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Bruce
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Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 15,218
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10-03-2018, 04:14 AM
1

I am taking a Mini Break

After hosting my brother from the UK for a month I feel like a mini break in my camper for a week or so. Assuming that the weather plays the game I will probably leave next Wednesday (I have a couple of meetings on Tuesday) and take a week to 10 days over it.



Click on the link below to see Google's version of the route I will take. The basic journey is about 1600km but I will undoubtedly add to that with side trips.

>>View the map by clicking here<<

Apart from the holiday there is also a practical aspect - I want to see if the 100W solar panel on the roof of the car can keep the aux battery fully charged during the day if I don't connect mains to the fridge at night. (The photo above was taken before the solar panel was fitted)



As always you can follow my travels on...

http://www.bcl.id.au/

...where you can also find out more about my camper and previous trips I have taken.


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Bruce's Avatar
Bruce
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Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
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10-03-2018, 04:17 AM
2

Re: I am taking a Mini Break

I forgot that I have to be back by the 22nd so it will be exactly a week.
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10-03-2018, 06:04 AM
3

Re: I am taking a Mini Break

Looks good Bruce...enjoy.
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10-03-2018, 09:54 AM
4

Re: I am taking a Mini Break

Enjoy yourself Bruce 1,577 km , too much driving for me these days I would need a chauffeur
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canada
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10-03-2018, 11:21 AM
5

Re: I am taking a Mini Break

Bruce, enjoy the trip, you are making me long for my days of hitching up and hitting the road.....so many good times to be had, I miss it.

Sounds like a good plan with the solar power, hope it works out.
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Bruce
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Wollongong, Australia
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10-03-2018, 12:25 PM
6

Re: I am taking a Mini Break

Originally Posted by Adanac ->
Bruce, enjoy the trip, you are making me long for my days of hitching up and hitting the road.....so many good times to be had, I miss it.

Sounds like a good plan with the solar power, hope it works out.
I have partially tested it - I took my brother to my daughter's place in Canberra and left the fridge on (without mains power) all the time we were there and the battery was still fully charged when we left. The Aux battery is also charged by the car when the motor is running as well as by the solar panel. I really want to run the fridge and not use the car at all but that is a vary rare event.

The only problem with that exercise was that I hardly opened the fridge that weekend however a week of normal activities should be a better test.

The camper has a battery also and I recently upgraded the solar cell on that from 20 to 40 watts so it will be interesting to see how that goes too. Generally speaking that battery only really runs the lights in the camper as it is only a 60Ah battery as against the Aux battery in the car which is 120Ah.

Originally Posted by Meg ->
Enjoy yourself Bruce 1,577 km , too much driving for me these days I would need a chauffeur
It is not as bad as it sounds, the roads are lightly used and most of the time is spent on cruise control - you can reckon on averaging 100kph. I try to do no more than about 300km each day so that is only (less than) 3 hours driving broken up by lots of stops at places of interest.

Even on the Hume Highway (the main expressway between Sydney and Melbourne) it is rare to have to knock the car out of cruise control. I listen to audio books or music while I drive. It is easy as...
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10-03-2018, 02:51 PM
7

Re: I am taking a Mini Break

Enjoy your trip Bruce, I quite envy you
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10-03-2018, 03:19 PM
8

Re: I am taking a Mini Break

Bruce. I so want your camper

Enjoy your trip
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10-03-2018, 03:24 PM
9

Re: I am taking a Mini Break

Bruce, that sounds like a nice getwaway. Your blog is not just entertaining but it gives the rest of us a way to see portions of Australia that we'll unlikely never see.. Interestingly, once you travel away from the coast, the small towns remind me of the small towns in the midwest and central plains states in the U.S.

The teardrop camper designs are growing in populatiry here, and I've wondered quite a lot about them:

I know you have ventilation, but doesn't it get overwhelmingly hot inside some evenings? Have you adapted or do you have a powerful fan?

What about showers? Is there always one available where you go

Great job on your modifications, it sounds like the one to replae the cooler with the fridge has been the most beneficial.

Thank you for the route maps too. Thoroughly enjoyable ot read your blog!
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10-03-2018, 03:29 PM
10

Re: I am taking a Mini Break

Good luck for a safe trip!
 
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