About Us
‘Us’ is a couple (Jane & Dave) in our early 30s who’ve decided to join the grey nomads early, and cruise around Australia. Jane is a Western Australian local moved to Sydney, Dave’s a Sydney-sider (insular northern beaches, comfortably wrapped in the ‘Bungan bubble’ and loathe to leave it, as Jane describes it). In civilian life Jane is an ecologist, Dave a graphic designer/web developer - we’re both surfers, and actually met in the water at Bungan one weekend (a 6:00am conversation in the surf led to breakfast in Newport and a party at the old Bungan house - we’ve been inseparable ever since).
We’ve both been meaning to do a bit of a mission around Australia for ages now (in Dave’s case, since leaving school) but uni, other travels (Jane) and work (Dave) always seemed to get in the way. It’s also not a cheap trip to do properly… but if you can style it like this, you’re laughing 
The gear
We’re traveling in a 1998 Toyota Landcruiser Troopcarrier (75 Series) - she’s an ex-rental camper, and came with a high roof conversion, plus the standard bed, sink, fridge, kitchen and cupboards. The high roof looks a little ungainly, and we’re now calling her our bulbous-headed love child (BHLC). The engine is a stock 4.2 litre diesel, no turbo; she’s got twin 90 litre fuel tanks (giving us a range of between 1000 - 1500km depending on conditions), a dual battery setup, a 500 watt inverter and some pretty funky maroon upholstery in the back.
We both surf, and it rapidly became clear that neither of us was going to travel with less than 4 boards apiece; that, plus all the other gear we thought it necessary to take (hot showers, anyone?) meant we decided early on that a trailer was required - so we’re towing an off-road trailer, with a hinged lid on heavy duty struts. This allows us to put a small boat (or in our case, a canoe) on top and still open the lid without having to remove it first. The rims on the trailer match those on the BHLC, which means spares are interchangable.
Aside from these basics, we’re pretty well kitted out with camping gear, from a massive mozzie dome/tent to a hot water system and shower tent.
The audio-visual toys
You can’t undertake an adventure like this without wanting to be able to capture some of it in some format, so we’re lugging around a Canon EOS D400 digital SLR (28-80 and 56-300 lens) and a JVC video, with a tricked out 15″ MacBook Pro … handy for watching dvds on those windy cold nights too.
The food
We’re surviving on staples of banana pancakes, boiled eggs, toasties, pastas and risottos, not to mention the odd curry night. Jack and I (Jane) put together a book of Gourmet Traveller recipes before we left. Jack, you would be pleased to know that the book is still underway (Dave loves dragging old mags across Oz) and that I’ve cooked a few camp-gourmet meals along the way! The dream of catching and eating fish every night (even once a month would be nice) has been shattered by our sh*th**se fishing skills. Coaching by Ango on the phone hasn’t helped either (sorry Ango). Some nice fishos on the beach took one look at Daves cast (with a handline) and donated a salmon! (keep up the good style Dave).
We have eaten out a wee bit. Of course there are a few budget constraints but that hasn’t stopped us from a bit of fine dining. The South Bruny Pub (that’s what i mean by fine dining) has the best pub meals in oz so far. The best mussels and seafood have been in Tassie (not to mention the best surf, the best wilderness and really the best beer as well - oh - we haven’t been to SA yet! Sorry, Coopers). The best fish and chips was from Sandy Point near the Prom, VIC (Kaz and Lees’ recommendation) and the worst was at Lakes Entrance, VIC. We had an awesome paella in Hobart (Francescas) and the best bakery food from Jackman & McCross in Hobart, oh and the best bratwurst at the Salamanca markets. Yes, we’re eating our way around Tassie.
