CAMPING SPOTS

It's sunny this weekend, so like a coiled spring I've been let 
loose attempting all sorts of things on my weekend to-do list in a 
rush, and stuffing most of them up.

The worst stuff up was at the end of yesterday when, having yet 
again postponed replacing my repaired fuel tank in my 'new' (old) 
Jag since now it's got bogged inside the flooding shed, I set to 
work on my trailer instead. It came from my uncle who died, and was 
originally my great grandfather's. I've decided I want to turn it 
into a DIY camper trailer so I can holiday without the hassle of 
trying to find cheap hotels/motels and trying to cram too many 
activities into short stays.

First job was just to get it up on blocks with the wheels off to 
get the tyres replaced (the old crossply ones it has are cracking 
apart), as well as check the wheel bearings where I was told one 
might be broken.

Good news is the wheel bearings are fine, it even has grease 
nipples so regreasing is easy, one hub is just missing a couple of 
wheel studs so I'll have to buy those (hmm, or check they weren't 
removed so the wheel would fit on...). Bad news is while trying to 
wriggle one wheel out past the hub with it beside the house, I 
knocked the trailer off the blocks, into the house's old A/C unit, 
which fell on the side of my 'old' (newer) Jag! Damage wasn't as 
bad as first appearances at least, just a small dent on the door 
and only some small scratches made it through the paint, which I've 
painted over this morning. The dent isn't that obvious, but 
annoying, and it's the first dent I've put in it. I'll have to try 
to polish out the lighter scratches later.

Anyhow, if anything it's left me more determined to be rid of all 
my hassles trying to do things here and get away for a while, maybe 
quite a while. For starters this afternoon I'm going to go visit 
some more dams east of Ballarat, which I was going to do earlier 
but as usual spent all my time working out my route and trying to 
figure out what access is like at different places (it's remarkably 
hard to tell on maps and the internet whether a reservoir will have 
security fencing and "Keep Out" signs), or a welcome sign and a 
picnic area.

But I've also been compiling a growing list of places to visit 
if/when I do get a camper trailer together and can take some long 
trips. Just about too many to remember, so I'll start a list here:

SNOWY HYDRO

I've been talking about this for a long time. The Snowy Hydro 
scheme is an obvious peak for my dam obsession. Only trouble is 
since I started thinking about visiting it pre-COVID, they've 
stopped doing regular tours inside the generator building, which 
was going to be the highlight for me. Now you can apply and be 
notified when the next tour is happening, but that means tying my 
whole holiday to them, not even knowing how much warning I'll get 
if/when they decide to offer a tour. Typical logic of a government 
operation.

Also my 6x4' trailer is small enough it doesn't require 
registration in the state of Victoria, but that rule doesn't apply 
in New South Wales. However it's close enough to the border that I 
can set up camp in Victoria and easily travel around in NSW during 
the day. In fact I found one camp site at one of the closest 
Victorian towns that's clothing optional, so that's very tempting 
to the nudist in me, well in warmer weather than now at least.

TASMANIAN "POWER TRAIL"

Tasmania is the only other state that allows unregistered small 
trailers, and they also have the nation's biggest concentration of 
hydroelectric schemes. I even found a brochure called the "power 
trail" or something similar for a route touring them, including one 
early disused hydroelectric plant that's open as a museum. All 
sounds perfect. Except the ferry crossing will be expensive, and 
things could get pretty difficult being stranded accross the ocean 
if the Jag breaks down, but it's pretty attractive overall.

MOORALLA GEMSTONE RESERVE

One thing that often nags at me on holidays is a sense of 
pointlessness. You see things, sure, they look pretty, you get a 
photo, but what have you really achieved by it all? Well Mooralla, 
right next to the Rocklands Reservoir which I visited a while ago, 
at least offers some pretty rocks you can take home from a public 
gemstone reserve (possibly the only one in the state). Since people 
have been digging it up dor decades, you apparantly have to dig 
really deep to get nice "geodes" which are hollow rocks that can be 
cut open to reveal intricate crystal structures inside, but regular 
small "smokey quartz" crystals are reportedly still findable by 
digging shallow holes or just looking through spoils left from 
deeper excavations.

Apparantly there's a toilet and you can camp there. I've got plenty 
of tools for digging holes already, so it seems like a fun idea to 
work into the evening picking away at a hole and seeing what I can 
find. Only trouble is the access road might be a little 
questionable in the Jag.

SHE OAKS NUDIST RETREAT

This is a relatively nearby nudist retreat. I'm not sure how good 
I'd be with the socialising aspect, probably as bad as I am with my 
clothes on. But they have camp sites and apparantly some 
bushwalking tracks which would be fun to explore naked. Unlike 
some, they do allow single people in. Probably best not to get my 
hopes up about finding a girlfriend there though.

OUTBACK ADVENTURES

My stepfather wants to get rid of his 1980s Toyota Land Cruiser, 
and has offered it to join my suddenly growing repository of 1980s 
vehicles. It's rusty and probably needs more work than I can find 
time for without giving up on depeloping new products for a while. 
But I'm thinking it might be time to take a break from all that 
anyway, so it might happen. Plus I've long had these places in mind 
to visit in outback South Australia and Western Australia:

EMU

As someone nuts about nuclear technology, how can I resist the site 
of some of the british nuclear tests during the 1950s? It's 
accompanied by the ruins of the town "Emu" which was built for the 
project. A good place to try out my various geiger counters. It is, 
of course, well away from anywhere and not somewhere to set off to 
as a first trip. I'd also have to really go over the Land Cruiser 
mechanically first trip. Also on the way there's Woomera and Coober 
Pedy to check out, for more military tech, and more gemstones.


Oh well, I've finished lunch and I'm out of time to set off on 
today's outing now, so I'll leave it at that.

 - The Free Thinker.