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Thread: Cuppa’s Blog

  1. #211
    Travelling Podologist Cuppa's Avatar
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    After a Covid induced hiatus we have just added a new post to our blog. We recently managed to get away for 3 weeks to drive around the back blocks of south west Cape York, well off the 'usual' routes.
    It's a 'bumper edition' with lots of pics & even a few videos of river crossings & stuff. I hope you enjoy it.

    http://cuppa500.com/Blog/2020/08/07/breaking-isolation/

    2006 4.2TDi ex-Telstra Remote area Camper. 425w roof mounted solar, 360Ah Aux batts, BCDC1240, Onboard hot & cold pressurised & filtered water, (25 litre hot water calorifier), ARB fridge, ARB freezer, Built in kitchen, heaps of easy access storage, 240v, 3” Genie exhaust + dynotune, 2” lift, 3900kg GVM upgrade, second glovebox, ROH Blaktrak steel wheels, Bridgestone D697's (now Toyo RT's), Redarc gauges/pillarpod, Hema HX-1, Icom 450 CB, dual rear view cameras, Onboard 30amp Victron mains charger, second glovebox, dual seat conversion, TPMS, Boss PX7 onboard air with 9 litre tank, 350w inverter, Steel bullbar, Harrop Eaton diff lock (front), Warn winch, Snorkel, Dual spares , 160 litre water tank, 180 litre fuel in two tanks (approx 1200km range) 2010 Tvan Tanami. (incl another 70 litre water tank) with matching wheels/tyres (& 3rd spare)
    A Nomadic Life (Blog)

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  4. #212
    Patrol Guru TimE's Avatar
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    Good read, we were up that way this time last year. Did you check my Mitchell River crossing Youtube vid?

    https://youtu.be/o1N6dWqWc8c
    Time Marches On .....and on ..... and on

  5. #213
    Travelling Podologist Cuppa's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TimE View Post
    Good read, we were up that way this time last year. Did you check my Mitchell River crossing Youtube vid?

    https://youtu.be/o1N6dWqWc8c
    Good video, wish I had seen it before we went! The water over the rock shelf on the far side must have been fairly shallow, but would have made it far harder to avoid all the holes than for us crossing it dry! The only vid I found was quite old I think & the crossing in it unrecognisable to what it's like now.

    2006 4.2TDi ex-Telstra Remote area Camper. 425w roof mounted solar, 360Ah Aux batts, BCDC1240, Onboard hot & cold pressurised & filtered water, (25 litre hot water calorifier), ARB fridge, ARB freezer, Built in kitchen, heaps of easy access storage, 240v, 3” Genie exhaust + dynotune, 2” lift, 3900kg GVM upgrade, second glovebox, ROH Blaktrak steel wheels, Bridgestone D697's (now Toyo RT's), Redarc gauges/pillarpod, Hema HX-1, Icom 450 CB, dual rear view cameras, Onboard 30amp Victron mains charger, second glovebox, dual seat conversion, TPMS, Boss PX7 onboard air with 9 litre tank, 350w inverter, Steel bullbar, Harrop Eaton diff lock (front), Warn winch, Snorkel, Dual spares , 160 litre water tank, 180 litre fuel in two tanks (approx 1200km range) 2010 Tvan Tanami. (incl another 70 litre water tank) with matching wheels/tyres (& 3rd spare)
    A Nomadic Life (Blog)

  6. #214
    Patrol God mudnut's Avatar
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    Great pics, thanks Cuppa.

  7. #215
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cuppa View Post
    After a Covid induced hiatus we have just added a new post to our blog. We recently managed to get away for 3 weeks to drive around the back blocks of south west Cape York, well off the 'usual' routes.
    It's a 'bumper edition' with lots of pics & even a few videos of river crossings & stuff. I hope you enjoy it.

    http://cuppa500.com/Blog/2020/08/07/breaking-isolation/
    Cuppa,

    Just spent the past hour reading through your Blog . . . great reading and some great photos. Great to see you could get up North and follow the adventurous life style during these times . . . your the lucky one's.

    I liked your comments about the rednecks as you describe them, it's these self centred 'Me' individualises/groups who scare the shit out of Me, as they pass through small communities and expose residents without a care, who may not be as well prepared health wise to fend-off COVID more then others . . . communities like my Father's.

    I hope you get the chance to go exploring again soon, I enjoyed the read . . . thanks.

    Grant
    Grant

    Penrith Region
    Sydney NSW.

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  9. #216
    Travelling Podologist Cuppa's Avatar
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    Not a blog post this time.

    I mentioned several weeks ago we were looking at buying an OKA. Things have firmed up on this now so I thought I'd copy & paste the 'announcement' I made on my facebook page this morning.
    Some you will already know if you read the previous post, but all the pieces of the puzzle are now in place. The Patrol will remain with us for sometime yet though.

    Excitement is building fast!
    Some of you already know our news which I've tried to keep a lid on until it becomes reality, but I have to admit to not being good at keeping secrets & have 'let the cat out the bag' here & there already.
    As you know we are now into our 4th year of travelling in our Nissan Patrol & Tvan , a great combination, & very capable off road.

    However during that time we have often considered alternatives which would enable us to cook & eat 'indoors' in inclement weather or when the mozzies & flies become overbearing. Many possibilities have been considered but eventually discarded either on the basis of lack of mechanical simplicity (computerisation of modern vehicles in my view makes them a liability in remote areas), poor reliability (which ruled out some suitable vehicles which were becoming to 'long in the tooth & needing ongoing repairs to keep them going) , cost - there are some very nice 'expedition vehicles' around but with costs in the multi hundreds of thousands - beyond our means even if they suited our criteria, which most did not.

    The most important (to us) of the criteria was that not only should the vehicle be extremely capable off road, it should also be narrow enough to fit along the commonly found tracks made or used by the common 4wd vehicle sizes like the Landcruisers & Patrols, This ruled out most off road motorhomes, as did the height of many.

    We always came back to our Patrol & Tvan as the best option.

    That is, until we found the vehicle which I will be collecting next Monday! It is one of those older 'long in the tooth' vehicles, except it has essentially been 're-born' having gone through a ground up rebuild using all new or fully reconditioned major components thoughout. Being an older design it will need a higher level of regular maintenance than our Patrol, but it's 're-birth' has been enough to convince us of what we hope will be it's reliability to continue to safely take us well off the beaten track.

    It ticks all our boxes with one exception. Despite having a brand new, more powerful than the original, motor & a brand new gearbox as part of the overall refurbishment it was horrible to drive! The clutch was heavy, & the gearchange not only in a reverse pattern to the norm, but also very 'vague' resulting in what felt like a gearbox full of neutrals, controlling a motor with lots of 'grunt'.
    Not being an out & out masochist, but recognising that this was probably the closest we had ever come to ticking all our boxes, we decided to take a punt & hope we did not end up with what potentially could become a very expensive white elephant!

    This decision was made on the basis of spending more money on the vehicle post purchase. The entire driveline from gearstick back to the axles would go, to be replaced by an automatic transmission!
    The best option, & one already trialled in a number of similar vehicles which have had the same motor (a Cummins 5.9 litre 6BT) is an Allison 1000 transmission - combination referred to by some as the 'holy grail' of engine & auto transmission combos! A motor with heaps of torque at very low revs combined with a transmission which provides full power 'seamless' gearchanges using an electronic push button controller. No loss of momentum on upward changes, 'instant' manual changes possible at the push of a button & no cumbersome linkages to the gearbox (the primary cause of the vagueness of the existing gearbox).

    Finding someone with specific knowledge of the vehicle, the motor, the Allison auto, the electronics, the computer skills, (yes the Allison is computer controlled, but does have a good useable default 'limp mode' if something goes wrong - remains in 3rd gear) the machining skills to fit things together, & the equipment needed to manouvre heavy machinery parts around, and who has good communication skills meant looking for someone fairly unique. That combination of skillsets in one person makes for quite a rare breed.

    We are in Far North Queensland. (FNQ). The vehicle is 1800kms south in Brisbane. The rare breed man, found through friends in the very active owners club of the vehicles in question is yet further south, some 2400kms from here. In the past few weeks I have been a bit of a 'jetsetter' utilising the relatively cheap flights available thanks to Covid. I have driven two vehicles each fitted with the Cummins/Allison combo & found them to be all I hoped for & more. Easy & relaxing to drive, but fun too. As I drove it really wasn't hard to imagine us swanning around this huge island in one. One belonged to a friend, the other to Rob, the rare breed man, who as well as his own has fitted out several other vehicles similarly.

    So next Monday I fly to Brisbane, pay for & collect the vehicle, & then drive it south to Taree where I will leave it in Rob's hands, & return north.

    And so the vehicle...... drum roll...... it is an Australian made 1995 OKA, a rare beast - only around 450 ever built, but with a legendary reputation in off road circles & an active band of loyal owners.
    This one, like many began life working at a mine, & was pretty tired & in need of lots of TLC when bought by the current owner - his second OKA. As well as the total rebuild (over several years) he also built the fibreglass composite panel camper/motorhome body & fitted it out. This and most of the major components are now several years old, but with less than 60,000kms on them. The motor, imported brand new from the USA is about half that, replacing the original Perkins motor after it had been fully rebuilt. Another friend with an OKA in Adelaide now has that motor as a 'spare' for the 600,000kms one currently in his vehicle.

    As you can see from the photos the camper body retains the width of the cab. Many motorhomes built onto OKAs are wider, but the size was the first thing to grab our attention. It is just 100mm wider than the canopy on our Patrol. Of course it makes things fairly 'squeezy' inside, but we take the view that most of our living with our current set up is 'outside' & we don't expect that to change much, except when required.
    It's set up for remote travel with a fuel range similar to the Patrol, & water capacity similar the Patrol & Tvan combined. Ground clearance is better & not needing to tow means we will be more inclined to check out 'interesting looking' tracks, which we have often bypassed with the Tvan in tow for fear of finding insufficient room to turn around. The OKA at 6 metres long (Patrol & Tvan together are close to 10 metres long) will get us to the many hidden away little camp spots accessible only by single vehicles.

    We will make a few alterations to the interior to suit us, the main things being converting the bedding arrangement to one which doesnt require setting up each time for use (I have a cunning plan) & increasing solar capacity & will fit an additional 'panoramic' window at the rear to allow us to sit at the table with a view of the ocean when it's blowing a gale! Inside as well as the bed is a 'dinette', a small kitchen with stovetop, oven & griller plus sink with hot & cold water. An 80 litre upright fridge & a 40 litre chest freezer, a shower cubicle, also containing a vacuum toilet. A diesel heater to keep things toasty in cold weather, & 240v air conditioning (which we may or may not retain - depending on whether we have to relocate the under chassis hot water unit to make space for a transmission cooler for the Allison) addition to the cab air con. There is a 'pass through from cab to 'house'. The pop top roof is electrically operated.

    We expect the vehicle to be with Rob until the second half of 2021 - he has to fit it in with many other aspects of his life.
    In the meantime we remain hopeful of getting up Cape York next year in the Patrol & Tvan as we had hoped to do this year before Covid put paid to that.

    OKA's are generally referred to by their build number. As the number plate suggests ours is number 356 (of 450).

    Regards to all,


    IMG_0465.jpgIMG_0466.jpgIMG_0467.jpgIMG_0469.jpg
    Last edited by Cuppa; 11th December 2020 at 03:46 PM.

    2006 4.2TDi ex-Telstra Remote area Camper. 425w roof mounted solar, 360Ah Aux batts, BCDC1240, Onboard hot & cold pressurised & filtered water, (25 litre hot water calorifier), ARB fridge, ARB freezer, Built in kitchen, heaps of easy access storage, 240v, 3” Genie exhaust + dynotune, 2” lift, 3900kg GVM upgrade, second glovebox, ROH Blaktrak steel wheels, Bridgestone D697's (now Toyo RT's), Redarc gauges/pillarpod, Hema HX-1, Icom 450 CB, dual rear view cameras, Onboard 30amp Victron mains charger, second glovebox, dual seat conversion, TPMS, Boss PX7 onboard air with 9 litre tank, 350w inverter, Steel bullbar, Harrop Eaton diff lock (front), Warn winch, Snorkel, Dual spares , 160 litre water tank, 180 litre fuel in two tanks (approx 1200km range) 2010 Tvan Tanami. (incl another 70 litre water tank) with matching wheels/tyres (& 3rd spare)
    A Nomadic Life (Blog)

  10. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Cuppa For This Useful Post:

    MB (11th December 2020), mudnut (11th December 2020), mudski (11th December 2020), pearcey (11th December 2020), Rossco (11th December 2020), Touses (11th December 2020)

  11. #217
    The master farter
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    Exciting times mate.

  12. #218
    Travelling Podologist Cuppa's Avatar
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    2006 4.2TDi ex-Telstra Remote area Camper. 425w roof mounted solar, 360Ah Aux batts, BCDC1240, Onboard hot & cold pressurised & filtered water, (25 litre hot water calorifier), ARB fridge, ARB freezer, Built in kitchen, heaps of easy access storage, 240v, 3” Genie exhaust + dynotune, 2” lift, 3900kg GVM upgrade, second glovebox, ROH Blaktrak steel wheels, Bridgestone D697's (now Toyo RT's), Redarc gauges/pillarpod, Hema HX-1, Icom 450 CB, dual rear view cameras, Onboard 30amp Victron mains charger, second glovebox, dual seat conversion, TPMS, Boss PX7 onboard air with 9 litre tank, 350w inverter, Steel bullbar, Harrop Eaton diff lock (front), Warn winch, Snorkel, Dual spares , 160 litre water tank, 180 litre fuel in two tanks (approx 1200km range) 2010 Tvan Tanami. (incl another 70 litre water tank) with matching wheels/tyres (& 3rd spare)
    A Nomadic Life (Blog)

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  14. #219
    Hardcore jack's Avatar
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    Going to be interesting watching Mrs Tea drive that. Those YouTube videos are impressive, can’t wait for a firsthand experience around the local tracks.
    Cheers
    Jack

    2012 Simpson 50th Anniversary Edition.
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  15. #220
    Travelling Podologist Cuppa's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jack View Post
    Going to be interesting watching Mrs Tea drive that. Those YouTube videos are impressive, can’t wait for a firsthand experience around the local tracks.
    She might surprise you Jack, the auto makes it easier to drive than the Patrol & she's can drive that ok. I've yet to try it off road, but I believe the auto (& exhaust brake) will make this a lot easier too. Driving one is not what you'd expect from looking at it. More comfortable than the Patrol (& far less harsh & bouncy in the cab than Canters & similar) more like a tall car & being a cab-over a far better view of the terrain you are approaching, and strangely it doesn't feel big because it will do everything within the same space the Patrol uses. It is only about half a metre longer than our Patrol!

    We were joking today about a friend who has a Canter based motorhome which he calls the Tardis - bigger on the inside than on the outside. The two OKA's I drove felt the opposite, bigger on the outside than on the inside ... perhaps we should call it the 'Sidrat'. I will look forward to giving you a drive in it.
    Last edited by Cuppa; 11th December 2020 at 07:43 PM.

    2006 4.2TDi ex-Telstra Remote area Camper. 425w roof mounted solar, 360Ah Aux batts, BCDC1240, Onboard hot & cold pressurised & filtered water, (25 litre hot water calorifier), ARB fridge, ARB freezer, Built in kitchen, heaps of easy access storage, 240v, 3” Genie exhaust + dynotune, 2” lift, 3900kg GVM upgrade, second glovebox, ROH Blaktrak steel wheels, Bridgestone D697's (now Toyo RT's), Redarc gauges/pillarpod, Hema HX-1, Icom 450 CB, dual rear view cameras, Onboard 30amp Victron mains charger, second glovebox, dual seat conversion, TPMS, Boss PX7 onboard air with 9 litre tank, 350w inverter, Steel bullbar, Harrop Eaton diff lock (front), Warn winch, Snorkel, Dual spares , 160 litre water tank, 180 litre fuel in two tanks (approx 1200km range) 2010 Tvan Tanami. (incl another 70 litre water tank) with matching wheels/tyres (& 3rd spare)
    A Nomadic Life (Blog)

  16. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Cuppa For This Useful Post:

    jack (11th December 2020), MB (14th December 2020)

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