The Lap – Year One – Henri and Blake's Adventures

We’re back!!

We’re back…………..but not for long. Having spent a fabulous 2 weeks over Christmas with Connor, Nicole and James camping in the van in their backyard, we are back in Sydney.

Whilst we were in Lismore, Steve and Mel flew up to join us all for a few days either side of Christmas Day. For most of our last 2 weeks in Lismore the temperatures were above 30 with high humidity. Fortunately the nights were more pleasant.

We are now house sitting at a beautiful home in Cherrybrook for 3 weeks, over which time we hope to catch up with as many family and friends as possible. Even the pet demands on this sit are low, with just one young cross staffie/boxer to care for. She’s a cutie, but is a little unsure of us at the moment.

Our campsite at Cherrybrook. Although Blake is levelled, we are staying in the guest room in the house….noice!!

“View form the balcony” at Cherrybrook. Water views !

Chloe is still a little apprehensive around us, with her tail firmly curled up between her legs. After a few feeds we’re sure she’ll become our best mate.

Over the 5 months we were in the Lismore area I had wanted to get up early to take some sunrise photos of St Carthage’s Cathedral. On the morning of our last full day in Lismore I woke early enough, with enough motivation to get out of bed for some photos, only to find that the cathedral was shrouded in a light fog. Oh well.

Dedicated on 15 September 1919, the Cathedral is Lismore’s most notable building. I particularly like the circular treatment on this southern tower

Colemans Bridge, over Leycester Creek Lismore, is of State significance. It is a rare and representative example of a timber Dare truss road bridge completed in 1908 and survives in an excellent condition. The integrity of its fabric and the preservation of its original design style demonstrate its design excellence and all of the defining aspects of a Dare truss bridge. It also demonstrates less common features of Dare truss bridges, including central iron piers, relatively long truss spans and the fact that it is the only two lane Dare truss in NSW and the only to have footways. Don’t you just love engineering!!

The Winsome Hotel from Coleman Bridge on a foggy morning

Connor’s first day on the beach. It’s all a bit overwhelming.

IMG_3741

Click on the above link (IMG_3741) to download Connor’s first “swim”

Uncle Steve having his first nurse of Connor

Connor’s first Christmas morning. “C’mon mum hurry up, that one’s for me”

The Willcox family together for Christmas. Connor’d had enough and took himself off to bed.

Peaches and cream

Well, maybe “cream” is a bit of an exaggeration!!. Then, come to think of it there weren’t any peaches either, however we did stay at the Peach Trees campground in the Jimna State forest in SE Queensland for a few days. Not a peach tree to be seen anywhere.

Peach Trees was a beautiful tree studded, grass covered camp ground with fire pits, water (non-potable) and flushing toilets (shear luxury). There were several families of kangaroos that shared the campground. In fact there were more kangaroos than campers, so it was a lovely quiet time. Several bushwalks were available, be we didn’t do too much. Just sitting and chilling was the order of the four days there. We had teaming rain and thunderstorms on 2 nights which highlighted a few leaks in our awning. Perfect timing before our first service. We decided to cook a roast in the camp oven on one of those wet nights, which proved to be challenging to keep the fire going to generate enough coals for the oven. Outcome???….. PERFECT !

All of our issues with Blake were rectified at the service, with the exception of some incompatibility between Henry and Blake with respect to the blinkers. Now that we’re back in Lismore until Christmas we’ll seek out the services of an auto electrician.

To break the trip from the Bushtracker factory to Lismore we gate crashed Pete and Liz’s place at Sandstone Point last night. A great night with them and the kids. Thanks guys.

Our campsite at Peach Trees campground in Jimna SF. Absolutely beautiful environs. Blake was shrouded in shade by 2:30pm each day, but his big lithium battery kept the 12V fridge going without effort, and we were back on full charge by about 10am the next day.

“View from the balcony” at Peach Trees. The locals liked hanging around nearby.

Mum and young chillin’ out with us. Any closer and they’d have been under the awning. (Trev, do you recognise the shovel?)

A juvenile Azure kingfisher (Ceyx azureus) keeping a keen eye over Yabba Creek for a potential feed.

The shake-down run

I managed to drag Carol away from little Connor for 13 days to give Blake his shake-down. We left Nicole and James’ place a few days earlier than planned due to predicted rainfall which might have made driving off their grassy slope more interesting than we’d like. It didn’t end up raining…….

So now we are on the road, albeit for a short time, notching up the requisite 1,000 km. We are 5 days into the run, and at our third freedom camp.

What do we think of Blake so far? Well, for starters, we love the build quality, not that we’ve been on any rough stuff yet, but he looks like he’ll eat it. When I look around various parts of the van I am impressed with the detail, the workmanship, neat electrical and plumbing. That’s what we paid for! Despite Blake being 3 foot shorter than Jake there are still some unfilled cupboards. The difficulty is the shape and location of the cupboards and drawers compared to those in Jake. We’ll need to build some partitions to better secure our cups and plates.

Blake is also certainly heavier. Henry manages fine on the flat, but runs out of steam earlier on the hills. Looks like we need to chuck more stuff out, but we’ll go over a weighbridge first.

We chose a grey theme for Blake’s interior. We retained the white walls to improve light levels, with a dark grey floor, seat covering and bench tops, light grey lower cupboards and mid grey top cupboards.
Whilst in Nimbin we bought 2 grey throw-overs to protect the seat coverings from the ravages of the inland’s red dust.

The head of the bed is not vertical, but follows the slope of the front of the van. So to be able to sit up in bed we need 2 European pillows each plus the standard pillow to be able to pad out the void. We chose blues to provide highlights.

Now we know why Blake was expensive. The price includes for each of us an embroidered fleece jacket with zip-off sleeves, plus an embroidered rain jacket that can attach to the fleece, plus a cap.

Our first freedom camp was at the rear of the Jennings Hotel on the NSW-Qld border. It’s a tiny town with a big pub. To support the town we decided to have dinner at the pub. That proved interesting as they weren’t expecting anyone to eat at the restaurant. They managed to pull together a couple of steak burgers with chips. Ahh, we love the country.

Immediately adjacent to Jennings, but on the other side of the border is the town of Wallangarra. The station was an interchange that opened in 1887 to link the different railway guages adopted by NSW and Qld. The Qld trains on narrow gauge tracks would use the platform at the left with the domed roof, whilst the trains from NSW, on standard gauge used the platform with the flat roof. Passengers and goods would have to change trains to travel interstate.

A foot in both camps. Carol standing in NSW and Qld at Wallangarra Station

As we’ve travelled through regional Australia we’re always diheartened by the demise of the rail industry and the associated infrastructure that is left to deteriorate. This lovely old timber bridge with brick and stone piers is between Wallangarra Qld and Tenterfield NSW

After one night in Jennings we headed north through the SE Queensland granite belt wine region. Ballandean Wines allows free camping on their property if you purchase wine or a meal. That was to hard to refuse, so our night on the paddock opposite cellar door cost us a bottle of white, a red and a port. To keep the van weight down we drank the white that night.
As you can see, we were the only ones partaking of the “free” camp site.

“View ‘across’ the balcony” at Ballandean Wines

Continuing north through Warwick, Toowoomba and Dalby we are now spending 3 nights at Lake Broadwater Conservation Park. It is a bird haven, but they all must be elsewhere at the moment.

“View from the balcony” at Lake Broadwater.

Mum galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) attending to her nest in a gum at Lake Broadwater

Meet the new member of the team

After 5 months and 2 weeks since deciding to replace Jake, and 5 months to the day since we stopped living in a van, we are thrilled to be able to introduce you all to the new member of the team, BLAKE the Bushtracker.

Blake is a custom built, off-road capable, full size van, with most of the creature comforts we had in Jake. We sacrificed a few things in the interest of cost and weight. We didn’t bother with a washing machine (we’ll generally be camping without 240V power), microwave (same reason as ditching the washing machine), rangehood (we mainly cook outside), external shower (we never used the one on Jake). We also sacrificed size. Blake is 3′ shorter internally than Jake and doesn’t have a “slide-out” which reduces the available internal storage space.

Stuff that Blake has over Jake is; more water storage (270L rather than 160L), a 90L grey water tank (rather than a 30L plastic drum we’d place under the outlet), 640W of roof mounted solar panels (rather than 200W roof and a 120W portable), a 300Ah lithium battery (rather than 240Ah standard batteries. The modern lithium batteries are a much more reliable option), full off-road suspension, 2 spares (all wheels have the same stud pattern as Henry so they can be interchanged in the case of an emergency), bullet proof cabinetry (we hope), the ability to create a third bed, in case the grandkids want to join us in a few years, and the piece de resistance , an electric operated awning.

We’ll load him up and start to figure out where best to put things and decide what we need to discard due to less storage space before we head off on a 1,000+ km shake-down trip in a few days to be able to return him to the factory on the 12th of December for his 1,000 km service. Then back to Nicole and James’ place to camp on their lawn until Christmas Day, after which we return to Sydney until mid-January.

What do we do with the blog now that Jake has gone? Nothing. We’ll keep the title as HenryandJakesadventures (Blake won’t mind).

Following a 5 hour familiarisation session and registration at the factory yesterday we are hitched up and ready to hit the road.
We had always planned to drive back to near Lismore straight away, assuming we’d arrive at camp about 5pm. Unfortunately Bushtracker were running late with Blake’s preparation, asking us to start an hour later. Also losing an hour due to the time difference in Qld, we didn’t arrive at our camp in Teven until 8pm in the dark. We then had to set the van up enough to be able eat and sleep. A bit stressful.

A quick stop at a rest area on our 300km dash from the factory to Teven

The next day we had a short drive to Nicole and James’. Then the work began. Due to the slope on their property we had to excavate tracks for the wheels so that we could set the van up level.
Now to load up the van before we head off on our 1,000km shake down.

More photos including the interior will follow once we empty our boxes which are currently scattered everywhere.

Koonori……what..!!! How do you say it???

Koonorigan, a locality 20km northwest of Lismore on the Nimbin Road is our final house sit for the region. It is a lovely cottage on 15 acres on the flats of Koonorigan Creek, with 2 lovable kelpie cross dogs to keep company.

Originally the duration of the house sit was just 2 days, but Carol suggested to the owner, Rose, that she take advantage of our availability and get away to visit family and friends. Rose works 3 days per week, and has taken us up on our offer and will be away 4 or 5 days every week for the next 3 weeks. We will stay at the house for November, sharing with Rose on the days she’s home, then leaving on the 27th to head to Maroochydore to pick up the new van.

In the meantime there’s lawns to mow, maintenance jobs to perform, gardens to develop and tend, and a little grandson to visit. We should be able to keep busy.

Our “campsite” at Koonorigan.
Apparently the house is about 100 years old, but I’d place it more in the 1930s or so. It’s a lovely 2 bed/2 bath cottage with 3 sitting rooms, a dining room, lovely kitchen and lots of verandahs. It’s been updated over the years, and has been used as a B&B. The owner, Rose, has a flair for decorating and makes the house look like a high-end classy accommodation.

The stables. They no longer house horses, but are are great spot for us to keep our kayak and pushbikes, so long as Percy the python does’t take a liking to them. We keep the cockpits of the kayak well sealed and python-proof

“The Studio”.
If you think it looks crooked it is because it is crooked. Once a shed, Rose is doing it up into a studio. No, she’s not an artist, she just thought it would be a nice way to do it up. It’s been crooked for so long it was decided to brace it in that shape rather than trying to straighten it.

Missy, (aka Fatty). A slightly overweight 4 year old kelpie cross. She’s a bit lazy, happy to spend most of the day lying around.

Apples. She’s a 4 year old border collie cross kelpie. Much slimmer and more active than her house mate, Apples is happy to spend her day chasing toys and getting pats and rubs. She’s laying down here because she’s hoping to get a tummy rub.

I found this photo on my phone. It was taken at our previous house sit in Lismore. It is proof that I have softened towards cats, with Nelson resting on my leg as we watch the morning news.
Don’t worry, Nelson was our last house sit cat, so I should, given time, rest and medication, be able to return to my old self.

An Australasian Figbird (Specotheres vieilloti) perched on the power lines at Koonorigan. The light wasn’t good, so I couldn’t capture his* colouring very well. (* yes, it is a male)

Dinner on the balcony of the Waterfront Hotel in Diddillibah, near Maroochydore, overlooking the Maroochydore River. Budget accommodation for one night when we went to the factory to visit the new van and get Henry rewired in preparation.

Before leaving our house sit at Lismore we managed to get away for a paddle one day to Simpsons Creek at Brunswick Heads

The year in review

It is hard to believe that 12-months ago today we moved out of our unit at Pennant Hills into Jake the caravan to commence a 5-year journey around Australia. Now, one year later, we look back at what we’ve done and achieved.

We’d always considered the trip would not be rushed, planning to spend extended periods of time in various areas. That has turned out to be the major feature of the year. With David and Rachel’s announcement prior to our departure that they were to have a baby, our initial travel plans had to change. Rather than scooting off around the country we stayed reasonably close to be able to return with ease in February. As a result we spent an amazing 3 months in the NSW central west, seeing it in splendid detail. This has now influenced how we will see the rest of the country….taking it really slow and getting to know the places. We only left the central west to go to Victoria for a short period in order to escape the NSW heat in early 2017. Thanks Dave and Rachel for setting our pace.

After the birth of Peter we were ready to travel further afield. Then came the announcement from Nicole and James of Nicole’s pregnancy. However we still had 7 months before Connor was due giving us plenty of time to get to the Cape and back! Then came the decision to trade up to a fully off-road capable van. That stymied the trip to far north Queensland, having only explored southern Queensland, no further north than 450km from the NSW border. The decision resulted in us house sitting for nearly 2 months in Brisbane, then 4 months in the Northern Rivers region near Lismore. As a result we’ve been privileged to stay in some wonderful houses in some splendid regional locations. We feel like Lismore locals now. Thanks Nicole and James for giving us the reason to spend our time near you whilst waiting for the van to be completed, enabling us to watch Connor grow before and after his birth, and enjoy the lush green landscape of the Northern Rivers area.

Any regrets so far? Absolutely none. Whilst we can’t wait to get back on the road again (mid-Jan 2018), we have done some amazing things and seen some wonderful places, all surpassed by the birth of our two lovely grandsons, Peter and Connor. We’ve kayaked, cycled, bush walked, read books, played guitar, strolled through museums, been treated in 4 hospitals with one overnight stay and met lots of travellers and locals. We’ve looked after 6 houses, 8 dogs, 6 cats, 9 goats, 22 chooks, 7 sheep, 2 horses and 1 dragon. I’ve even taken to tolerating and, dare I say, liking cats. I’m sure that will fade once we cease house sitting. We’ve only driven 26,000 km in these last 12 months, with Jake only having done 11,500.

Here are a few reminders of our past 12 months.

Our first caravan site, at Dural Caravan Park whilst we cleaned out the unit.

Shallow inlet, Wilsons Promontory, Victoria

The Liverpool Plains, NSW northwest plains

Carnarvon National Park central south Queensland

We’ll continue to tag our posts “The Lap – Year One” until the end of 2017. We hope you’ll continue to follow our journey.

Yum Yum’s day out

I’m sure that some of you have been thinking “where’s Yum Yum”, as he hasn’t appeared in a post for over 5 months (NUTS: 20 May 2017).

Furthermore, Carol and I hadn’t been on a ride for more than 2 months, so when Yum Yum heard we were going, he made his desire quite clear. He joined us on a ride from Ballina to Sharpes Beach, half way to Lennox Head, 8.5 km each way along a dedicated cycleway that follows the coastline. Beautiful day, nice easy ride.

Yum Yum’s preferred mode of transport when not riding on Henry’s dash

Fuel stop for the engine at Lighthouse Beach SLSC.

Sun smart Yum Yum working on his leg tan at Sharpes Beach. Carol and I enjoyed a few swims before riding back to Ballina.

Farewell Marge

Our stay at McLeans Ridges with its views to Marge Simpson has drawn to a close. We’ll miss the house, the region and the views. We have now moved into a little 2-bedroom 1950s weatherboard and fibro cottage in Lismore, just opposite the hospital (for those who know the town). So much of the house is still original, including some of the light fittings, the bathroom and the kitchen. It’s like a bit of a time warp….I love it. The house comes with one cat.

We decided to eat out last night, rather than trying to sort out food and the kitchen as we didn’t move in until about 5pm. It was nice to be able to walk to and from the centre of town, being just 1.7km each way to the Richmond Hotel, one of Lismore’s pubs.

We’re only in Lismore for a week before we move back out to a rural property house sit for November.

We’ve been given a completion date for our new home; the 28th of November. The factory sent us some progress pics. We now know the van is well and truly under construction. We’re heading up to Maroochydore on Monday week to see progress for ourselves, and actually touch the van for a reality check. It’s starting to feel close.

Our final week on the Ridges saw a mix of weather with several days of heavy showers interspersed with crystal clear days. Clear mornings were often shrouded in heavy fog after a wet day.

The rain brought dramatic changes to the landscape over our 3 weeks on the Ridge. From brown to brilliant green. The neighbour’s mowers can be seen grazing on the lush paddock.

Our owners didn’t have grazing mowers, so I had to revert to more mechanical means to keep the ever-growing grass under control. I only used the ride-on a few times as the property was too steep, and I felt more confident using their self propelled walk-behind/push mower.
There was about 0.25 Ha (half an acre) to mow. That’s a lot of walking twice a week . As Carol took this photo I found that the mower didn’t have sufficient grunt to be able to reverse up hills. Just in front of me is a sheer waterfall drop of about 10-12m, so I couldn’t go forward to swing around. Enter Henry. With a recovery strap we had to tow the mower backwards up the hill.

Our campsite in Lismore. I’m looking forward to the time when I post a photo of a new campsite and it IS a campsite. Not long now!! At least we are only 2.5km from little Connor’s house.

“View from the balcony”. Not quite as impressive as the recent rural property locations

This is Nelson, our housemate for the next week. He’s got a good temperament and spends most of the day outdoors. Fortunately he wears a bell collar, although apparently he is prone to catching water dragons and bringing them indoors.

Our new Bushtracker, looking a bit naked at the moment. They’re currently doing all the internal fitout. Four weeks till pick-up.

There’s a new kid on the block

At 2:40 pm on Thursday 19 October, Nicole and James added a new member to their family. Carol is now officially a grandmother, called G-ma, to a gorgeous little baby boy named Conner Bruce Fidock.

Conner, who is realy cute, was 3.12kg and 51cm at birth.

All three are doing really well. So’s G-ma. Nicole looks simply amazing.

Nicole and Conner just a few hours after the birth. I told you Nicole looks amazing.

The next day. Sleeping peacefully in hospital

Views of Marge Simpson

Am I going a touch mad?……. is the clean country air going to my head?….. Last post I was stating that we had views to NZ, and now it’s views of Marge Simpson. Well, it’s not as crazy as it might seem. Keep reading….. it will be revealed a little further down within this post.

Last post we were leaving a short house sit at a rather luxurious looking property on the top of a hill in Teven. We have now moved just 15km away from there to another rural property. This one is in the rural community of McLeans Ridges. It is 15 acres, and is owned by good friends of the owners of the Teven property.

The house is on the side of a hill with a northerly aspect from the rear of the house providing extensive views across the broad Wilsons River valley towards the ranges of the Nightcap National Park.