After a truly wonderful first attempt at caravan touring, today I finally got to finish editing and compiling the nearly 2500 images we took on the road. I see it as the last act in the episode even though we came home just before Christmas. We'd lived in a caravan for 10 years way back when, but never took it anywhere. So this 3 month trip to the east coast was a very steep learning curve. We bounced off each other a bit in the small van for about two weeks, then everything just seemed to fall into place. We worked out how to get around each other (in more ways than one) in the confined space, and all was well.
Special trip for us both. Nik had never been out of WA; I did it twice, in 1956 when I was 7 years old - wild on the Nullarbor! - in dad's FJ Holden to Melbourne and Ballarat, then again in '61 up the east coast to Bris, and back by plane to school as my folks travelled on. So for yours truly this was to be a rough re-run of some of the old '61 journey. How the world has changed!
Time ran away in the prep. So we regarded the first couple of days as our shake-down run. Risky, but what the hell.. We learned fast that we needed a check list before moving on after we made a couple of classic errors on the second day out. Left our towels on the park clothes line at Merredin. And forgot to clip down the pop top before leaving said town. Got stopped by a frantically waving carload of mum-and-kids about 15 kays down the road. The lid was half way up! Ouch! Here is one of the first images we took, at a little near-ghost village called Burracoppin a few kliks east of Merredin. When the image is blown up, the undone clips are visible. We didn't get much further before...
-- Edited by JocknNik on Wednesday 1st of March 2017 08:04:07 PM
-- Edited by JocknNik on Wednesday 1st of March 2017 08:09:41 PM
JocknNik, how great to read of your fabulous journey. Thanks. I recall my first trip in a van so long ago. Yes it can be a steep learning curve, but as you would have found out it all sorts itself out before long.
Cheers, John.
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"My mind is made up. Please don't confuse me with facts."
Thanks John. Yep, as the trip recedes into the past, we're getting the urge to get going again. It proved mostly a lucky trip, with probs only appearing late with a storm-damaged awning, a slight bump at a rear corner of the van, and a dangerously ill family member at home who got us speeding up to get back. Fortunately she quickly improved and we could slow down again.
