Getting off to a slow start...

7 December 2023

I have now been in Australia for over one month. It has not been a particularly auspicious start to my ‘snailspace adventures’! I spent more than 16 hours travelling from Wellington to Brisbane via a long stop in Sydney as a result of my original direct Air NZ flight being cancelled…I ended up flying Qantas from SYD to BNE!

So, having picked up ‘Snailspace’ from Safiery in Arundel (Gold Coast, QLD) where they had installed a bespoke 48V power system, I proceeded to return to ExplorerMotorhomes in Clontarf, N Brisbane, for the formal handover/transfer of ownership/installation of a Starlink plug. Enroute, I also picked up an e-Bike carrier and e-Bike, which the e-Bike company fitted to the back of the motorhome.

I have ended up hanging around greater Brisbane for much longer than intended. This was partly due to having my on-line banking and credit card hacked from the Ukraine (despite only using fingerprint ID for online banking!) and a stressful week with no access to funds and using up all my overseas calling minutes on my new iPhone (+61 400 068257) plan trying to sort it out with at least 6 different people in two Westpac agencies back in NZ. It was fortunate that my Australian debit card came through the following week, but what was not so fortunate was trying to find campsites or motel accommodation in the greater Brisbane area at that time. For eg I ended up paying >$350 for a cabin in a Big4 Holiday Park on the mainland coast opposite Bribie Island….for one night when I could not find any vacancies for

campground sites!

I had almost a week in Bribie Island while waiting for Explorer Motorhomes to re-order the Starlink plug which, despite having had it delivered in August, they subsequently ‘lost’, requiring further waiting around for its replacement. Bribie Island was a relaxing spot to recuperate after all the financial ordeals, with swimming in the ocean across the road from the campground and eating fresh mangoes the order of the day most days! A further minor disaster occurred, however, departing Bribie Island for Brisbane, when the rear-wheel retaining strap on my brand new bike carrier failed, causing my also brand new eBike to fall off and be dragged along the asphalt at 40km/h for a reasonable distance until I heard the

awful scraping noise and flicked to my hitch-facing camera (…a disadvantage of having no rear-view mirror and one of my two fixed cameras facing the traffic behind me at the time). Despite holding up traffic crossing the bridge back to the mainland for 10 minutes as a result, a kind bloke in a ute stopped to help me fold up the eBike and jam it in the back of the motorhome…but I was certainly not a “happy camper”!

With the exception of having to deal directly with the fridge manufacturer for the replacement of faulty seals on my brand new fridge, I managed to get most of the administrative stuff sorted (I am now the proud holder of a QLD driving licence and have a motorhome that is both insured and covered for roadside assistance across the country!) before heading south to northern NSW, and a week at Nambucca Heads (down the road from Coffs Harbour) where my sister, Elizabeth, has been living for a few months. Unfortunately her ‘section’ was too steep for ‘snailspace’ and she had no spare bedroom, but the local campground down at the sea/riverfront had sites available that were level.

Nambucca Heads is a picturesque spot, with wonderful swimming beaches and river. Apart from having to conduct a MS Teams hearing from inside my motorhome in the campground with the Ministry of Social Development back in NZ over my request for a review of the legislation that cut my Veterans Pension by 8 percent based on my marital status because I was travelling overseas for more than 26 weeks (but I won’t bore you with the details!), it was a gentle week of sunbathing, swimming, cycling and eating. Despite arranging with the fridge

manufacturer to have a replacement fridge door sent to a local service agent in Nambucca Heads at least two weeks before I arrived there, it failed to be delivered on the due date/before I had to leave.

I then backtracked to Coomera on the Gold Coast, where I uplifted my 2.6m inflatable Takacat (NZ-designed) boat, accessories and and electric outboard motor, turning my motorhome into a delivery van until I can transfer these reasonably bulky items into a 'pod' trailer (due for pick-up next Monday in Wangaratta, northern VIC). While on reflection it may have been a better option to pay the $900 fee for having the trailer delivered to Brisbane, I only have to play ‘Tetris’ every night for another week in order to sleep each night!

I have meandered in a vaguely south-easterly direction from the Gold Coast via overnight stops in Beaudesert and Warwick in QLD and Glen Innes and Armidale in northern NSW. After a welcome stay in a very well set up campground on the outskirts of Armidale - fortunately with a swimming pool, in which I have sought respite from the hot afternoons. As the fridge company was going to charge me for both the replacement door’s return to the factory and sending it out to another service agent further down my planned track, I elected to take a 400km 'side trip' back to Nambucca Heads today to finally have it fitted. I travelled via the ‘Waterfall Way', one of Australia’s most picturesque drives…and which, regrettably, I had to leave for another day to enjoy at a more leisurely pace.

Assuming all goes to plan from here, I will then travel slowly (trying to restrict myself to no more than 250-300km travel in a day) down to Wangaratta via Dorrigo, Tamworth, Dubbo, Cootamundra and Albury.‘Snailspace’ has proved very capable so far with respect to her set-up and features, but I will relish the extra payload that I will get from towing a small pod trailer. I won’t relish the added difficulty in manoeuvring into campground sites andfinding parking in supermarket carparks, though!

Well, there is still much to achieve before I consider my loins suitably girded for solo travel in Australia’s more remote spots over the coming couple of years,including acquiring the necessary recovery equipment to get myself out of trouble without assistance and, most importantly, fitting Starlink to enable wifi connection wherever I may be (relying on ‘hot-spotting’ of my mobile is all very well when I have optimal 4/5G coverage, but putting up with slow public wifi connections in some of the campgrounds is already a frustration). I will also be learning how to operate both a small drone and a ‘go-pro’ camera which will hopefully encourage me to take lots of photos and videos to share on my blogsite (…hopefully going ‘live’ in early 2024!).

I will be taking up the very generous offer of good friends Henri and Kate to stay with them over the Christmas holidays (noting that most campgrounds will already be booked out in the more popular spots) in their little piece of paradise on Raymond Island, near Paynesville in Southern VIC. After which I will be endeavouring to undertake some proper 4WD, recovery and beach driving training to give me more confidence in tackling the Big Lap.)

In any event, I wish you and yours a Happy Christmas and prosperous 2024, wherever you may be and am looking forward to catching up during my travels (for those in Australia) and “see you after 2026” for those back in NZ.

Warmest regards,

James ‘Jimmo’ Routledge

email: jmsrtldg@gmail.com (or jmsrtldg@icloud.com)

mobile: +61 400 068257