Our Overnight Shakedown Trip

Off we go....

Now that Rural NSW is out of lockdown and travel is permitted, we planned our overnight shakedown trip and made it happen. 

Not sure of what to expect with numbers, we elected 3 possible sites to free camp along The Golden Highway, around the Jerry's Plains area.  

The purpose of the shakedown was to test out systems and sleeping in the motorhome. Our 4 little dogs were also joining us.

The map 

We left home at 2pm and our first stop was the Brankston Rest Area for a doggy break. Set up there was a COVID-19 popup test centre doing very little business.

Back on the road and there was little traffic heading west, with a steady flow of work commuters heading east to home. The motorhome is easy to drive and easily keeps up with the traffic. The ride is good, but some find it a but firm. Our other vehicle is a Jeep Wrangler so we are used to a firmer ride.

We were enjoying ourselves so much we somehow missed the Golden Highway turn off with its huge sign over the roadway. 😆 

Not a problem as Whittingham has a right turnoff, Range Road, over a railway bridge and 3km (1.85 Miles) later we were back on track.

View from the Railway Bridge - Range Road

Range Road goes the Australian Army Infantry Museum, then before we knew it, back on to the Golden Highway.

The Golden Highway runs eastwards from Dubbo towards Newcastle. The origin of the name is unclear. I found a quote on Wikipedia "The Golden Highway provides a fairly low altitude crossing of the Great Dividing Range. It runs through the Hunter Region and gives access to the golden west of New South Wales." 

The first potential overnight site is at the Warkworth Rest Area. A short distance from the highway. We visited there in the Jeep in between lockdowns and found that the toilets were clean and civilised, has undercover picnic tables and plenty of space to set up for an overnight stay.

The Oval was boggy and a concrete Cricket Pitch was hidden in the tall grass.

Unfortunate Sign Placement

This visit found that the toilets were "out of order:, no real problem for us, but frustrating for those who stopped for a comfort break, of which there was quite a few!

Time for a Cuppa

We Walked the dogs and were promptly swooped by Magpies. Moving to a different spot within the rest area didn't help.

The park has a sports oval in the middle along with a concrete cricket pitch. The grass was around 30cm (1 foot) tall! Perhaps the intention is to make hay? 😁

The park was originally called Johnstone Park, named after the founder of the nearby colliery. On static display is the Lee Norse Continuous Coal Mining Machine from 1959. Times change and now Coal which once bought prosperity, is a dirty word, hence the original park name is no longer in use.

History of the area

Spot Number Two

We decided to move on to our next possible overnight camp at Jerry's Plains and leave the aggressive Magpies and frustrated comfort break seekers behind.

The area is known for horse breeding, wine making and coal mining. The origins of the name Jerry's Plains and other info can be found here.

Eleven minutes later we pulled into Jerry's Plains camp and found it almost empty. The weather had been windy for the whole day and there was scattered rain about. The site provided some protection from the winds.

Only one other person here!

Oh! ...I forgot to mention our curious and friendly neighbours.

We set up camp and were ready for dinner when the rains turned up.

Not looking good!

Now starting to Rain.

Windy and Wet - wasn't for long.

Back to the BBQ. We had a range of salads with us, too.

Happy excited travelers. L-R Bambi and Buffy

We settled down to a relaxing evening. The toilet and shower, along with the supporting systems, were trialed out successfully and feeling tired, we went to bed.

Unfortunately Cody was very unsettled and although he had traveled well, was a bit spooked with the idea of being away from home. He kept us up for a few hours before settling down.

Next Morning

We slept in to almost 9am! Thanks Cody! 😀

Saturday Morning at Jerry's Plains

We went for a walk

Cute little Pony - Our pack thought he was another dog. 😂

We only had two others camping overnight and some visitors taking a break in the morning.

Jerry's Plains Camp is a great place to spend a night. It is Free Camp with nice Toilet facilities an undercover free BBQ and tables, drinking water and a kids playpark.

A Dump Point - Exciting when you need one. 😁

Friendly neighbours!

The trip Home

We then packed up and decided on a brunch at Rose Point at Singleton. Another walk for all.

Except for children's Play Park, Rose Point was very quiet 

Looks a nice spot to have some Brunch.
Sallad and cold meats on fresh bread rolls.

We had brunch inside as it was very windy - The view was nice!

Resting Driver

Overall the trip went well! 

There were some lessons learnt, too. 

• The location of some needed items were inaccessible when the bed is down.
• Water usage was poor but we did not use any of the water available at our stops either.
• Power was excellent with the batteries only going down to 88% overnight and back up to 100% at 9:30am. 
• We need a dustpan and broom!

Now to plan the next trip! 

That was fast!

 The news regularly covers the story on the delays with Australia Post, freight and courier services due to strike action and COVID-19 absenteeism to the need to quarantine. 

Our Motorhome has more fuses than anything on wheels I've ever encountered. So far I have found 3 fuse boxes and a 240VAC combined ELB/Current breaker! 

I ordered a box of assorted fuses from Sydney yesterday at 11:30am and they were delivered the following day by Aramex (ex Fastway) midday.😮

In a previous life, I was partner in a business and our experience with Fastway lead us to calling them Slow (as) Snails. How things change, well done Aramex!

This will go into the handy kit of things, along with one of my multimeters.

Memories and Observations

I look at today's problems and wonder if humanity is prepared or strong enough to handle what their parents, grandparents and great grandparents did in the past. Today we are used to a lot of creature comforts and haven't experienced real hardship. We are used to having what we want and not making do. Wars happen in far flung places and don't make regular headlines......

My parents clearly remembered WWII, Then they lived in the West Midlands in the UK, away from the German bombing of London and other key cities. Even so there were many incidents when lost German planes would drop their bombs in the countryside so they would have enough fuel to get home. 

My dad spoke of the bombs, shattered glass and the one occasion of a crashed German plane near home in Walsall Wood.

My Mother, in her later years, wrote about her childhood experiences in nearby Brownhills. here is an extract.

"Growing up during the war years I guess I didn’t realize the seriousness of it all for some families, living in a small coal mining village I didn’t have to go and live somewhere else as a lot of children of my age and be taken in as an evacuee and we used to joke and play around with our gasmasks not realizing what it would be like if we ever need to use it.

The nearest we got to being bombed was one night when we were under the stairs in the pantry with a chamber pot in case of emergencies when we heard an aircraft flying very low and then there was a big bang and all the glass in the windows in our row of houses in the street were shattered. A bomb had been dropped in the field at the back of the houses the only fatality was a horse that used to pull the ice-cream cart. All the children were very upset. After that the owner invested in a motorised van but it didn’t seem the same as the children all patted the horse and gave him a name.

We used to go into a cellar in some unused cottages near us until my mother fell and hurt her ankle carrying my baby sister. I remember one night I was knitting away when two American soldiers came down into the cellar and gave me some chewing gum it was the first chewing gum I had ever had and I thought that it was strange that you had to not swallow it after it started to taste awful. 

The nearest City to us to be bombed was Birmingham (edit: and also Coventry) you could hear the planes fly and making a path and see the sky light up from the fires. My dad was in the Home Guard as he was exempt from being called up so our family didn’t realize what it was like to have a father or husband that had gone to war. " 

Ann Anslow (Nee Preston).

Ann Preston's Identity Card

During the war and until 1954 there was rationing of food in the UK

An example of the ration books

This is a typical weekly food ration for an adult in 1942:

Bacon & Ham 4 oz (113.4 Grams)

Other meat  value of 1 shilling and 2 pence (equivalent to 2 chops)

Butter 2 oz (56.7 Grams)

Cheese 2 oz (56.7 Grams)

Margarine 4 oz (113.4 Grams)

Cooking fat 4 oz (113.4 Grams)

Milk 3 pints (1.42 Liters)

Sugar 8 oz (226.8 Grams)

Preserves 1 lb every 2 months (453.6 Grams)

Tea 2 oz (56.7 Grams)

Eggs 1 fresh egg (plus allowance of dried egg)

Sweets 12 oz every 4 weeks (340.2 Grams)

Families also would grow their own vegetables.

My mother was expected to look after her two siblings Jane and John as her mother was often unwell. (possibly clinically depressed) She cooked and cleaned along with attending school. With Mums dad, Norman being a butcher, meant a reasonable standard of living, but life still wasn't easy.

My Dad's father passed away when he was 6 years old and as a result life was even tougher for him and his older brother Dennis, living in Walsall Wood near the pit. His mother Annie, supplemented a meagre miners pension by taking in washing, ironing and was the midwife, common in a time where it was standard for childbirth to occur at home. Dennis worked to support the family.

My parents knew hardship was and I do wonder what they would think of today's world where people struggle to comply with some lockdown rules. 

We were supermarket shopping when I saw a man in his 20s having a meltdown because his favourite shampoo was unavailable! 

A Motorhome Morning Tea - In Lockdown

New South Wales is currently in a COVID statewide lockdown with new heavy restrictions in place. We cannot travel more than 5km and even then without an authorised reason.

All travelers have returned home. Some Grey Nomads, without a permanent address, have been fortunate and allowed to lockdown where they are.

We were in the preparation stage and doing some overnight trips with our fur family, so a morning tea in our garden allows for some acclimatisation.

Our plans for a day trip were cancelled just over a week ago, so this is the next best thing.

Lockdown home for the motorhome.

Watching the 11AM COVID update.
Even with good coffee, is somewhat depressing.

The Laptop is running (and being charged) on the 240VAC inverter from the House Batteries. The Solar Panel is keeping them topped up. Proof of concept, but still needs an overnight free camp stay to evaluate our electrical supply needs.

Everyone seems quite settled and relaxed.

Bambi and Buffy have already become acquainted with what it is all about and don't understand why we can't go anywhere. Mac and Cody explored the motorhome and made themselves comfortable, but have yet to experience a day trip.

Unfortunately it will be some time before we start traveling.

Day Trip to East Gresford - CANCELLED

Tomorrow we had plans to do another daytime shakedown trip, with all four dogs in tow, to Gresford. A prelude to doing some overnight travels around Mudgee.

However by 11am on Thursday our plans for Friday were canceled. A snap lockdown was announced covering a good portion of the Hunter Valley, including where we live in Largs by 5pm.

Our butcher has a queue and the mini supermarket did too. cars were struggling to find parking. Never seen Patterson so busy!

We had to be satisfied with a much shorter trip.

The Jeep is now back in the garage and we are keeping busy with Lockdown activities.

Lockdown Soups - Beef and Vegetable or Pumpkin? Both are very nice!

The lockdown is meant to last for a week, but I doubt it will and expect it to be extended.