January 2023 Caravan Shakedown

January 2023

Our new caravan requires a shakedown trip to get it all sorted out, to make sure everything works OK, and to ensure we have everything we need on board for our future trips. Read more

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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 4, 2023
- ☀️ 28 °C
- Altitude: 9 m
- Australia New South Wales Tweed Casuarina Casuarina Beach -28.309174, 153.57141128°18’33” S 153°34’17” E
Day 1
Day 1 - Noosa to Casuarina
January 4, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
First day of our trip travelling south to visit our friends Gordon and Lita at their beautiful beach home in Casuarina right on the foreshore with a 2 min walk to the beach. Very heavy traffic on the Gold Coast slowed us down but great to see our friends. Car went well and towed van like a dream.Read more
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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 5, 2023
- ⛅ 25 °C
- Altitude: 421 m
- Australia New South Wales Tamworth Municipality Nemingha Cockburn River -31.13, 151.01046731°7’48” S 151°0’38” E
Day 2
Day 2 - Casuarina to Tamworth
January 5, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Long drive today down the Pacific Hwy to Grafton for coffee, then the Gwydir Hwy over the mountains to Glen Innes for lunch, and finally the lovely New England Hwy to our free camp at Sunrise Cutting Horse Farmstay near Tamworth for BBQ dinner. A working farm with some of the property divided off for free camping. About 560km today with a lot of climbing. The car worked hard but did it with ease. Great scenery and cute country towns some of which will be explored more another time.Read more
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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 6, 2023
- 🌧 17 °C
- Altitude: 324 m
- Australia New South Wales Singleton High Wollemi Staircase Hill -33.030717, 150.6727533°1’51” S 150°40’22” E
Day 3
Day 3 - Tamworth to Yengo National Park
January 6, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
Up first thing to a sunny morning and a drive past Lake Keepit to Gunnedah to see the first of our Art Silos tour to which CK has been looking forward. This one is the famous “I love a Sunburnt Country” poem by Dorothea Mackellah penned in 1904 which became an Australian classic for generations of Australians. Painted by Heesco in 2020 it is a beautiful exhibit to a beautiful poem. Then to another painted silo nearby which was nice but not as spectacular.
The weather turned rainy so we kept moving until the Grey Gum Cafe in the Yengo National Park. A well-recommended free camp with a cafe that sells great food, but to our surprise this was closed due renovations underway. So we parked in a nice bush area nearby and had a pleasant night cooking fish and vegetables while listening to the light rain outside. A relaxing night with Chanel but no camp fire today.Read more
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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 7, 2023, 6:11pm
- ☀️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- Australia New South Wales Eurobodalla Narooma Bullengella Lake -36.247433, 150.1416536°14’51” S 150°8’30” E
Day 4
Day 4 - Yengo National Park to Narooma
January 7, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Today was a tough driving day. We wanted to miss the Sydney traffic and stay off the main roads. So we ended up taking the Northern Road that passes through the outer suburbs. Had a good run. But then we spent several hours in the hills and mountains with many road works and some rain showers. It was slow going and added at least an hour to our trip. Arriving on the east coast brought blue sky and sunshine and welcome stop at a nice caravan park 2 mins walk from Narooma Beach. A long 8 hours of driving today but the next days are all quite short. A well deserved BBQ is the aim tonight.
Phone internet connections have been surprisingly difficult which has been a frustration.Read more
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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 8, 2023, 8:23pm
- ☀️ 22 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- Australia New South Wales Bega Valley Millingandi -36.887432, 149.87217736°53’15” S 149°52’20” E
Day 5
Day 5 - Narooma to Merimbula
January 8, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
A beautiful morning so we started the day with breakfast and cappu at a Narooma cafe. Then a tour around Narooma with beautiful scenery and beaches. Packed up and headed south for Merimbula via the coast road. More spectacular scenery everywhere. Found a nice quiet free camp spot near Merimbula for the next 2 nights and will have a camp fire tonight. Then an afternoon drive around Merimbula, Pambula, and Eden. Interesting that Eden used to be a big whaling town in the 1800s. Being Sunday most retail places closed but we are here tomorrow too so I guess we will rectify that. Tonight is a full moon so a camp fire under the stars beckons…. A relaxing day after yesterdays long drive.Read more
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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 9, 2023, 5:17pm
- ☀️ 22 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- Australia New South Wales Bega Valley Millingandi -36.887417, 149.87218336°53’15” S 149°52’20” E
Day 6
Day 6 - Merimbula & the Sapphire Coast
January 9, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
A rest day today in sunny Merimbula. Some admin work first at the campsite and then took a drive up the Sapphire Coast. Went to a very nice cafe in Tathra reminiscent of Greece. Lovely scenery. Later headed south for a Sydney Rock Oyster lunch with prawn baguettes at the Oyster Barn overlooking the water in Merimbula. Very decedent! Attached photos include the before and after shots from lunch. Some grocery shopping and retail therapy in Merimbula before relaxing at the campsite over some vino. The area around here has wonderful picture postcard views and the water is a brilliant blue colour. A very pleasant relaxing day.Read more
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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 10, 2023, 5:06pm
- ⛅ 21 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- Australia Victoria East Gippsland Mallacoota Goat Island -37.560417, 149.75917137°33’38” S 149°45’33” E
Day 7
Day 7 - Merimbula to Mallacoota
January 10, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Great weather again! Had some small caravan teething problems to sort out this morning before leaving so got underway a little later than usual, but only a short 1.5 hour drive today to the Mallacoota Foreshore Holiday Park. This is reputed to be the largest caravan park in Australia with 1300 sites and would be full due to the school holidays!! A busy camp is not our scene so we were dubious about our one night stay here. However we managed to get a nice large site that was nice and not crowded. We still prefer our more secluded and open free camps. After setting up we took a tourist drive around Mallacoota seeing the sights of this small but picturesque fishing town famous for its abalone and pelicans. Tonight looks like it might be our first night out on this trip for dinner with Peking Duck on the menu!!

Post Script: Went to the restaurant and found the owner very upset with restaurant closed. Turns out the owner’s dog died today - very sad. So change of plans and Pizza instead of Peking Duck! Oh well, what to do…..Read more
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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 11, 2023, 5:48pm
- ☀️ 21 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- Australia Victoria East Gippsland Kalimna West Mississippi Creek -37.854713, 147.98461937°51’17” S 147°59’5” E
Day 8
Day 8 - Mallacoota to Lakes Entrance
January 11, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
A later start this morning due to meeting up with some friends who also happened to be staying at the Mallacoota Foreshore Holiday Park. Joy and Leigh are from Bacchus Marsh and have been coming to Mallacoota for decades. Coffee and a chat with them was the order of the day.
Then packed up and headed the 200km to Lakes Entrance which is the gateway to the largest and one of the most beautiful lake systems in Australia. 400 sq km of lakes and rivers and all entered via a narrow waterway at Lakes Entrance. We found a lovely free camp in the wine producing area of the Wyanga Park Winery. Access to this winery is either by road a minutes out of Lakes Entrance, or by boat from a jetty at the winery located on one of the river arms. A very nice quiet campsite with the winery offering a Cafe, a Restaurant, and of course wine tasting. All these will be sampled tomorrow. Weather sunny today but quite windy.Read more
Traveler Hi, would you share some tips how to find this campsite? I figured a lot of campsites are just not shown on wikimaps app, a lot of free one missed out as well.
12/5/23Reply
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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 12, 2023, 3:04pm
- ⛅ 24 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- Australia Victoria East Gippsland Kalimna West Mississippi Creek -37.85466, 147.98481837°51’17” S 147°59’5” E
Day 9
Day 9 - Lakes Entrance
January 12, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
A relaxing rest day with fantastic weather. Our free camp spot at the Wyanda Winery is really lovely with beautiful peaceful tree-lined surroundings. After a sleep-in we started the day at the winery cafe with a cappu and Devonshire tea for a light brunch. We then headed off to see some of the sights in the areas around Lakes Entrance. Lake Tyers Beach was a disappointment. Scenery was nothing special and the air had a strong seaweed smell everywhere. It was low tide. So we left and headed west to a place we had not heard of before - Metung. Wow! What a surprise! Situated on the shores of a large lake this is a lovely small upmarket town with a very large array of privately owned and in many cases expensive boats, clean well manicured gardens and town facilities, and a wide variety of boutique shops, cafes, and clubs. It reminded us of some of the boating towns in the USA. CK was facia red with the black swans as she has never seen these before. We took a long walk along the wooden boardwalk that runs alongside the lake. A really great spot to visit!
Lakes Entrance has several excellent lookouts that overlook the lake areas. Coming back to our campsite we participated in a wine tasting at the winery which of course led to purchasing a few bottles,
Tomorrow we head off to Melbourne to spend 6 days with family and friends which will be very nice. So tonight we treated ourselves to a nice romantic seafood chowder dinner for two at the winery restaurant to celebrate a successful trip south with the caravan and we look forward to our inland trip back up north after our stay in Melbourne. By the time we reach Melbourne we will have travelled about 2700km so far on this trip.Read more
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Traveler January 2023 Caravan Shakedown
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- Jan 13, 2023, 10:05pm
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 17 m
- Australia Victoria Melbourne Wyndham Vale -37.912076, 144.63800637°54’43” S 144°38’17” E
Day 10
Day 10 - Lakes Entrance to Melbourne
January 13, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Up early today for a 7am departure. A 4-hour drive first to Dandenong where some work was done on the caravan. Then off to Sandringham to have lunch and coffee with Peter’s sister and husband before completing the journey over the Westgate Bridge in the afternoon peak hour (oh joy for joy)😳 to Pete’s other sister’s house in Werribee. We will stay here for the next 6 days while visiting family and friends.
One of the main objectives of this trip is the shakedown of our caravan to get used to using it, finding out what works, what doesn’t work, what we need, and what we don’t need. Overall the van has gone very well and is very comfortable. We are very happy with it. Nevertheless we have had a couple of problems. The shower drained very slowly and would fill with water when the kitchen or bathroom sinks were used. This was a real nuisance. A faulty Hepvo valve was found to be the cause and today it was replaced under warranty in Dandenong. The Enerdrive DV2DC charger has also had a problem and is not charging the batteries from the car alternator. We think the cause is a faulty charger, however we have loads of solar (920W) on board which has kept the batteries fully charged. So we will wait until returning home before having this fixed.
For the next 6 days until 19 January we will be visiting family and friends in Melbourne. So we do not intend uploading any more travel blogs until 19 January when our trip back to Noosa commences again. Our blogs will resume from 19 January.Read more
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