Camping Ground Rating : 4.5 / 10
Facilities : Good site for an inner city caravan park. Free showers with no time limit. 10kms to Launceston CBD.
I cursed it. My little comment about how everything happens in threes... totally true. My dad's 39L Engel fridge has been around Australia at least three times and is over 25 years old. Some would say... unbreakable, durable and everlasting. Well, that was until the curse came along. First the Boo Bikes Boo, and then the No Go H20 and now...
Luckily, Engel have the worlds BEST customer service in the history of mankind. We called their support line and they forwarded us to the Engel repair man in Launceston. Mike's a great guy and if anyone can fix it... it's him. The issue is with the cable and it's port that it plugs in to... all of it needs to be replaced. Mike has ordered in the parts and has the fridge in his possession, he thinks it could take a few weeks but so long as he fixes it for us, that's the main thing. And to prove how much of a nice guy he is, he's lent us his Esky in the meantime. What a guy!! Wait, I should hold off on saying that until he returns the fridge to us all fixed and he says because we're such nice people that he doesn't want to charge us for any of it... now that's not too much to ask, is it?
As far as the water situation goes... after our old 200L water bladder decided to pull the pin, we realised that we needed to find a new solution... and fast! Tom had a cracking idea of sawing off the top of the shelving unit - where the bladder used to be (see picture) and have a custom made stainless steel water tank inserted along the right hand side up to the wheel arch. This would have been the ideal solution but costly too. After spending half a day driving to Metal & Welding companies throughout Launceston, the best price we could have got it done for would have been $500inc and we calculated that would hold approximately 48litres of water and would have a valve at the front for easy access. Ideally, if we had thought of this before the trip back when we had jobs, we would have jumped straight onto it and had it done but at the end of the day, $500 means one week less we can spend on the road without having to work. So, we went for option number two.
After spending a good hour and a half bugging all of the employees at Tamar Marine in Launceston we came up with the most cost effective & aerodynamic solution. Because we are very conscious of evenly dispersing our weight, putting the water on the roof, bull bar or underneath the Troopie is just not an option. We needed to store it somewhere between the two axels. 50 litres would be enough for everyday use i.e. drinking water, washing up & cooking. When we plan on travelling a long distance and would need more water, we have two water containers that are stored on the roof that we could fill up and leave inside the cabin during our travels providing us with 100L water capacity when fully loaded. Surprisingly, we have been able to cull a lot of things over the last few weeks that have not been essential therefore creating more room for storage and less weight to travel with.
So, we emptied out the entire "treasure chest" which is the name for the big box in the middle of the shelving unit and have purchased an Australian made TurtlePac which is a heavy duty durable tough water or diesel storage bladder. These suckers are designed to be filled with diesel or water and lashed to the decks of boats or as their durability test shows, dropped from a helicopter ten metres high full of water. The only way this baby will break, is if Tom has some very rare anger management issues and stabs it with his KaBar (I hope, that is I hope it doesn't break not that Tom has anger management issues!!!) Tom has drilled a hole into the side of the shelving unit (using his leatherman because a drill wasn't at hand) and has piped it out to a water pump that has been installed at the end of the shelving unit for easy water access.
We now have a cleaner, neater & easier water solution. And HEAPS more space! We're super (nerdily) excited about it, the original bladder tearing was a blessing in disguise.
It's very interesting, travelling around Tasmania and noting all of the little differences between this little Australian island and it's mainland. Some of the differences Tom and I have noted -
Have you ever heard of a Pademelon before? I certainly hadn't. It's slightly larger than a possum but looks more like a wallaby. I didn't even know they existed and I call myself an Australian!! According to Wikipedia, Pademelons can be found on the coastal regions of Queensland and New South Wales. Well, I am from a coastal region of Queensland and I am currently in Tasmania and I have seen and heard of my very first ever Pademelon.
Unlike any of the other states in Australia I have been to to date, Tasmania has a much more organised road network. Similar to how they have it in the UK, an "A Road" is a major highway or freeway, a "B Road" is a main road, and a "C Road" is an access road. Navigating around Tasmania is SO much easier. I just say to Tom turn off at C420 and that's it. Simple. Come on mainland Australia, get your act together!! :)
Tom's noted that the logging industry here must be going bananas. We've seen sooo many utes & trailers packed to the nines full of firewood. Where on earth is it all going? Are they shipping it to the mainland or are all of the Tasmanians just stocking up for the winter season... either way there's certainly no shortage on this tiny little island.
Apparently, there are badgers in Tassie. We haven't seen any of them but the locals say they are out there. It's thought that they were smuggled into Australia for sale on the black market. How bizarre.
As far as the water situation goes... after our old 200L water bladder decided to pull the pin, we realised that we needed to find a new solution... and fast! Tom had a cracking idea of sawing off the top of the shelving unit - where the bladder used to be (see picture) and have a custom made stainless steel water tank inserted along the right hand side up to the wheel arch. This would have been the ideal solution but costly too. After spending half a day driving to Metal & Welding companies throughout Launceston, the best price we could have got it done for would have been $500inc and we calculated that would hold approximately 48litres of water and would have a valve at the front for easy access. Ideally, if we had thought of this before the trip back when we had jobs, we would have jumped straight onto it and had it done but at the end of the day, $500 means one week less we can spend on the road without having to work. So, we went for option number two.
After spending a good hour and a half bugging all of the employees at Tamar Marine in Launceston we came up with the most cost effective & aerodynamic solution. Because we are very conscious of evenly dispersing our weight, putting the water on the roof, bull bar or underneath the Troopie is just not an option. We needed to store it somewhere between the two axels. 50 litres would be enough for everyday use i.e. drinking water, washing up & cooking. When we plan on travelling a long distance and would need more water, we have two water containers that are stored on the roof that we could fill up and leave inside the cabin during our travels providing us with 100L water capacity when fully loaded. Surprisingly, we have been able to cull a lot of things over the last few weeks that have not been essential therefore creating more room for storage and less weight to travel with.So, we emptied out the entire "treasure chest" which is the name for the big box in the middle of the shelving unit and have purchased an Australian made TurtlePac which is a heavy duty durable tough water or diesel storage bladder. These suckers are designed to be filled with diesel or water and lashed to the decks of boats or as their durability test shows, dropped from a helicopter ten metres high full of water. The only way this baby will break, is if Tom has some very rare anger management issues and stabs it with his KaBar (I hope, that is I hope it doesn't break not that Tom has anger management issues!!!) Tom has drilled a hole into the side of the shelving unit (using his leatherman because a drill wasn't at hand) and has piped it out to a water pump that has been installed at the end of the shelving unit for easy water access.
It's very interesting, travelling around Tasmania and noting all of the little differences between this little Australian island and it's mainland. Some of the differences Tom and I have noted -
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia...
Unlike any of the other states in Australia I have been to to date, Tasmania has a much more organised road network. Similar to how they have it in the UK, an "A Road" is a major highway or freeway, a "B Road" is a main road, and a "C Road" is an access road. Navigating around Tasmania is SO much easier. I just say to Tom turn off at C420 and that's it. Simple. Come on mainland Australia, get your act together!! :)
Tom's noted that the logging industry here must be going bananas. We've seen sooo many utes & trailers packed to the nines full of firewood. Where on earth is it all going? Are they shipping it to the mainland or are all of the Tasmanians just stocking up for the winter season... either way there's certainly no shortage on this tiny little island.
Apparently, there are badgers in Tassie. We haven't seen any of them but the locals say they are out there. It's thought that they were smuggled into Australia for sale on the black market. How bizarre.
Tom and I have a theory. Of all of the Australians who have never resided in Tasmania we would guesstimated that only 5% of them have visited Tasmania. If we never did this trip, I probably would never have visited this place and boy would I be missing out... it really does live up to its name (I'm referring to its beauty and not it's rumoured incestuous behaviours as I have not yet seen a two headed he-she). My advice, if you're looking for a great holiday destination within just a few hours flight away is COME TO TAZ-MANIA... it's glorious...
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