Oh well here we go, another month and things progress
slowly.
Going back to last month I have passed up on getting a
gearbox and will probably just aim at getting the original reconditioned once
the car is here and I am at the rebuilding stage. It’s the original so it may
as well stay in the car, and yes true there is so much that has been changed
already for later model and other parts it’s probably silly, but what the heck
I have it and know it, so it may as well stay. To be honest I probably don’t
need to do anything to it to be able to undertake such a drive, though with the
jumping out of third under acceleration being annoying….
On the radio front I am mostly looking towards the
Oricom UHF300 5W UHF 80 ch.
mobile transceiver, though not really sure. I don’t need something with all the
bells and whistles as it isn’t like I will use it constantly, it is only a just
in case measure (as in just in case a massive road train needs to let me know
it is about to run over me) so realistically it just needs to do the job. Thus
mainly I am being driven by price, though I am reading reviews of different
units from different suppliers and will continue to compare then to identify
which one will work best for me. Space is also an issue and being small and
easily able to mount it out of view so as to not spoil the interior look would
be good. I have toyed with the idea of getting a hand held item as it would
certainly be easier to pack away and would definitely be portable, I just think
that mounted in the car will be less hassle and more practical and possibly
have a slightly better range, though I may be mistaken on that.
I have lately been looking through a variety of sources
of information on places to pitch a tent and camp along the routes I plan on
taking. It is amazing just how many different resources there are out there
that you never hear about, unless you actually start looking, though I guess
that is true with just about any subject. There are a number publications that
look particularly interesting to me , I am looking at WikiCamps Australia ,
which is an app (there is one for everything isn’t there!) at the moment that
looks like it would be fairly useful. I have also found out about “Camps
Australia Wide”, Version 7 (http://www.campsaustraliawide.com/ ) which looks like the
best source of information for me, free and budget accommodation that’s just
the price range I will be looking for, so that looks like it will be quite the
useful investment indeed. Not that I plan on only looking for free
accommodation places, I have a Youth Hostel Association membership as well
which will no doubt come in handy.
On the car front, well it is still not in Melbourne so
everything is still limited towards actual hands on processes. Sometimes it
feels like there is only so much planning that I could possibly do and that
everything has been covered, then something else will crop up and get me to
thinking again. This is probably a good thing really as it would be quite
tiresome to get part way through the trip and suddenly be in need of, or
wanting something that could have been available if only a bit more thought had
gone into the process of planning. It’s not that such a situation isn’t likely
to occur anyway, but it is nice to think everything has actually been covered
before hand.
I have been fine tuning the lists of items that I think the car
will need, hoses, brakes, head gasket and the like, that will need to be done
before the trip can start and additionally the list of items that I will need
to take as spares. Further I have a list of items that I will need to take
along, tent, cooking stuff, etc. and a list of tools that will be useful to
have, lets face it there is no point taking tools I don’t have any hope of
using and no point not taking tools that I know I can use and may actually be
useful. So I check them every now and again and add items and then take some
away, what I actually would like to achieve is being able to fit everything
into the boot as that is the tidiest and most practical way to be getting along
I think.
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| Down on the farm |
