Wooooo, slow down a bit will ya. I can't keep up with these months going so quick, one just starts and next I know it's finished. Oh well, time for another read so why not read my July 2017 update. Lets go. First up, you might remember last month I started by saying I didn't have much to talk about but was told that I wrote a short novel by the end, well, this month IS short but just in case you don't agree with me, I won't say that. Maybe don't even bother making a cuppa or something stronger cos you might not finish it. The cuppa that is. Just in case I wont say that either :)

Mmmmm, where do I start? I know, the start of July sounds good. It all started with the show of shows, the Townsville Show. From news reports, there were thousands that attended over the 4 days but down on last year a bit. Mine closures and people losing jobs that probably would contribute to that. The next week the V8 Supercars were in town and activities started with the annual V8 transporter truck parade, a very popular free event the Wednesday before the Townsville 400 race starts, that went over 3 days, thousands of people from all over OZ and even some from around the world arrive and fill all the accommodation places in town and nearby. A very busy time and with school holidays and the tourist season in full swing not leaving much room to swing a cat, not that you would do that though.

With the school holidays, show and V8s all done and dusted it just left the tourist season in town so things quietened down a little with car parking spaces and room to move around, back to some sort of normality and July in full swing. Phew!

OH! Before I forget, WAY TO GO QLD. Yep they won the State of Origin Rugby Series, beating NSW 2/1 :) I love being in Townsville during NRL season and the State of Origin Series.

July weather was perfect for the visitors but not good yet again for the locals as very little to no rain for the month. Why good for the visitors? Well we got 13c-20c as lows and 25+c as highs and very little wind but some days with breezes, so all good in my camp.

Revenge time, yep, Dinosaurs were in Townsville to get their revenge on the world so I headed off with my Daughter and Grandkids early month to help protect the town. Yep, the Museum here in downtown Townsville got attacked by the beasts. Actually, it was a big display and was very good with heaps of information. A good few hours was spent enjoying the experience and I tell you that for free.

Some of you may know already that I have had some work done on the Collie, first, I had a mid service oil and filter change and now that the Collie is out of warranty and free service deal, I have also decided to go from 15,000km services to 10,000km services. There has been a lot of chat with other GNs and travellers about this subject lately so made the choice to change. There has also been chat about the oil grade but for now have decided to leave as is but will supply my own oil, that way I know what is being used and a quality I trust.

Who said it was easy out here in the playground?? Phew!

The other thing I did to the Collie was get a Fuel Pre-Filter fitted due to hearing about some travellers getting dirty diesel fuel and can cost heaps and I mean heaps, a mate of mine has had such an experience and many $$$ spent to sort it all out. At least by having the extra filter now I have a little bit more of a chance of not getting caught out. Sort of like Insurance I spose.

Another thing I did was check the battery in my caravans breakaway, break unit. I did the push button test and found nothing happened and found it was flat as a tack and couldnt be revived so hunted around Townsville looking for a new battery. That proved to be not an easy task until I took the battery with me. Now I am talking about the breakaway units battery NOT the caravan battery/s. I finally found one and $50 later I had it in the van and ready for action, so I thought but after checking again still no charge lights so further investigation was required.

Phew! Im buggered just writing about all this :)

I checked out power etc but couldn't find anything happening so had to call in a sparky to take control. Before I continue I must say that every time I checked the test button it was OK so naturally thought all was good but not so. The sparky found it wasn't actually charging due to no connection to charge system so once the battery failed the problem was noticed. All good now and working as should be. All tests done and safe again.

I actually hope it never gets to see any action cos if it does, it means the van has come off the back of the Collie, oooops. A breakaway unit activates the vans breaks if the van gets off the tow vehicle, a safety devise thing. Yet another lesson learnt, check all breakaway system more often. Not just the test button. I have to learn as I go due to the Claytons hand over that wasn't a hand over when I first got the aluminium TeePee. I have no instruction manuals etc so its not always easy, thanks Malcolm :)

You might remember the w..k (I just cant bring myself to say that W word sorry) I have been doing about the weights in the Aluminium TeePee and Collie, well I had this big 120w fixed Solar panel that was changed to being portable and it weighed in at 15kg, strapped to the underside of the canopy roof in the Collie just in case ever needed, well, I found a 120w foldable/flexible Solar panel that only weighed in at 6kg so decided to replace the big heavy one with that. It folds up to roughly the size of about 400mm square and about 75mm thick so takes up little room and got rid of 9kg. Every little bit helps. Ripa Rita. It came with an Anderson plug attached to panel and that will now plug into the Anderson plug on the back of the Aluminium TeePee via a 6B&S lead then to its own regulator set up next to the batteries. This is all just in case there is a problem with the TeePees panels up on the roof as I wired the portable set up independent to the TeePee set up. MUCH EASIER. 

I have met up with a few GNs during the month and as always good to see them again or meet them for the first time. I also got speaking to a couple of fellow travellers while out and about one day and ended up catching up with them again a few days later, nice people too, we are going to keep in touch. I have also been in dry dock for about 10 days due to not being well but seem to be getting on top of that so that's good but did slow me down, well, actually stopped me in my tracks.

I'll call it quits right here and now for this month before it turns into another short novel so keep safe out there everyone.

Some pics from around Townsville during July are below.