Darwin to Perth to Darwin

This last week has been a bit of a whirlwind with arriving in Darwin, setting up the van and then jetting off to Perth for the working week and returning to Darwin again to continue the admin.

It has been a very successful and eventful week for Geist Direct with some long hours, happy moments and a sad one to finish off.

It started from our arrival into Darwin from Mataranka on Friday 19th when we found our ensuite green shady spot at Lee Point Caravan Resort just east of Darwin. This huge park is a bit empty at the moment but can cater for hundreds of vans and has a no booking policy. Having your own ensuite does have its ups I suppose although I must admit it only appealed as it was about the same price as one without an ensuite for this time of year. The XK660 has a great ensuite and Rachel and I still prefer to shower in our own bathroom. We setup next to Rachel's parents and spent the weekend settling in, putting up the Isabella and popping into the shops to get some supplies. We briefly visited the Mingal markets on that Sunday.

Monday was hectic as I rushed some emails through and jumped on a plain to Perth so I could deliver two vans to customers. Mr and Mrs Hogarth and Mr and Mrs Mateara who ordered a XK660 and XK630 Denyer respectively. Licensing proved a headache seeing we have no dealer at present in WA but Care-a-van are fantastic as a service agent and were able to accommodate me for the week which I really appreciate. Michelle's paperwork and tenacity proved to be the main driving force to getting the paperwork rubber stamped as well as a little help from me. All deliveries went smoothly in the end and everyone left happy. On Thursday our last Demo motorhome was sold in Perth too which topped the week off for me and the new owners. I'll be delivering the Phantom RG later in October when I get back around to Perth. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Green. Care-a-van will become our WA Geist Direct Centre, well done guys and girls.

Long days and nights wore me out a bit but I flew back to Darwin on Friday to some news that wasn't so good. A customer had some problems in Peterborough SA and had little help from the local dealer so I was able to talk the customer through the problems and get them home to Adelaide that afternoon after some discussions on the phone.

Over the weekend I was able to unwind a little and visited the B52 parked at the Aviation museum in Darwin. It is the only B52 on display in the Southern Hemisphere, well worth the $12 to see it. All the museum was absolutely fantastic as well as the Spitfire MKVIII replica, the Sabre and the Wessex helicopter which helped Darwin residents out during cyclone Tracy. My time as a photographer in the RAAF still gives me great memories of the various planes I have been so fortunate to fly in but the planes that graced our skies in the 40's through to the 70's are something else. On Sunday evening we returned to the Mingal markets to have dinner and watch the sunset over the bay. Seeing all those people around got me thinking about metal detecting again. At 5:30am Monday morning I headed down to the Mingal Markets site and metal detected the beach with a massive $6.70 find in coins and some cheap jewelery. But still it was good exercise and I helped clean up the beach a bit of cans and pull tabs before it got a bit hot and I had to get into some work.Better luck next time.

Yesterday (Monday) I had discussions with our Adelaide dealer, Noels Caravans about the servicing of the Geist Caravans after Fridays incident and it has been agreed between us that it is just not practical to continue on a relationship in selling and servicing the Geist product at their dealership. Their servicing centre is not up to the task in-conjunction with their other brands to give full service backup required by us. So with regret we have had to part company with Noels Caravans and so a new service agent will be appointed this week and the team at Geist Direct and I will service the Adelaide and regional market for future sales and accessories until a good dealer presents themselves or other avenues are looked at.

Banka Banka to Maturanka Springs

We thought we would spend two nights here to catch up on work and that we have a bit today. Tomorrow we head north to Darwin. Maturanka springs is a 32 degree natural pool where relaxation is assured. We have only had a couple of dips each evening but it has been great. The bats have been very ordinary though with their droppings stinking us out when we step outside the van.

Cloncurry to Banka Banka

It was a bit of a wait in Cloncurry as we could not get a spare tyre for the VW for a couple of days but finally on Tuesday morning we were able to leave to catch up with Rachel's parents who had gone on ahead. We drove a longish day, around 850kms to a rest stop just short of Banka Banka Station where we surprised Rachel'sparents with our arrival. It was Rachel's birthday that day and I wanted desperately for us all to be together. All went well and we sat on 100 -120km per hour in the 130km zone depending on the quality of the road most of the day. I always believe in traveling to the road conditions.

Karumba to Cloncurry

Just a quick note before taking off again, we went from Karumba to Burke & Wills Roadhouse and took a right west to Gregory Downs. We thought we would spend the weekend there and visit Lawn Hill. The pub at Gregory Downs is really good, a bit pricey but good hospitlity. We opted to stay out the back of the pub where they provide water and loos for $7.50 a head (no power, can use generators) for two nights so we could leave the van there and shoot into Lawn Hill National Park for a squiz. Unfortunately on Saturday when we were half way there we got a flat and once I changed the tyre to a space saver one (standard with this model of Touareg) it was not smart to go on, so we turned around and headed back. I tried to get it fixed in Gregory Downs but none were keen to work on a hole as big as I had in the tyre. So Saturday was spent sitting doing nothing since we were paid up and I was over the driving thing for the day. Rachel caught up on some work and I chilled out playing a computer game in the aircon of our awesome little home the XK660. By the way it is going really well. It is up around 38,000kms now with no major problems. I have put a bit of sikaflex in the bathroom to add extra water tightness, put a couple of extra brackets under the microwave (go a little loose under there) but other than that she has been great!

We headed off Sunday to Cloncurry limping with the space saver tyre towing the van. We kept the speed under 80kms all the way as per the limits stamped on the rim and found it performed really well on mostly sealed road but sometimes we had to get off the road for oncoming cars and road trains. Well I am about to shoot into Cloncurry to get the tyre fixed, hope we can get it all fixed. By the way, we stayed at Wals camp at the back of Cloncurry last night, $8 for the two of us. Has water (not much in drought) and toilets, no power (can use generator though).

Mt Isa bound

Today we head south towards Mt Isa. We will be taking a detour over the weekend to Lawn Hill whilst we are in the area and then getting into Mt Isa by Sunday night. When I say in Mt Isa, we'll probably free camp outside the city and then head through on Monday morning. Here are some photos of our time in Karumba though where we caught up on some computer work but enjoyed the surroundings afterwards. We will probably be offline for a week or so. From Mt Isa to Barkly Station, three ways and Banka Banka station by Tuesday (Rachel's birthday) hopefully we will have phone coverage there for family to ring. We head to Maturanka springs on Wednesday/Thursday and into Darwin on Friday. Talk to everyone real soon.

Ay Karumba

What a little gem of a place for a fisherman like me, this fisherman's haven is one place you can be assured a catch, especially if you get a charter for half a day like I did on Fathers day. Well why not, if you are in the area on a special day why can't you spend a day doing some leisure activities. Sunday was great but it started when we got the good oil from other caravaners in Croyden, our overnight stop after Innot Springs. There are three caravan parks in Karumba they said, go to one of the two on the point to avoid the midgies. This pricked my ears as this little black duck does not like the old invisible assassin. I'd rather a tribe of mossies than one of those things. So we arrived early on Saturday to set up camp and we immediately went to the one closest to the point with the most breeze to keep those little varmits away. The Sunset caravan park was our choice and many others as we saw when we crawled past the main frontage of the park. Not deterred we found a park for the two rigs outside the park and wondered into try our luck. Funnily enough the fish must of been on the bite this day as a sign reading "Back after 2:00pm, find your own site, $26 unpowered, $29 powered." Interesting approach but obviously the crowds are beginning to head south so we drove in and by chance found two sites together. There wasn't many left after a few more came in that day so we think we were quite lucky. After setting up and having some lunch it was after 2:00pm and Graham (father inlaw) and I wondered down to the office to book in. Whilst standing there the signs were clear that a charter boat operator was available to be booked from the office. My fishing radar went up and thought, fathers day tomorrow, father inlaw with me, I'm a father, trip justified! "Two half day tickets thanks" was the request just as another couple from NZ as it turns out put their request in for the same afternoon. All of a sudden the fishing on the beach idea changed to a full blown charter and lots more enthusiasm was found. A Saturday night of catching up on recorded TV shows was had. Sunday morning started with the mandatory Bacon & Eggs without the bacon but instead some turkey spam left over from our Fraser Island camp trip. Yes it did taste a bit ordinary sizzled but it was the thought that counted. After a phone call home to my dad (who was working on the farm) and then a call from my daughter Haylee I was in the mood to catch some monster fish. Graham and I wondered down about lunch time and jumped in with 4 others and raced out to the favourite spot of Paul's (our guide). The Kerry D is a good sized rig with twin Yamahas on the back ready with the ability to take about 9 or 10 people with guide. It didn't take long to get onto some Threadfin salmon, the fish in season. This beautiful tasting fish when cooked is beautiful as we found out last night. The tally for me was 14 Threadfin plus a couple of catfish which were sent back to the waters with sore heads. Graham didn't fair quite so well with 6 good fish. there was more than enough for all when we got back and Graham and I walked back with 11 fish each to clean up. The photos will show the haul we ended up cleaning whilst relaxing with an ale. You will also notice a sea snake one of the anglers got onto. It swallowed the hook and it was safer to cut it loose than risk a bite from one of these very venomous reptiles.

The night finished with a few drinks with new friends Paul and Jill who came out with us, and a good feed of fish. Today it is back to work and tomorrow we head to Lawn Hill.

By the way, the Next G aerial I talked about further down in the post, is fabulous, we got coverage in places where with the phone, there were no bars at all. It is great, highly recommend it.

Smashing the dirt road theory

If anyone ever suggests you can't go on a dirt road with a Geist again, I'll have to ask them to rethink their logic in a calm and friendly manner whilst getting really cranky inside. The XK660 has performed very well going over admittedly light dirt roads in-conjunction with good and bad sealed roads over the last 35,000 kms. This last stretch for the year across the top and down the west coast is full of rough and not so good sealed roads. We are picking our route around the rough bits admittedly but for many this would be a manner of course anyway. The looks we get when pulling up next to the Bushtrackers, Kedrons and lifted Aussie vans is a little of "how did they", "why have they" and maybe a little of "why did I bother spending the dough". Well sitting here now in Karumba on the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria I am surrounded by mostly big and high lifted vans and camper trailers in one of the three caravan parks in the area.

The trip across the top started just under a week ago on Tuesday 2nd Sep and already we have seen lots and appointed a new service agent for Cairns. We left Balgal Beach and headed north to Cairns but we pulled into a little rest area just west of Babinda called the Boulders. This little rest area takes just 5 campers and it is a line up to get in but luckily the two of us, that's right we have Rachel's parent following us to Darwin in their van, managed the last two spots. Two nights there whilst Rachel, her mum Beth and I went to Cairns. For the girls it was a day for shopping, for me it was working getting a new service agent appointed. Wednesday afternoon we had a new agent, Cairns Caravan repairs, Doug there with 30 years experience will be a great asset to our expanding agent role.

Thursday got us off to a good start heading a short way to Innot Hot Springs, a place you must stop at when traveling through. Fellow Geist owner John Cullen gave me the hot tip on this one and now hopefully more people will find this little secret. The pools of different temperature water is great to relax the body as Rachel and I found out. 5 main pools plus a standard pool lets you experience all temps right up to 45 degrees. In the undercover area three pools allows to have a very hot dip and then walk next door to a cold pool. This sudden change in temperature gets the blood vessels pumping and you soon end up with a red body, like you have been scolded. Don't worry though if you keep to short stints you will realise afterwards that you feel your body is floating with total relaxation and blood vessels that are now working properly again. The redness goes away quite quickly. We also met Mel and Bonnie with their second hand LV 485 that they have transformed to be a Footrot Flats cartoon on the back and one side. Quite a classic piece of artwork by Bonnie it lends well with their real companion, their dog which looks exactly like the dog from Footrot Flats but called Molly. Of course Rachel was taken with Molly and not having our animals with us is starting to saden us when we see other happy travelers with their pets.

PICS:

1. The Savannah Way. some of it is like this and worse but most is pretty good up to Normanton from the East Coast.

2. Not my best angle but showing the VW Touareg is really making it easy.

3. After a couple of days the white stone shield is caked in red clay.

4. The clearance lights before I cleaned them off.

5. The new Rocktamers are good at stopping the stones hitting the van and bouncing back into the rear windscreen but the mud splatters higher. I'll have to talk to Dave about how to maybe fix this.