Motorhome Travels - May 2013

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12/05/2013

We have been very busy. Well, busy for us. For the last six months we have been getting the property at Mt Perry ready to look after its self for however long it is that we are away (years). This has involved installing watering systems for the fruit trees, monitoring systems to allow us to keep an eye on the place, fences to keep animals out and alarm and surveillance systems to keep other unwanted things away. This is now all done and we can do almost anything (except cut the grass) from anywhere in the country. We have made some good friends here who are very happy to keep an eye on the property for us.

We have also been planning and preparing the bus for the next leg of our travels. The first job was to decide where we plan to go and then of course, the route. We have decided to head back to the West Coast. I know that we seem to have spent a disproportionate amount of time on that side of the country - but we both really enjoy that part of Australia. It has so much to offer us - fishing, diving, photographic opportunities and lots of great places to free camp.

However, we know from past experience that the destination is only part of the story - the journey is very much a part of the fun. With this in mind we have selected a rather ambitious route back to WA. The set of roads known collectively as "The Outback Way" is the most direct path from our current location to the west coast - it is NOT the easiest!

In 2010 we travelled part of the Outback Way from Laverton to Alice Springs (and back). We really enjoyed this remote and beautiful part of the country and the old bus handled the rough, corrugated road quite well. The eastern section of the Outback Way is called the Plenty Highway (the "plenty" part refers to the number of vehicles it has broken and the "highway" part is just Australian slang for dirt track). Despite some nightmarish reports on the road condition we are confident that Hobohome will handle it - and we will never know if we don't try.

Over the years, we have spent a lot of time and money making the bus as robust and reliable as possible. I have gone over every component looking for what could break or fail. We carry quite a lot of spare parts and more tools than Super Cheap - I think we will be ok.

We have also made some decisions about what we will take with us ... LESS! The first and hardest decision was to leave the boat behind. We have decided that we do not want to tow a vehicle this time - and this has meant a return to the trusty Moke. Towing a vehicle with a boat on the roof is very hard on both the bus and the poor towed vehicle. Sadly this is going to leave us without a method of getting to our favorite fishing spots, but sacrifices had to be made - ya just can't have everything! We are leaving our SCUBA gear behind - free diving only from now on. We use the SCUBA tanks so infrequently these days, it is just not worth the additional weight in the bus. And we will be taking less of the "stuff we might need that someday".

We have added a few items ... some additional specialist cameras that will help capture some of the more unusual aspects of the trip. One of these cameras is a motion activated infrared camera that is designed to capture images and videos of wildlife as they pass by. The image to the right is from this camera - it captured this shot of a fox visiting us late at night.

We have really enjoyed our stay here at Mt Perry - we feel that we have built a useful asset here and we like the property very much. I think we will miss the place a bit, but in the sprit of enjoying life and making the most of each day, we feel that we would like to travel for at least another few years before the decide to settle down to a normal life.

So when do we leave ... 1st of June we will be leaving Mt Perry. The "to do" list is getting shorter each day and the bus and crew are definately ready to go.

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