Solar set up

Yesterday morning started out very foggy with a light mist. We drove into town for some supplies and i cooked us all breakfast of bacon and egg sandwiches over at Phillips camp.

After breakfast as the sun got higher and the fog had disappeared we went on a walk of the property.

Phillip said it would be a long walk and it was, 10 hours (just kidding it was probably only 2 hours) and a couple of blisters later we arrived back at camp.

Sally Girl has a new friend in Zander if only he wanted to play as much as she does or as rough.

This is our fridge, battery and solar set up.
It has enough power so we can charge all our stuff and keep the fridge going.
200 watt solar panels hooked to a 125 AH, AGM deep cycle battery.

 Happy Adventures Nicole, Andrew & Sally Girl

Camp Site

Had a couple of set backs with the trailer lights not wired right and Betty's bull bar was rubbing on her new tires. We had new lights put on the trailer and our awesome brother in law Stephen fixed the bull bar for us just like new, both of these took all day Friday.
We left St Marys at 5.20 am on Saturday morning, we were finally on our way.

On the road..... Sally Girl had most of the back seat to herself and does she ever love to ride in the Ute.

 Stopped for breakfast about 8am at a pretty good truck stop called Roadhaven Cafe, on the Hume Hwy next to a hungry jacks and a fuel station, we can highly recommend it. Reasonable prices and the food was great.
With plenty of area to walk Sally girl on the grass it was a pretty good stopping point.

With a couple of more stops along the way we were soon only 41 km out of Bombala on the Monaro HWY.
Getting pretty close to our destination.

Bombala is Platypus country and as you can see from the picture's below pretty close to the coast and also pretty close to the snowy mountains.

When we stayed down here the last two times we camped in the South East Forests National Park between Cathcart, Candelo and Bemboka up on the mountain at Nunnock camp ground. Its a free site with just a pit toilet and no drinking water. Highly recommend camping there but dont forget to bring in your water.

Not far now, dirt from here on in.

We set up camp in a lovely place under some shady trees, unfortunately its on a little bit of a slope but we don't mind.
 

Sally Girl has become a part time free range dog, we have only had to put her on the run lead a couple of times. She has started to come when we call her and not just when she wants to, so that's pretty good especially as the property is not all fenced.

Early to bed as we were very tired and it got cold pretty quick.

We purchased Coleman -10 sleeping bags, they are so thick and warm i think we are going to need them as the weather is starting to get quite cool in the evening.

Happy Adventures Nicole, Andrew & Sally Girl

New Shoes

Tuesday morning saw us all packed up and the house empty and ready for the new owners.

2.30 Tuesday afternoon and we are now foot loose and fancy free.

All of the items we had ordered had not been delivered so we have spent the last few days at Dads house.
One of the things we wanted to do before we went was get new shoes for Black Betty, we went for Coopers as they are one of the best four wheel drive tires.

About 4.30 am tomorrow morning we will be heading out. 

We cant wait...... 

Happy Adventures Nicole, Andrew & Sally Girl

Moving South

We have had a few people ask us why we decided to sell our home and make such a big change and move soo far from family and friends.
The short answer is because we can.....
The long answer is....
We decided last year that we wanted something different, a slower life, to work just for ourselves and to make just enough to get by.
Who needs a million bucks if your so busy trying to keep your head above water, swimming in dept, spending all your time working just to pay off that dept, that seems to be never ending. When you really think about it who really wants to live like that. i think people are just too scared to make the change even if its only a small change and not as big as the one we are making. People are just to wrapped up in stuff and getting more stuff.
Dont get me wrong we have stuff and lots of it, i have gotten rid of heaps of things before we had it taken away and im sure a lot more will go when we eventually get it all delivered.
I think its about a new way of thinking, do you really need it or do you want it, there is a very big difference.

So we decided that selling up and going in search of a piece of land was what we wanted to do. Starting a small farm to feed our selves and make a little money to pay our bills.
It all sounds so easy but we are under no illusions, it will be hard work with more sacrifices than we can predict right now, but we will get through it and come out smiling on the other side. And i hope with lots of fun adventures in between.

So yes we are looking for land and not one with a house because that isn't in our budget, if it has old out buildings then that will be a bonus and if not then that's ok too.
All of our money from the sale of the house has been allocated so we will not have a bank dept or any other dept for that matter.
Its a band new start.
Our list consists of Land, a small shed house, water tanks, wash shed, Sun toilet, off grid solar, live stock, fencing and housing, and maybe a small tractor.

Why go all the way down south, well there are a couple of answers, one is the weather, low humidity, cold winters and cooler summers. Neither Andrew or i like the heat so moving north even tho you get a lot more for your money just wasn't an option.
Another is the people, country people are a breed of their own they are not like city people or townies that are always going somewhere in such a hurry and wont give you the time of day. In the country every one has time for a smile or a chat even if you don't know them, you soon will.
Down south will give us the best of both worlds, the seaside and the bush not to mention the snow fields in winter, who could ask for more.
We have a couple of ideas for a small business but nothing is set in stone we will just see how it pans out.

  

Happy Adventures Nicole, Andrew & Sally Girl

Moving Day

Yesterday was the day for the removal guys to take away all our stuff. They arrived at 7.30 am and proceeded to load the truck. 

They were supposed to bring a truck and a trailer but only brought the truck, all day the main guy kept saying its not all going to fit. 

The emptier the house got the more he kept saying it.

And no it didnt all fit, we already knew this because we were told in our quote that it would need a truck and a trailer but someone in the warehouse stuffed up.

By early evening the truck was as full as it was going to get so they closed up, we signed off on the paper work and away the truck went back to Ulladulla where all our stuff will be stored until we find a property to have it delivered to.

What of all everything that was left over you might ask well its in the garage and will be picked up on Monday and taken down to the storage with the rest of our things. There wasn't all that much left over it was mostly awkward items like the wheelbarrows, BBQ, and other garden items.

On to some very good news we will be staying at a property 20km out of Bombala on the road to Delegate.

We were lucky enough to meet up with two very nice people who are allowing us to camp on their property and in exchange we will help out with some work that they need doing.

Now the house is empty and it feels like we are squatters. Sally Girl is going from room to room, i wonder what she is thinking.

As for our 2 sons they were unable to find a place to rent so one will be staying with a mate and the other will be staying at Granddads. This is only temporary, the both of them plus another friend will rent a house together. I was hoping to get them all settled into their own place before we left but we just ran out of time.

We would have liked them to come with us but neither of them wanted to move to "the middle of nowhere" as they put it.

Only a couple more days till its all final and we hand over the keys.

I am starting to get excited, i was saving it up for when all the boxes were packed and everything went on the truck.

we dont know which day we will be heading down as we are waiting on some solar panels to be delivered but any day now our new adventure will start. 

Happy Adventures Nicole, Andrew & Sally Girl

SOLD

As of Thursday 5 of March the deposit was taken, the red brick house will soon belong to a new family. 

Tuesday March 24 we hand over the keys and our new adventure begins.

As of yet we still have not found a property, however on Friday the 20th a big truck will take away all our furniture and take it to a storage facility down south. Until then i am all consumed with packing and deciding what we will take with us.

What are we going to do you might ask, well camping of course.

We have put out a few feelers and may be able to camp for free on some ones property and help out with chores and such, failing that we will set up home at a free camp site.

Happy Adventures Nicole, Andrew & Sally Girl