August 22nd, 2024
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous other small islands. Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world’s 6th largest country with a population of slightly over 26,000,000.
It is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, tropical savannas in the north, and mountain ranges in the south-east.
The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period. They settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia’s written history commenced with European maritime exploration. The Dutch were the first known Europeans to reach Australia, in 1606. British colonization began in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales. By the mid-19th century, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and five additional self-governing British colonies were established, each gaining responsible government by 1890. The colonies federated in 1901, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. This continued a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, and culminating in the Australia Acts of 1986.
Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising 6 states and ten territories. Its population of nearly 28 million is highly urbanized and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Canberra is the nation’s capital, while its most populous cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, of which each possesses a population of at least one million inhabitants.
Australian governments have promoted multiculturalism since the 1970s. Australia is culturally diverse and has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country’s economy, which generates its income from various sources: predominantly services as well as mining, manufacturing and agriculture. It ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
It is considered a middle power, and has the world’s 13th highest military expenditure. It is a member of international groups including the UN, the G20; the WTO and more.
The Commonwealth Star is the emblem of Australian Federation. Six points represent the states and the seventh all the federal territories which together constitute the nation, the Commonwealth of Australia. The constellation of the Southern Cross indicates our geographical location in the southern hemisphere.
August 20th, 2024
CURRENCY: Australian dollar: $1 AUD is equal to $0.92 CDN / $0.68 USD (so definitely in our favour!)
DIESEL: $1.789 AUD per litre ($1.64 CAD) which is $4.55 USD a gallon
LICENSE PLATE: varies by state; this is the South Australia plate:
BEER: Great Northern Brewing Co Super Crisp Lager. Wine is more popular. Foster’s is known internationally as the quintessential Australian beer brand. However, it is curiously less popular in its homeland than it is around the world.
We left Joshua’s before 9 this morning (after rush hour) and drove to Buffalo. We stopped before crossing the border to cancel our Canadian cell phone plans by phone.
Our usual border crossing into the US at Lewiston, NY was under some construction and there was no NEXUS line! Took us 45 minutes to cross – longest ever Canada/US crossing we’ve ever encountered since we got NEXUS.
We then tried to find a Wells Fargo once we were in New York State, but it appears that even though Google shows plenty of them, they are no longer in Buffalo at all! We have been trying to link our WISE account to a bank account and main bank (Schwab) doesn’t work so we had opened this account to help with that, but they can’t verify it’s us until we use the ATM cards we got in the mail two weeks ago! So that’s not going to work. As a work around, we’ve mailed it to Serena in the hopes that she can go to one (Reno is where we opened the account) and take care of it for us then we can get online and do what needs to be done. What PITA!
We were at our the Civic’s storage place by early afternoon. We had some packages to deal with as well as some mail that we’d had forwarded here. We unloaded our car into Amanda’s truck and she took us to the Buffalo International Airport by 2:30. Our flight is at 5:34 pm and as we have bags to check, we wanted to arrive with plenty of time.
We hauled the two 30 kg / 70 lb into the check in desk and after some confusion got our bags checked in; we had to argue for our two free large bags and then when we paid the $100 for the second bag for one of us, they charged us $200!! Thank goodness Doug noticed on the receipt right away but they were unable to fix it so instead they just refunded us and gave us that second bag free! Apparently the airport computer system is from 1969 and it can’t handle anything too complicated! LOL
We had some time to kill but were glad we got here early to deal with the issue above. Our flight left one time and it was just under three hours to Dallas. That flight left a little late but we landed early in Sydney, Australia.
This was a SEVENTEEN HOUR journey that was 15 hours too long! Economy seats are really not made for long hauls. We don’t want to do that again! Next time we’ll do a milk run that allows us to adjust to the time difference easier too. They fed us a dinner on the plane but we’d already eaten at the airport so we passed on that. There were several water offerings and some snack ones during the night.
Doug managed to sleep a few hours he thinks and Fran figures she got maybe an hour. Her back did not like the seat and she got up several times just to stand up and stretch.
Upon landing in Sydney, we had to go through an automated immigration and were never asked to show our visa so we assume it was linked to our passports. Doug’s passport wouldn’t work so he had to see an officer instead. Now we had to get our bags (luckily there were baggage carts here unlike at the Buffalo check in counters) and our three came out really fast. Fran hit an ATM to get us some Aussie cash; it’s very colourful like Canadian bills. We then went through Customs and then to the point where we rechecked the bags for our short flight to Adelaide.
Then it was on to a shuttle bus to take us to the domestic terminal. This final flight left 40 minutes late and we were actually served a small lunch.
Disembarking was fast and Pam, one of the owners of the rig we are buying, was waiting for us before the baggage carousels, with this sign:
We were amazed how fast the bags came out and all three of ours made it once again. Pam said she reckons Adelaide airport has the fastest bag turn out in the world!
Everyone we’ve spoken to here in Australia so far has been very kind, friendly, upbeat and friendly.
We met her partner, John, at the curb, packed all our bags inside and they drove us to their house stopping at the garage to see our new wheels. It was getting the muffler repaired and new shock absorbers. John had taken it in for us to get a mechanical look out. We saw the rig up on the hoist.
They took us over to the cell phone shop and we got set up with a monthly plan with Telstra; supposed to have best countrywide coverage. We got a plan with 205GB a month to share for about $86 USD a month. We got a few things we needed at Kmart (no Walmarts here – it’s Kmart of Big W – part of the Woolworth’s chain). Fran needed a new screen protector for her phone as the one she just put on just two days before leaving already was smashed in one corner and cracked up the middle but she doesn’t know how this happened. The mobile accessories shop did not have tempered glass protectors for our type of phone but they used a laser printer to create a silicone one to fit. We then went to the house.
Enroute to their home we saw kangaroos in the fields nearby in the distance and at their home we saw cockatoos and lots of parrots but Fran never had to her big camera on her so these are camera phone shots:
The motorhome was ready to be picked up in the late afternoon and we got to see the inside; they left us lots of basics supplies too: sheets, , pillows, an electrical kettle, a toaster, dishes, towels, pots, cutlery and more. It was very thoughtful of them.
Doug arranged for the balance of the purchase price to be sent via Wise which Josh did for us using our money in Canada and his account. They made us a lovely dinner and offered us some melatonin to help adjust to the huge time change and we were in bed by 8 – happy to have stayed awake that long!
Friday, we took a closer look at the rig, which we are calling “Tassie”, learned about its workings and Pam took us over to the Motor Vehicle office to get it transferred and registered. You receive your title document on the spot which was nice. The fellow behind the counter helping us was super nice. We had to get client numbers to be in the system and we are using Pam & John’s home address as ours. This required getting our photos taken too.
In Australia you pay for your third party liability insurance when you register the vehicle and get other insurance (comprehensive and property) through a private insurer. Pam had given us a few names and Doug sent out enquiries for prices and coverage.
Tassie is a 1988 Nissan Navarra and is quite retro; she’s 4×4 with the camper built on the chassis (sort of like Tigger was but the whole vehicle is much shorter especially because the truck is smaller); only a two door cab and there’s a storage box on the back. The engine was replaced a couple of years ago and does not have a lot of kilometres on it. It’s a manual vehicle so Doug will again, being doing all the driving like in Europe. John had it registered as a “classic car” but had to change it as under that classification, it can only be driven 90 days a year.
The colour on the bottom of the rig is the colour of the red dirt in the Australian outback. They painted the rig themselves last year. The reddish colour with the black and white does remind us a bit of a tiger.
The over cab bed is a queen size but as it goes the wrong way for us, John made some modifications to the dinette to make it long enough for Fran as a single bed. It has a wet bath shower, a separate bathroom sink, on demand hot water, lots of storage inside, a 4 burner stove (with a lid) with a grill underneath, AC, large kitchen sink with a cover to give you more counter space, AC, microwave, a gennie, two solar panels and one battery. John was unsure what their capacities are so we’ll see if we need more down the road. There is only one propane bottle to run the stove, fridge and hot water tank so we’ll look into getting a second one or a larger one.
We spent the afternoon shopping for many items we needed and Pam kindly chauffeured us around and helped us find things. There is more to get but we’ve made a huge dent in the list. To thank John & Pam for their help and hospitality through all this, we took them out to dinner on Friday night. (Prices are definitely higher here so we are fortunate to be spending mostly USD. Eating out for dinner is about $35-45 per plate.)
There were a few issues with the vehicle (fridge didn’t want to work till John realized maybe it was not level enough – that did fix it), a few outside cubby doors have issues; the gas door still needs work; there are a couple of windows that don’t open but we’ll work on that ourselves.
We did not sleep as well the second night and Doug especially was up super early. On Saturday morning Doug removed the rod in the closet and installed four shelves so that the space is more efficiently used and added one in our “shoe cupboard” by the front door to make better use of that space as well. We had purchased a few baskets yesterday and Fran began organizing the bathroom cupboards (there’s lots) and the kitchen.
There are pullout sliding shelves under the stove and most of our kitchenware fits in there. The fridge is the typical small camper size like we had in Tigger with a small freeze. There are two drawers under the sink for utensils and odds and ends as well as one more cupboard under them.
The weather here is quite pleasant; it’s close to spring and the sun shines a great deal. Temperatures are reaching the low 20’s C / mid 70’sF during the day. This part of the country is very windy and there have been a few sprinkles but nothing that lasted very long.
By four o’clock we had a good handle on the rig and didn’t want to impose any longer. Pam and John have offered us to use their beach house about 90 km / 55 mi south of their place in north Adelaide to take our time organizing and setting up our new “home”; so very kind of them again. We get along well with them and are happy to have made new Aussie friends!
We stopped at “Woolies” (Woolworth’s) for a few groceries for the weekend only, filled up the diesel tank and made our way south. The vehicle does not have much power (considering how heavy it is, it’s not surprising!) so going uphill is slow (we knew this beforehand). It also seemed quiet noisy.
Enroute we saw the coolest clouds like someone had taken a ruler and made a straight edge:
Then cool clouds:
Then the sunset was spectacular as we approached the coast; we didn’t stop to admire it as it was going to be dark soon and we didn’t want issues finding the “Shack” itself, the lock box with the key and the power box.
We found the lock box for the house key using the flashlight on our phones and Fran turned on the power after locating the box (outside not in), got a few things inside the house and settled in for dinner. It was a long a$$ day, especially for Doug being awake since 3 am and up since dawn.
John and Pam’s “Shack” is one block behind the beach, you can see it from a few windows:
To us it’s no “shack”; it’s a typical older cottage style home; it has four bedrooms, one bath, double separate garage, huge kitchen/living area, lots of outdoor seating area and plenty of windows. Just about everything you need is here and we are fortunate to have such a space to “work” in. John told Doug to help himself to tools in the garage, use or take what he wanted and he got lots done on Sunday morning. Fran got all our clothes inside Tassie, organized cupboards, had Doug do a few things to make them easier to access and we really made good headway. Doug saw a gas bottle the same size as the one we have as well and reached out to John to purchase it for a spare. He said, no problem, just take it which was very generous once again.
On Thursday evening Fran reached out to a young woman we’d met in Central America who is from Adelaide and finally heard from her today. We may do dinner with her and her new partner on Monday night.
Around lunch time we went inside to have something to eat, and then a bit later, as we were about to call it quits for the day, the rain started so we timed that well. It rained hard for over an hour but by 3 the sun was out again. It was super windy but as it had cleared up we walked across the road to the beach which was pretty nice:
We didn’t stay long as the windy made it really quite cold. The sunset tonight, sadly, was not so great.
We both had a pretty good sleep last night and Fran feels like she’s back on track thanks to the Melatonin so she won’t take any more now. Doug might do another night or two. He managed to stay asleep till 5am today.
After we exercised and had tea, we went to check out the beach again as it doesn’t seem windy in the morning.
We saw some cool looking things like:
Cuttlefish, or cuttles, are marine molluscs of the suborder Sepiina. They belong to the class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone, which is used for control of buoyancy.
And then at the end of the beach on the right was a flock of galahs: grey and pink cockatoos.
Here’s a close up from our friend Google:
We returned to the Shack when it got foggy and a misty rain began. We did a bit of laundry and hung it under the house awning (it cleared up in about two hours and we were able to move it all under the sun).
We then went inside Tassie only to find there’s a leak!!!! WTH? There was a good amount of water on the countertop.
The only thing we could figure was it was coming in from the roof down into two of the four upper kitchen cupboards below where the solar charge wires are located.
We called John right away and he was surprised and very disappointed. He had said when we left their place on Saturday that they’d cover up to $1000 in repairs if needed so looks like we’ll have to take advantage of that offer. He called around and could find no place to look at the rig till February so he suggested we return to their place and he and Doug could work on it. So we’re not going too far just yet.
We spent a less busy day and got time to walk on the beach in the afternoon as well.
That afternoon Doug did some research on the solar panels on Tassie and the battery. It appears we have 400W of solar and we think at 140 amph battery. We think we can manage with what is there as the fridge is not solar powered so we don’t need as much power as we had back in Tigger or in Minou.
We left Myponga Beach before 9 and enroute to John & Pam’s we stopped to do a couple of returns and buy more things that we needed at Kmart, an auto store and a hardware store. We also stopped to get a yummy late breakfast at St. George Bakehouse (again pricy meals at around $25 AUD each).
We arrived just as Pam was returning from errands around 1pm and John returned about 2:15. While waiting Doug got work in a few minor repairs and then began cleaning the roof. After the roof dried the Doug and John began working on caulking and installed a special tape around the panels in the hopes that would cover up any holes. By now it was late afternoon so we all went in for a drink and to watch their favourite game show, The Chase” after which Pam made a lovely salmon and veggie dinner. We had purchased sweets from the bake shop dessert earlier today and enjoyed those while playing cards.
We slept okay in the rig; beds were comfy enough and it was warm enough. We were up on the early side and Doug went for a walk while Fran exercised inside. It was raining lightly and much cooler than its’ been lately. Once John came down to greet us, we moved the rig up to a flat surface nearer the house to spray water on it. While it pooled near the solar panels, it seemed to not be leaking inside. Fingers crossed! John has provided us with a can of a special “roof sealant” to use if the leak returns.
That morning we discovered a hole in the muffler which apparently the mechanic had told John about but advised that the part was not available to fix it so John and Doug watched some YouTube videos and had a plan. They went to a shop to get some JB Weld Steelstik and John crawled under and filled it in. When it was dry about an hour later, he went back under and there’s still a tiny opening but we’ll live with that and repair if necessary for now.
Also now the toilet bowl does not seem to hold water so we’ll have to try and find the piece to sort that out.
When Fran woke up this morning, she could see the roof vent over Doug’s bed was not completely closed so that also needs to be dealt with – unfortunately the list is getting longer…. Doug got on the roof once again and because there are no hinges on it and there’s no way to tie it down so it’s just wired in to not fly away. So for now we’ll just try not to use it.
So we’ve been here in the Adelaide area for a week today and continue to sort things out. When we purchased Minou in France in 2022, we had some issues with it too, and waited around nearly three weeks before we could leave but most of that was waiting for the title document.
