Wild Guy

 

I once went bush waking (with a friend) through Guy Fawkes National Park. We camped at Marengo Creek near where it joins Guy Fawkes River in New South Wales : 30.125211 degrees South, 152.301443 degrees West.

I went for a swim in the creek in a large basin. The circular hole was made made by a fallen tree when its roots lifted from the earth. As I cooled off in the water up to my neck, small fish swam up and began to nibble at my skin - it was a strange tickling sensation and very enjoyable.

Holiday Home

 

A'van Cruiser

This was our home for five weeks. The walls and roof fold to make a trailer. We think of it as a luxury tent.

Garage length - 5200mm

Interior Length - 3615mm 

Interior width - 2000mm

Maximum gross mass - 1205kg

To correctly calculate the tyre pressure for a caravan see - https://www.gnschassis.com.au/tyre-pressure-calculator/

Services - water tank, cooktop,  microwave, fridge/freezer, hot water, air conditioning, water pump, radio/CD player, 240V socket, outlets, 12V socket outlets, lighting.

Energy sources - 

1) 240V 15 amp mains power for everything except cooktop

2) Photovoltaic panel and battery - for water pump, radio/CD player, 240V socket, outlets, 12V socket outlets, lighting

3) LPG (2x4kg) - for cooktop, fridge/freezer, hot water.

Telecommunications country wide

 When I crossed the Great Dividing Range into western Queensland I soon found that my mobile telephone no longer worked. It is such a common problem that the tourist information centre I visited had maps on hand to explain it all - only Telstra works outback. Only Telstra SIM cards are sold at the shops.

Years ago I had transferred my number from Telstra to Belong (a discount brand from Telstra) in order to get more data at a reasonable price. I had thought that Belong - being owned by Telstra would work. I was wrong. 

In the meantime Telstra now includes a enough data for my purposes in its plans (not a huge amount) so I have switched back.

DRCS mast at Larks Quarry

Early in my career I was a member of the team that automated outback communications with the Digital Radio Concentrator System. I enjoyed seeing the tall masts in remote places.

Take me home country roads...

 

Heading home on the Australian Country Way - after 5 weeks in outback Queensland it's time to head home.

Booming chimes

In Barcaldine giant wooden chimes sound over the Tree of Knowledge -

We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.

Moon rise

I caught a full moon rising through cloud a couple of days ago.

Apart from that it's pretty good

This quote on the wall of the Stockman Hall of Fame is a wry summary of the outback - the flies, and the bulldust, and the empty bellies, .and the rain that can soak your bones to a chill.

Corellas Outback

Corellas circling in Hughenden are magnificent.

Transistor hoard

Locked down in my home I have cleaned my workshop and cleaned my study.
I thought that I had never taken an inventory of my radios -
I found thirteen - all sorts from pocket sized to the AWA model for the outback (see photo).

In testing there was one that has poor AM reception but good FM reception - so my next project is to fix it.