Green & Wet

Driving from Moree to Bourke, the Gwydir Highway then Kamilaroi Highway, there was much less traffic than Toowoomba to Moree. Only passed three times doing 90 kph on 110 kph roads. It felt much more relaxing.

The country is green and lots of yellow flowers.

Light rain all the way with water laying on the road. All the billabongs and "watercourses" are full and overfull.

Collarenebri was sad place with most business closed. Only a food van and a public toilet.

Walgett was lively with a good IGA supermarket. 

Brewarrina has lots of public art -

Breakfast in Moree

Avocado on toast and a cup of tea.

It has rained overnight and is cool.

But the water out of the tap is 34 deg. -very nice on a cold morning. 

Weigh In

First stop on the trip is the weighbridge to check that the set up is within the design limits.

1) Gross Vehicle Mass for the car (including tow ball weight & passengers) from car specification.

2) Aggregate Trailer Mass for the caravan including water, food and clothes from caravan compliance plate.

3) Tow ball weight, ideally 10% of ATM and less than maximum from car specification.

4) Gross Combined Mass ( car and caravan) from car specification.

The Rig

A Mazda CX-5 towing an A'van Cruiser.

On the Gore Highway.

Big trip planning

When travelling remotely- beyond mobile phone reception- I carry a PLB.

A personal location beacon will bring help using satellite signals.  It helps if you have registered it properly and update the details for each trip - including car and caravan details and passenger details.

An elder writes

I have very much enjoyed David Suzuki's book The Legacy - ISBN 978 1 74237 355 3.

It describes the importance of the environment and how close we are to catastrophe. I calls on us to act.

Measure the air you breathe

A simple cheap device is available to measure air quality - 

A) CO2 = Carbon dioxide, fresh air is 350 to 450 ppm.

1000 to 2000 ppm indicates poor air quality and causes drowsiness.

Current measurement at Hawai'i is 414 ppm.

B) HCHO = Formaldehyde, maximum recommended exposure is 0.100 mg/m3

C) TVOC = Total volatile organic compounds, maximum recommended is 0.250 mg/m3

D) Temperature 

E) Humidity

You can see that inside my home the air quality is as good as the outdoor air.