TheNuts

Do you have a separate charger for the brake controller? As far as I know, ours is charger via the 7pin plug - only while driving.

Hi Colin We travelled the Dowling Track north from Bourke last year and spent 3 nights at Kilcowera Station beside their lagoon. It was a lovely spot with lots of birdlife. We highly recommend you take the self-guided drive around the station that Toni will give you a map for. Just make sure you have fly nets with you. Here is our Blog entry for our arrival at Kilcowera and subsequent posts follow on. The Dowling Track was well worth the trip.

Well done, Rick and Lea! I think this is a great way to introduce non Financial Members to the joys of KOG Gatherings. There is a slight chance we might join you but just can't commit at this stage. I think you are aware of the reasons. We strongly encourage those who may be interested in going along. KOG gatherings are not your average caravan muster.

Chris, as you know, when we visited Kangaroo Island in 2011 it was before we got our van. But, for what it is worth, Stokes Bay is stunning. I didn't take any notice of the camping area because, at that stage, I never expected to cross the threshold of a caravan. However, it was not crowded when we were there but that was in October. It may be a different story during school holidays. Hopefully you will get some more useful replies.

We have not watched TT or ACA from a very long time but the heads up for this was published on a number of fora today so we did tune in. It was a surprisingly balanced report (although there was not a caravan in sight!). Quite a yawn for the non-travelling public but a bit of a plus from the Glasshouse Mountains Council for their Beerwah Bowling Club site and the caravan park proprietor from Casino did not disgrace herself.

We would also like to send Season Greetings to our fellow KOGGERS. It has been wonderful to meet so many of you since we got our van almost 2 years ago. We wish you all good health, happiness and happy and safe travels in 2014.

Do you know what snake it is, Mal? It looks quite large.

Happy birthday, Mal!! We hope you have a great day and look forward to catching up with you and Kerry at the Xmas gathering.

Sue, I bought a secondhand Dream Pot from a fellow KOG member and it always travels with us. I especially like it for a travel day. I get it going while we pack up, then put it on the combo floor for the trip knowing I won't have to worry about the evening's dinner once we have set up. I like it for corned beef and lamb shanks but as you are not meat eaters think about soup (although it's not the weather for it right now). We love pea and ham soup so I soak the dried peas overnight then get it all happening the next morning. Anything you would cook in a slow cooker is suitable for the Dream Pot.

Sue, have a look at this thread from the Caravaners Forum.. Similar to what you want to achieve but I don't know how you would go if the panelling has already begun de-laminating.

We have, unfortunately, had to withdraw from the Outback Way trip with the group as Murphy has conspired against us. We are now in Mt Isa awaiting yet another part but hope to catch up with Chris and Val and Kay and Bruce to do the GCR a few days after the KOGGERS depart. At this point, Iam not willing to put my money where my mouth is!

Thanks for the offers and good wishes everyone. Called Camec first thing this morning and they are dispatching the part via TNT Express to the CP here in Ilfracombe. We are not game to drive with the fridge as is so have decided to sit it out till the courier arrives, hopefully Thursday but that may be wishful thinking. Will keep you posted.

Well, it looks like ourt Outback Way trip is over before it begins! Got to Ilfracombe CP today from Isisford as we have a few things to take care of here. The fridge hinge that we replaced back in November has broken, exactly as the previous one did. Not happy, Jan! Not likely that we can get a replacement before 1st June. Will try out rapid fix tomorrow and call Camec and maybe Kedron about a replacement. But not holding out a lot of hope. :-(

We made the decision to include our Breville juicer as part of our equipment on our current trip as we enjoy fresh fruit and veg juice for breakfast. I'm assuming that juicing suitable fruit and veg prior to crossing the border is an acceptable alternative to binning the produce. Although the machine is a bit bulky, it fits nicely into a tub under the bed. Yesterday I made up a batch of pineapple, apple, grape, carrot, celery and ginger. Yummy stuff! Happy to juice for others as we approach the border.

Hi Sue and Ian How is retirement going this time? As we will be part of the convoy John refers to we will be in WA from mid-June and our rough plan from Leonora is to head down to Kalgoorlie then across to the Perth area, 'do' the southern part of WA before heading back across to SA. Nothing is set in stone at this stage but we plan to save northern WA for another trip. The only definite date on the horizon after the tag-along is to be home by the beginning of October. Throw some ideas out there and see what response you get.

Thanks for the offer Greg but we will be heading south from 1st March. We thought there was a deflating system that deflated all tyres simultaneously to a preset pressure. Maybe that is the Straun one which seems to be less than useful! So I guess we will just go with the Bushranger compressor which we have. Just trying to be proactive and not hold up the rest of the convoy. But it sounds like they will all be in the same boat. Hope you enjoy Standown Park.

Woops, I was wearing the wrong hat in the above post.

Thanks for the replies Russ and Webby. Looks like that brand is out. Anyone else with experience of the ARB version or other brands? Or are they just not worth the bother?

We are in the process of getting our LC up to speed for this trip and are considering tyre deflators. Does anyone else use these and are they worthwhile?

We recently replaced shocks and struts on our LC200 and installed airbags. The Air Bag Man was of the opinion that the air bags are essential for off-road (including dirt roads with corrugation) as the weight distribution hitch should not be used in those circumstances. He is of the opinion that the bags perform a similar function to the weight distribution bars. He stated that there is no need for the weight distribution bars when airbags transfer the weight to the front... As he is selling airbags, you might not take this at face value. We have only been on a short trip since fitting the airbags. I used the weight distribution bars. I did notice that it was a lot easier to put on the bars as well as removing them. The ride was more comfortable, less noise from the bars. I think Rod has airbags as well. Maybe that is why he does not use the bars. I certainly want to experiment without the bars sometime in the future.

Hi Chris....It sounds as though you have more geocaching success than we do! We certainly don't intend to hijack Colin's planned trip but, if the opportunity presents itself, we will seize the chance. Now why aren't you and Val putting up your hands to join us?

Hi Sue Thanks for those details. How much water did you carry? We look forward to catching up with you both again on the 9th. Colin, thanks for the link. Erich had already been on the site checking it all out so he's quite keen. I'm yet to be convinced that this is a fun pastime (especially when the blighters elude us! ) but we do get to some interesting places nonetheless.

That sounds great as a start, Colin. We would be interested to do some geocaching along the way. Apparently the Outback Way is a well known geocaching route. Not a problem if no one else is interested though as the trip is our focus. We will head down to Victoria for Easter but if this trip takes off, we can be in Winton as required. From Laverton, we would probably head straight to Perth then to Margaret River, Denmark,Albany, Esperance, Norseman and then back to home. A total of six months is the plan at the moment. Getting quite excited about the whole thing. Who else is up for it?

Colin this sounds like a wonderful trip and one that we would be interested in joining. We are heading down to Victoria for Easter so our preferred option would be to hook up in Winton depending on when you plan to be there. What timeframe have you allowed for the Winton to Laverton leg? We think this is a wonderful opportunity for us to get some outback experience in the security of a tag-along. We look forward to hearing more.

I am not sure what the intended use is. Somebody mentioned to plug in a 12V TV. That makes sense as it is next to the aerial. But all the TVs come with cigarette lighter type plugs, so would need a converter. An other suggestion was to plug in an Engel fridge, which might have that kind of a plug. I intend to make up a cable that plugs into the socket on one side and has a cigarette lighter type socket on the other end. This will allow me to plug in my netbook and Lesley to plug in her iPad while sitting outside under the awning. True back to nature stuff.