Update for March 2013

March Update,

3 Months and 6350 Miles since leaving home and the Commer is still going strong!.

During March we traveled north through central NSW, stopping at many beautiful and interesting places.

One place of interest was Dubbo, famous for its open range ZOO.  You can either hire a safari buggy or drive around the Zoo in you own vehicle.  As the entry ticket gave you two days admission we did both and it was fantastic you would swear you were on the Savannah and we got some great shots of the animals and the Commer on Safari.  

  Commer on Safari,

The crew enjoying the wildlife.

On an early morning walk on the edge of town i passed through an abandoned Drive in Theater.   These Theaters were extremely popular in the 60/70's and almost every city in Australia had at least one,  Today  unfortunately very few still operate.  Dubbo's West View  Drive in could park 550 cars and had snack bar and playground and must have been a wonderful place to spend a hot summers night with the family.

Closed for 30 years now and destined to become a shopping center, i was amazed by the condition of the facility.  The buildings were open and as left 30 years ago. Luckily very little vandalism had taken place and dust covered session schedules still sat on the snack bar counter.  The last screening was the Poseidon Adventure. This really was a fantastic place and i felt so sad to see it left unused and soon to be demolished.

 Abandoned Drive In, closed for 30 years,  Speakers still on posts.

 Session schedules still on counter.

Check out the menu board prices.

 Children's playground complete with mary go around 

Session Schedule

After leaving Dubbo we visited yet another Radio Telescope array near Narabri,  This facility had six huge dishes on a rail network and can detect signals from space of less than one/one hundredth of a millionth of a Watt---WOW!--.  That explains one reason why these facility's are in such remote areas as even a mobile phone can cause chaos with such sensitive equipment.  My interest in Radio Astronomy has been sparked by our visits to these facility's and perhaps i can see a home brew mobile receiver station strapped to the top of a Commer?? Maybe not,  But will give it some thought, Stay tuned..

2 of  6 Rail mounted Radio Telescopes near Narabri NSW.

Next we moved on to one of the most iconic-ally Australian places in the country, Lightning Ridge.

Lightning Ridge is a small town built amongst and to support hundreds of small privately owned Opal Mine claims.

Piles of dirt mask the landscape and one has to step carefully as mine shafts are scattered everywhere in a kind of confusing chaos as to who owns which claim.  Dusty miners can be seen working their claims or driving old trucks around town.  Its an extremely hard life but for those successful in their search the Australian Opal is a highly prized gem and even a small find can be highly rewarding. 

Of course we had to give it a go, so it was out with the pans and pics and of to do some fossicing. 

At the end of a days hard work in the hot sun we retreated to our camp with just a small vial of opal chips of almost no value at all, but a great souvenir all the same.

 Wheres the Opals Dad?

 Exploring Mines

An Opal field Pub.

All this hunting for Opals had put us in the mood to seek out more of Australia's valuable minerals so a few hundred miles later and we camped in a very picturesque spot on the banks of  a creek near Inverell and the hunt for Sapphires,  Ruby's and Diamonds was on.

Again two days later we departed with just a few tiny specs to add to our souvenir cabinet but what a beautiful place it was to spend a couple of days working the creek.

 No one around for miles, just us, and the hunt for those elusive gem stones.

  

Baxter's Mini Mining Co

Not quite the mother load,, but pretty just the same.

We are ending March on the Gold Coast visiting the theme parks and enjoying the vibrant atmosphere,
Amelia was so excited during our visit to Movie World and she even got to meet her heros Shaggy and Scooby Doo as well as Dora the explorer at Sea World .  We all enjoyed them so much that we went to both parks twice.  Amanda had a surprise morning install for me at a shooting academy where i even got to play with "and shoot " 44 Magnum hand guns,  All great noisy fun.

Amelia meeting her heros 

A major highlight of our time on the Gold Coast was finally meeting another Commer and his owners Kane and Dani who had been following this blog and had invited us to visit them once we arrived on the Gold Coast.  Humphrey "the Commer" had just finished being restored and he looks totally fantastic a testament to his owners hard work.  Humphrey had also toured Europe before finally being imported into Australia a great camper and it was awesome to meet him and his owners.

Humphrey a 68 Wanderer Conversion.

Don't they just make a lovely couple?

Have a safe and happy Easter everyone!!

DSLH 6350 Miles
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February update

FEBRUARY UPDATE!! 

DSLH 3970 Miles

With the end of February we find ourselves now in Central NSW.

After leaving Victor Harbor we continued along the coast and crossed the boarder into Victoria visiting all the beautiful coastal towns along the way. We camped in the Glenelg National park and launched our small boat to explore the spectacular Glenelg river.

Amanda even caught a couple of Brim from the bank by our campsite.   I would strongly recommend the south coast of SA/VIC  to anybody looking to plan their next holiday,  it is a very picturesque coastline dotted with beautiful towns with attractive names like, Port fairy, Nelson,  Portland and Apollo Bay. We followed the Great Ocean road around past the Twelve Apostles and then headed north visiting Colac and onto Geelong.  We also caught up with Nanna & Pop "Amandas parents" who are also on tour in Victoria at the time.  It was great to see them and see some sights together,  hopefully we will catch up again down the track.   

We continued north over the next few weeks camping in forests and reserves as much as possible and enjoying the scenery and wildlife that we encountered each day.  Being a bit of a Military enthusiast,  we paid a visit to Puckapunyal Army Base and after gaining the necessary passes at the gate we visited the amazing collection of Tanks and armored vehicles on display at the base.

The collection boasts to be the largest in the southern hemisphere including a WW1 Wallowing Willy, photos of some of the Tanks are below.  We camped for two nights at Major creek at one end of the Military firing range and i was reminded of nights at my Grandparents house near Salisbury Plain laying in bed listening to the sound of artillery pounding away in the distance. 

Some more time was spent camping on the mighty Murray River before crossing the next boarder into NSW. 

Again the Commer has performed admirably with no major problems, although not without a few challenges to keep me busy with the tools.  We had a hill that she did not want to climb and after reversing the Commer and trailer half a mile back down "twice!!".  On the third attempt with a long run up, engine screaming and Amanda walking and the water tanks emptied to lighten the load, she finally chugged  over the peak.  It also appears that Rootes painted the inside of the fuel tank with a protective film which is now being stripped off by additives in modern fuels and is blocking up the fuel system. This took some diagnosing, at first i thought the fuel filter was blocked so changed it with a spare.  Then i thought maybe the new electric fuel pump had packed in, so reconnected the original AC Delco pump.  I was able to temporarily get us going again by blowing compressed air down the fuel line to clear the blockages .  Finally at our campsite i removed the fuel tank and cleaned it out best i could.  This is only a temporary fix as much of the decaying liner is still in the tank and is going to need to be removed. 

On the next morning after cleaning out the tank we ran into a bog miles from anywhere and the Commer sunk in.  Luckily i had equipped us for such an occasion  and we got the recovery gear dirty for the first time.  After some time digging and pushing it was out with two sections of roll out track and a 4.5 Ton hand winch,,  The tracks sank in the clay but finally the winch slowly pulled her out.

Great team work by Amanda and I and all part of the adventure in a 43 year old English Bus.

 VIC Boarder

 Sink Hole

 The boat is finally off the trailer, up the right way and in the water!!!

London Bridge, Great Ocean Road 

 12 Apostles, G,O,R

 Fun day out with Nanna & Pop!, 

 The Mighty Matilda,  still fancy that name for the Commer!!

 The Russian Beasts of war.

Camp site, Murray River

 Bush Mechanic at work, Cleaning out blocked / gummed up fuel tank.

 Stuck in  the mud after rain softens track.

Almost out!,

 Digging, pushing, & Max Tracks have failed, time to abandon trailer and winch her out.

The Big Strawberry, Cobram NSW

Famous Parkes Radio Telescope. NSW

Distance since leaving home  3970 MILES

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JANUARY UPDATE

Our Commer WINS TROPHY!! in South Australian Car Show.

After crossing into South Australia we spent the rest of January exploring some of the states beautiful towns and we met many fantastic and some very interesting people along the way.

From Ceduna we moved down to Streaky Bay then onto Whyalla,  again the thermometer soared into the high thirties so we decided to head south once more back to cooler weather.
On the way to Adelaide we stopped for a couple of days at Port Pirie which has the worlds largest Lead smelter and quite an attractive town "apart from the smelter of course."
From there we moved onto Adelaide and spent the next 4 days taking in the sights.  During a bush walk in the hills east of Adelaide Amanda, our wildlife photographer, took some great shots of Koalas in their natural environment.  We also visited the National Motor Museum and were given privileged parking on the forecourt.
With the Australia day long weekend now upon us we had to leave Adelaide as all caravan parks were pre booked out and the holiday rush had set in.
So we moved on to Waitinga beach on the south coast and set up a camp in the bush to spend a further 4 days and "wait" out the holiday peak time.  This lull in our travelling gave me some time for some maintenance and the Commer got a well needed oil and filter change and her many nipples greased.

We ended the month in Victor Harbor, a very pretty town and popular tourist destination with steam trains, horse drawn tram and paddle steamers nearby just to mention a few of the towns attractions.
It is a beautiful place to visit, so we stayed a week.  During our stay the Historical Vehicle Club of  SA was holding a Classic/Vintage car show and a Vintage Auto Jumble.  So, after a good clean up and a trip to the Auto Parts store for some polish we decided to enter the Commer and see what the locals would think of her.
There were many beautifully restored and unique vehicles on display and i didn't expect to win any of the categories with such a high quality display of vehicles present.  However interest from the locals had kept me busy answering questions and showing people over her.
Whilst drinking a coffee in the canteen area i was very surprised to hear the PA announce that the "owner of the Commer Bus from WA" was required at the winners tent.  It was a very proud moment to receive the trophy from the president of the HVCSA and from the boys at Shannons classic car insurance. We won "Best Commercial Vehicle" an unexpected victory especially with some of the older and very unique vans and light trucks on display.
A great way to end our stay at Victor Harbor.
.

The only Commer on show here!

Well spotted Amanda.

Vintage Tram, Victor Harbor

The proud winners!!!

At the show.

Distance since leaving home 2765 Miles
No major mechanical problems as yet. The 1724cc Rootes motor is chugging & tapping away happily. "TOUCH WOOD!"

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Crossed the Nullarbor

10th-13th January 

Crossed the Nullabor Plain.

One section of the Plain,
perfectly straight and flat for 90miles.

We have just successfully crossed the Nullabor,  A 1200klm arid desert plain that spands from Norseman in Western Australia to Ceduna in South Australia with only a hand  full of roadhouses in between. Our fully loaded old Commer performed admirably.  With no fresh water supplies freely available for the full 1200klm we were extra heavily loaded with 100liters of water and extra fuel on board.  We tried to maintain our full cruise speed of 75-80kph (50MPH) for 8 hours on the first day and for 5 hours per day on days 2,3,4.  Hills and strong head winds slowed us down considerably at times but all in all it was a great trip.  We witnessed a few modern cars and 4wd vehicles that failed along the way and had to complete the crossing on the back of recovery lorries albeit after very long waits on the side of the hwy for help.
We spent the nights camped in some desolate but beautiful places.  We spent one night parked on the edge of a cliff in the Great Australian Bight enjoying the spectacular scenery, and a couple of  nights camped on the plain.
We saw wild horses and a Dingo curiously circled one of our campsites.  Amanda shot a great photo of a Wedgetail Eagle that swooped in front of our slow moving bus.  It was a great relief to finally reach Ceduna under our own steam as vehicle recovery costs on the Nullabor are extremely high and many abandoned vehicles can be seen along its length.
We will rest in Ceduna for the next few days and clean up our now very dirty and dusty old bus before moving on to explore SA.

Wedgetail Eagle

The Nullabor through our eyes.

SA, WA Border

Plenty of large trucks for us to get in the way of.

Is it a highway or a zoo?

Coastal camp site.

Camp Sunrise. 

NULLABOR IS FROM LATIN MEANING,
NULL - NO
ABOR- TREES

There are trees, as you can see in the pictures,  just not very many.

Distance since leaving home - 1480miles

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December Update

 lake Dumbleyoung in the background where Donald Malcolm Campbell set a water speed record in 1964

Distance since leaving home 567miles

After a fantastic time visiting family and friends for Christmas we made our way towards Esperance exploring some of the massive salt lakes along the way. We camped a night at Lake Dumbleyoung made famous by Donald Malcolm Campbell's world famous water speed record in 1964 of 276.3 MPH. 

The lake, now almost totally dried out was a beautiful and interesting rest point but with the day time temperature exceeding 40%C it was nice to head south again and back towards the coast. 

The Commer has found the heat hard going and highlighted the need for an electric fuel pump to be fitted to reduce the annoying fuel vapor locks on hot days that make engine restarts very difficult.  The heatwave WA is experiencing at present is a good initiation for us as we prepare to cross the Nullabor Plain "684miles of arid desert country" in the old girl in the coming weeks.

Departing Nannup after XMAS with family.

Crossing Lake King

At 50MPH,   With thousands of Miles to go.
Are we there yet??
Are we there yet??

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DSLH -567Miles

The Adventure 
has began.

Having left our home on the 28th Nov, we are now at our bush campsite on privately owned vacant land near the Stirling Range National  Park and Porongurups.  We will spend the next two weeks here while Amanda completes her employment contract in the area before moving on to visit family in Nannup 160 miles away for Xmas.  From Nannup we will say goodbye to family and friends and make our way east.

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Distance since leaving home : 64 Miles.