A foggy 3deg overnight here in Maffra. Being completely self contained with shower, toilet and diesel heater makes mid year free camping in Victoria as close to a pleasure, as we’re likely to get. It would be the exception now days to find a van in a freecamp without a diesel or gas heater. Our diesel heater is German made Eberspacher diesel heater ducted to 2 points. For those interested the diesel heater is a electronic controlled and fully automatic. It features a one touch set, with self diagnostic fault finding. The specs are 2.2kW. An electric [ ... ]

The drizzle has stopped here in Dalmeny, bu. We decided against starting the long haul home a day early yesterday because Victoria was having the same weather and despite the crumby weather here the view is great, and we are still hoping for more whale drone footage opportunities. But today we start home regardless. Its about an 8 hour drive, so whether we do it all in one day or spread it over two days will be a descision we’ll make on the road. If we do it over two days which is the likely choice, we’ll aim for the freecamp in [ ... ]

Friday 05-10-2018 18.06 Crusty is right here (Hit this Google Maps link if the map above isn’t visible https://www.google.com/maps/place/-37.97273381801188,146.983687166172875) GPS accuracy 12.0 mtrs

It rained and it rained and it rained … all day. Mostly not heavy, mostly drizzle, and mostly all day. Add a cold breeze and some wind gusts. We’ve had a pretty good run with the weather, so one day of rain isnt so bad. We amused ourselves with TV, movies, some business business on the laptop, some Xbox, some website updates, sone blogging and some reading. We also got some of our favourite entertainment from the tent campers we could watch directly out the kitchen window. One family spread out over 4 small tents refused to be denied the fantastic absolute beachfront holiday. [ ... ]

Got a dose of the dont cares today in regards to the blog. Overcast and cool windy morning, and an amended forecast from sunny and mid 20s to cold, wet and windy. Ross finally fullfilled a lifelong ambition to sit back, under awning with a view of the water and relax with a bloody book. For how many years has this been the dream? Like a Sunday Lassie matinee, Ross sitting in his chair reading his book with the dog sitting beside him casting a protective gaze Ross, Barb, Daniel and Max went for a walk (Daniel on his bike) before the crappy weather [ ... ]

Very mild night, which we didnt expect being on a point directly open to the ocean. Ross saw a whale through the kitchen window this morning. The whale was just off the beach directly in front of our camp. Ross mentioned it to a dozing Barb and she shot out of bed like a missile. There are 4 things that get Barb moving, Daniel, Max, whales and dolphins. There may appear to a 5th missing element, but thats not an error The interaction of modern life and nature doesnt get a lot better, Daniel watching our first whale from his bed window Ross went [ ... ]

It was freaken freezing last night in the camping world. Holy crap was it coooooooold. Last night is the type of test that many campers will fail miserably, sell all their campind gear and never camp again. Although Ross used to camp through winter, and in Victorias high country, he cant process the idea that we would ever return to that. We headed north to Batemans Bay, Barb ran out of dog shampoo (she prefers it) and then south, stopping at the heritage town of Mogo on the way to Dalmeny. Mogo is heavy on the hippie, and many of the shops are [ ... ]

Monday 01-10-2018 18.25 Crusty is right here (Hit this Google Maps link if the map above isn’t visible https://www.google.com/maps/place/-36.163020862053486,150.1273709581917) GPS accuracy 3.0 mtrs

Day 5 Broulee NSW

Mild’ish temperature over night, but we had a decent rain shower early this morning. Rain is the mortal enemy of the ill-prepared school holiday family tent camper, and theres a few of them here. Camping seems like such a good last minute idea when your sitting around the dry warm kitchen table. The nob next door was packing up in the drizzle …. karma??? Maybe. Daniel was the experimental guinea pig for the Eggs in a Can beakfast. Remembering our disappointmentvwith Milk in a Can our expectations werent high, but we were very pleasantly surprised. Each can of eggs contains the equivelent of [ ... ]

AFL Grand Final eve today, and we’re carrying the flag north over the border, no-one gives a fish finger about the AFL. We are located deep within rugby country, where anything Mexican (Victorian) is all but irrelevant. We’ve been away in the van for the last 4 Grand Final weekends starting with Wye River in 2015, Liechardt River, Ocean Grove and this year Broulee. In our bush camp near Bodalla it was a much milder over night temperature with the heater barely coming on. 2 of the other 3 van folk were, like us, complaining of the very cold night [ ... ]

Friday 28-09-2018 13.49 Crusty is right here (Hit this Google Maps link if the map above isn’t visible https://www.google.com/maps/place/-35.85706653399347,150.17518152398236) GPS accuracy 8.0 mtrs

We keep our booze in the Engel in the car, six cans amongst the meat and milk. Every morning we top up those six cans from the store in the back of the ute. This morning the cans in the back of the ute were colder than those in the fridge !! Quality coffee is always an issue when we’re freecamping. We’ve solved that with a Bialetti Mukka stove top brewer, and a Lume cordless burr grinder. Its been an extensive learning curve dynamically combining bean, grind, temp, pressure etc etc etc. Now after months experimenting we get cafe quality [ ... ]

Thursday 27-09-2018 15.31 Crusty is right here (Hit this Google Maps link if the map above isn’t visible https://www.google.com/maps/place/-36.15060778048323,150.0956416168149) GPS accuracy 6.0 mtrs

We’re off again back up the south coast of NSW for 10 days or so. We planned to get to Genoa today in East Gippsland which is about 10km from the NSW border. A quick stop in Bairnsdale Woolies, where Barb successfully directed Ross into the chaotic supermarket carpark dragging the Behemoth behind us, followed by a piddle stop and lunch at a parkland just on the northern end of Bairnsdale The drive from Bemm River to the border is a bit shit, hilly, windy on a crappy road so its good to get that behind us. Smooth sailing from here north. As [ ... ]

Wednesday 26-09-2018 16.50 Crusty is right here (Hit this Google Maps link if the map above isn’t visible https://www.google.com/maps/place/-37.471872356896455,149.59051120558013) GPS accuracy 3.0 mtrs