Picking up the Camper Day 4

Another morning of lazing in bed for awhile before getting up and hitting the road. Once again a nice quick pack up saw me heading north towards home by about 7:30 am. I had a rather ordinary sausage roll for breakfast in Macksville and then spent the rest of the morning driving. No real worries and the traffic mostly flowed along pretty well. I got home around noon Qld time and quickly unpacked what I needed from the camper and left the rest of it packed ready for the next trip. Only around 380 Kms today.
Calculating out the fuel economy for the trip showed that heading south I was averaging around 10.4 l/100 Kms and on the trip home with the camper on the back this increased to around 10.9 l/100 Kms. This seems reasonable for the extra weight and air resistance of the camper. Now to take the setup to a weigh bridge and get it weighed so I can plan out what suspension changes I need to make. I really didn't notice any change to the performance of Blute with the camper on, although it did tend to wallow a bit on dips and hollows due to the weight of the camper.
All up that was a fun little trip of a couple of thousand Kms and I think I am already addicted to the ease of setting up and packing the new camper.

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Picking up the Camper Day 3

Woke up at around 6 am but lazed and read in bed until about 7 am because I knew it wouldn't take long to pack up and hit the road. Headed north then west towards Picton and joined up with the Hume Highway and headed into Sydney. Took the M7 and M2 around the city and then headed out through Hornsby to the north. The traffic was worse than when I came through on Thursday evening, but at least it flowed. Those lanes seem awfully narrow with a 2 m wide camper on the back of Blute. Stopped for a late breakfast/morning tea at the service centre on the freeway and then continued on towards Newcastle. Around noon I stopped off at North Arm Cove to say hello to Norm and Sandy and have a quick cuppa. Then onto the service centre at Taree where I refueled both the Blute and me (or is that I).
I had intended to stop in at Hat Head National Park for the evening but it turns out that you can't get to the park access road from the new northern section of the Kempsey bypass road. So I continued on and took the turn off to Stuarts Point. I ended up at the Grassy Head Caravan park for the evening. 

After a day of driving I took a nice walk to the beach and the lookout, before having dinner and retiring to bed early to read for awhile. All up I drove 630 Kms from Kiama to Grassy Head.

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Picking up the Camper Day 2

Got up at 6'ish, had a shower and headed off to the maccas across the road for brekky. The motel was fine as a cheapish spot to stay for the evening, bed was fine, hot shower and not too much noise. Headed off at about 7 am southwards and refueled at a cheap Caltex place (114.9 before the normal discount). Then I followed the coast road past Kiama and onto Nowra where I hit my first bad traffic of the trip. I eventually got down the Rhino Camper workshop just outside Huskisson around 9:30 am.
Alan had the camper ready to go and spent an hour and a half or so getting it fitted to the back of the ute and giving me a run down on how everything worked. 

Then it was into Huskisson to have some fish and chips for an early lunch. Then I spent a few hours driving around having a look at Jervis Bay, it certainly is a nice spot but it is pretty busy. 

I headed back to the highway and turned north for Nowra and went the inland road back to Kiama.
As it was about 3 pm I had decided to stay in Kiama for the night and head off home first thing in the morning. 

Got the last unpowered site in Kendall's on the Beach Holiday Park, which is a quite nice little spot down behind the beach. I transferred a few things from the car into the camper and started to get things organized. Then went for a walk to take a few photos before settling back into camp and reorganizing things again. 

Then it was time to relax and read a book before turning in for the first evening's sleep in the camper. Only about 260 Kms for the day.

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Picking up the Camper Day 1

Left home this morning at around 7:30 am and immediately lost an hour of my life as soon as I crossed the border. Had an easy run down towards Grafton but the running out of fuel light came on before I expected it, so I stopped at the BP at Ulmarra and filled up. It only took 120 litres so I still had 20 litres spare although the car computer was telling me I only had 60 Kms until empty. Looks like the fuel gauge computer still hasn't completely recalibrated itself after fitting the larger tank.
Then it was onto lunch at the Service Centre at South Kempsey and then an early dinner just off the freeway on the way into Sydney. This let most of the peak hour traffic disappear so I had no trouble getting through to the motel at Campbelltown. The trip into Sydney from the north has some pretty spectacular views through the rock cuttings and across a couple of rivers. All up I covered about 880 Kms in the day with no real traffic problems.

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