Our Touring Past

So the trip wasn’t just about cars and caravans, I’d never been to Broken Hill before so there was a bit to see, and I’m sure we did most of the usual tourist sights, Line of Lode Memorial (the restaurant was closed though) Pro Hart Gallery, Joe Absolom Gallery, Broken Hill Mint and Big Picture, Railway Museum, Silverton and it’s museum, the Living Mine Museum and the Sculptures in the desert. In fact it turned out that while I had booked for longer than most I actually had to have an extra day when I realised I was supposed to be leaving on the Saturday morning and still had things left to see. Rather than the usual tourist photos I’ll use a few of the less likely things other people might take. The only organised events as a group were to the School of the Air and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, both very informative and interesting. A group also visited the Two-Up school, but I didn’t go to that, otherwise there was also the well attended auction of bits and pieces and the dinner at the Musicians Club. The auction saw lots of things change hands, in some cases for a lot of money, the most outstanding probably being what looked like a pristine Shelta umbrella. The proceeds went to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. These ‘passion killers’ found a new home, the owner assuring me they were for display purposes only, and I did later see them hanging on the towel rail of a van. An O.T.P. calendar bought good money too, at a time when most calendars are marked down to clear! A bag of chokos seemed to be about the only thing that was hard to get rid of.

The dinner was well attended, but the club didn’t seem to cope with the crowd too well and it turned out it had just gone into receivership or some such, so maybe staffing was a bit of an issue. Shame to see another club going under, not far up the road one had recently closed too. Still, there was plenty of tucker and good music and the party was still going strong when we left. Their foyer lighting took my fancy. The drive to Silverton I thought would be the chance to blow a few cob webs out of the Velox after all its hard yards, but the road had an 80kph limit, probably due to the 39 dips that have to be negotiated along the way. I thought I’d try to hustle through a few just the same, but the poor old suspension got such a work out I decided to take it steady rather than have the Velox a future tourist attraction on the side of the road. At Silverton we drove about the scattered remaining buildings and photographed some. I toured the Mad Max museum and had lunch in the (only I think) café in town, treating my palate to a Quandong ice cream. I decided I’d flaunt the law in Silverton and not wear my seat belt, but the habit is such that I almost always had it on before I remembered my vow of civil disobedience. I partook of a schooie of Old at the pub, despite it being quite cool, had to say I’ve had a drink there, and spent a lot of time reading the various bits of wisdom on A4 cardboard hanging from the ceiling. Outside the rather unusual desert sound of a lawn mower attracted my attention and I found a young bloke mowing a piece of lawn at the back of the motel and in front of the old pub. It must be the only piece of formal lawn in Silverton and from my observation the young bloke needed more practice. Silverton intrigued me too as to what had happened to it all, a large, once bustling town reduced to a couple of dozen buildings. The very good museum in the old gaol provided the answer, all the timber building that could be moved were taken away bodily on wagons with teams of horses.

This was probably as far from home as I figured I would be on this trip so I was amused that it was the ONLY place during the whole trip where I saw a derelict, but very complete, Vauxhall. An F model Victor, sitting proudly between the pub and probably the only new building built in town for decades, Silverton Souvenirs, on which the fly screen door seemed to work in reverse, I’m sure there were more of the buggers inside than out! In Broken Hill most of the houses are made of galvanised iron, walls and roof. Some had fancy brick, sandstone and pillared facades, but the side walls were tin, mostly without any windows. There is even a tin church. The usual formal buildings in town were more substantial, and the Palace Hotel, which I didn’t actually venture into for some reason, is a grand place. There were lots of pubs about town, many now used for some other purpose, but I don’t think I’d even like to do a pub crawl of the survivors! Something that attracted my attention on a building in the main street was the door bell, occupying a special niche in the rendered wall. It had me wondering if it was ever a real door bell or the builder’s idea of a practical joke.

The Living Mine Museum was very interesting too, lots of exhibits, videos of the way things were and wonderful models of mines and the way things used to be. Fortunately the facilities have improved it seems, the smaller notice on this device indicates they were frequented by rats, which might have made for a short visit and I'm sure would curtail the quiet read!

George

A couple more photos then some more caravans.

The tyre repair shop in Broken Hill took my fancy too, nothing ever seemed to change anytime I went past, and I think the only sign of life on one occasion was a fork lift moving a tyre. While just about all signs of heavy industry in Broken Hill have vanished, the tyre collection indicates there must be some activity. This photo is our view while having lunch in Silverton. The table under the window was reserved, and no one was at it the whole time we were there, but in the end I was glad as I found it quite a pleasant scene that I might not have appreciated had I been closer. Some more vans. George

A few comments about the van should be in order I suppose. This was the first time we had used it so it was learn as we go proposition. To start with we didn’t have gas or a water tank, I used a 10 litre plastic container with a tap under the sink to have enough water to have a coffee, the kettle being boiled on single burner butane stove using the disposable canisters. This all worked ok, but I foun the canisters didn’t last as long as I expected, considering we only used it for boiling the kettle and making porridge most mornings, I got through 8 canisters in the three weeks.

We had plenty of space as I didn’t want to fill the cupboards and put the weight up any more than I had to, but remembering just where everything was kept was a test. The cute pendant 240v lighting proved to be absolutely useless, the fittings only have 25w globes and being tucked away in the corners the switches are awkward to access, and they just don’t produce much light. I had hoped to substitute some LED type globes, but the only ones with a 15mm bayonet base I could find were way too long for the fittings. The three 12v overhead lights though were brilliant so I used the leads that were in the battery box and connected them to the car battery of a night. One light was adequate lighting for reading or Scrabble. There is no outside light on this van but it didn’t seem to be a particular problem, maybe if we had the annex sides in place it would be. The removable panel in the door makes it much lighter inside of a day and I’m tempted to fit a porthole too it if I can find one, just to save taking it out if it’s windy or cold.

Access to the seats was good, but this was our first encounter with a double bed in a van and it was troublesome after having singles. Getting up through the night for toilet was a bit like tag team wrestling, but we survived and seemed to get sorted out in the end.

We encountered light rain at Albury and there was no sign of leaks, or after travelling in light rain. There was some quite heavy rain in Broken Hill over a couple of days and on returning after the first downpour I checked all the cupboards to see if any dampness had appeared and was pleased that there was nothing, all my work on the roof seemed to have paid off.

The venetians were quite good at keeping the light out of a night, and the two bits of round cardboard for the portholes worked a treat too. I did finish up installing a piece of cardboard over the rear window which is over the middle of the bed, and seemed to be a cold spot. It seemed to work, or maybe it’s a placebo effect, so it may stay in place. The only thing I added to the interior was a self adhesive, anti slip strip on the internal metal step, about $9 at Bunnings, and it’s great. The thought of wet shoes and grass on that metal step seemed to be the seeds of disaster.

New 16” cross ply tyres were fitted before we left and I didn’t intend taking a spare to save weight, but in the end just couldn’t bring myself to do it, so it had to ride in the van as there is no where to mount it, and I found it tiresome (no pun intended) having to lug it out each night and back in of a morning. It took a few goes to get the position right as we had some swaying at times, but it was very inconsistent so a bit hard to pin down. I did notice on this trip that some trucks seem to create a lot of turbulence after they had gone past and a couple in particular really upset us on the highway going home. The buffeting from trucks coming up to pass was not as noticeable as it is with the Olympic, maybe because this van is heavier? All in all I was happy with its performance, but I would like a few more horsepower to tow it with. Cruising at 80kph certainly lets you see the countryside and I’m happy with that, but some extra hp on the hills would be great. The short drawbar wasn’t a problem, I had a little play with it on my test drive to my brothers as he thought the fin on the Velox would be poking through the van, but on the tightest turn its not an issue, not that there is much to spare mind you.

The only problem with the van during the whole trip was of my own making, the old perennial; I didn’t secure the front hatch properly when leaving Broken Hill. I was only at the 80kph on the edge of town when a lady pulled us over to let me know. I don’t think it could ever blow off, the stay is quite over engineered, but it had bent the hinges a bit and took a while for me to get it closed and secured.

I was hoping the hatch incident wasn’t an omen of things to come as we headed back to Mildura, and fortunately it wasn’t. It was another overcast day for travelling and the kms just melted away slowly, too slowly for a while, I was beginning to think Coombah had been moved as it just seemed to take forever to get there. We lunched at Wentworth in a park by the river and were joined by another Vintage Vanner with a Wayfarer, and one that I hadn’t seen in the park. Then onto Mildura and we decided to stay at the Apex park again where a couple of others from BH were scattered about too. It was a nice spot, and just as we arrived the PS Melbourne was making its return trip for the afternoon on the river and was a lovely sight, sound and smell, steam and burning wood. We decided to spend an extra day, and took that trip ourselves the next day, but that evening had a nice home cooked meal of pasta with Franklin 1 and his wife by a fire.

We liked Mildura and we had a pleasant day there and left the next day for Echuca, intending to stay at Moama before heading up to Mathoura, where the van had spent most of its life, to see if we could catch up with its other owner, the man from the paper shop.

Along the way we encountered some road works after Robinvale, line marking, and I was a little unclear as to what I should be doing, the rear truck had a sign indicating to pass so I did and slipped in behind the next due to a bend. Being a bit cautious I lingered and when I decided it was safe I checked the mirror to find an F250 with a big white van in tow powering by. As it passed I saw it had a porthole window, and it was a monster, biggest bondwood I’ve ever seen. It was soon pulling away and I just hoped it would be stopped somewhere ahead. A short time later I spotted it at a garage/caravan park at Boundary Bend and wheeled in to get a photo. The owner came out and we had a quick chat as he had to set up and get to work, a mobile mechanic from Kingaroy, Qld. The van was a homebuilt bondwood, built in 1959 by his father at Yallourn, Vic., and it was a 25 footer, dual axle, six berths with a shower. He works away from home for long periods and had been in the Riverina since February, and to my good fortune was moving camp from Robinvale for a new job. Unfortunately he didn’t have time for me to have a good look, but I got a couple of photos and was on my way. We slipped into Tooleybuck and had lunch in the park near the bridge, really nice spot too, then on to Echuca and into Moama. We walked up to the Moama Bowling Club for dinner and were surprised by the size and décor, a beautiful club with good meals. I was a little concerned by the broad-gauge railway line running through the car park, only a few metres from one of the entrances. I was assured there was only one train a day, about 5am, so I would be home in bed.

Next morning it was off to Mathoura and it was soon reached, a sign indicated town centre to the left. There were only a few shops and a park and I went past the newsagents and into the cross street where I did a U turn to park. As I did there was a gent rushing up the road waving his arms frantically and after I’d parked he came over and introduced himself as Ray Murphy, the other son of the owner. I wasn’t aware he still lived there, but his brother had told him we might be passing through, and he just happened to be going up for the paper and saw the van. Soon he was telling other passing locals about his father’s van, and then his son turned up for a look too. Ray had used it from time to time for weekends by the river with his family, and his son said it was still the same inside too, and they were both really thrilled to see it again. I asked him about what they used to cover the portholes and the reply was bits of cardboard, cut from cereal packets or whatever was available, and he reckoned the bulbs in the 240v lights would be the originals as it hardly ever went anywhere where 240v was available. He then told me the newsagent was away caravanning so we wouldn’t get to see him after all, but I got a number and will contact him. We went off to have a coffee and look about and Ray was still talking to locals when we got back! A quick photo outside the paper shop and we were off. Deniliquin was the next stop for lunch and a wander about and I decided Urana or Lockhart would be our overnight stop, then on to Wagga to catch up to a cousin. The flat country we had been travelling so far was made to look hilly by where we were now, flat as a billiards table, with miles of ploughed paddocks and huge irrigation units. Urana didn’t look too inspiring to stop for the night so we went onto Lockhart, “the verandah town”. This turned out to be a good stop, the van park is operated by the council and was a very pretty spot by the creek, and it was the cheapest park of our trip, $21.50 for the night. It had the best amenities of the whole trip too, a Jayco production comprising of 4 units each with toilet, hand basin and shower, probably what you get when booking an ensuite site as some parks. All very new as there had been a flood recently, bigger than any in living memory that inundated half the main street. We dined at the RSL Club and next morning had a wander about the main street, coffee at The Blue Bird Café which has quite a long history. The owner is happy to share and there are displays of bits of lino and things unearthed during its renovation. He wanted a photo of the caravan and Velox out the front so I was happy to oblige. It is a lovely little town which last visited about 25 years ago. They have paved the footpaths with bricks which have specially printed sets documenting images and names of local families and businesses that are the history of the town, and it is interesting to walk along and check them out, and the locals are very friendly so it takes a while. The museum has a couple of caravans too, a teardrop and a Shire Council workman’s van. The museum wasn’t open due to renovations from the flood, but the boss lady was there and let me slip out and have a quick look. The Blue Bird Café man suggested we travel to Wagga via Tootool and The Rock, he said Tootool was an interesting spot. I think country folk must be easily pleased; there was nothing there but a rest area with some gardens, corrugated iron statues and a novel painting in the roof of the picnic shed. I was surprised at photos on the wall showing water lapping the picnic table seats, looking about the flat country meant there was a lot of water about at some time.

On to Wagga and we set up in the Wagga Beach Caravan Park, a nice spot with a view, right at the beach. The beach is part of a reserve, separate to the park and my dad who was a Wagga lad used to talk about the beach. It was the first time I’d seen it. We headed straight out to my cousins at Marrar with a stop in town at the pub to use the ATM. The ATM was that old you swiped your card, and I’ve never seen one like it in the whole time I’ve had a card. I hadn’t been to my cousins since I was a kid and his father owned the property, but it was a nice spot, more acres and acres of freshly ploughed fields along the way, and on the way home, in the dark, huge tractors were still at work, ploughing or sowing. That trip involved quite a few km on dirt road, so the Velox finally got dirty, and looked like it had been on a trip, it had been remarkably clean till then.

Next morning it was off to the highway and home.

Some stats will follow to finish off.

George

It was one of our earlier starts heading for home, first stop was Gundagai. Knowing how to really impress a girl I got Barbara a $3 Bacon and Egg McMuffin and Hashbrown, with a free coffee on the Seniors Card for brekkie! Yass for lunch and a wander about and check out of the junk shop, and I was surprised to see the Torana with Propert in tow pass through town, so we weren’t the only ones who had been meandering about.

For the first time on the trip we had a lot more truck activity and quite a bit of buffeting at times, which made Barbara a bit nervous. In due course we were at Mittagong and on the downhill to home. I could actually pick up a bit more pace, and managed to slip into overdrive for about 15 minutes, the longest use on the whole trip.

Back home the van has been in the corner under its cover and I’ve not touched it, a good rest is in order while other items are attended to.

This has been our longest caravan trip and I’m pleased it went without incident. It’s not much of a trip compared to many others, but I think towing with the old car makes it feel like more of an adventure. We travelled a total of 3503km, consumed 663 litres of petrol which I think works out at a consumption of 18.9 litres per 100km, which I didn’t think was too bad, given that only about 300km were travelled without the van. No water needed and 1.5l of oil used.

All the caravan parks we stayed at were pretty good with costs between $35 and $45 a night, apart from the cheapie at Lockhart. I was surprised though that not one gave a discount for NRMA or Seniors, the only discounts offered were if you are a signed up member of one of the many chains.

Oddly, the most common wildlife we saw was this Trictena artipalpis which was very abundant after the rain. I haven’t seen any for years since we moved to suburbia, but there were dozens about the parks, having been attracted to the lights.

So, we had a good time and looking forward to the next little adventure.

George & Barbara.

Hi George.
Thanks for taking the time to log your trip, for me considering I could go it has been a very interesting read.
I am also glad that Barbara and you had a great time.

Thanks again.
Richard.