Trip preparation part 2 cars cars cars

As stated earlier we have had a few four wheel Drives already so for towing our goldy I knew I needed a diesel and preferably a turbo diesel .
After months of looking for a suitable rig and Internet searches across Australia flights
to Newcastle, drives to Adelaide and Melbourne we finally get an email from a prospective 100 series owner just selling his cruiser and he was in Melbourne .
Thursday morning Etienne and I set out on the train to southern cross station went through the gamut that is myki we boarded a tram to south Melbourne to view our 03 hdj100r landcruiser wagon I had a slight trepidation towards autos although dafter driving big Als dark side dual cab ute with the same drivetrain setup as the one I was about to test drive .
After a brief walk and reached my address and met the owner then took the beast for a drive ,pleasantly surprised at the Kms ,condition and service history of the car I went to the bank to retriev the necessary funds to complete the transaction .
230 pm Ej and I pointed for home and instructed the cheese and kisses to prepare our belongings to head for Newcastle to pick up our van ,happy in the knowledge all fuels ,lubricants , water and tyres were in good nick I felt confident enough to get going.
The trip to pickup the van went swimmingly well with the first tank petering out at 807 Kms we kicked into the sub tank .
Once home I did the ring around on setting up the cruiser for 4wding accessories gear, luckily we had some parts left over from our 105 series cruiser so we saved some there but it would be remiss to forget our very helpful friend Adam Craze of Ironman 4x4 who went out of his way to accommodate our needs , suspension fitted and sorted then roofrack fitted we left with a cargo area full of goodies and a roofrack loaded with our winch/bullbar combo ,we once again headed to our home.
having fitted many accessories to other vehicles I had some idea of the seemingly impossible task ahead.
Days later the bullbar and winch fitted along with my 240 light force blitz driving lights.
The time needed for all these fittings was normally done for me over years of weekends but I had just over a week to fit more than I previously had , thank god for my brother in law Ron for his tech help and tools and his wife Louise for assisting with the kids (although a ps3 and DVD mostly kept the kids amused.
Then in went the fridge slide,the old drawers from the pervious cruiser also a highlift jack and shovel on the roofrack mounted carrier ,wiring up the lights was vastly easier with the supplied looms .
Then I mounted in a fuse box to which was connected my brand spanking new icom 440 80 channel UHF with handset mounted speaker mic which is a top unit.
Then in went the 12 volt plugs required for the kids iPod chargers and headrest mounted DVD players and USB socket ( I'm sure they will cop a hiding back there!)
I'm sure there is more to mention but I'm missing out on a movie in the spirit of Tasmania theatrette .

Trip preparation pt 1

Getting the car and van just the way we wanted it came by way of years numerous camping/four wheel driving trips and learning the hard way of what works and what doesn't with of course a cost factor involved.
After several four wheel drive vehicles and tenting and camper trailer camping we decided on a goldstream storm camper van for our round Australia sojourn,then began the enviable task of which camper would suit us so obviously there is 5 of us the the logical step was a 6 berth van then we preferred a full size one to save money while travelling so we could save on take away food costs ,then height was an issue as we intend to put a kayak on top at some stage.
We decided that for the time being we will go without air conditioning ,however opted for a hot water service with shower option to give us a better free camping option ,so we came across a secondhand Webasto diesel ducted heater/hws with direct spark ignition.
Epsom Palms caravans were left in charge of the install of this along with mixer tap and our outdoor shower ,good things take time and we picked up the van all ready to go Thursday night then got her home ready to set up our van .
Apart from the usual packing of clothes food and camping gear I had to contend with somewhere to stow the specialised bikes of mine and dash.
The goldstream already had a 3 way fridge ,two large gas tanks and two 120 amp hour deep cycle batteries with an on board ctek 30 amp charger ,to this I added our ctek dual 250s dc-dc charger with mppt solar input and two 80 amp solar panels on a long lead.
With free camping to be our majority of our trip we have added a Enerdrive 1000watt true sine wave invetorwired via bus bar and mega fuse as is most of our van with a few to be modified to a standard I can understand.
We added a Teac 22inch led LCD with DVD inbuilt and utilise a travelmate powered omni directional antenna which I hope will be sufficient for our mainly digital viewing.
Two water tanks make washing up and drinking a little more comfortable however we will have to watch our shower usage when away from mains water which is on board .

Our seed has flowered

Well we finally have the pigeon pair now, comprising our Toyota landcruiser mighty hdj100r 5spd auto coupled to our 2009 goldstream gold storm with independent trailing arm coil suspension .

Last night we stayed at Kiama Easts beach caravan park , while the park itself is a Big 4 resort I still managed to baulk at the $102 rate for the 5 of us but we were tired and this place was recommended to us ,so we quickly set up the camper as caravanning virgins do- slowly and not quite confidently .
However all in all it was up quickly and we endeavoured to enjoy it without any plates cutlery or crockery as the previous owner had left little in for us .
Packing the camper up proved fairly easy but I'm sure we will improve on timing oh yeah and me doing the door first not nearly last ,lol
A quick swim in the ocean pool this morning revived our spirits and we dried off the have a look around the Kiama beach markets .
Etienne decided we were in need of some fresh coconut so we had this bob Marley dude de husk and serve us one ,not bad been awhile since I had a fresh one .
A quick go on the slides for the little Ones and we were on our way.
We made our way up Macquarie pass national park way to moss vale amidst the mist and we only held up by several slow motorbike riders.
I was suitably impressed by the torque and and towing power of the cruiser and the auto makes for a lazy mans dream .
We have just pulled over for a quick cuppa geo and rest break and decide to stay at riverside caravan park in gundagai as per a recommendation from friends to being a cheap and nice spot to stay.