When we got out of bed on Saturday morning it looked like a decent winter day and I said to Danelle that maybe we should head up to the hills and take kids and dog for some fun at Lesmurdie Falls. With plenty of winter rain it would be a nice spot to be and a good day trip
Everyone thought that was a good idea.
Then it was suggested we take the camper-trailer for a test drive and lob in on Andrew & Simone for for the night.
Sounded like a plan…
So we call them and they are in Busso for the weekend.
So then Danelle suggests we could visit other good friends in Narrogin… only 3 hours away… (Its ok cause I’ll be driving!)
So after a quick phone call we are all packed up and in the car and heading down the freeway. Not what we intended but nevertheless looking forward to seeing them and knowing we always have fun together.
We set the camper up in their backyard and slept out there on Saturday night. It was cold in Perth and damn near freezing in Narrogin! A few more blankets saw us thru, but it was a reminder of how cold those inland towns get.
Sunday was spent hanging out and vegging before making the drive back home. It was nice to be able to drop everything and hit the road. Weekends have been so busy lately that its been nigh on impossible to get away for an adventure of that sort.
It was a good test drive for the car & camper too. I was surprised at the fuel economy we managed to achieve. The Patrol gets 4 km/l around town (on LPG) and 4.7 on a country run. On this run the economy only dropped from 4.7 to 4.0 meaning the weight of the trailer was negligible. I had calcluated our round Oz trip based on 3km/l so that means our budget is looking rosier. It towed really well and we even overtook a few people along the way. One of the weaknesses of the 7 seater Patrols is the rear legroom. Fortunately neither Ellie nor Sam are big kids, but if they were teenagers I reckon they’d be cramped. I think having 7 seats means the rows are placed closer together.
Sleeping in the camper was fine, but its going to be a challenge to live in it for 6 months. Storage space is minimal so every spare inch of space had something sitting on it. The annexe will help, but its not something we will be setting up for less than 2 or 3 nights. I’m sure we’ll figure it out, but for now it has alerted us to some of the challenges we can expect to encounter.
The next adventure is next week when we head to Busso on Wednesday for a few days and do a Forge gig on the Saturday. We will set the annexe up and see if it makes a difference. Hopefully it won’t rain…
You may be able to take that extra seat out….
I was thinking the same thing as Mark. However, as an ex-youth minister whenever we went on road trips the teenagers didn’t mind the leg room problem especially if they sat one or two to a seat (on a 3 person seat). That way they could sit at an angle and spread out that way. Perhaps Ellie and Sam could each have their own seat. You could still put stuff on the floor board and on top of the seat on one side.
Yeah i did look at removing the rear seat and sliding the other back, but both are fixed.
We will remove the back seat to give more storage space.
Sojourner’s idea is a good one too, but given our kids are so small the space isn’t critical yet. If they were teens that could be the way to go!