Unexpected but happy news

Without due consultation with us, our daughter and her husband are expecting their second child, our #3 grandperson!

We've been in and shuffled the schedule, something which I guess is going to happen pretty often, and have booked some cheap flights home from Darwin to see the expected launch of the new cherub.

Preparing the BMW X5

What, I ask myself, should i be doing to this car in preparation for this trip?

Tyres
I know it needs new tyres, I've been putting it of as long as possible so that they will be as fresh as possible when we set off. What tyres will I get? When we bought the X5 it was running Michelin tyres. I had to replace two due to an unrepairable puncture of one (isn't that always the way) and I bought Bridgestones. The Bridgestones are all but worn out, the Michelins are still hanging on - I estimate that the Michelins have done 90k, the Bridgestones 40K.

We are not planning on too many dirt roads, maybe ones out to the big attractions, well used, frequently travelled type ones, so highway tyres should be good.

So, I'm going to buy a new set of Michelins I'd reckon.

Spare Wheel/Tyre
Do we need to carry more that the one spare for either the car or the van (duel axle)? I have spare rims and tyres and could take them, but they would have to travel on a roof rack / basket and I wonder how safe they are from either working loose and falling off, or disappearing in the night and going to someone else's home.

I'm keeping my options open on this. I could probably fit a second spare to the rear bar of the van, but I'm already concerned about overloading - start early with the worry, cull anything that isn't necessary. The car is registered to tow 2700kg, the van has a tare of 1660kg and 450kg load making 2110kg total, and I'd be comfortable with that.

Anyone have any comments regarding wheels / tyres?

my camera stopped working, but...

when i went looking i found the main battery cable, the one that keeps the batteries charged in the van as you toddle along, was a charred ruin where it had fallen on the exhaust pipe. Oh dear!

Not to worry, pulled the cable out and had another one made, which I then reinstalled. All good.

Turned my attention to the camera. Tested the rest of the setup by plugging the van camera into the car camera plug-hole. All OK. Made an inquiry at Safety Dave's from whom I bought the reversing camera kit at the big outdoor and RV show at Rosehill racecourse earlier this year. Within minutes Dave himself has responded on the phone and will swap the camera over, all I have to do is stick the old one in a bag and post it. Done. My dealings with SafetyDave so far have been fantastic. They swapped the original monitor over as it was too big for the X5 and then the cable for the van as it wasn't long enough. Nothing's a problem, they are just friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. I'd been looking and thinking about reversing camera for a while, and I have to admit, their salesman is really good - iceblocks to Inuits type - and I wondered all the way home if I hadn't been stitched up at the show for my $399. But I'm happy to report that they are good, solid and sound.

I installed it all myself, but that's another tale...

at last the house sitting is settled

Yes, when we finally got it together, we were swamped with offers, both local and oversees. We chose a few, met them over coffees and made a decision. We offered, they accepted and have even been around to shake paws with the cat.

We can now start to finalise a bunch of other stuff, right after we finish the current house renovations

at last, some action on the house sitting front

Finally got our advert up on the house sitters site and now we are literally being flooded with responses. Made arrangements to meet a few that sound interesting. Let's see how this pans out...

well, maybe there are..

After a bit of a wait, our advertisement on http://www.aussiehousesitters.com.au/ may now be working, we've had two contacts in 24 hours, so maybe this will all work out after all!

I hope so, the more we look into this trip, the more exciting it gets

are there any house-sitters out there?

I just don't understand it, you'd think that someone offering free accommodation in exchange for a little cat minding would be swamped with offers. But no, even ones who were recommended to us seem to have gone to ground. Was it something I said?

hunting for house sitters

Finding someone to come and live rent free in your house sounds like it should be easy enough, just ask around, check the websites and make contact!

It should be that easy, but we've fallen at the first hurdle - we have failed to get anyone to even respond.

We'll given them all another day before we widen the net.

... all set to take on the big one...

Well, let's be honest - we have decided to make the big trip from Canberra, out to Broken Hill, Down to Port Augusta, up the guts to Darwin, side trip to Broome and back, then finish off coming back across through Queensland and holing up at Tweed Heads for a month of R&R. We guess at 5-6 months away, at least that's our working theory.

Making that decision is one thing - being ready is another thing entirely.

The obvious things jump to mind:

• What about the cat?
• What about the house?
• What about the bills?
• What about the family?
• What about the van?
• What about the car?
• What about getting into caravan parks?

We asked around a few friends and acquaintances, the answers are straight forward, if not particularly simple:

• Get a house sitter who minds cats
• Get all the bills on-line
• We'll have to cope without them, and we can factor in emergency flights home
• Get the van fully serviced and give special instructions that it's a big trip
• Get the car fully serviced, get advice on self-service and service in other cities
• Do the research as to where to go, what to see and where to stay. Make a choice and book early

But, what about...? Yes, well too many things top think about, getting the house sat seems to be a priority this far out. We've had suggestions and there are a couple of websites with plenty of possibilities.

So, let the journey begin...

In the beginning...

Getting started was simple enough, we had a rush of blood to the brain and bought a van...

Us and our 3yo Nova Caravan

... and then we bought a vehicle to tow the thing. 

2006 BMW X5 3.0 Diesel

We took a few small steps getting to grips with the concept of caravanning, then we took some bigger ones, up to six weeks at a time.

The van was found in Shepparton, where we had gone to look at a used Jayco, which was 'orrible. On our way out we stopped at the Tourist Info Centre and asked about caravan sales yards, of which there are two. We opted for the one north of town and found a big old shed with a few vans parked out the front. On closer inspection three of them were locked, one was a huge off road setup and then we came to this. Basically it was 'love' at first sight. It had nothing we thought we needed such as the full size stove, separate freezer or toilet and shower, but one look was enough to convince us that what this van had, was what we wanted. The sign said "... or offer". The little man ummed and arhed at my offer. He counter-offered. I told him to sharpen his pencil and pointed at the sign which clearly said "or offer". You'd think I was cutting his arm off - if they don't want to take less, then don't suggest that you can make an offer - it's that easy. We negotiated and the deal was struck. We only had one tiny problem, we didn't have a vehicle to tow the thing with, our trusty V8 Fairlane certainly wasn't going to be up to it. The van for those so inclined, is 17'6" (actually its 18'6" as we discovered later) and its Tare is 1660 kilograms. They agreed to park it out back and mind it for us for a few weeks.

We had been looking for a BMW X5 Diesel for a few months, and were on a promise from a member of the white-shoe brigade. In the interim, my brother kindly lent me his Land Rover Discovery II, 2.5 litre 5 cylinder, manual, diesel and off we went to bring it home. We are very thankful for the use of the vehicle, but it showed me one thing - we'd need something bigger than the Disco to tow it comfortably.

Eventually an X5 that suited my needs came up on one of the car sales web sites: a 2004 3litre diesel, auto. One owner, low miles. I flew from Canberra to Adelaide to check it out and again, a deal was struck. The attraction of the 2004 X5 was: its a 3 litre six diesel, it's a six speed auto, it was the first of the 'update' series, and being 5 years old, was a semi-sensible price. Also, it's a mid-range truck, not a baby toy nor a goliath. Rated to tow 2700kg and with 400 Nm of torque, it sounded perfect. Oh, and it's a BMW, which I happen to fancy as we've had a few over the years and they have all been solid, comfortable and reliable.

My first surprise was that i filled it up in Adelaide, all 90litres, and drove it right home to Canberra on the one tank. Having been used to the Fairlane needing refreshments every hour, i was suitably impressed.

Now we have covered 17,000 kilometres, up and down the east coast and Tasmania, in all kinds of weather, all kinds of terrain, and i'm still delighted with it. We get 9 l/100k around town without the van and 14.5 litres towing at all kinds of speed. The sheer pulling power has never ceased to amaze me. We're in Canberra, so the coast for us includes the notorious Clyde Mountain. No drama here, but had to dip into 2nd gear once coming up. The whole rig is so stable I ditched the Hayman Reese weight distribution hitch as too much trouble.

So there we are, all set to take on the big one.