King of the Off Road | Blog

Brewarrina – Bourke

After a great nights stay at Bokhara Hutz and beautiful sunrise – we headed off to Bourke. We were booked in for a tour of the Darling river on the ‘Jandra’ Paddle Steamer but due to the floodwaters we were unable to set sail. So we decided to film the rest of the Karavan and Kamper segments. Frankie J and Michelle got a crash course in setting up a Karavan then set to work. Next we filmed Bart with his Kamper – Frankie J interviewed Bart and helped him set up the Kamper. Bart did a great job and I think the results will be stunning when the episode goes to air in April!

We ventured into town for some afternoon shooting and ended up on the old wharf down by the Darling river. The river looked amazing – it is in full flow at the moment with the floodwaters from South West Queensland. Some locals were swimming – I tried to have a swim but piked out when I felt the temperature of the water (and saw how much current there was!).

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Lightning Ridge – Brewarrina (Bokharra Hutz)

A long day today. We started the day filming the Karavan with Frankie J and Michelle. It looked stunning in front of the billabong just outside of Lightning Ridge. Off to Walgett next – pitstop only! Then into Brewarrina to visit the Cafe Deluxe – the ‘worlds last Greek cafe’. Pretty amazing old place. ‘Bre’ was a bit of a sad town – lots of steel meshed shop fronts and generally run down. We had lunch at a great spot on the Barwon river. The Kamper is so good for this – just pull out the kitchen, open the box and away you go! It was a great feeling to be able to have lunch in a great spot, easily!

After Brewarrina we travelled up here to ‘Bokhara Hutz’ ( see www.bokharaplains.com ) to stay the night. We have just enjoyed a wonderful camp oven meal of meat stew and stewed peaches for dessert.

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Lightning Ridge

WOW! What a day! What a town! What stories! What people! I said ‘strange place’ yesterday, but today I say ‘weird and wonderful! Today was jam-packed action for this traveling trio. We met up with the film crew this morning and got into filming almost straight away. I had to set up/pack down the Karavan & new second bedroom countless times so we could film a time lapse sequence. I am glad the Karavan raises with a single touch of the button! I am also glad the second bedroom is so simple to ‘hang up’ under the bed slide http://www.kimberleykaravans.com/index.php?item=whats_new ). I am not sure what was harder, running around for the camera – or enduring the ribbing I received from Bart, Chris and the film producer, Liz!

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Copeton Lake – Lightning Ridge

Day3 Moree Town Hall

We left Copeton Waters State Park (http://www.copeton.com.au/) this morning and headed to Moree. It took us a while just to get going in the right direction as Bart’s GPS disagreed with the road signs then it decided the road signs were correct after all. Well, that was Bart’s story – I just think he enjoyed watching me have to do several U-turns and backing-up with the Karavan. Which wasn’t that hard really (I don’t have a lot of experience backing trailers/caravans) – the Karavan is actually quite easy to reverse because of its compact size.

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Kings Plains NP to Copeton Lake

Day2 Copeton Lake Cameron and Chris

Day2 Kings Plains NP Karavan

We left Kings Plains NP this morning heading towards Copeton Lake (and Inverell). After the slowest trip possible ever out of the park, thanks to me jumping out to film the Karavan in action, we finally made it to Inverell. We weren’t impressed with Kings Plains Castle – only because it wasn’t open – I am sure we would have been impressed if it was open. Note: if you wish to visit, book ahead – it’s only open by appointment!

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DAY 1 – SATURDAY, 20TH MARCH 2010

Alstonville to Kings Plains National Park (near Glenn Innes) NSW

Well, it is so good to finally get this trip under way. After weeks of planning and some last minute concerns about flooding we have finally left on what promises to be a great adventure. Left Alstonville around 10:15am with a quick stop in Casino to pick up Chris, my traveling companion. We had a fairly uneventful trip over the Great Dividing Range and enjoyed a nice lunch in the park at Tenterfield. Tenterfield is a lovely looking town with a genuine ‘ye olde’ main street. We both noticed the ‘nip’ in the air which was a nice change from the humidity of the North Coast.

Why this trip? We are towing a Kimberley Karavan from the factory in Ballina all the way to Burke, via Lightning Ridge. On Monday, we meet up in Lightning with a production crew from channel 7′s ‘What’s Up Downunder’ and film an outback travel special featuring some great places to visit in Outback NSW. A Kimberley Karavan and Kamper will also make star appearances in the episode!
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