Buster on the loose into NSW

28 - 30 April

Travelled: 300km to Edi Cutting, King Valley. 222km to Myrtleford, Victoria. 99km to Mannus Lake NSW

Buster is finally on the loose…

We were curious to see how much he weighed fully loaded for a trip… “drum roll” 6.5tons.

Now it was time to start heading north. We decided to go up via the King Valley. It is such a beautiful drive via Yea and Mansfield. We diverted at Chestnut to finally go and have a look at Paradise Falls. Lucky it was only a 10mins walk in and although it wasn’t the greatest flowing waterfall we have ever seen, it did have some charm. The rock formations here were quite interesting too. 

So that done we continued on to Edi Cutting camp ground and settled in for a relaxing night.  

We celebrated with a bottle we bought in WA at Margaret River wine area. Cheers.

The next morning we took roads less travelled to Myrtleford. 

Hume and Hovel passed through here in 1824. In 1837 the township was just a remote cattle run. It later prospered during the gold rush era. During WWII a POW camp was established for captured Italian officers. Many stayed or migrated later in the 50’s and farmed tobacco here until 2006, reflected by the corrugated iron kilns scattered around the countryside.

After a stroll around town and a quick shop, we drove along Happy Valley, enjoying once again the glorious countryside made even more colourful with autumn in full swing.

We stopped for a cuppa on the banks of the Kiewa River.

At the Old Tallangatta lookout, we met some locals that have never seen the Hume Weir so full. The old township had to be moved in 1956 to its new location.

We rolled into Corryong and parked up at their RV stop next to the golf course. 

Its main claim to fame is Jack Riley, Banjo Patterson’s “The Man from the Snowy River”. Unfortunately we were too late to go the the museum.

The rain settled in overnight and we awoke to a wet Sunday morning. 

We headed along the Murray River Road towards Towong and drove in to a lovely camp spot at Lighthouse Crossing Reserve. 

Further along the way we stopped at a couple of lookouts as we drove to Walwa and Jingellic, a couple of historical townships along the Murray.

Walwa township.

Into NSW we go, crossing over the Murray River.

Stopping to have a look at the free camp in Jingellic but it was busy and very muddy so we kept going.

Once again we loved the scenic drive of rolling hills.

About 15mins from Tumbarumba we turn off to have a look at Mannus Lake and decide to stay. 

BUILD -The Final Works

Its been a busy time. Not sure where March went. We came back from our bushcamp shake down trip with a list of things to do. Apart from the obvious of sorting out the storage areas, we appeared to have an issue with the electrics. The solenoid for the truck battery was getting VERY hot, the Enerdrive system was charging from the truck batteries even when the engine was turned off and the suitcase solar panel ia the external anderson plug didn't appear in the simarine. Upon our return Justin came back and made a few changes.. a new stronger 24v solenoid to isolate the cab fuse box and another to isolate the main batteries from the DCDC charger. 

Now we had to make sure we had everything done for the engineer, Rowan Carter from Cartech. We went through the regulation check list that is required to have to be a motorhome. We thought we ticked all the boxes even designing a seating plan sticker as per regulations. Unfortunately we still did not pass on our first inspection! 

The 6 reflectors were easy enough, we just had to stick them on. The other issue was the laminated glass in the bathroom door and the acrylic in the Aussie Traveller side door not comply with the AUTOMOTIVE glazing standards (ADR 8/01 rating). Rowan made some suggestions of places that could provide what we required. After a bit of research and many phone calls, we decided on the a Shinkolite acrylic 6mm sheet that we sourced from Mulford Plastics.

Finally due to the Shinkolite being clear we bought an obscure film to put on the bathroom door for privacy.

So 2 weeks later, at the end of March, we had our VASS Approval Letter from the engineer. Next was to get to a Vicroads that would inspect Heavy Vehicles. We were assured that we did not need a booking and so drove the next day to Dandenong. Unbelievably when the VicRoads inspector came out to measure the truck, the measurements were 100mm longer than we had. When we asked them to remeasure we noticed that the tape was missing 100mm from the end! Anyway we went back inside and had to wait another 30 mins while they checked whether we needed a Blue Mod Plate from the engineer. Eventually they worked out that because it was just a letter of approval and not a certificate we didn’t need it and so our Isuzu 'Caravan' (as per registration paper) was born and we have named him  BUSTER.

What a relief to get that done. Now we could get fully insured. We decided to go with CIL (previously the tray truck was with RACV) which was $1900/$1000 excess per an ($500 less than Ken Tame which had $2500 excess and no free windscreen replacement). 

During this time Mark kept busy with other projects. 

The 3rd water tank (45l originally to be our waste water tank) at the rear was fitted with a tap which we will use as an outside only water source not connected to the pump. We fill up the tank via the tap.

Next was sorting out the under bed storage area.

Mark made a set of draws with self locking slides for some of his tools. 

He made shelves for the camp cooking equipment. 

Then he used some acrylic sheet to make a barrier to protect the heater.

He secured on the bed frame a pole saw, extra UHF aerial, broom etc. Overall it’s all nice and neat with room to spare for a recycling bucket and laundry bag. 

Mark bought a set of maxtrax mounting brackets to secure them on the roof rack instead of having them inside the tool box with the other recovery gear from Sherpa. 

In the other tool box Mark made a box for the BBQ to be secured during travel. Mark then put a partition in for chainsaw, breaker bar for the wheels and wooden jacking blocks and impact wrench.

The centre console was designed and made from left over ply used for the cabinetry. 

he UHF radio was wired in the bottom of it and 2 USB plugs for charging up. 

We bought a Englaon 12v 32” smart TV and a TRA TV bracket  which we set them up one in the dinette area and one near the bed. I cut down an old canvas bag and lined it inside with a quilt and some silk to help protect the tv. We were happy that it fitted nicely in the cupboard behind the dinette seat.

We found the suitcase solar panels we had were either too big or too heavy so we purchased a 200w Itechworld blanket solar panel that fits nicely in the same cupboard as the TV.

We stuck a mirror on the bathroom cabinet. 

The Lagun table leg was not strong enough to hold the table up so we bought an adjustable foldable leg to make it more sturdy. 

We wanted the minimum devices attached to the windscreen as we bought a Solarscreen and didn’t want to be having to take the devices on and off every time we put the screen on. So Mark used some acrylic sheet on the side of the overhead storage to attach the tyre monitor.

 We bought a flexible goose neck mount for the GPS that also sticks on some acrylic in one of the shelves. 

The dashcam and etag were small enough to stay on the windscreen.

Mark then glued the metal surround we got water jet cut and then powder coated for the crawl through. 

Now we are finally ready to pack and take Buster on his first road trip…