Caves to Caves - Part I - Wombeyan Caves

With foreboding skies, and a forecast for showers and rain, we thought we would make the most of a rare opportunity for leave and school holidays and make tracks north. Over the next week or so our plan was to head to Dubbo and the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, via the Wombeyan Caves, Yerranderie and Kanangra Walls.

The plan was to live in the camper for the best part of two weeks – the best we had managed thus far was a three day run. We relocated the awnings and spare canvas to the roof of the car, and put six wardrobe draws into the under-bed storage of the camper. This way we all had one draw each for clothes, one was for spare medical supplies and the other was extra food. The fridge and freezer were stocked, bikes loaded and car checked. It seemed we were ready.

We managed to get away in good time on Saturday and arrived in Goulburn for lunch. Belmore Park is a favourite haunt of our kids with its fantastic kids playground, however on this occasion we were surprised by a collection of fire trucks and ambulances of all shapes and sizes. It wasn't an incident at the Francis Greenway designed courthouse, but rather an Emergency Services Open Day. Joy of joys, the Little Helpers nearly wet themselves with excitement at being invited into the back of an ambulance. The Little Fisherman was able to correctly identify the breathing apparatus in the back of a pumper - but the RFS trucks were his favourite as they could go off-road! Ah, he must be my son.

The Taralga Fire Truck - Dennis

Finally we dragged the tykes away, only to be hauled off the road again at Taralga. The Taralga fire shed was also hosting an open day, however the star attraction was an ancient Dennis Fire Truck. The boys were excited, but were muscled out of the driver's seat by their mother! An unusual turn of events for sure.

Communication and Distress Alerting

** UPDATE - 12 Feb 2013**
Since this article was published, a full summary of distress communication options has been published at http://campingcommunication.com  I highly recommend you check it out.
** UPDATE **

On one of our previous camping trips, we enjoyed several days deep in the bush, to discover on our return to mobile phone range that Toowomba and Lockyer Valley had been devastated by flooding, and Brisbane was underwater again.

Our family and friends in the affected areas were thankfully alright, however we were berated for being out of contact during the crisis by concerned family who had no real idea where we were camping or when we were due back. All they knew was we were camping in a valley by a river somewhere in Kosciuszko National Park.

It got me thinking about what information to leave with family and friends, and how to communicate with them should things go wrong. More importantly perhaps is to communicate with family enough information so that they don't fret if they cannot get hold of you, or can raise the alarm should you fail to come home.

IsatPhone Pro

My parents recently purchased a new generation prepaid satellite telephone running on the Inmarsat network, the IsatPhone Pro. The phone costs about $650 up front, with $100 buying 100 minutes of talk - with a two year valid period. This phone proved really handy on their last adventure, as they were able to send an SMS message from the phone's inbuilt GPS.

Melbourne 4x4 Show

I had the pleasure of attending the worlds biggest toy store last weekend as part of the Melbourne 4x4 and Fishing Show.

What a collection of stuff - and how easy it would be to blow a couple of hundred grand in no time... Of course I had been sent without my credit card to avoid too many impulse buys :)

Over 35 000 people attended the show over the three days of the show. Thankfully Friday was a little quiet, so I was able to sneak away and check out some of the great gear on show.

I stopped in on the guys from Aussie Swag Campers to check out their new model. They now have a neat diesel heater in their 2011 model, and I think the changes they have made to the kitchen over the years has been fantastic. I enquired about putting a new kitchen box on our 2005 Aussie Swag, but with the changes up front adding too much tow ball weight, the whole axle has been moved forward about six inches. Hmm, too big a job for this punter.

The simple luxuries of life

How do you get the whole family to embrace camping?

Easy, bring all the comforts of home into a natural setting. Allow the kids to poke sticks in fires, marvel at wildlife passing through your field of view, enjoy a home cooked meal, a chilled wine or beer, count the stars as they come out and retire to a comfortable bed after a warm shower.

Impossible? well not really.

There are a few really neat looking vehicles that will allow you to explore almost anywhere in the world, with most of life's luxuries to hand. Some that look amazing are the Australian built Earth Cruiser and the Adventurer 4x4 Motorhome.

The only problem is the price tag - and the fact most of these vehicles are perfectly set up for a couple. There is no market for a self contained family 4x4 touring vehicle except for in America, home of the Earth Roamer based on the F550 truck (I don't mind their Jeep version, but perhaps once the kids leave home). These are all highly specialised vehicles and if you wanted to tour the world's remotest areas, they would be ideal. In the meantime I can continue to use Google to dream and try to find the perfect compromise :)

Most of us mortals are constrained to using a 4WD wagon or ute that doubles as the family hack during the week. Now whilst a vehicle of this type is more than big enough if your camping equipment consists of a swag and an esky, there are a few creature comforts necessary to ensure repeated camping experiences with the wife and family.

Free Hand Winch!!!

After our last camping trip turned out to be a little chilly, we have been waiting for warmer weather to head out under canvas again. As with all these things, life gets in the road of camping adventures, and finding free weekends seems to be more and more challenging. Still we can take solace in the beautiful weather that has graced the Southern Highlands recently as we re-discover our old friend, the Sun.

With a busy schedule of birthday parties, school excursions and home renovations, I haven’t had much time to tinker with the Terracan or the Camper, Matilda. Indeed the camper lies under wraps eagerly anticipating the next opportunity to get dirty, whenever that might be.

Always an opportunist I had been keeping an eye out for a Hand Winch. Second hand winches are available, but the quality was a concern. Also cheap winches from China seemed to make the grade, but I was not confident to leap in and purchase one. You can thus imagine joy when I ducked into Repco for a couple of small hose claps the other day to discover a 20% discount for NRMA members and a lonely Hand Winch and Tree Truck Protector looking for a new home.

To her credit, Jo didn’t even roll her eyes when I came home with my $400 hose clamps that came with a free winch and tree trunk protector…. I am a lucky man!

But having a new toy in its packet is a sad state of affairs. I was determined NOT to be on the side of a track, bogged to the gunwales, only to find out the new winch is missing some critical piece of hardware or worse still I am unable to make it work. I elected to give the winch a try on the weekend.