10 Things that SUCKED on our Big Lap of Australia
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ย. 2024
- The Big Lap of Australia is the adventure of a lifetime. We saw some amazing places and had incredible experiences on our 3.5 year, 80,000km Australia Road Trip. But living your van life dream isn’t always sunsets over the beach.
Sometimes it sucks! Things break, we get stuck, roads are closed, the weather might be bad, we miss out on seeing something we really wanted to, we got sick and injured.
In this video we want to share the other side of the story and show you 10 of the worst things that happened on our Big Lap.
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WHO ARE WE?
We are Nigel and Sue (NaS) Adventures, a couple of outdoor adventurers. We've been Overlanding Australia living in our self-converted 4x4 Sprinter van since January 2021. Join us as we visit the highlights, but also share some off the beaten path hidden gems, along with the day to day realities of living in a van.
Keep up to date with our adventures on instagram at / nas_adventures
Or Facebook / nigelandsueadventures
My Mum, Dad , 6 kids and a dog did the lap in 1962, NSW return. Very different back then, 1st persons to travel around our country in a bus! Pioneers.
Wow I bet it was. I’m sure most of the roads weren’t even sealed
Your mum n dad were they Leyland brothers?
😂😂😂😂😂I wasn't even born yet
1st person to travel around Australia by bus.. apart from all the other buses that you can buy a ticket and travel on all around Australia
@@jamespotts98361962 not a lot of bus companies doing Darwin to Perth
What you should remember is this if a warning light comes on the dash and it’s orange in colour keep driving it’s warning you that something is not talking to the car’s computer correctly and you may have a faulty sensor or a sensor such as abs that can’t be read properly by the computer in this case you can drive all around Australia if you want it’s a warning ,you may use more fuel or abs may not work correctly but it’s still safe but if a red warning light comes on the dash you have to stop !
😅😂ha !! this reminds me of 1973, arriving back in Oz in Perth with £5, a 6 hr wait at the Norseman turnoff to hitch to Adelaide, eventually catching a lift in a 4 cylinder tin box running on 3cylinders at a stultifying 15 to 25 miles an hour. Those were the days. To relive the bordem we'd occasionally get out and walk alongside the car. Bonza!!
They were the fun days weren't they?
Great video. It is good to show the other side of the big lap. Corrugations are a real nightmare but sadly tjhey are just a fact of life. They can seriously damage vehicles so turning back was probably the smart move. The weather just loves to have a fit when you least expect it too. We did the big lap in a 1962 Bedford bus and breakdowns were our biggest nightmare as it was difficult to find a big enough tow truck to recover us and geting spare parts was always fun. With all the hassles we had, i woudn't have missed doing it for anything. We never go near the coast in peak season so never have any trouble finding camps :) Gotta say you haven't been bogged until you get bogged in a 2wd 9 ton bus with a car and trailer on the back LOL
Oh gosh, that bogging sounds like a real nightmare! That would have been so fun in the old vehicle though.
Totally relate to 8. The stress of finding somewhere, especially during peak, can be overwhelming. Cairns and Esperance for us was a bypass on our Lap due to bad timing.
Enjoyed this video as we travel similar to you (but with a caravan); but even with the negatives I still wouldn't have it any other way to be off grid. ❤
💯!! We agree it’s a great way to live.
I did a lap in 1974 / 75. Went clockwise from NSW, all very interesting. The highlights were many as were the low lights. I satisfied my wanderlust. Camped on the side of the road for 10 days waiting for vehicle part will satisfy ones vision. The second breakdown in Bundaberg was enough and I never made it to Cairns. Forty plus years later I had the privilege to fly to Cairns staying in a comfortable Air B&B, getting picked up daily for great day trips. Anyway Australia offers adventure but you need money even for rough camping or you fly to destinations each year.
wow that would have been an adventure back in the day! Glad you finally got to Cairns, its a wonderful part of the world.
We did it 1974 to 1981, 27ft van and F100. We would work in place until we had enough money to cover an engine replacement, we thought that was the worst thing that we could have happen. It never did.
@@nigelandsueadventures The sealed road ended west of Ceduna and it was dirt all the way to WA border from memory.
Same going North, just north of Port Hedland dirt all the way until just before Broome. Plenty of dirt north of Broome also. The main road was sealed but everything else was dirt. Travelling through Queensland outback was interesting. Lots of beautiful billabongs, vast in size and probably to do with the “channel country”.
Anyway interesting at the time but it did satisfy my wanderlust.
Yes Cairns is a great tourist destination.
Dear Camp Winnie,
Thank you for sharing your travels and your family. My wife and I have enjoyed them immensely over the last few years. Wishing you all the best for the future.
Much love, Ted and Sandra
Thanks guys! Not sure who's Camp Winnie, but we appreciate you being here and hope you enjoy the future videos too.
Absolutely loved watching your “adventures”. I remember doing a similar thing hauling a caravan and 2 toddlers around Europe. Did a daily diary - this was 45 years ago - still have the diary (in 3 volumes).
Wow that must be so fun to go back and read over!
Brillant brillant.your voice is calming.and no stupid music over top of filming. Well done.
Thanks so much!
I am a RV/caravan technician of 20 years and when it comes to diesel heaters i refuse to install the china heaters they are trash. You cant go wrong with the German built WEBASTO brand they will not fail EVER.
thanks for an excellent video with some cool tips🤙😎
Standard Chinese quiality.
We planned to never really need it, to follow the sun, it just didn't work out like that!
this channel is single handedly combating my fear of aging and makes me feel so excited for what is to come ❤
I have a saying I love "the best days of your life haven't even happened yet". I try to live by this motto.
First time here... what a sweet couple. Sue is a very good presenter, and it's easy to admire the long-suffering Nigel. 😂
I've been planning a trip like this for a while. It's good to get notes from experienced people. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for watching. Glad you enjoyed it!
You don’t know how lucky you are to have each other. Thanks for the video, my first from your channel.
Oh we do!! Very blessed and grateful every day
Very lucky indeed, at 61 I travel solo,not an ideal situation but I can't sit at home,YET😂😂😂😂
When I was young, I drove halfway around Australia from Sydney in my old Holden Station wagon, sleeping in the back. However, I didn't have ground clearance for many of those roads & had to be very careful hitting the ground.
Wow that would have been quite the adventure! Thanks for watching.
My wife and I did this before it was a thing and before the "Grey Nomad" craze. We could never do it now with all those people everywhere you go.
I did it in a lockdown year, 2021 - the outback was full!
When was "before it was a thing?"
I'm 71 and I was 13 when we finished with Mum and Dad and my 6 younger siblings. We did it in a caravan my dad built and towed by the old grey Humber which was brought to Australia for the Queen's first visit, that's QEII. My most memorable occasions was sitting around a fire on the Nullarbor and the stars and when the fire went out laying there seeing a satellite 🛰️ go across the sky. Also on the Nullarbor, which was unsealed and terribly corrugated, the engine mountings broke, dad cut some wire from a fence to hold it up and get us to an Aboriginal mission, where they fixed it.
@@cbisme6414 my first car was a Humber Supersniper, 1956 with the pop out indicators ;) I loved that car.
Very interesting and I’m glad you are doing these summaries as you transition to the next stage. Thank you for the hard work.
Thanks Susan and Stephen, there will be a couple more to come!
We kept getting diverted to Snow Town in 90-91 & reckons we were dead lucky.
Funny, I did some mad 4WD driving in a real wheel Cortina back in 1982. Nearly did not make it out but with some mechanical knowledge just survived. Later got that Cortina airborne due to a missing sign near Exmouth. Fuel tank came off but again could patch it to reach Broome for repair. Had a few tyres melting and had to make some compromising slow trips. Then with a new Corolla clockwise from Perth around AUS. It fell apart in Mount Magnet, later died in Fitzroy Crossing and nearly hit a Braman in the Territory all part of the fun. The worst was putting up with all them drunkyards all night when renting smelly old caravans. Later did the round trip anti clockwise in a very small 4wd van with light truck tyres. Yeah there were plenty of challenges lucky the Wikicamp app was not out so the ones who bought the book were very normal people. Even met some nice millionaires bushcamping. You have not missed much on Cape York. Too expensive with only 2 nice creeks on the way and up the cape you see abandoned luxury resort where the million dollar boardwalk is the common human toilet. Did Fraser Island 3 times, in a Subaru, then a little Daihatsu and 2 kids last in a 4 runner petrol testing my sand skills. Best of all is Tassie, twice in the small van lucky before the Wiki App turned the place into a mass grey nomad madness. We missed 2 dinners on a table when a rainstorm arrived just after cooking. Could still eat laying down. Little can stove together with a cheap induction and long cable did miracles when you could still find power points that are now mostly gone.
Cars were so much simpler back then!!
The best place to see tassie devil is a sanctuary. The only ones I saw were sadly road kill. Envy your travelling. Would love to do the big loop, but age and health prevent.❤
Lived like this for 12 years, in the late 90,s and picked fruit. It is a different country now. Lots of wealthy people yelling " you can't camp here" or getting police and councils to do their dirty work. In fact , its downright dangerous and illegal to be 'homeless' . Now many of the same farmers we helped in the bushfires, won't spare us an overnight postage stamp of land. You can see the rivers, but they are all fenced off. I have a Landcruiser conversion with a good camouflage net. Most aggressive animal I encountered in all my travelling years was the territorial Australian Alpha male.
@@Neil-f3u Interesting comment, I now remember signs on gates leading to property stating to similar wording “No fuel here so do not enter and ask.”
Anyway that’s back in the early 70’s and I doubt anyone would get caught short on fuel these days with all the tech stuff on phones.
@@Doogsa-dl8sc You got me thinking, I bet in another 10 or 20 years, will we be looking for charging stations, LoL. Anyway I hope you still travel a bit. My next trip will be in a very small towable house boat. I recon keeping things innocuous is the go. A lot of parks where I live just can't fit large rigs on their sites. Best wishes to you.
Definitely not illegal to be homeless given all the people in tents trying to survive the housing crisis.
@@newbris Your one of the lucky one that hasn't been fined yet and told to move on. In some of the small coastal towns in Australia, Rangers, police and local bullies, make being an itinerant worker, a night mare.
@@Neil-pr1rb must be better in cities atm as there is now 150+ homeless people camping in a city normal suburban parks and they said they’re not able to be moved if looking after the site.
That pizza episode had us laughing but it looked fantastic and, although Nigel’s fall definitely was not funny, the way he captured the impact of it and how painful it was had us so feeling it with him. Thanks again for sharing. Love watching your vids.
Spoiler alert… we will be eating a lot more of those Omnia Oven pizzas in the coming months! Thanks for watching, we appreciate you being here.
Hi Nigel, and Sue Thanks for the video had a few laughs at your expense, but that’s okay. That’s the Aussie way Cliff from Logan City
Glad you’re laughing along with us Cliff!
That Diesel heater, did you at least take the suppied tank with!
Hi guys. My favourite was the boggy road where you met the people doing the charity walk, and the dude that got bogged after you pulling him out then driving straight back into the bog hole.
All you can do is shake your head at some people! He should never have been on that road in the first place!
We did Cape York in August 2023, it was either very corrugated or under repair. It was something we expected.
We aquired a fuel supply problem that cost us $1400 that was never fixed until we got home to Perth. It was all down to the corrugations and a fuel line that had unclipped but not fallen off. We came back across the Nullarbor at 80kph or less. Thanks Cape York 😓😓😓
Yeah, it's a brutal trip!
Did you get a pinhole in the fuel line from fatigue cracks from the unclipped section of fuel pipe being able to crack from the vibrations?
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk no, it unclipped (damaged) the corrugations caused the hose to move foward and suck a bit of air. We never found this out until we got home and the ute was sitting for a few weeks. Pushed the hose back and it clicked on again, problem solved ....... for now.
@@stevecam724
Thank you....
It's remarkably like that jump start terminal in the MB coming loose isn't it?
80 kms ? You gotta enjoy the sights :)
Love that you showed as it is. We have 2 days left of our half lap and can relate to many things you spoke about. Our worst was in Kakadu and getting totally showered with Horse Poo by a car travelling in the opposite direction. It took two days to get it out of the radiator. A case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time - haha. Looking forward to your Europe adventures. Cheers Colin and Jan.
Oh gosh that would have been awful! Hope you didn’t have the windows wound down haha!!
👋 hi thank you for this honest and beautifully created video. Wow what an adventure 😊
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching
Great video! If that was the worse of it, you must have had a great trip!
It really was the adventure of a lifetime! We laugh at almost all of those things now. Especially Nigel's broken ass!
Glad you laughed about the negative aspect of your trip. Life is often difficult regardless of a road trip.
Unfortunately humans tend to focus and remember more negative aspects of life than positive, good and happy.
Absolutely. We weren’t laughing at some of those at the time, but we laughed later
Thank you very much for this vlog. very informative and I`m sorry also had a bit of a laugh. Keep safe
Oh, please don't apologise for laughing! We were totally laughing when we were making this video. All ended well.
The no-kill mouse trap is so kind. Good on ya for using it. I will have to get that type !
That Mouse trap is a brilliant idea.
Yeah it's nice not to have to deal with dead ones
A lot of adventure! Fun to watch
Thanks so much for watching!
Really enjoyed that guys. Thank you. Just sent the link to my wife :)
Awesome! Thank you! I hope she enjoys it too.
As soon as bongos or guitars come out i'm off.
haha, guitars I don't mind so much, but bongos... no thanks.
I’m the guy just in front of you.
Very entertaining. I remember you having to get towed. It turned out pretty well in the end. We had to get our 5.2 tonne motorhome towed, and that turned out to be a very difficult and expensive exercise. So, I can relate. Meanwhile, overall, I think given how long you were travelling and a lot of the roads you went on, you did pretty well. 🙂
Thanks Lynne, definitely! Our van did really well considering the roads we drove. We were very lucky. Overall it was a great experience.
Another great informative video thanks for sharing your experiences good and bad 😅😊
Thanks Rod! Glad you enjoyed it.
A great ad for the 4x4 Sprinter: my dream van.
Cannot speak highly enough. It was an absolutely amazing vehicle to travel around the country in. Very sad to say farewell to it.
Hi Nigel and Sue, another very entertaining video. Not that we wanted to laugh at the down side of living in a van but, these things happen. The look on your face sometimes Sue is priceless. Thank you again for sharing. Coen and Jay
Glad you’re enjoying the journey, even the not so fun moments!
Great videos. A tip or two that may help. When you have the one wheel in the air and it is free spinning causing loss of traction apply a little bit of brake. It will stop it free spinning and re-engage the drive to the other wheel. My go to tire pressures are 22 psi in the bush and 18 psi in the sand as soon as I get there. Avoids most stoppages before they happen. Enjoy your tripping about and stay safe.
😂My personal suspicion is also that it's only a fairy tale of existing kangaroos 🤣 I have been to Australia twice and never saw one. Will return this November again together with my wife and give it another try 😊
Greetings from Germany
Geez, where did you go in Australia that you didn't see kangaroos? They are everywhere once you get out of the city. Let me know where you're going in November and I can give you the tips on the best places to see them.
Ha, just thought of a joke because you didn't get to see Kangaroos in the wild. "You must be a Sauerkraut".
Sauer sounds like Sour in English (Yeah, I know it means sour in German) and feeling sour means you're feeling sad and Kraut, is a slang term for German. Not so polite term but not offensive enough to not use in a joke.
I'm only explaining the joke because a lot of Germans I've met are very pedantic about most things and would wonder why I'm saying they're fermented cabbage.
...but seriously, I holiday regularly in Sussex Inlet...about a 3 hour drive south of Sydney and you can see a lot of Kangaroos in people's front yards every day, around sunset. If you ever come back to Australia and you're in Sussex Inlet but can't find the Kangaroos, just ask someone where the Kangaroos usually gather.
...and don't think that because they look cute that you can approach them. They're wild animals. They'll try a tear your guts open with their hind feet if they feel threatened...which is all the time.
If you need another reason to go there, Sussex Inlet is good for flat head fishing.
I'm no fisherman but I can always catch a flathead as you don't need to do anything other than let your bait drift along the floor of the lake and drink beer and listen to the radio. The beer drinking, only as long as someone else is the Captain and they're not drinking and most importantly, everyone keeps their life jackets on.
😉This was intended to be a joking reply to your bonusclip N(o) A(nimals) S(een). I did flighttraining for military helo pilots out of Brisbane and Oakey, which I assumed to be bush country.
Maybe I was to much concentrated on the business.
Be assured on our next travel, I will be all over Down Under to chase them 😁
@@SauronsEye Of course it was a joke. Being a Kraut, doesn't mean we cannot be funny 🥳
You must be blind mate
14:30 did you ever patent the doughnut pizza idea?
damn, that's a good idea!!
Great points, diesel heaters aren’t that great, I went the roof top ac route for heating and cooling. Works fine zero issues so far. Running out of gas sucks, I would suggest you buy a larger bottle those small bottles don’t last more than 6 weeks for just me on my own.
Hi Guys
We are planning for a big lap and them lots of smaller trips. Watching your videos. I have learnt alot from your you tube Chanel thank you. I live about an hr from you and could really assossiated
with your trips. We are at a different stage of life. But loved what your children got out of it. The lasting memories you can't buy as they are priceless. And you are so right about stuff. We have started the clear out and it is just stuff we have accumulated over many many year. Thank for the help you have given us to plan our new adventure and stage in our life.
Hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did! Thanks for watching.
Choose a suitable vehicle, preferably a Toyota 4WD.....
Get good advice from experienced Aussie 4WD driver's.
Make sure you take an EPIRB or Satcomms 👍
Good times, still awaiting final build of our motor home and the journey to commence. Very informative and very well narrated.
Oh exciting times for you too!!
Modern vehicles = Electronics , Limp Mode etc , totally unsuitable for remote areas . Old Holden 6 cyl red engines in the outback , carried spare ignition points , condenser , distributor cap , water pump , 2 laps of OZ no problems .
🤣 so funny to see the way they are wrapped up and trying to fix the heater. you cant even see thier breath.
yeah, we are weak in Australia when it comes to the cold!
Bongo playing hippies 🤣 love it! One of the things I've loved about following your lap was that it felt real. You never really hid anything, and were always open about your experiences (Monkey Mia for instance). Love the Aussie 'can do' attitude with saving pizza night. Nothing gets in the way of enjoying pizza! 😊
Oh hell yes!! I’m missing pizza night already!
Amazing, thanks. It's astonishing that in such a monstrously large country there are few places to park up/camp overnight in many areas (?)
Good summary. These is what memories are made of. 👍
Glad you enjoyed it! Even the worst moments are good memories now!
Just brought mouse trap for the caravan! Thanks Sue
They are so easy! Bit of peanut butter down the end and 👍
I'm heading out on lap 2 soon.
Spent a lot of time getting things fixed on the van.
1998 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 312D.
My story about breaking down on the Great Ocran Road, just out of Lorne... Maybe I'll share that with you guys if ever we meet up on the road?
That would be fun (meeting up to hear your story), and not an ideal place to break down!
Just joined you. Excellent commentary. Did the trip in a two wheel drive Jayco. Confined to mostly tar roads. Missed a lot but great journeys nonetheless.
There is so much goodness to see in australia!
I caught a mouse and a brown recluse spider in my house on the same glue trap most of the mice I caught outside my house on glue traps. I've had issues with mice twice due to remodeling projects on abandoned buildings.
Great video, you were lucky at Hopetoun, $2,000 fine if the ranger catches you in a non-designated camping spot.
tell ya what guys, you make a great video and some of your trouble shooting stories have given me a lot to store in the old memory banks for when i possibly get out there 👍
It’s 99.5% awesome. But the odd debacle always makes for a good story!
@@nigelandsueadventures you tell it well :)
Hey you might have been in Cooper Pedy when we were. Like you a big lag in a 4x4 Sprinter our only issue was the roads killed the rear shocks and we had to wait for them to be shipped in from Germany as our van was only 2 years old. Mercedes replaced them for free which was nice.
We've moved back to NZ and had a failure of the main onboard computer. Luckily in a carpark not on the beach - where I take my van as i land sail.
Oh really? Were you parked up next to us at the Old Timers Museum? We did chat briefly with a couple in another 4x4 Sprinter. We were there late June-early July (9 days!) last year.
No we were in an underground hotel because the house water pump was broken too many corrugations it broke the plastic mount and then fun with soft sand meant the bell housing gave it a fatal blow.
Oh and we fitted a Chinese diesel heater when we got back to NZ (on our big lap we chased the warm weather). Did all the things you tried. Solution run the engine as the glow plug pulls a lot of current (it's wired to the van battery and under the passenger seat) and does not get hot enough - hence the white smoke.then probably E-10 which is not helpful.
I travelled the whole of usa by vw combi camper. In Alaska I went down a trail by a river and got stuck on a rock. Close by were wild berries that the bears feed on. I got the vechical off the rock using 2 short star steel fence posts , and a hand winch. Be prepared.
We certainly need to be resourceful!
Were the berries, blue berries ? As they are plentiful in some parts of Alaska
Good on ya mates. Could've stayed home for all the problems there. But the beautiful background and landscape makes for at least picturesque troubles.
Enjoying the trip...
Absolutely!! Wouldn’t change it for anything!
Agree, my dad went to Cape York two or three years ago, and despite being a really hardened outback truck operator, he found the corrugated road to be "bad". He didnt have any vehicle problems, but he drives a really rugged heavy duty truck converted into an RV from the 1980's that has no delicate electronics. I ran long distance to South Australia for a decade, it can be really cold in winter there, especially when the wind blows from the south off the great southern ocean.
Where did you run from?
@@nigelandsueadventures From Newcastle to Whyalla,Leigh Creek and Roxby Downs with road trains. In summer, if the wind blows from the north, off the hot desert, its really hot. In winter if it blows from the south, off the great southern ocean, it gets really cold.
@@wazza33racer hahaha, I thought you meant RUNNING - like with your FEET!
@@nigelandsueadventures truckie lexicon ))
You're really lucky that jumpstart lead didn't start a fire, the battery being under the floor mats and all that cable inside could have been really bad. So that breakdown is actually a great outcome for that particular fault. It's a positive thing ( badum tiss ) . I'm going to check mine is secure as soon as I can. Thanks so much for sharing all this, it's great for people like us getting ready for this sort of trip. Make sure you check the cables inside and add some sleeving if they got a bit melty.
great vid.
talking about seeing wildlife. I did a 3 month trip through the top end in 2013 and mostly saw cats and wedgies.
bloody feral cats!
Desmond here yes i am very aware of the weather the heat the rain i think we will get four seasons on our tour i am taking a empty back pack with me i have a micro cooling towel
sounds like you're well prepared
At 10:40 when stuck with wheels of the ground, all you had to do was get a rope or strap and tie wheel to chassis, bull bar or tree to stop it spinning , then you would be free again.
You could have cooked the pizza in a normal frying pan with the lid on and last bit without the lid. Not nice and brown on top but crunchy at the bottom….
we did think of that, but we don't have a lid for our frypan. The Omnia worked so well.
I'm in hysterics at 2 am at the doughnut pizza
It was so good!!
FAB vid guys.thanks so much for that...We're in BrizVegas as well....And planning the big lap soon.....
What is a stove top “omneea”? Where do I get it?
I knew it was RRV as soon as you narrowed the pain down to an index finger and right knee.
90% of people report the broken cricket finger, or the dodgy knee from football or netball, and that toe we keep kicking on the edge of the couch when we are at our most tired. lol. So I am surprised that a Tropical city hospital didn't recognise what is a federally reportable condition.
I caught a real tropical version in PNG, 2 years after having a motorbike accident that tweaked every joint except 1 elbow, and yes every vertebrae in my spine and neck and even the semi flexible joints in the hands and feet.
I was bed ridden for 9 months with basically 2 hours awake and it took those whole 2 hours to eat and shower and then back to sleep for another 22 hours a day. 3 years out of work and 9 years of debilitating pain every xmas time for 6-10 weeks where I would have to quit work to rest my aches and pains.
It’s not fun is it! Hope you’re feeling better now.
Just returned from trip from hell for second time in twelve months, everything thing from bad weather, traffic jams,hosts dying and prowler in van. Oh well I’ll do it again in twelve months.
a Prowler!! oh dear.
God, I would pay for a pizza like that one.
The one like the donut?? We will be eating more of them soon 😜
@nigelandsueadventures Yes, looks delicious and crunchy 😋
vans even though they have a 4X4 system R not designed for corrugations & heavy Offroad work same as a ute & land criusers with no mods iv got a ranger BiTurbo with a Tough Dog GVM upgrade as the standard suspension is so what do U expect
Good content and well produced. Had to dig through lots of archived footage no doubt.
Yes I did!! Thankfully we have a really good filing system for our raw footage now, in the early days it was a bit haphazard.
@nigelandsueadventures I'm still hap hazard with mine. Happy to take any tips. What's your go to storage for on the road?
@@DENMONKEY we use several external hard drives (we like to always keep 2 x backups, as we've had a hard drive fail. We then create a numbered folder for each place we visit (or video we shoot) and divide the footage up into folders for each of the days that we are there. so, for example: 102 Kakadu National Park, then inside that folder we'd have Day 1 - Darwin to Ubirr, Day 2 - Ubirr to Magic, Day 3 etc... Whenever we go home we take one of the back up hard drives and leave it there and start a new one. Hopefully this serves us!
@@nigelandsueadventures much thanks
Get some serious off road tyres. Always let them down on corrugations. Even if its a short trip. It shakes those wires loose! I shook my steering rack loose and lost all the oil 😮. You can lower these tires much lower when bogged.
I’m Tasmanian and have never seen a tassie devein on the wild 😂
It's so sad how they are almost wiped out. We thought they were amazing. Love the screams!
That emergency gas cooker.....
there is a way to construct a converter to allow you to connect the emergency LP canisters to the gas line allowing you to fire up the big gas oven off those small canisters...
Good question, but I think its a different type of gas. The small stove runs on Butane I think.
@@nigelandsueadventures
Butane has lower BTU output than propane....but thee is usually at least some butane in the propane mix...
and it still burns as long as the temperature is warm enough for it to boil and produce gas in the fuel tank......
as it obviously does in the case of the camp stove....
so there will be no problem in the larger LP oven...as long as the ambient temperature around the small canister is warm.
Here in New Zealand where our LPG is sabotaged with more butane being added to the propane mix than is natural....
I have seen 120 litre tanks in LPG powered cars being vented to get rid of accumulated butane....
topping up every shift and the vehicles only able to utilise the propane on freezing winter days...
butane-logged tanks causing starting and running problems.....on freezing cold mornings...
When you get ice on the outside of LPG barbie tanks you know you are probably taking barbequing a bit far into winter...
Loved that guys ❤
Thanks Rashaal 🧡
Our Diesel heater moment was contaminated fuel. The top filter dropped out of the tank cap and allowed rain water to get into the tank when we where at Babinda. Luckily we didnt have to buy any parts but it took a few days to work out the issue and dumped the diesel. Had a clutch fan in the car die in Mt Isa and we had to wait a week for the part. from FORD. But it was just as well as I got an infected elbow and ended up in Isa Hospital for 4 days with a drip... Then the Cape York drive was like yours on corrugations after high season in October. Spent a lot of time on the sides of the road in table drains, getting back onto the road to dodge the culverts. We managed to get there OK but I found that our caravan brake lines fitted by the manufacturer were only held on with 2 cable ties on each wheel and they broke. Cables where floating free underneath.... On average I worked out that for every week on rough roads it took a day to fix the stuff that went wrong. We only had 2 4.5kg gas bottles as well but didnt run into a gas issue as our huge solar and battery system was used for most cooking. Only used the gas for hot water and fridge. Ahh But I didnt mention our gas fridge failing on the way up to the Cape. Ordered a new compressor fridge from Melbourne for pick up in Cairns and fitted it when we got back from the Cape York at Mossman van park. Our AC also busted in Mackay for pick up in Townsville. Had to order a new one from Melbourne and fitted it in a free camp at Blue waters....Only one flat tyre in 34,000klms Our 9 months was pretty great overall...
That sounds like quite the adventure! Cape York can be brutal on vehicles.
@nigelandsueadventures strangely enough. despite my concerns. the Everest was largely fault free except for the clutch fan which turned out to not be at fault.
I understand what you mean by bongo playing hippies, that would drive me nuts. I really enjoy your vlogs and look forward to more.
I mean, we love the free spirits, just not being camped up to them when we are trying to get a good sleep
you shoulda spent your money on a Webasto and had it installed. I make it a point to never scrimp on comfort items because this is inevitably the result.
I thought all the roads in outback Australia were totally sealed. And im so surprised that the weather could have any impact.. Any old car should be good enough. BTW don't choose a Mercedes Benz...and extraordinarily it got hot in far north QLD. Unbelievable...next thing, it got dusty in coober pedy..400 million hectares of empty land and nowhere to stay.🤣
Overall, you had a good run, as not too much went wrong at all. The injuries or the heater would have been my No1 lol, no-one believes it can get cold in the middle of Australia and you also have to look after your body as you are sometimes a long way from a doctor!! Lots of laughs from the mice, although I know these little pests are a big nuisance and everyone's nightmare!! Loved this video, it certainly showcases the things that can and do go haywire! Glad you can laugh about these memories now, what a journey!
Yeah the heater probably should have been #1. I mean k could have made a whole video about that it was such a long drawn out saga
@nigelandsueadventures So glad it got sorted out as lm sure roadside assist wouldn't come out for a heater!!!
I've only seen 2 Tassie devils in-the-wild, in 21 years of living in Tasmania. Both at my rural house/property, and only by chance (dogs were barking at one, and caught the other in my cat trap). Never when travelling in, "the wilds of Tasmania". Although I've seen quolls that way.
Its so sad they are dying out.
@@nigelandsueadventures we've lost about 95% of the wild population. Unless they find a cure for Devil Facial Tumour, we may lose them in the wild, apart from insurance populations on off-shore islands and the mainland.
Pretty good recap, What a country Australia my brother if from Bowral my parents were Brits thats partly why I follow these Aussie caravan channels..nice people tool
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it. There’s plenty of good Aussie content in the back catalogue.
That worked out great having that parking spot open up for you guys, perfectly.. so many downs but so many ups as well living on the road🤟 45 gallon tanks (Off Highway Vans) & can always invest in a larger fuel tank.. the more you live a life like this the more you learn.. trial & error. Make sure nothing smells like food & use peppermint spray
I picked up a critter in my HEADLINER of all places. That mouse trap is nice, they also use a 2 liter bottle trap that I've caught tons of mice with. You meet people on the road which is nice.. great to be offered an off the road for a couple days experience. Shoot, injury & illness are the biggest issues while living life on the road. Im a snowboard instructor and raft guide so try to stay tip top as much as I possibly can. Great video, thank you for sharing your experience on the road. Really nice to hear stories from other fellow travellers. Crazy reliving the breakdowns, lost FJ62 in Bryce Canyon as well as Pacific Grove resulting in a full blown lawsuit... So feel y'all's PAIN.... Ugh, suck
Hi Nigel and Sue Absolutely love your video. If you were to do it again, would you do it the same way you did it OR would you tow a caravan behind a 4 x 4 ???
That’s a great question Greg. There are quite a few places we want to go back to. We have a Landcruiser, so it will either be a roof top tent or a small off road caravan. I’m leaning towards the latter, especially as it will be a good few years before our next lap, as we will be adventuring overseas for the next few years.
Just started watching in the UK!!!!
Thanks for joining us on the adventures!!
Re the diesel heater:
If you had used a small (8 hour supply sized tank) as a "day tank"
and filled it off a separate Facet style clicky-clacky fuel pump directly tapped (via a manually actuated valve/tap) into the engine fuel line supply...
there might not have been a problem?
Glad it's been solved as correctly set up (as per many YT vids) they work wonderfully well...and at far less cost than the European ones....l
Possibly, it would have been easier to see as those tanks are fairly clear! anyway, alls well that ends well, and we had a good laugh about it after the 2 odd years we struggled to get the damn thing to work haha
The mouse is probably native, they are crafty little buggers. lol
Just found your channel. Love your honesty 😊 Cheers from Melbourne
Welcome aboard! Hope you’ll enjoy the show.
I spent a few nights at the hope town camp site, but I did go up the hill . I did have a landcruiser
Yeah I think we would have taken our Landcruiser up there too.
How goods that spot ,my spot ,lol. At Lake Rosebery . So nice . Had it twice . And it was 36°heatwave. Place was packed and I had that water front spot . That's my spot . Claimed. Lol.
This mouse trap is very good. I didn't knew this device existed.
It really is ingenious!
As a professional videographer, congratulations on the quality of your video.
Thanks so much Andrew! That means a lot.
Had to comment again when I saw the mice bit. We had a rat die somewhere inside the double skin of our bus and try as I might I could not get to it to remove it. I stank for months, although that was insignifficant to the time we unloaded a fridge and turned it off and forgot about the stuff in the freezer. Oh my goodness the smell was terrible and we never really got rid of it. (That was in a later rig rhat we sold quite quickly afterward.) On the sickness and injury front I got a hernia and had to change a front flat tyre at Warmun. Had to get help with that one. Didn't get it (the hernia) fixed till we got to Darwin. Not much fun at the time but good stories for later on.
Yeah Nihel didn’t put the lid back on his jar of Anchovies and that spilled in the fridge. I made him clean it out. I don’t eat the disgusting things!
My biggest worry was a mouse dying in the walls
The great Aussie dream the lap well done cobbers and the she'll be rite attitude 😊
That’s the way! We had a great time. Laughing at these now!
I did a lap around western Europe in a camper van...with on board toilet and shower. Wouldn't do it any other way, without the toilet and shower.
Without an on board toilet and shower, you're always limited as to where you can go because you're stuck to the route that has a caravan park or serviced camp ground so you have shower and toilet facilities. Plus, that's an extra expense you can avoid, with an on board toilet and shower.
Plus, with an onboard toilet, you're not having to use sometimes filthy public toilets....which makes me constantly think, how do some people's toilet at their home look like.
I just park up at night in service station truck parking areas because they usually never get full (Pro tip: Park so the rear of your van is at the rear of the parking space otherwise parking up the front of the space means you'll be hidden by a truck next to you and the next truck driver coming in thinks, "Oh, there's a free space", till they start turning in and see your van up the front of the parking space and this causes all sorts of dramas for them to then reverse out.)
(Another pro tip: In strip parking, where the trucks park nose to tail. Only park there if you know a service station parking area is not near by or you must stop and rest for safety reasons. When in those places, ideally park at the top or bottom of the parking area, preferably in a spot where a semi could not park. Don't take up a spot between trucks that can obviously fit another truck. Sure, technically, you can take up that spot but it would be pretty annoying for a driver close to their maximum driving hours needing to find a park and an obvious tourist's van is taking up half a semi trailer space.)
So when you wake up in the morning at your service station park up, you then drive to the pretty places you want to visit in the morning. This approach meant I wasn't struggling to find a park at night in popular tourist camping grounds. It also meant I always had a place to dump toilet waste ethically and fill up on water. You also have the convenience of the store attached to the petrol station.
I also found that people at camping grounds were not nearly as quite as people at dedicated truck parking areas, which I found rude. Who are they to say a person is still not sleeping despite the sun being up or because it's still early evening....
ie: The bongo playing hippies.
Yeah we wouldn't be without our toilet and shower either!
Great video; this is a trip I'm hoping to do in the not-to-distant future. Thank you for being kind to animals. :)
Of course!!
Rockhampton Hospital, I don't recommend. Largest employer in Rockhampton is not the best place to go ,under most circumstances. The service we get in the region, for the cost to the grouped local hospitals it controls, is very low.
Yes I would have to agree with you there!!
I reckon if you had to break down that the Atherton Tablelands were probabaly the very best place to break down. The friendliest people on earth up there and they don’t rip you off. I could be biased though, I was born in Atherton and raised on the Tablelands 🥰
Its definitely a beautiful part of the world. We love FNQ too. My dad lived in Atherton for many years too.
Desmond here last time i went on tour of england scotland ireland wales france switzerland uae in 2012 they said try not to have a accident because its too much paperwork
HA! We used to say that to the passengers when I was a tour guide too!
Desmond here they will probably say the same on this trip I have a heart condition doctor said on you alright to fly and I said I am fine to fly