We are finally back in the
Hill after seven weeks on the east coast. It is good to be back but I was just starting to enjoy the hills in Victoria when the time ran out.
Most of the trip ws spent doiong the family and friends thing. We had a week on the
Gold Coast staying 9 floors above Broadbeach. We then went to
Ballina for a couple of weeks over Christmas. New Year was at a mates on the mid north coast before a couple of weeks in
Sydney. Then a week at
Kiama before returning
home via
Canberra,
Jindabyne and the
Vic high country.
A couple of interesting thiongs came out of the trip even though I did very little with the front diff working.
1 The dual battery system worked great. For the week on the
Gold Coast the car spent huge amounts of time doing nothing, We probably only drove for about 2 hous in the week. The fridge (Engle 40) ran without a hickup for the entire week. We then drove to
Ballina where once again the car got parked and did virtually nothing again. About half way through our time there I got to wondering how the battery was and checked it with a multi-metre, 9.5v and the fridge was still running. I put a charger on it overnight and it came up fine. After 2 weeks in
Sydney again with very little running around we went to
Kiama and the car did nothing for a week. Half way throught that week I again checked the battery and it was again down to less than 10v so the charger got plugged in again. I was pretty pleased that the battery powered the fridge for so long with so little input.
2 Whilst on the mid north coast I went out for an afternoon fun with my mate and a friend of his. I did not drive just a passenger. Both cars were 3.0l Nissans and the going was pretty steep. My mates car seemed to do it all so much easier than the other. Both cars are very similar and pretty much standard, coments over the UHF suggested the other guy was working harder than we were. THe big difference was the driver, confident careful wheel placement and good throttle control made
mine a very comfortable afternoon. THe other passenger got bounced around a fair bit. The other car would also have done more track damage. Something to bare in mind with coments about tyre pressures, trailers, load etc.
3 The last thing was the performance of the GME 3200 UHF. Whilst coming through the
Vic high country we got a bit stuck on a steep climb. I had not been concentrating and started up the
hill going too slow in too high a gear (2nd low) when I went down it just spun the wheels, the heavy rain did not help. Getting out is a story in itself but we did. While we were stopped teh kids got on the UHF to see if there was anyone around to give us a hand. The answer we got cmae fro the
Delegate Fire Tower. Checking against the scale on the map it is about 50km from where we were as the crow flies. Now they probably have some micky mouse gear up there but I only have a standard set with a stumpy gutter mount antennae. It is pleasing to know it works so
well, and that there is someone listening.
We had a great trip and I will definately go back to the high country. I feel the need for a boys week or two bouncing over the high plains.
Thatsall for now, back to work on Sunday b...er.
Duncs