Packing & Preparation

Jaynie & I spent a large part of the Anzac weekend doing preparation and packing for our Trip to the Tip !

We had the camper set up in the driveway to figure out where everything was going to go - and what we really didn't need to take along on the trip.

Our food for the first 12 days (when we have a resupply stop) is all ready to go. Everything that needs it is cryovac'd - and the meat is freezing down to minus 25, ready to go into the trusty Evakool fridge/freezer. Our clothes are all packed, the spares and recovery gear is all sorted and now all we really need to do is sort out the "little"things (although don't tell Jayne I've classified fishing gear as a little thing !!!)

We're off to Camden Airport on Saturday afternoon for me to use my Christmas present - a 1/2 hour aerobatic flight in a Tiger Moth - then back to Canberra to get some more stuff ready.

After this weekend, we have only ONE weekend to get everything totally sorted because we're leaving for the Cape at 08:00 the following Saturday !!  It's getting V E R Y close now . . .

Trip to the Tip

Three weeks from today, we're heading off on a B I G 4WD adventure to the tip of Cape York !

Thommo & Julie are leading a group from the Canberra based Southern Tablelands 4 Wheel Drive Club through NSW, the northwest corner of SA & then QLD to the northern tip of the country.

Mick & Jayne, Mary & Thea, Peter & Jill, Ian & Jeanette and David & friend will be 41 days on the track, covering almost 10,000 kilometres.

Jayne & I are going to try and maintain a "running trip report" as we go. We hope to post to this blog frequently while we're on the road - tales of our travels with plenty of photos and the occasional video - but that will depend on how extensive the Telstra Next G network coverage is.

Our planned route will take us through some absolutely amazing Australian country - made even more so by the drought-breaking rains that have recently brought the outback well and truly alive.

Some of the places we will visit or travel through are Nyngan, Mutawinji National Park, Cameron's Corner, Innaminka, Birdsville, Bedourie, Mt Isa, Lawn Hill, Kingfisher Camp, Karumba, Coen, Weipa, Elliott Falls, Bramwell Junction, Punsand Bay, Horn Island, Chilli Beach, Laura, Mareeba, Hughenden, Miles, Stanthorpe, Corrindi Beach, Myall Lakes and then back home to wintery Canberra towards the end of June.

We'll mostly be bush camping, but will also do the occasional stay at roadhouses and caravan parks.

Jaynie & I will be living in our Camprite TL8s 4-2 offroad camper trailer. Our convoy will also have 3 Kimberly Kampers and a Johnno's camper trailer. Its (mostly) a Toyota trip - 80 and 100 series Landcruisers, 90 and 120 series Prados and a Lexus!

We hope you can join us and share in our big adventure. We're all doing final preparations at the moment - our trucks have all been inspected and serviced, trial pack-ups have been done, redone and done again and recovery gear and spares parts are all sorted and divvied up.

We'll post some more info about preparation and stuff we've done getting ready for the trip. Otherwise - Stay tuned . . . only 21 days before we go !!!