After Ninety Months…

It has been a while, since I post anything in the travelogue section… Well perhaps it is because I have been working like a mule instead of travelling… None the less it has been 90 months since I moved down this path and to be frank, the time has really gone so quickly that I’m glad I took so many pictures along the way..

Even if I have been working most of this time, I got to say that it still felt a bit like being in holidays. People do treat you differently, no doubt about that, but not in a bad way.. You can tell by their expression, it’s a mix of feelings that goes from sorrow and curiosity to pure envy and disbelief.. I got asked so many different questions that I was going to write a book, actually there still a possibility that it may happen as I have been collecting so much material, that it would be a pity to let it go wasted..

You also pickup new friendship along the way.. It is like a hidden comrade that keep people that live on the road united in a strong bond of solidarity. We are all well aware of our vulnerability, but we also know that there is strength in number.. So you are travelling from one location to another and so your neighbours do change and very often. Sometimes it a good thing, sometimes it is not.. That’s when having wheels under your home become priceless!

Just last night a dinner, a friend asked me if I would ever go back to live in a house. Without hesitations.. “what? a house without wheels? Not a chance!”

Some of my friends do honestly believe that living this way required sacrifice and that we are giving up a lot, but that it is so far from the truth that’s in not funny.. I actually tend to think that the opposite is actually true. From my point of view, I’m not the one giving up!

Yes, to live this way you have to be a minimalist, but that’s not a bad thing.. It is possibly the best of things! You learn to do with what you have and not going out and buy something every day, just because your friend have one or you saw one on the TV.. At the beginning of my journey, I had a lot of things with me and the main reason was just in case.. Now the sentence “just in case” is only used when we are making jokes about the amount of stuff we see in other people’s life..

Spending winter in QLD can be quite surprising… You get the best of both world.. Nice temperature during the day and chilly night that do make you enjoy having thick blankets (and a good heater). Driving around for 5 hours per day got me to see few things around the area where I was working.. You don’t realise how big this land is, until you start to drive in the bush away from the main Hwy.. The majority of the roads are still dirt and dust and bull dust is always there, no matter how slow or fast you move.. That echidna just on the edge of the road, gives you an idea of a good road base composition..

I also got a bit surprised when I came across this intersection in Burncluith.. I can only imagine someone living at that intersection or just down the road a bit, having to explain to someone else where he lives… Someone had a very dirty sense of humour here.. I got no problems with those names, but really on the same post???

One Saturday morning I woke up and saw the ice cream van next to me. Can you imagine being able to buy ice cream at any time and from your own window? Another dream that came through.. Actually nope. He was having a rest and went fishing nearly everyday. We thought about breaking into the van but then realised that the vehicle was actually a caravan under conversion… Very, very disappointing…

My friends P&A have also enjoyed their new solar installation of which I’m a bit jealous. With only 4 panels, they get as much power as I get with 6, but I guess that’s technology moving forward and in another 5 years time, someone will come across with 2 panel and still the same power output.. That’s the way it goes with everything these days. No matter what you buy, it will be obsolete within 12 months..

While in Chinchilla, I also managed to replace my fridge.. Due to my way of shopping (not everyday) I normally tend to buy frozen goods, so that shopping excursion are far and few apart. The Dometic freezer compartment was simply not big enough for my way of doing thing. I did remove the ice cube plastic container, but the space was still not enough..

I would have like to have a look at the new Dometic, but because it is selling at $3149, it just mean that, from a nomad point of view, Dometic has decided to price themself out of the market..

I would pay $1500 for it, but after that, you become the laughing point of conversations every night at the campfire… You start to feel stupid when you think about it..

I mean this is what a $3000 dollar fridge does look like:

This is the Dometic fridge:

Can you spot the difference? Sure it look good and it run on batteries, but I’m not sure what Dometic intent is when they advertise a 220 litre fridge for over $3000.. Selling them is obviously not one of them..

Anyhow, I was able to find a similar external sizes fridge but with a decent size freezer that also has the ice maker. Obviously I can’t run it directly from the batteries as it is 240 volts only.. Time will tell if this was a good choice.. So far for the past 2 month it has been good. I guess as long as the solar system is big enough to compensate for the Inverter being on 24/7, I should be OK..

The next purchase was more a matter of Woolworth putting a customer in a corner and I’m not impress with that.. My coffee machine has worn out so again while in Chinchilla, and having only Woolworth available for shopping I spotted a coffee machine for sale that seemed just right. Unfortunately upon opening the box I realised that it only took the new oval disks pods, so I promptly (within half an hour) returned and asked if they had the correct machine for the small pods they sell..

Not only Woolworth doesn’t care to keep and sell machines for the pods they sell, but also I was not allow to return the machine (still unopened in the box wrap in cellophane, as I only had a look at the manual)…

“Sorry sir. Only option is to buy food or find another product for exchange” I was told.. This is the same company that does care for Australians because it is an Australian company, right? Same company that while Australian are struggling to buy food because we are heading into a recession, their profit was up 14 per cent to $907 million on a 4 per cent sales increase in 2022.. (more HERE). I now shop ONLY at ALDI.. They seem to care for Australian and their prices is a reflection of that…
They also don’t have self checkout, another proof that they care about people’s jobs… ALDI also doesn’t sell you toys at the checkout with those lame excuses to help fundraisers, that normally get 1 cent per dollar, while polluting the world with plastic. ALDi doesn’t change their prices four to six times per day like Woolworth does while the stock remain unchanged.. ALDI doesn’t sell you fuel at a surcharge price of 12 cents per litre compare to the other independent service station and then give you a 4 cents discount at the bowser… (That’s so funny)… The list goes on but there is no need for it…

I think it is fair to say that ALDI is an honest company compare to Woolworth, but unless you have been living under a rock, you already knew that.. It goes without saying that I’m not longer a customer of Woolworth after the coffee machine, that because of not choice, turned out to be a Air Fryer, sorry Air Drier..

The only downside on this story is that now every ALDI you go is always so busy and full of people. They need more stores, as they no longer need to worried about the competition.. Hey look at that.. I just realised now that Woolworth and Dometic have something in common.. Both company don’t have a Fecking clue on how to retain loyal customer be honest… They are both just here for the killing…

Back on topic, at least the drier work well for small portion of food. To achieve the same results in the oven it would normally take me a lot longer, I guess because of the heating element size.. Not that this new acquisition will help my health what so ever, but at least now I can cook nice potato and defrost veggie a lot quicker.. Power consumption is not that bad either. I can use it no problems during the day, while at night it does knock my batteries down 5% after 20 minutes of use..

In mid April I got hit by Covid again.. But this time it got really ugly.. I finally got to experience the feeling of suffocating and yes, for two weeks, I had no idea if I was going to see my next birthday.. What a horrible feeling when you are breathing but you are actually running out of air.. It felt like having someone sitting on you and squashing your lungs 24/7… And the cough.. A cough that breaks your ribs and makes you wish the unthinkable.. Sleeping became simply not longer an option , but after a week I did learn to sleep 5 minutes at a time sitting down and at a 45 degrees angle… Then it took my voice and sense of smell away.. BTW it has been more than two months now and neither has come back. I’m still struggling to talk, (a welcome news for most of my friends) (bastards), and I can empty my black water tank with a huge smile on my face…

It seems to me that every time you catch this flue, it takes a little bit of you away.. This time it felt to me like an internal cyclone.. If there was something in your body not 100%, this flue does find it and enhance the pain to a new level.. Like a cold on steroids… Not sure if this will help others, but I drank a lot of lemon with warm water and honey. It did help a lot especially with the cough..

Hopefully I’m done with this stuff for this year and I sincerely hope no one that I know will have to go through this painful flue..

While in Chinchilla I also found a hidden problem in the gearbox, created by my friend Stephen (hi if you are reading), that forgot to tight a bolt last year when he took the air assist preselector out.. Luckly (for me) Paul was at hand and because he’s not pregnant, he was able to reach the bolt and tighten it up to specs. While we were there, we actually removed the entire gear change assembly and use threadlock on all the bolts, as someone always say “just in case”… Thanks Paul for getting down and dirty with Gigi… You are a good friend.. 😂

After 20 years, some of the gasket in the engine are no longer holding oil as they should, so sometime next month I will take care of that while still in Toowoomba, before the inspection comes on..

While in Chinchilla someone asked me why they grow so much cotton and watermelon there.. To be honest I’m a bit confused myself how a town with water restrictions manage to find so much water for those two products..

This is the CSIRO map of the average rainfall for the area and as you can see, it is not much…

The Condamine river perhaps is the reason for this strange choice of crop..

The soon I got back in Toowoomba, the constant wind remind me of why I don’t really enjoy this part of the range.. You do get however some of the best and clouds free, sunset.. I already know that I will take several pictures toward West in the next three weeks.. This is the place where you can get great purple sunset. I see if I can get one while I’m here.. One thing I can’t complain about is that at least we are sitting now around the 10° at night compare to the minus 3° of Chinchilla. Then again in the day is the reverse situation.. Something to keep in mind if you travel west of Toowoomba.. I don’t care. I got ALDI stores everywhere here…

As promise to Ant, back last summer, I came down here to help making possibly the best and definitely the largest Crossfit gym in Toowoomba. CFH is where I will be working for the next 10 days and you can see from the last pictures the mountain of work ahead.. But the new gym will have new features and equipment that will make people really wanted to join this place. I’m actually excited about this project because I got to meet a lot of young people that are so fit and healthy, thanks to places like this. So building a bigger one makes me feel part of their happiness…

I will take more picture of the conversion as it happens.

Until the next, stay on the road and be safe…