Commer Van Oz Tour's October Update

October Update.

DSLH=18700miles

Melbourne was its usual busy place and the roads out of the city were heavily packed with traffic.  Unlike in Tasmania the lumbering old Commer received little tolerance or patience from the city dwelling motorists and after a couple of hours it was great to be back on country roads again.

Gumsan

First stop over on the mainland was Ararat 150klm north west of Melbourne.  Here we visited Gum San the Chinese Heritage Center and learned about how the Chinese had first discovered gold on the site that is now Ararat and of the hardships they experienced during the gold rush.

Confucius

Confucius say,

He who drive old Commer across 

Australia "is looney tunes!"

The sign read "Bus Parking only"
We are a bus really,  honest!

Big Koala between Ararat and Horsham.

We arrived in Horsham in time to relax and enjoy the towns annual agricultural show.
Great fun was had by the crew, especially Amelia. 

Check out that fairy floss WOW! and the sugar high smile. 

Pony mad.

Yeah! Show Bags!  more toys for the Commer to haul.

White Kangaroo at Renmark

Camp site on the Murray River near Renmark

Paddle Steamer 'Industry' at Renmark.

During our stay on the Murray River we boarded the Paddle Steamer 'Industry' for a lunchtime cruise and it was great to see this grand old ship still in operation for tourists to enjoy.
Built in 1911 this ship still uses its original steam engines and still gets along at a surprisingly fast pace.

From Renmark we moved on to Crystal Brook and then Port Augusta.  We stayed in Pt Augusta for 5 days so that we could take the Pichi Richi Steam Railway tour of the Flinders Ranges.
We had also originally planned to head north from here but the hot season had started early and day time temps north of Pt Augusta were already hitting the 40'C+ mark.  So after Pt Augusta we decided to explore the Eyre Peninsular and find some cooler weather.

The Pichi Richi Railway is the oldest surviving section of the original Ghan Railway that connects Adelaide with Darwin.
The train takes tourists on a trip From Pt Augusta to Quorn approx 50 klm away and after a two hour stop over returns to Pt Augusta.  The trip takes approx 5 hours.

Under steam

Enjoying the view

Next we headed around the Eyre Peninsular and visited a few towns on route.

First we spent a night camped near the lighthouse at Port Lowley then another night at Port Gibbon and Lipson Cove.  The scenery on the peninsular is spectacular and there are many great free camping spots.  Unfortunately the insects were at their worst this time of year and swarms of flies and biting insects kept us moving on the following days.

Camp, Pt Lowly

Camp, Lipson Cove

Dolphins playing meters from our camp Lipson Cove.



Another night was spent at Pt Lincoln and Coffin Bay before making our way to Ceduna in preparation to cross the Nullarbor Plain for the second time this year.

We are a little nervous about chancing the Nullarbor in our old Commer for a second time as she is now a lot heavier with all the extra bits we have collected during the trip.  We also need to load her up with extra water and fuel.  So the 43 year old little 1.7L motor is working very hard.

Fingers crossed we will make it back to WA OK.

Click here to see the Commers current location.

On Commer's

Did you know?

Commer designed and built its own diesel engine for their commercial vehicles.

The engine was a two stroke diesel 3 cylinder engine with six pistons horizontally opposed.

This engine had a unique knocking sound which gave it the nick name "Commer Knocker".

Click below to listen to a Commer TS3 "knocker" Diesel engine.

Commer Van Australian tour May update

May Update

Passed the 10000 Mile mark

DSLH-10450 Miles

Parliament House in the background,

unfortunately the excessive security presence prevented Amanda from taking a photo of the Commer any closer than this.

The travelling pace slowed considerably during late April and into May as we explored Canberra and central Victoria.

Canberra is the country's capital and is truly a beautiful and well organised city. We attended the ANZAC day ceremony and parade at the Australian War Memorial.  This is a very moving tribute to service and ex servicemen and women of the Australian and New Zealand defence force and we were very lucky to obtain seating in the main arena. 

Anzac parade at National War Memorial.

During our time in Canberra we also visited the NASA deep space tracking station approx 38klm from the city.  The tracking station is one of three world wide and responsible for communicating with astronauts on the Space Station as well as deep space exploration vehicles such as Voyager l & 2 and the Mars Rovers.

On the way back to town we watched the moon rise from the top of Mount Stromlo Observatory an optical telescope facility.  Needless to say these were pretty interesting places and i would recommend a visit if you are in Canberra.

Tony wondering where Julia is, she was supposed to be at the parade as well!.

Rolling out the Tanks

  

Fly over

<Entrance to NASA Deep Space Tracking Station near Canberra.

Communication Dish.>

REAL MOON ROCK

<New Commer drivers safety suit/uniform.

From Canberra we headed back into Victoria to Bendigo and Ballarat.  We had heard of some large Gold nuggets being found near by and decided to try our luck at prospecting between the two towns.  So after a tour of the Bendigo town and equipping ourselves with the necessary maps and a Miners Right "Prospecting licence"  we headed into the forest for a week or two of camping out hunting for the elusive yellow.

Tram depot Bendigo

                                                               

Beautiful Bendigo, full of ornate buildings, statues and Oak trees.

First prospecting camp established.

In between reading comics the hunt for gold is on!

A four year old metal detecting,,,,,don't see that everyday!. 

A week later and no Gold,  so we packed up and moved closer to Ballarat to explore some of the abandoned Gold mines and the forests in the area.  The landscape is littered with shafts "diggings", you need to be careful where you step, especially in the long grass although most shafts are shallow some are 200+ft deep and not fenced or covered.  Tailing's piles are usually a good warning of how deep the mines are in the area.  Its hard to believe that during the Gold rush in the 1880's people where just picking up large nuggets of the surface and panning massive amounts out of creeks,  now it is extremely hard to find any at all and people spend many thousands of dollars on sophisticated metal detectors to increase their chances of success.  We have little chance with our antiquated equipment but we have found an enormous assortment of Relics/junk to keep us interested.

Ruins of the once extremely successful Jubillee Gold Mine near Ballarat.  

                    

   Light at the end of the tunnel

Exploring abandoned tunnels 

Yet another bush camp

Some pics of the scenic places we prospected.

Typical assortment of articraps found on a gold field.

Our pitifull Gold haul from detecting and panning.
Maybe we will do better in Tasmania.

Most of the main tracks around the goldfields are well used and in reasonable condition but many of the tracks to the abandoned mines are unmaintained and a 4WD vehicle is an advantage.

Slowly and carefully we were able to navigate many of the not to steep tracks but unfortunately the bumps, washouts and rough roads finally took there toll on the Commer and we had our first serious breakdown.

After another 4 days of prospecting we headed into Ballarat to see the attractions, rest and recharge.   As we navigated the old Commer over the wash outs and large rocks in the track that led out of the area we had been camping in, we heard a loud thump and the front left hand wheel took on a precarious 45deg lean.  We limped a further mile or two to a more reasonable gravel road where i was able to remove the front wheel to find the wishbone suspension mounting had snapped.  It was time to try out our RAC Ultimate brake down cover and 15 minutes later a yellow recovery vehicle that just happened to be on a nearby motorway came to our rescue.  The Commer was towed to Ballarat and the RAC provided us with a hire car and accommodation for a week while the repairs were carried out.  New parts were ordered from Mr Martin Maltas at Yorkshire Classic Campers in the UK and arrived in just 3 days.  Unfortunately we had to wait a further 6 days for the garage to fit them.  We learned that the suspension pin broke mainly due to lack of grease and metal fatigue.  The Commer has 19 grease nipples on the suspension/steering alone which need greasing every 3000Miles.  RAC ultimate cover is a lot more expensive than standard roadside assist but the entitlements are excellent and i strongly urge anyone considering a trip like this to have it, even if travelling in a modern vehicle.  We have seen many modern cars and 4wd vehicles breakdown,  The owner of an new ISUZU 4wd we met down the track told us how his car had only 4000klm on the clock and had to be recovered froma remote location due to an unidentified electrical fault.

All in all we were very lucky to break down here and not out in the remote outback.  Ballarat is a great city packed with history, beautiful buildings and plenty to see and do.  A true highlight of our trip so far.

Botanical gardens Ballarat

Sovereign Hill re-created historic mining town, filled with period shops, steam powered industrial workshops, real mine tours.  Its just incredible to see.    .

                                                                                                       

Kryal Castle also just brilliant 'a must see'

 Knights fighting and Jousting, The sword fight starts out harmless enough but then becomes quite unexpectedly violent.  Although trained actors one Knight received a nasty cut to his face which made the display surprisingly, very realistic. 

Sturt St.  Ballarat.

Double Decker buses, steam trains.  Pioneer towns and a massive theme part Castle just some of the attractions we witnessed while 'broken down in Ballarat'.  

With the Commer now repaired we headed straight for Melbourne and onto the ferry, The Spirit of Tasmania.

The ferry will take 12 hours to reach Tasmania, an island in the southern ocean and Australia's southern most state..  Parts of Tasmania are untouched by mining or deforestation and remain today beautiful wilderness.  We will spend the next 2-3 months exploring Tasmania.

 

 Tasmanian Ferry

Commer, snug in the hold  

Onward! to Tasmania!!

Click for the Commers current location.