Commer Van OZ Tour July update.

Touring Australia in a 1970 Commer Van.
July update.

Distance since leaving home 13100 Miles

Amanda's first wildlife shots for the month,
Tasmanian Devils

The big Tassie Devil
at Mole Creek

Tasmania is incredible, arguably the most scenic of the Australian states.  Much of the west of the island is only accessible on foot or by helicopter. Mountainous ranges and preserved ancient forests add to the islands mysterious beauty.  Many parts are World Heritage areas and in early July we visited one of these spectacular national treasures.  Cradle Mountain and Lake Sinclair National Park.  Here at an elevation of 3540+ft we had our first introduction to heavy snow fall during the trip so far.  It was the first time Amelia has seen snow and a lot of fun was had with snow ball fights and snowman building, a great experience that i am sure she wont ever forget.

  Awoke to first snow fall near Mt Rowland             

                                            

                  Down to 10mph on the steepest parts, Commer working hard to pull the trailer up the Mountain in the heavy snow fall.                                                

 Dove Lake at Cradle Mountain

Commer Vs black ice and loosing.
Time to use the chains.

Snowy, slippery mountain roads.

The crew enjoying the winter wonderland.

After two nights camping at -5c we retreated to the comfort of a cabin to thaw out.

Amelia doing some de-icing

Commer moving around freely now with the snow chains fitted.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

An Introduction to snow fun.

Devil in the snow.

A very cold Commer.

 Snow ball wars,  what fun!

Leaving the snowy mountains behind we headed back to the east coast for some warmer weather and to explore Maria Island.  The island was originally a convict settlement and penal colony and later during the industrial age was a major producer of cement, silk and other resources.  Now a scenic national park, the remains of the islands dark past are still visible on the picturesque landscape.

Exterminate! Exterminate.
Dalek, near Cradle Valley.

Another ferry trip.

Picturesque Maria Island.

Industrial ruins,
That were fun to explore.

Island inhabitants,  friendly Wombats.

The Cape Barren Goose.


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DSLH=13100Miles

Check out, The Commer Depo

Commer van oz tour June update

Six months into our tour of Australia in a classic Commer Van 
June update
Tasmania

DSLH 12300 Miles

The 12 hour ferry trip from the mainland was rougher than we expected with 6-7 meter swells making it amusing to walk around the ship.  There were plenty of green faces including Amanda's.  Amelia thought it was like a wobbly roller coaster and exhausted from the day she and I slept for the most of the trip. 

Upon arrival in Devonport I opened the trailer doors for quarantine/border inspection to discover the contents of the trailer looked as though it had been turned upside down and shaken.  Although both the trailer and Commer had been chained to the deck, they had still received quite a rough ride.

The Commers badly worn tyres would be of little use in the ice and snow of the Tasmanian highlands. So new tyres were sought while we were in Devonport.  It has been getting harder to acquire the original bias ply 700x15 10 ply's but to our surprise a local tyre fitter still had a set in stock.
Fitted with new tyres and armed with snow chains and cosy electric heating powered from our generator,  we are now ready for a camping tour of Tasmania in winter.
We headed off, making our way along the north coast and then down the east coast to Swansea camping in some beautiful places along the way.  The peak holiday season now over, Tasmania is settling down for the winter and we find ourselves alone at most of the camp sites and attractions.

The roads are also quieter which is great for the Commer to chug along at her own pace "slow" without being a hindrance to many modern motorists. Tas is a mountainous state and i am a little anxious about the Commers ability to pull our heavy trailer on the steep hills.

Tasmania is home to dense sub tropical rain forests.

Blue Lake north eastern Tas.

Breathtaking scenery

Sunrise in Swansea.

Huge tree ferns, ancient forests and pure water.
Truly a place that time has forgot,

A very rickety bridge that groaned a little as we drove across but still has a few years left in it yet.

Forest falls.


In mid June I wanted to carry out some more much needed maintenance and repairs to better prepare the Commer for the upcoming cold weather and steep hills.
We have been having problems with the timing frequently requiring adjustment, partly due to modern low octane fuels causing pinging which was made worse by the hills and higher octane fuels not being as readily available in rural areas of Tasmania and also the distributor is very worn.  We still have the snake skin problem with the fuel tank which we have been managing with regular filter changes.
I am also slightly embarrassed by my reversing the trailer into a large tree and damaging the tow hitch mountings.

Repairing damaged tow hitch
and cleaning out fuel tank

So although it was time to stop for a maintenance day or two i am still very pleased with the Commers performance.  We meet and chat with many other travelers and laugh at the astonishment on peoples faces when they hear how far we have come in the old Commer, many have never even heard of a Commer and almost all have new/modern vehicles.












Running smoothly again with all roadside repairs completed,  next stop was beautiful Bruny Island just of the coast of Hobart.

We spent four days touring and camping this 100klm long island.  On one cold evening we went looking for Penguins that inhabit the island and just as we were about to retreat to our camp site our patience was rewarded and our on board photographer added some more great wildlife shots to the album.

Visiting an Island off an Island off a very large Island.

Bruney Island Lighthouse

Coastal lookout

On the lookout for Penguins?

The Fairy Penguin

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   Distance since leaving home 12300 Miles

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!!

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