City and Outback Australia

Im in the planning phase of a short trip to Orange in New South Wales Australia. I have to drop my daughter off near there so we were going to spend some time there. Firstly we are changing the brakes from hydraulic to electric. This is going to cost around $1100 and an additional $300 for the controller. We will be fitting 10 inch Electric brakes. When I bought the camper I was not sure of the condition of the brakes and bearings. We shopped around and due to the age of the van we are better of retrofitting electric brakes. The trip is around 5 hours from where I live in Lake Macquarie ( Near Newcastle ). We plan on staying at a caravan park and taking our two smallest children as we have 5. We will be travelling through the Blue Mountains so getting the brakes done was a must. We have a 14 ft Jayco Wind up camper. It was made in 1978 so we have some work to do on it though it is water tight.

Newcastle caravan and camping show I would have to say I’m pretty disappointed. Some great things to see but really could have just driven to Heatherbrae and seen all that was on offer without having to pay entry. The vans were inflated in price the the “show discount” brought them back to the normal price in my opinion. What a waste of a day and parking was a nightmare. Save your money and don’t go. You really see more going to the dealers site and I believe you will get a better deal.  The show lacked variety of manufacturers and really it just had high end caravans. The camping gear is better at 4WD Supacentre.  I’m not sure if this is the same as the Rose Hill show in Sydney so I won’t be bothering anyway.

Caravan Camper Progress  So far I have got the Camper registered which was a great outcome. Im looking at replacing the leaf springs, bearings and brakes just so I know im not going to have a problem with them.  Also, my daughter has been great in patching the problem areas of the canvas. Im having real problems finding a company that is able to make me a complete new camper canvas, in New South Wales. So far it is going okay though Im unable to get the fridge working and it smells ghastly so I have decided to replace the fridge when I can afford it. I looked around and they cost about $250 for a 240-volt fridge with a three-year warranty. im not going off the grid so this should do me fine with my cooler. Heres some photos of the inside.

LED Camper Lighting Solution / Canvas update.  The main problem I’ve been having is the self adhesive doesn’t stick. Tape in areas also came away on hot days. It was driving me crazy so my daughter suggested I try hot melt glue gunning it. Ans it worked so mush better than all my other options. My wife is making the bed end fly’s for the camper out of King’s Awning walls and sewing them, I can wait till they are done. This is a temporary solution until I can afford a full new canvas. I have a picture of what canvas I’m ordering as I really like the colours and it will make a big difference when complete.