litres / hundred around town - airconditioner always running. When I towed our Kedron down to Geraldton from Karratha with mid 40C's temperatures all the way and sitting on 95 to 100 kph I was getting around 18 to 20 there was a headwind although it wasn't the really strong headwind we can get through here. The van wasn't fully packed up by a long shot but did have 4 of the 5 80 litre tanks full. This was our first long trip towing it (only recently purchased it up in Karratha) so we didn't know what to expect. We normally leave our water tanks full and empty them just before we are about to head off somewhere, Ian mentioned that our new kedron doesn't have an emptying plug which our old van had so will be having fun soon getting the stored water out. The Kedron we have now has been stored for the past two years in the Pilbara (hot weather) with its water tanks full - the guys we bought it from emptied them before we picked it up and we havent had any problems with the water. Sue

Race you there! We will be in Albury in April and then steadily head up to N. Queensland. Have a wonderful Christmas! Great that you are able to to sharing it with your Grandkiddies - ah.... one day that will be us!

Just noticed that you are in Hervey Bay in Queensland so kindly disregard my Bushmans reference as you probably are well aware of midgees there. Having said that I can't remember there being plagues of them when we visited last year - putting on the thinking cap now. Hmmm... Hervey Bay - pretty sure that was were I found the best ever dog friendly caravan park we had ever been to, I will have to check on my photos now and see if I am thinking of the right place.

Sounds like you have found yourselves a really good spot - in our experiences living in the NW of WA where there are Muddies there are midgies so dont forget to apply your Bushmans spray or two days after your mud crabbing expedition you could be slightly itchy. Gee.... what a pessimist I am and spoiling your good time to boot! As for the muddies growing quickly - it depends on how long you want to stay there! Unfortunately they will not make legal size over night so you will just have to come back to your spot at a later date and catch them again! Glad you are having a good time - I can't wait for March so that we can head off too! Sue

Steve & Kez - Enjoy your trip! The photos you have posted look like you have gotten off to a great start and found a beautiful spot. May all your sites be as fantastic and the wind always blowing from behind! Merry Christmas and happy safe travels Sue

Ooooh. Not a good look! What caused it to collapse in? Was it the weight of water on it or just a severe down-draft? Looking on the positive side, at least you guys are not on the west coast so fingers crossed you shouldn't have the wait that we had when we decided to buy a new one for our Kedron. We just happen to have a spare if you need a temporary one - only problem is it is in Karratha! Cheers Sue