We’ve spent the last week getting ready to go: the house has been cleaned, tidied and somewhat rearranged for the house sitter and her young son; and we finished preparing and packing the camper and all the personal stuff we need to take with us. By the time Friday night came I was definitely feeling like I could do with a holiday!
We left our home in Canberra at 1000 on Saturday, 16 April (with 49,930 kilometres on the FJ Cruiser odometer) and our first stop was the delightful Il Pranzo cafe in Moss Vale where we met Karla and Minti. (Minti is our much loved West Highland White Terrier who, at almost 16 years of age, is too old to come on a long road trip with us or to spend many months in a boarding facility. Fortunately, and with the help of a Westie Rescue Group, we found a new owner for Minti and she has now been living with Karla for just over five weeks. They are a perfect match for each other and we know Minti will be loved and well cared for for the rest of her days.)
On Karla’s recommendation we met at the Il Pranzo cafe in Moss Vale where Ron and I enjoyed great coffee and I had the best Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon that I have had in a really long time.
After leaving Karla and Minti we continued onto Lithgow where we stayed for a couple of nights. On Sunday we joined almost two dozen other FJ Cruiser owners for a great day of 4WD driving near Lithgow – we started at the Zig Zag Railway Station and tackled some powerline tracks before heading out to Lost City.
On Monday we visited a company named Industrial Evolution in Sydney to collect a custom made in-dash mounting bracket they’d made for us – the bracket enables us to very securely mount an iPad so that we can safely use it during our travels. We also collected some OEM weathershields from Ryde Toyota which we fitted today.
We’ll be spending the next few days in the Newcastle region catching up with family and friends before we head to Chichester State Forest on Thursday where we’ll camp with friends until Tuesday next week.
Photos
Sally99
20-Apr-16 — 2110
Let me know how the weathershields work for you, Kathy – been thinking about putting them on mine, but not sure if they’re going to be a nuisance or a boon. I do use that little gap between the snorkel and the mirror to view oncoming traffic in a lot of instances (probably more than I should) especially at roundabouts – so want to know if the vision is impaired at all.
Kathy
28-Apr-16 — 1946
Hi Sally99,
The weathershields have been great so far (we fitted them so that we can leave the windows open a little bit when we want to) but from where I sit when I am driving there is no gap between the snorkel and the side mirror through which to look (and I’m sure it wasn’t there before we fitted the weathershields).
Kathy