Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 00:00

The trip to Northern Rivers, NSW was great. Mind you, it was plurry freezing - literally - on the way there and back. The New England tableland overnight temperatures were below freezing and we chickened out of camping in minus 5 degrees and less at Glen Innes. The countryside is so beautiful up there, and we plan to go back.

The camp at Byron Bay was great. We had a sheltered spot right near the beach, and the OzTent was just what we hoped for. It's so quick to put up - the 30 seconds claim is no exaggeration for the basic tent. We stayed put for four nights so decided to put up the accessory walls and front panel. This gives an extra room basically and when we wanted shelter from cold wind at night and in the morning, it was bliss on a stick. It takes a while to put up and a bit of fiddling but is certainly worth it. I call it the Zip-on Ballroom and we decorated with some miniature prayer flags that made a colourful feature.

Thumper did very well and ran the fridge for two full days without recharge. There was power to spare but as we had no need to stress it, I took it for a ride to juice it up a bit. I have alternate wiring in the back of the Prado so I could plug the fridge into 240v at the camp site and put the Thumper in the car the charge while we went sight-seeing. Later, I put Thumper back in the trailer and we were back to travel mode.

Not sure I have the measure of the electric brakes controller yet. Will be taking the trailer to Brett for a service and adjustment next week, so we'll discuss this.

It was great to combine the old and familiar with the new equipment. The Chuckwagon mounted in the trailer was just great, and it was wonderful to have the bedding stashed in the trailer instead of having to climb on top of the car to get it each time we made camp.

Tags: Accessories, Camping, Electrics
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