Yeehaaa!!!!! In three weeks time Linda and I (we) are
heading off on our second big trip. In 2013 we travelled for five months
through central Australia and experienced most of the wonders of the NT. The
whole blog of that trip including some great photos can be viewed on www.firstbigtrip.blogspot.com.au.
If you do a google search to try and find the blog it will show options, one of
which is ‘Linda & Pete’s Travels 2013’, that is the one you want.
Our blog for this trip is www.secondbigtrip.blogspot.com.au
and on a google search you should see ‘Linda & Pete’s Travels 2015’. I have been busting to do this trip and start blogging again.
Our main plan for the trip is to tour WA extensively and
spend a fair bit of time in SA on the way home and expect to take about 12
months. We will again visit the Flinders Ranges as a first destination.
Although we have been there twice we have not seen it all. Then up through
central Australia again and visiting Uluru and Kings Canyon on the way. When
last at Uluru it was overcast the whole time and never got to see changing
sunrise and sunset colours on the rock. I had hurt my back at Kings Canyon and
did not get to do the scenic walk. So we get to go to those places again
without going much out of our way. Then another bit of a look at the West
McDonnell Ranges near Alice Springs before heading toward WA.
For the first three weeks we will have some travelling
companions, Linda’s sister Jan and brother-n-law Ross. They will travel with us
as far as the West McDonnell Ranges. They will see a lot more on their way back
and we will continue on.
It was not sitting to well with Linda for us to be away from
home for a whole year without seeing our girls so we have decided to fly home
in August for a wedding we have been invited to and also for Christmas. We will
put the van and vehicle in storage for a couple of weeks each time.
So why has it taken so long for us to get going again? For
those of you who followed our last blog you would have read that we intended on
touring QLD for about three months over winter last year. Wow that year turned
out to be different!! What a year! Our daughter, Jacqui, got engaged to Rowan
at the start of the year with the wedding to take place in October. With the
wedding coming up there was no way we were spending three months touring QLD.
Then something I had been thinking about for some time came
to the fore. With one daughter moving out this was the perfect opportunity to
downsize. To keep a long story short, after a bit of convincing Linda came on
board. We then set about renovating the house and then sold. It took a while
but we found a house and bought and achieved our down size.
That allowed us to upgrade our tow vehicle from the
Mitsubishi Challenger to a brand new 4.5L turbo diesel Land Cruiser (LC). The
extra weight of the LC is the greatest advantage in my book as it creates a
much safer towing situation. The Challenger was a great vehicle and it will likely
appear in some of our early photos on this trip as we sold it to Jan & Ross who are
starting off the trip with us.
I put a bull bar and snorkel on the LC. I had my mate John
O’Malley set up my hitch as well as all the electrical set up for towing and
also raise the rear diff breather and install an additional battery for the
fridge freezer. Toyota had already raised the breather on the front diff and
the gear box. I made up a water bra and with all that I am ready for river
crossings. There is likely to be a lot of camping to be done on the Gibb River
Road in the Kimberlys where we will leave the van behind.
The new tow vehicle:
We still have a lot of things to do to be ready to go. All
Terrain tyres are going on the LC this week. I will be helping our daughter and
son-n-law move house. There are things to buy for our trip including fishing
gear. There is also a bunch of things to be done around the house. Even with all that I think that there has
been a lot less to do than before we left for the 2013 trip.
I don’t know if I will get the chance to blog again before
the trip begins. I will also be posting the blog on facebook so that might be easier
for some of you to follow the blog if you wish. Anyway you can bet we are
excited about the trip.
Pete
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