Bill and Wendy

Sorry cvtripper - I can't fully agree with you. Tolley was making a comparison between two different visits and pointed out that the first experience was a good one. It's true that kids and pools go together, but the behaviour of those kids was, as Tolley said, dangerous and should have been addressed by staff at an establishment that accepts payment from a broad range of visitors. I'm sure, too that most Kedron owners do enjoy time in the bush with a good fire etc. But that does not preclude the possibility of enjoying the other side of the travelling coin. As for the restaurant, when a booking is made it is reasonable to expect that service will be provided in keeping with the booking time. Walk-ins are the ones who could expect to wait and should have been told so on arrival. Dirty amenities and smelly toilets in a free camp can be expected - unfortunately. But in a commercial facility this is unforgivable and deserves to be subject of complaint. My comments are based on what I have read in this series of posts and admit that we have not visited HV8. We have, however, stayed in other commercial parks and have rightly expected that staffing levels should match the number of paying guests. As an aside - on a recent trip we stayed at a free camp (donation appreciated) at Wyandra (south of Charleville) and witnessed a fellow camper berating other campers about the state of the toilets and showers. Why do I mention this? If it's fair enough to expect fellow campers to keep amenities tidy it's more than fair to expect cleanliness in a commercial park. Time to get off my high horse I think.

A man and his wife were getting a divorce at a local court, but the custody of their children posed a problem. The mother jumped to her feet and protested to the judge that since she had brought the children into this world, she should retain custody of them. The man also wanted custody of his children, so the judge asked for his side of the story. After a long moment of silence, the man rose from his chair and replied: Your Honour, when I put a dollar into a vending machine, and a Coke comes out, does the Coke belong to me or to the machine?' Don't laugh, he won, no kidding!

Thanks Bob, It would be good to get some local knowledge for down your way. We loved what we saw on the Yorke Peninsula, but we were there at the wrong time of the year (August). The timing was not of our choice. There was an event at Monarto and we volunteered as assistants. It was a great experience but we had rain and wind. We had hoped to fish on the Peninsula but that was not really possible. Hopefully we will get there early in the year when we can expect better weather conditions. We'll keep your offer in mind when we start to make definite plans. Regards, Bill

Hi Jaquie & Bob, We ran Coopers on our trip to the Cape last year. Wrangler Silent Armor made in America, not Indonesia (recommended by Kedron) were not available at the time. There were no flats but we replaced three under warranty at 12000km because of splitting just above the bead line. Those wheels are now on the Kedron while we get some wear out of the factory Dunlops fitted by Toyota. Conditions on the Development Road changed daily because graders were working continuously. But freshly graded roads don't take all that long to get chopped up again. Interestingly, I was breath tested in the middle of nowhere in the vicinity of Archer River Roadhouse. We saw boofheads in a few places driving with a stubby in hand, so there is obviously a need for Police to make themselves seen. Next year we hope to do a somewhat circuitous trip around Oz and we hope to see Flinders Ranges when we are in SA. To date we have only seen a bit of country from Murray Bridge through Adelaide and onto Yorke Peninsula - plenty left to see, I know. A spare on the roof? I've seen it many times, but I know that my arms aren't hairy enough to lift one of ours up there. Cheers, Bill

Hi Bob & Jaquie, Before we got the LC 200 we had a Disco 3. Loved it to bits but it was a lemon. Thought of going to a 4 but wanted to be able to have same wheels on the van and tug. Hope that yours doesn't have 19 inch wheels. We saw two up near the Cape, waiting to have tyres brought in because there were none available locally. You are sure to enjoy your time up there providing you don't do anything silly. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and would go back soon - if we didn't have so much to see elsewhere. Hopefully we will do WA next year after a few short local trips to get to know the new van. Cheers, Bill

We travelled on the Development Road with a camper trailer last year but would have absolutely no hesitation in pulling our new Kedron ATV on that route. Our Toyota 200 was fitted with tougher tyres and we lowered the pressure while on the dirt which was rocky in places. As for side trips - it really depends on your own confidence while travelling on narrow rough tracks with the possibility on oncoming traffic. Doyley (another post) towed a 20 footer into Elliott Twin Falls with confidence. We would baulk at that after driving into Fruit Bat Falls - so it is really up to you. Can't comment on the other side trips as we did not go there. As I said - what is possible for some may be too daunting for others (us included). June is a good choice of time to start your trip but there will still be a fair bit of traffic in most places. Be aware that National Parks now insist on pre booking sites in their camping areas. We think that this is not great as it takes away your travelling flexibility and locks in locations that you may not like on arrival. Some sites are just too small for vans. Other KOGgers may like to add to this. Cheers, Bill PS. Our 20 foot (external) ATV has a tare weight of 2750kg and is plated for an ATM of 3500 kg. We haven't weighed it loaded yet but with 260 L water (if we choose to fill up), an outboard, genny and fuel up front, plus "essential" travelling comforts, including a few litres of liquid refreshment we may struggle to keep within limits. 2800 kg - I don't think so.

Hi Mark, Our ATV, which was delivered last month, has a 60 L grey water tank and the water from it can go only one way - out through the drain. Considering that water from the sink goes into that tank I'm not sure that I'd be too keen on washing clothes in it. When we ordered the van through Jan, grey water was not mentioned. We raised the question with Stan when we were drawing up the final plan, but did not consider reusing the water so we made no enquiry about doing that. Stan is no longer the man in that seat. You will deal with Graham who was originally in the factory production line. It may be an idea to gather thoughts from other vanners about how they deal with it before you meet with Graham. But I'm with Rick & Lea about not re using grey water. We are using bio magic in our loo and also add some to the grey water tank progressively if we are holding water for a few days. The lady who markets it is a bio-chemist and it could be worthwhile getting advice from some such person. I have no financial interest in bio magic but here is their web address (offered without prejudice) http://www.biomagic.com.au/ Cheers, Bill

Yes - diversity of interest & ability is good and that goes for life generally. I have been a KOG member for only a short time, but thoroughly enjoy reading what others have to say. In many cases I have no intention of doing what someone else has done, but there are some real pearls there. This series of posts started about MPPT controllers (which I had to Google to find Maximum Power Point Tracking) but branched in several directions as other points emerged It has been a very interesting few days watching the development. Thanks to those who had something to say - great stuff! Cheers, Bill

Don't be jealous Colin, Sometimes too much knowledge can be just that - too much. Life can be so much simpler if we cruise blissfully through it. Cheers, Bill

You win John, Our hatch in the bathroom is not a Fantastic. The label says Ventline. Our bathroom is not ensuite. The original plan was for a 21 ft external van with full ensuite but we were concerned about ATM so we chopped a foot off at the expense of the ensuite. We will do long trips but do not plan to live full time in it, so the combined shower/toilet should work OK - it is bigger than the standard Kedron set-up. I'm really interested in your pressurising set-up and will consider doing something similar when dust entry eventually bugs us badly. The accumulator fit is something else that may happen down the track. At the moment I have to bleed the waterlines from the main pump which continues to hunt after all taps are off. I thought that the factory would have seen to that. I remember vexing over VA & W when I was trying to understand how our home air con is rated. The technician's reply to my question reminded me of the cliche "Trust me, I'm a doctor." I may have trusted him if he had said "power factor" because I fully understand the concept of phase difference for V & I in inductive and capacitive AC circuits. I just needed the nudge when it came to VA. Cheers, Bill

Thanks John, That is quite an interesting & informative epistle. We visited the factory only once a week once build started - that's all that we could manage. Not having been in a trade or industry (I was a Maths/Physics teacher) I had to work largely on trust along with information gathered, as I said. We were advised against four seasons hatches (Rod Kyd, from memory)and when we questioned Kedron about this we were told that they now refuse to fit them because of sealing problems - so we have two Fantastics. Our lighting is almost all LED with a fluoro over the sink and whatever is in the range hood. The LEDs in the ceiling must be switched on at the fitting even though there are wall switches for some of them. This is not a Kedron feature - it comes with the type of fitting that they use. It's OK for me but Wendy is too short to reach them. A short length of dowel extends her reach, but she has to remember where she put it each time. We had not thought of accumulators for the pumps - wish we had. On board entertainment is not a big thing for us. We watch very little TV and rarely use the radio except for a bit of news and weather. We chose not to spend big on an Auto Satellite dish for that reason. We have not yet decided whether to buy the gear for VAST. I will probably not get involved with anything that requires a knowledge of the wiring in the kerb side van wall. I have photos which I will keep but that is all. We have no USB sockets - hadn't thought of that. Our inverter is 1600 W. Hopefully that will be sufficient. Originally we did not include one at all but requested a 1800 W unit just before build started. We finished up with the 1600 W job without being told. To date we haven't managed to have our first trip with the van, so we are not sure how it will all come together. Originally we planned to hit the road just after delivery but an assortment of minor issues put the hobbles on us. Not the least of the issues was where to park the van when we are home. My original plan isn't going to work in the longer term, so we are having a flat area dug, concreted and covered elsewhere. Expensive, yes, but for ease and peace of mind essential. I have followed your posts on the LiFePO4s with interest and a fair degree of admiration. Cheers, Bill

G'day John, The original plan from Kedron showed that we were to have a Xantrax C35 solar controller but, on delivery we found that we had the TS 45 instead. Both are PWM devices. We haven't asked why the change was made and were unaware of MPPT technology. While we tried to do our homework on what went into the van ther were lots of things that we knew little or nothing about. Last year when we were travelling with our camper trailer we latched on to as many Kedron owners as we could - to pick their brains. But what we got were answers to our questions plus some other assorted advice. In other words, we didn't know all of the questions that we could have asked. Wisdom of hindsight is what we are now gaining. It has been an interesting ride getting this far and is bound to get more interesting as time goes on. Cheers, Bill

PS to my previous post I should have added that the TS 45 controller is a PWM type controller - not the newer MPPT type. Sorry, Bill

Hello John & Ann, Our Kedron is only a month old and is fitted with a TriStar TS 45 solar controller, so I assume that is what Kedron is fitting these days. We have 3 x 130 W panels and 3 batteries. It's too early to make useful comment on the performance of this combination. Cheers, Bill

Hi everyone, As far as I know, in Queensland, any part of a crab is deemed to be a crab in its own right. So that means keeping a claw from a jenny (they are distinctly different to a male claw), under law, that you have kept a jenny. It would be difficult to enforce the undersize law with just a claw as evidence, but it would not be worth the risk to find out. Cheers,

Hi to all on this series of posts, We stayed at the van park behind the Gregory pub on our way to Lawn Hill. It is nothing flash but has the usual amenities including washing machines for those without (as we were on that trip). The beer at the pub was cold and the atmosphere friendly. The Burketown pub was not operating so the locals from there had set up camp not far from the Gregory pub. There were matresses and odd bits of furniture strewn around. We thought that things could get interesting at night but not so. On the way back we stayed down on the river and some neighbours went up to the pub for a meal, which they found to be to their liking. Cheers, Bill

Hi again Chanty, Colin mentioned camps in the general area of Lawn Hill. We stayed at a free camp on the Gregory River. It is partly under the road bridge behind the Gregory pub. Signs say NO CAMPING but there are bins there which were emptied while we were there. There were quite a few vans there. I think that the no camping restriction is an out in the event of a flash flood which would cause a major problem. There are no facilities at all there so you have to be self sufficient. The river runs quickly and it was interesting to watch older codgers (me included) riding the rapids. We liked it so much that we stayed nearly a week. There is a dump point opposite the pub. Regards, Bill

You can't do better than that - word from the horse's mouth. I have dealt with Joe McInnes and have found him to be very upfront and obliging. If he says that that's what happened, then I would have no hesitation in accepting it as truth. Thanks Rick for posting this. Cheers, Bill

We were at the Cape during August this year. Even then the days were very hot, but we were told that we had missed the big crowds that had been there earlier. It's a bit of a raffle deciding "the best" time but it obviously has to be during the dry season. I agree with the comment made elsewhere that there are some idiot and impatient (young??) drivers up there. We experienced impatience and lack of consideration while we were paying the fare for the Jardine ferry. Several vehicles drove around our rig to claim an earlier spot. Coming back we were passed at speed as we were slowing at the ferry approach - again to claim an earlier spot. But the ones that caused us most annoyance were the tour bus drivers on the narrow approach to the Cape itself. We had several near misses on blind bends as the buses were being driven at, what we considered, excessive speed. Ignoring the negatives, we had a wonderful time up there. It is a place that everyone who even thinks about it should make the effort to get there. Cheers, Bill

Hi, My experience with the 200 is that it simply won't get into S6 until the speed reaches something over 100 kph. When it does get there if falls back to S5 when the speed drops. ie it is a five speed at all speeds that most of us would use regularly when towing. Cheers,

Our 200 GX does not have KDSS as an option- or so I have been told. I am certainly inclined to go the air bags paths as a first step and see what happens. Cheers.

We came from a Disco 3 to the L/C 200. The Disco was a lovely car to drive and towed our camper-trailer beautifully. That's all that I want to say about it. To say more would undoubtedly open a big can of worms. :-)