Happy Hour and a BBQ

 Happy Hour and testing out the BBQ.

The BBQ connects to the motorhomes external LPG gas outlet

Steak and Salad preparation under the supervision of the tribe.

The evening was a great success!

Modifying and Equipping Our Motorhome 3

 The outdoor BBQ

Our Motorhome BBQ was sent from Kaiser Boating by Australia Post on the 19th of August and arrived today 23 days to travel from Seaforth Victoria to us here in Largs NSW. COVID-19 has adversely impacted post in both NSW and VIC.

Samantha, Trent, Aubree & Abbie had sent me a nice BBQ flipper tool for Fathers Day which goes very nicely with it.

We are looking forward to the rain going away and for us to try out the BBQ here at home.  A purpose made cotton canvas storage bag is on its way.

Why not a cheapie BBQ? 

One well known camping store has a BBQ for only $119, a well known hardware chain have one for $149 and a Webber is $329, but buying a BBQ is not that simple.

The BBQ was bought to plug into an external gas outlet on our Motorhome and therefore must comply with the regulations requiring it to have a Flame Guard Safety Stop. Marine BBQs have had this requirement for longer than RVs.

Currently most of the big names products do not comply with this requirement!

It is a false economy to take risks with a RV worth $150K plus and remember insurers don't like paying out if they don't have to.

For a detailed explanation read below.

AS/NZS 5601.2 Gas Installations – LP Gas installations in caravans and boats for non-propulsive purposes clause 6.3 states “all appliances shall be fitted with flame safeguard systems to all burners.”

When a BBQ is connected to a bayonet or fixed installation it is deemed to be a part of the installation and must have flame safeguard.

If the BBQ is fixed to a caravan or on a product such as a slide out, the BBQ is deemed to be a part of the installation and must have flame safeguard.

Having a gas bayonet is legal if fitted by a licensed gas fitter. Appliances with flame safeguards can legally be run from that bayonet fitting. In the case of some popular barbecues on the market they do not, so legally they cannot be used off the bayonet fitting.

The report continues on: The solution is to have a BBQ that has flame safeguard or to not fix the BBQ to the caravan or a product such as a slide e.g. supply loose, connect via a gas bottle directly e.g. the gas bottle sitting on the ground and have labels to ensure the gas bottle does not get fitted into compartments where BBQ is. See This Link.

Modifying and Equipping Our Motorhome 2

The next item to be fitted is the antenna mount.

This is the 2m/70cm/CB antenna mount. 2m is an VHF Amater Radio Band, 70cm  is a UHF Amateur Radio band and CB is often what gets referred to, in error, as "The UHF". Used by Truck drivers and travellers.

In truth the UHF Radio Spectrum is used by many services such as, Government and Public two way radio/data, Digital TV, Garage Door Openers, Car Remotes, Military, Amateur Radio etc and CB uses a small part of the UHF spectrum too.

Depending in which state you are in dictates the rules on mounting antennas, light bars etc, so check with the rules that apply to you.

Some states frown on antennas on the drivers side  and anything that sticks out beyond the dimensions of the vehicle. Having said that I'm constantly amazed in what we do see on the road!

Deni Ute Muster 2014

The install of a commercially available mount was quick and easy once I knew where. 

A neat solution

Now to run in the cabling through the firewall gland and tap off the 12 volt power.

A Sticker for the Motorhome and what it means.

As newcomers to the motorhome world we became members at the Caravan and Camping show earlier this year, to a club called the Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia Ltd (CMCA).

The CMCA offer some great products and services to their members and becoming a member is well worth considering.

The CMCA also support an initiative called Self Contained Vehicle (SCV) Policy and Leave No Trace® (LNT) Code of Conduct.

Those who have a RV suitably equipped and sign up the Code of Conduct get a sticker for their rig.

The Leave No Trace® (LNT) Code of Conduct is as follows

As an environmentally conscious recreational vehicle owner, I/we hereby agree to the following: 

• To have my vehicle comply with the CMCA Self Contained Vehicle (SCV) Policy and to display the SCV
accreditation on my vehicle at all times. 

• To stay in any approved rest area for the period that the accommodation vehicle can be self-contained
or as designated by the relevant signage. This includes obtaining any necessary permission from
controlling authorities and or payment of fees where applicable. When camping in other locations please
observe the CMCA Bush Camping Code. 

• To always take care of the natural environment and respect community facilities to ensure future
generations of RV travellers can continue to enjoy what local authorities have provided. 

• To park my vehicle so as not to obstruct reasonable passage, exit or access to other vehicles or property.
To be courteous and do not park in a manner that impedes the movement of other vehicles especially in
rest areas used by heavy transport. 

• To dispose of all rubbish, and grey and black water in an appropriate manner. 

• Where time and means permit, support local communities and businesses as an appreciation for the
facilities that have been provided.

Quite simply be thoughtful and a responsible motorhome/caravan user.

In NZ the accreditation (an official NZ Standard - NZS 5465) allows those accredited motorhome/caravan users to camp in posted areas where there are no facilities and the environment is protected. Australia needs to follow suit.

Shouldn't we all be able to follow the above? Yes, but there are a few who give RV travellers a bad name.

Who would have thought that this would be necessary? telling people to bury their waste? A promotion by Aussie Travel Code

The mind boggles!

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.