Christmas 2009 and New Years Eve

[Old.Tony]

Nothing like a great big spanner thrown in the works.

Got news today that my major client is going to have to work through the break and they need their gear available all the time, which means I've got to stay around to support it. Can't postpone the thing for a few weeks - 10 days is $5k in lost income. I'll have to do it next year.

It means we'll do short hops to nearby places. For those that are in the region, we'll be celebrating New Years at the north end of McNamara Park in Broke, GPS coords to the entry are -32.743625S, 151.099593E.

We'll also do a run to Coopernook, and maybe one to Telegherry if the urge takes us.

Oh, and Dave ... Christmas drinks mate, still on the cards or is it getting too late?

 

[Old.Tony]

I love how things change, we got a last-second reprieve with a 24-hour callback and we're on the road!

The path has changed, we're now travelling around to Broken Hill, making it one giant circuit.

Right at this moment we're visiting a friends' place just west of Melbourne, about lunch today we're going to head for the Great Ocean Road and the 12 Apostles. From there, we'll be heading to Hamilton, Mildura and Broken Hill.

One thing I've noticed (and I feel really stupid for not figuring this out already) is that the old "drive at 80km/h to save fuel" is not really appropriate for the Navara.

Driving at that speed I'm getting really poor economy, at times over 20litres/100km (no exact figures yet, they'll come later). However, if I bring the vehicle to 95-100km/h, the engine sits right on its max torque and then the fuel consumption noticeably drops.

I've seen quite a few Navaras on the roads, shame we don't all have bumper stickers. Dylan, I'm ordering some when I get back - probably want one on the back of the van since the rear bumper is a little obscured!

As for dramas - we've had a couple. Lost our drinking water just as we were starting our trip due to a hose clamp letting go (a stainless steel clamp that looked ok, had worked for months, suddenly failed). No drama, refilled it and went on. Just west of Orbost, car drives past us waving madly upwards - we pull over to find the mounting brackets for our solar panel have broken and it's now flapping itself off the van - I've had to cut the wires and store the panel inside the tub. I'll be replacing the aluminium brackets with some nice stainless ones when we get back home. Other than that - so far - all is good.

Hope everyone's holidays are going well. Victoria is so very dry, it's overcast right now and I'm praying for rain for ya's. Love the roads here, signage is a bit different, but the road surface is excellent. I should suggest that none of you come up Dungog NSW way - the main street of Dungog is as rough as a 4WD track.

Be well guys, will be back on in a couple of days, if we've got wireless coverage. If you spot a white Navara pulling a Future Systems van - why not say Hi!

 

[SOLID D22]

Good stuff!