Clowning Around NZ & Australia: Bundaberg Surprises.

We came over to Australia with the idea of spending more time over here doing some motorhoming. So this is the research trip!

The Apollo virtually brand new 7.7M Mercedes Motorhome we rented in Brisbane for 45days has been quite an experience.

We were told that we’d have to connect to 240 volts every second or third day to keep the battery charged, but this hasn’t been the case.

We have kept electricity usage to a minimum while parked up. We also kept the fridge on gas so this helped a lot too.

In spite of this being a new Motorhome and a Mercedes at that, give us our old 1987 Toyota Coaster every time! Fuel consumption, diesel wise we are using around 13ltrs per 100kms, about the same as our bus in NZ. These Apollo campers are poorly set up for living in and storing things. We found the cups which rattled around in the drawer for half a day till we had a cuppa were all chipped. Because this vehicle is so high, going into slightly rough campgrounds or even over a simple gutter going into supermarkets etc, throws the contents around inside the top cupboards. We had one of the top doors (to the switch board) fall of while we were driving. Another cupboard door also came adrift, the toaster grill wouldn’t light by the spark igniter and therefore had to use matches. To fill water into the bus they did not supply a fitting that is necessary to fill with water. The grey water tank tap had been left open and only found this out when I went to drain the grey water after about a week!

We checked out some what we thought would be good Toyota Coaster Motorhomes at Slacks Creek near Brisbane. We found them good but very expensive. Our chats to people around campfires and in campgrounds led us to think about caravans. In Australia they are much more common and seem to fit this environment better. To be able to park up for a few days unhitch the car, travel around to national parks for walks and or bike rides, also to go into town to pub or a movie and to explore the little back country roads, or go on 4wd roads and tracks with or without a caravan seemed to be the way to go and would not limit where we go in comparison to a 6-7 metre motorhome.

So we started looking at caravans in Bundaberg. There are three caravan sales yards in Bundaberg and we checked out two at the end of a day’s travels.

We parked up near the airport and I happened to find the third and last Caravan sales yard walking to the Supermarket.

We liked what we saw, and returned the next day, to explore more, and we ended up by ordering a 16 ft Jayco Journey Outback (16.67-5 OB)

We also ordered a few extras like a longer drawbar, a reversing camera (two views), and a water filter. Added another solar panel which will take us up to 320w. We also specified seat fabrics and countertop and splash back colours.

This is a pop top Caravan, which has better ventilation in hot summer conditions. We also chose the single axle and upgraded to a stronger chassis and independent coil springs. All of this will be better if we do some outback touring on the dirt roads.

We will not have a microwave and this space may become a pull out sliding pantry unit.

We also added a few extra electrical outlets as these are much easier to put in at manufacture!

I have already decided to make a new little tabletop and also add little classy details to doors and drawers etc to make it special and more comfortable.

We will be picking it up in Bundaberg in September and will therefore return for a month’s shakedown trip to get it all sorted ready to start Aussie adventures in earnest!

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Back to the current trip.

Below is this Landrover in Childers, and living proof that Crocodile Dundee characters still do exist in Australia.

I asked if I could take some photos and ended up chatting to him about all sorts of Outback topics.

This is Eddie, who works looking after Cattle Stations when the owners go away for a holiday.

He’s never had a holiday himself, he’s gonna start to take them at 75 when he’s got a block of land and can then sit back!

He doesn’t like herding cattle by helicopters or quad bikes or even dogs, and prefers horses and bulldozers.

These outback stations have fully equipped workshops and can strip down motors, weld anything and fix everything!

I did some busking outside the pub on the corner, with these wonderful stainless steel sculptures.

The patrons inside the pub came out and visited....then the publican came out and asked if I could play Happy Birthday, which I could.

So he lit a sparkler outside the Pub...stuck it into a chocolate muffin and in we marched, to present and sing Happy Birthday to one of the patrons at the Bar.

The Childers Art Gallery had a wonderful Touring Exhibiton by an Aboriginal Painter by the name of Vincent Serico.

This was the first gallery of the various other galleries it will tour around Queenland.

Vincent died in 2006 and some of these painting go back 40 years.

The footpaths have great mosiacs set in them.

The Old Pharmacy (full of medicines and medical implements from the early 1900s) was bought and saved by the council back in the 70s and it’s staffed by volunteers.

Yes Childers is a great little town on the Bruce Highway.