Mr and Mrs Macca 12 month lap

Shifted from the buy thread;

Ok to try and keep the forum tidy the posts from today are relocated here.

We bought a 20foot Caravan from a dealer on Friday, it's a 4 year old New Age Oz Classic with loads of fruit but still needing some mods so we can live in it for a year. Some repairs are needed so we negotiated a deal for the workshop to repair / replace as they should do it right with the correct OEM parts. Also full service, bearing replacement, brakes etc. plus check everything works as it should.

It come in at 2960kg ATM (total loaded) which is 240kg less than our upgraded Hayman Reece tow bar, that with the GVM upgrade we shouldn't need load levelers that are not recommended by Nissan anyway.

We sold our business nearly a year ago and I have done many chores around the house and yards that have been neglected. Pauly's work is being cut back to 2 days a week so she is not happy.

2 weeks ago she came home and asked how would I feel about renting the house to a friends sister for 12 months and we hit the road, that was truly out of left field as this place is her castle. Of course I said yes dear I can do that just so your happy...

We have 9 weeks from Pauly's surprise suggestion to pack up 28 years of living here plus have a holiday at the Big Red Bash as well and get the van ready to travel. Really only have 6 from now and 4 with the van to pack. Worst part is deciding what stays and what goes.

It's about to get really busy.

So I'll use this thread to tell our story, Cheers Macca

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Originally Posted by Cuppa

Yeah, I reckon that might well be us with the Tvan too! Good to hear that your plans for travel are happening. Hopefully you'll post an update here now & again, & maybe we'll get to cross paths somewhere.

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I have your number ending in ---- --- 135. You leave home soon don't you? Any plans?

We have a good mate working for the Aboriginal Legal Service in Kununurra, finishing his contract June 30.
Might see if we can catch up with him if he is still there as he knows the Kimberley well and with his new local contacts... we would really enjoy travelling through there with him.

Try and find work up that way for the wet would be great, Michael said he would never go there during that season but admits he had no idea how wrong he was. It is so beautiful to see all the falls and waterway in full flow. He keeps asking where we are going next....

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Originally Posted by bigguwesty

Welcome to the club @macca.
Dont forget the build thread

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I have 4 weeks to get it how I like then lock up the shed with all my tools etc., head out to Birdsville for the bash then come back on the 14th July ready to hand the house keys to the tenants on the 17th and we're gone.

The build is going to be a problem as I'm a serial modifier, its going to be hard not having my shed!

We have no plans, one Daughter lives in Coffs the other on Hamilton Island with her husband, so north is a start but after that we have no idea.

Actually sounds good having not a thing set in stone.

Look forward to following your travels Macca, like the idea of not having a set plan, unfortunately my misses likes to have everything planned out before we go anywhere.

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Originally Posted by macca

I have your number ending in ---- --- 135. You leave home soon don't you? Any plans?

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We're thinking mid to late July if itall works out, but we don't have a specific deadline to leave yet. That may depend upon getting suitable tenants for the house. Like you, the closer it gets the more there seems to do! At this point we've put off the 'Alice to west coast & up to Broome for the wet, with Kimberley exploring for the entire following season' trip off until next year as it's one we really want to take as long as we can doing, & July is later departure than we originally intended.

Instead we are thinking of heading up to Queensland via inland tracks & spending a while exploring channel country until it gets too hot & then going east to the Great Dividing Range, heading back south staying in the mountains all the way. Then maybe Tassie until about March/April followed by the trip up to Alice & across the western deserts & up to Broome getting there around September/October (hopefully find a house sit/somewhere to stay under cover) & then explore the Kimberley in as much detail as we can over the following season from as soon as the roads/tracks open. We reckon that should all take us up to around Sept 2019 by which time we will have had plenty of time to think about where to next. No intention to look for paid work but plans will change if experiential opportunities arise along the way.

We also have a sat phone which costs the same to call as a normal mobile phone & I'll let you know the number once we set it up.

Mate ......... we are so lucky .......... it's gonna be a ball!

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Originally Posted by TPC

Look forward to following your travels Macca, like the idea of not having a set plan, unfortunately my misses likes to have everything planned out before we go anywhere.

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Some friends we have are at the end of 20 plus years / 350000klm travelling Australia.
They head to an area, see what they want then let "their" Willy Wagtail tell them where to go next.
They might sit at an intersection and wait until they see him and head in the direction he is, following that road to somewhere unknown or they have been to before.
Last winter we "borrowed" him much to our friend's delight. He's not a bad guide either!
I like that style of travel.

Been putting it off telling Dad, who is 87 next month, until all was set in stone.
He came here from NZ in 2010 and has his own apartment attached to the local retirement village.
He came around this morning and his was response was "that will be great, it's a fantastic country to do a trip like that in". Whew that was not so bad after all.
Now the brothers who will go crook as we asked him to come here to live and are leaving him. see what they say.