Housekeeping...

Brenda writes….

Many of you have asked about our rig etc so here are some facts….

We are driving, well Murray is driving most of the time – only because he has more experience in the wet windy weather – a Nissan Patrol 3 lit GU automatic diesel 4wd-known as the Truck. Inside at the rear Murray has built drawers – the top one houses his stuff and the bottom drawer is the pantry holding all the food repeats – when we take food from the pantry we record it-ready for our next big shop.

Also we have a 40 litre waeco fridge/freezer that runs off the truck battery. We have 2 truck batteries – with a switch that allows us to run either the fridge or the truck or both. As we drive the switch is turned to both. The waeco also runs off 240 volt. Generally we are able to keep this charged at -14deg. Also we run 2 solar panels that gives us 800 watts each. These can be used to charge the truck battery and also directly to the van battery.

The truck fuel tank and sub tank hold a total of 120 litres.  We also carry 20lit spare diesel on the back of the van. The cost of fuel on the Nullaboor has been exhorbiant – averaging $1.89 lit, sometimes over $2 lit – with the easterly wind blowing and travelling around 87-95 kms-just to keep the revs under 2500 = we are chewing through the gas!!

We are towing a Goldstream Explorer Off Road Pop Top – 14.6ft-lovingly known as the ‘ensuite on wheels’-it was the smallest pop top that we could find that had a shower/toilet, also a double bed made up all the time. Superman and Muz sleep on the small drop down/dinette table which converts to a single bed.

Inside we have a 3way, (gas, power, 240volt), 40 litre fridge with small icebox. For cooking there are 3 burner gas elements and a fan above that runs off the van battery. We also have a microwave which we can use when the genie or we have 240volt power.

When there is no sun to charge we will run the genie. This is a 2.4volt Kipor – which will run the aircon/reverse cycle heating that we have inside the van.

There is plenty of storage in the van, under the bed we have 2 large plastic bins which hold our linen, wet weather gear, wine, art stuff, ukeles. My knitting/jigsaws and extra food is kept here. Food we use is kept under the dining seat in bins. Our clothes live in a narrow deep cupboard-about 800x300x400-divided in half.

On board the ensuite on wheels we carry 3 x55lit water tanks-these have separate fills and gauges inside the van.

We also have a hot water cylinder that holds 14 litres of water that is heated via gas.

We carry 3 x 9kg gas bottles.

Drinking water – this is water that we know the source of – is carried in the truck in 2x 10 lit and 1 x20lit containers with taps.

Cooking – this takes up a large part of our day and is entirely flexible. We don’t eat much meat now so we don’t need to concern ourselves with remembering to take meat from the freezer.

We have an eco pot – like a dream pot/shuttle cooker. This is just like a huge thermos that fits a billy tin – or inner pot. You cook the meal in the inner pot – get it boiling then drop into the thermos shut the lid and leave for 4-8 hours, by the time you get to your destination you have a scrummy cooked meal waiting for you. There is also a smaller pot that sits on top on the bigger pot and in this you can cook rice, pudding, potatoes etc. Apart from starting the meal off on the stove top, no further fuel is needed.

I cook corn silverside, casseroles, curries, chicken, lentil soup. We also make our yoghurt by using our easyio jar and putting 1inch of boiling water into the thermos, putting in the jar and 10hrs later we have yoghurt. The pots also become our cooking pots for other foods.

We have a camp oven – which is a heavy cast iron pot with lid that we cook roasts, bread, same food as above, but we need a fire for the fuel.

Another method is using the Kamp Kooker. Take a large colander, place in the bottom a smaller container – in here place the green fuel(compressed coconut husks), poke 4 roads through the colander holes to make the oven rack, then put the camp oven on top. To create more heat, put a wok – upside down on top and hey presto you have your own kamp kooker. This is an ideal way to cook in a closed fire season – as you can keep your fuel contained. We have made cakes and puddings this way and of course all food that would normally go into the camp oven. Also you can grill fish by putting a trivet on top of the steel rods.

And another method is Murray’s fire on the side of the road……

Entertainment… we read – how those paperback exchanges are worth their weight in gold- camping grounds are a cheap source 1/1 and a gold coin donation to the flying drs, play scrabble/ crib, cards, listen to music/radio on our cd/mp3player/radio, upwords, crosswords, knit, smoke cigars, talk to the boys, potter, write, talk, text, email, fishing, walking, exploring, and try to be a tourist.