Rocky settles in

It has been a busy few weeks, and opportunities to get away under canvas have been few and far between.  We did manage a couple of nights down the coast with friends, and a mad dash to the big smoke for a night - but on each occasion we were staying in a fine house with four solid walls and a roof.

The little fisherman did his best to remove as many fish from the Tasman Sea as he could - however luck again was against us.  Thankfully one of our friends did catch a Pacific Salmon, which is in our freezer awaiting an opportunity for the Little Fisherman to sample the fruits of his labour.

Rocky now has nearly 3 000km on the clock, and continues to impress us with its comfort and capability.  I have no idea how I ever survived so long without a ute!

In that time we have used Rocky as:

A farm truck

A work truck

The build begins... Electrics for the camper. Anderson Plug install.

We have had the Amarok for just a few weeks now, and must say we are absolutely thrilled with it.  It is very comfortable to ride in, and everything just works Volkswagen style.

Whilst it is a perfect base to build our touring rig, it is far from ready yet.  There is a long (and expensive) list of things to modify, add and purchase in order to set up the Amarok for work and play.

The first thing to do was to order a canopy for the back to make it useful for camping.  This turned out to be harder than I anticipated.  There are but a few manufactures around, and many had delays until October, or provided pretty basic quotes without a lot of detail.

To cut a long story short, we have gone with a mob in Melbourne to manufacture a canopy for our tray.  The company Made 2 Order Toolbox http://www.m2otoolbox.com.au/ provided a very quick turn around on their quotes, modifying it as required until I was happy with the final version.

Professional, quick and easy to deal with - M2O Toolbox

What I really liked about their quotes was the full drawings they provided.  Whilst I have changed this again, the basic layout is what we are going with.  The Jack Off Legs mean we will be able to remove the canopy if required - either whilst we are away or at home - giving us the full flexibility of the dual cab ute.  I haven't seen the canopy yet.  I hope that it is as good as their customer service.

So with four weeks to wait until the canopy is ready to pick up, I decided to get on with the next job - electrics.

Rokin Around Oz

At last I received a call that our new car was ready to be picked up. We had been looking forward to the call for a few weeks, since deciding before Christmas that we wanted a dual cab ute to travel around the country.

It was also time to farewell our old faithful Terracan, the car that introduced us to four wheel drive touring, took us to some magical places, and encouraged us to dream of heading off next year for a lap around the country.  The car that indirectly lead to this blog - through all the support at the Australia4WD forum.  Wow.  Our next set of wheels would have some big shoes (tyres?) to fill!

Terry, as the Terracan was affectionately called, was given a final wash, filled with fuel and taken into town. The dealer was surprised when I handed over the car with all the receipts, papers and both sets of keys. I hope some other family can have as much fun exploring the region in Terry as we did.

Terry all cleaned and ready for a new life.

But of course reminiscing is short lived when your next new toy is parked in the same lot. Our new set of wheels was sitting there, with a monstrous steel tray and tow bar ready for work.

Oallen Ford Retirement Plan

With great anticipation for a weekend getaway with friends, we packed the camper, hooked up the mighty Subaru and pointed our noses east.

Our destination was a favourite camp of ours, Oallen Ford. This time though we were doing it a bit differently.
1. We were camping with a group of friends
2. We were camping in Summer.... So the water should be warm enough for a dip
3. We were going with a couple of Geologists...

Subaru hooked up and ready to go!

The Subaru was our tow vehicle for the trip because our new car (the Amarok) wasn't ready in time. And to tell the truth the Subaru did a great job. The only drama we had was in the last couple of minutes of our trip when I realised we had lost trailer brakes. This was due to the plug coming away from the car and dragging on the ground. It was a simple fix with thousand mile an hour tape before I installed a new plug and socket when we got home.

Our biggest excitement came when we were trying to find a good spot to set up. Soft sand nearly undid the Subaru's clutch, however with a bit of luck we came though to more solid ground, where we quickly set up camp. Whilst the Subaru does have a low range gearbox, it is no where near as low as I would have liked. Handy for setting off when towing on the black-top perhaps, but not when you're looking at being stuck with a tonne or more on the back in something a little soft.

And for the record, No we didn't get bogged!  Close perhaps, but definitely not bogged!

I think I can, I think I can

With the new set of wheels not arriving until the 11th hour, and a camping trip on the agenda not more than five minutes after it arrives, I was really looking forward to hooking up the camper and getting the new car nice and dusty on its first trip.  You know - Lee Kernaghan - "Baptise The Ute" style.

But then again - such a new toy needs the engine to be run in properly, so perhaps hooking up a camper that weighs the best part of a tonne or more probably wasn't the best idea. Well not on the first day at any rate.

We contemplated returning to our original camping set up.  The mighty Subaru Outback packed to the hilt, with the Oztent RV5 on the roof.  We enjoyed our first camping trip as a family with this set up, however I distinctly remembered everything becoming one big mess - and that wasn't just in the esky either.

About four nanoseconds later we realised the folly of that idea, and started thinking of alternatives.

I had a perfectly operational electric brake controller that I had removed from Terry in preparation of the trade...  hmmm, and the camper was looking particularly lonely in the shed.

Decision made:  We would take the mighty Subaru Outback AND Matilda!